Eastern Australian Football League

History

In the early months of 2005, member clubs of the South Eastern Australian Football League and North Eastern Australian Football League on the eastern seaboard formed a new league, the Eastern AFL.

The league at the start of the 2005 season comprised the Florida Redbacks, the North Carolina Tigers, the Baltimore Washington Eagles, the Pittsburgh Wallabies, the Philadelphia Hawks, the New York Magpies and the Boston Demons. At the end of the season, Pittsburgh disbanded, and the Redbacks pulled out of the league due to high travel costs of playing the Northern teams. The league continued as a five-team division from 2006 until 2010.

From 2006, the USAFL's two Florida-based clubs, the Tampa area based Redbacks and Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids, played together as the Florida United Saints, playing an independent schedule against teams in the Southeast. In 2010, the Saints played four of the five EAFL clubs (all except Boston). Prior to the 2011 season, the Redbacks and Squids ended their merger and will play as two separate clubs, with the Squids playing independently still and the Redbacks returning to play a full EAFL schedule. In 2012, the Redbacks regional schedule and were not included in the EAFL premiership table.

Boston won the inaugural EAFL championship title over New York. Since then, New York and Baltimore/Washington have won each of the last six titles, with New York winning each year since 2009.

Format

Each team plays the four teams in the league once during the regular season, with home field alternating every other year. Because of travel costs and scheduling constraints, some matches are played in neutral sites. In further cases, three teams will gather in one site and play each other in "lightning" format (two 20-minute halves as opposed to four quarters), with points counting towards the EAFL premiership table. In 2012, scheduling conflicts and miscommunication caused three teams -- Baltimore/Washington, Boston, and North Carolina -- to only play two league games, while Philadelphia and New York played a full four-match schedule. Though there was concern over whether that would affect who won the premiership, New York's 4-0 record negated any controversy that the odd schedule would have.

The ladder follows the traditional AFL format of four points for a win, two for a draw, and none for a loss. If two or more teams are level on points, the tie is broken by points percentage (PF/PA * 100)

In addition to regular season matches, there have been several tournaments held where some or all of the clubs gather at one field and play two matches in "lightning" format. In 2009, Philadelphia and Baltimore each hosted tournaments that amounted to a round robin series between the five EAFL teams. The series, which included two full length games for EAFL points, was won by the New York Magpies, who went 4-0. Since then, Philadelphia and Baltimore/Washington have alternated hosting a tournament which has included at least three EAFL clubs. In 2010, Philadelphia hosted a tournament that included Florida in place of Boston. None of the games in 2010 tournament were for EAFL points. The 2011 tournament, played on the infield at Rosecroft Raceway, saw one official EAFL match (Baltimore/Washington v Boston), and other "lightning" matches including the Hawks, Magpies, and Redbacks. The 2012 Philly Footy Festival saw the Hawks host New York, Baltimore/Washington, and a representative side from the Ontario Australian Football League.