The Maritime Women's Football League (MWFL) is a

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

league in eastern Canada. It was Canada's first all-female full-contact football competition when it began operating in 2004. Since it was established, the League has grown from two to four teams. They hail from the three major cities of New Brunswick (

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

, and Saint John) along with a team from

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. A fifth team, on

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, played in the 2019 MWFL season before the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The current MWFL title holders are the Halifax Xplosion and Saint John Storm, who tied the 2022 championship game in triple overtime and shared the title.

Teams

* Fredericton Nissan Lady Gladiators Fredericton New Brunswic
(Team Website)
* Halifax Xplosion Halifax Nova Scotia * Saint John Storm Saint John New Brunswick * Moncton Vipers Moncton New Brunswick * PEI Island Demons Prince Edward Island, Canada (on hiatus)

History

The league was founded in 2004 as the New Brunswick Women’s Football League, NBWFL. In 2006, it changed to its present name, the MWFL, when Halifax joined the competition. Football Canada wrote, "With many obstacles to overcome the growth of the league was slow and at times discouraging. New teams needed enough money to buy all new equipment, or share with teams." The Maritime league became part of the Junior Player Development Program of Football Canada. The MWFL marked its tenth anniversary in 2014, when the season schedule was moved forward, earlier in the year, to play its seasons from April to June. Since the MWFL began, the

Western Women's Canadian Football League The Western Women's Canadian Football League (WWCFL) is a full-contact women's Canadian football league which began play in the spring of 2011. The league plays an annual season in the spring or summer, and with eight teams it is the largest wome ...

and

Central Canadian Women's Football League The Central Canadian Women's Football League (CCWFL) is a full-contact Canadian football league supported by Football Quebec and Football Ontario. Originally founded in 2014, the league played its first season in 2022. It thus became the third cr ...

have also been established in other regions of the country.

Modified rules

In the MWFL, the playing field is a regulation Canadian football field, 65 yards wide, but offences are permitted four downs (rather than the usual three) to move the ball forward 10 yards. The one-yard neutral zone is the same as in regular Canadian football. Instead of 12 players per side, MWFL teams play with 11 per team according to the league's 2012 rules. As of 2012, the four timed quarters are each 12 minutes long ordinarily, but 15 minutes long in the final two weeks of the regular season. The league's former rules in 2007 stipulated that games were played with 10 players per team, in four quarters of 10 minutes each.

League champions

The league championship is known as the SupHer Bowl, while the championship trophy is known as the Judy Upward Trophy.

References

External links

League Facebook homepage

League Twitter page

Bleacher Report preview of the tenth season, 2013

Original MWFL official site
Last recorded May 3, 2012 (Web Archive) {{Sports leagues of Canada Canadian football leagues 2004 establishments in Canada Sports leagues established in 2004 Women's American football leagues Professional sports leagues in Canada