Should Moorestown Have Girls-Only Flag Football?

UPDATE: Based on initial results from Moorestown Youth Flag Football's survey, 94 percent of middle and high school-aged girls prefer a girls-only division, while nearly half of girls from first through sixth grade prefer coed. 

However, before it proceeds, the league needs more feedback, according to commissioner Greg Giannone. 

To have your opinion counted, click on the following link and fill out the survey before Wednesday, April 10:

http://girlsonly.moorestownflagfootball.org

Giannone provided a preview of what a girls-only division might look like:

• Monday night (7:15 p.m.) high school flag football at Wesley Bishop Field
• Separate boys and girls divisions, both playing at the same time and place
• High school players pick and name their own teams
• Season runs September through the weekend before Thanksgiving
• Tournament-style play, switching teams up after the first four weeks

According to Giannone, there are approximately 19,000 middle/high school girls playing in girls-only leagues across the country. 

The results of the survey will be posted sometime before April 15, when the league launches early registration for the fall season. 

Visit Moorestown Youth Flag Football's website here and visit them on Facebook here.

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With participation among young women hovering around 3 percent, the Moorestown Youth Flag Football League (MYFFL) is mulling a girls-only division for its upcoming fall season, but needs your input first. 

Commissioner Greg Giannone said the league has been coed since its inception, and has always encouraged girls to play. But after crunching the numbers recently—and discovering only 19 of the nearly 600 players registered in 2012 were girls—he began to wonder whether a girls-only division might be a better idea.

"After about the age of 12, girls don't want to play with boys, and maybe vice versa," said Giannone, who explained that girls-only flag football leagues are gaining in popularity throughout the country, mentioning Florida, New York City and Washington, D.C. as examples of states that have incorporated girls varsity programs.

Would something similar work in Moorestown? That's up to you. 

Giannone has created a survey to gauge interest in the possible creation of a girls division. Realistically, he said, the league could establish a girls division with just 32 players and four teams, "and I think that'd be fun."

Giannone said the league strives each year to schedule games around other sports and youth social events to avoid conflicts, and would do the same if a girls division was established. 

"There's some people who would argue, and have, 'Why bother? Why take on the extra work?'" Giannone said. "The only interest and motivation for me is just to have more kids play flag football."

The league is currently broken up into divisions by grade: first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh/eighth, and high school. Depending on the level of interest, Giannone said they could do the same for a girls division.

The league is open to children who either reside in Moorestown or attend a Moorestown school (or both). 

Click here to fill out the MYFFL survey, and tell us what you think about the idea of a girls-only flag football league in the comments below.