The New England Football League (NEFL) is a semi-professional American football league based out of Salisbury, Massachusetts and owned by Thomas Torrisi. It is the largest semi-professional league in the region. The NEFL was founded in 1994 and was also known as the Greater Lawrence Men's Football League. It currently consists of 40 teams with about 2,000 players playing in three different classifications (A, AA, AAA) with at least two teams based in each of the six New England states. The league provides competitve football for adult players. It is a "working man's league" as most players have regular jobs during the week. Teams practice on weeknights and play on the weekends, most games on weekends. Players don't get paid for their participation, but they often pay $200 to be on the team's roster. The league runs from spring until October. Each team can dress up to 55 players.
Contents
League history
The New England Football League was founded in 1994 by League President and Director of Marketing, Tom Torrisi, Chairman Matt Brien, Commissioner Bob Oreal, Vice-President and Treasurer John Motta and Secretary Christine Torrisi.[2] It started its 1994 season with only four teams. By 1997 number of teams tripled to twelve. And in 2002, the league had at least one team in each New England state. Also in that year the league started its three conference alignment with three different skill levels, one for each conference. The 2006 was the first season with at least 30 teams playing in the league making it one of the largest semi-pro football leagues in the country.
Game rules
The NEFL uses what they refer to as modified NCAA rules[3]. Most of the rules are adopted from the NCAA rule book. But there are a few NFL rules and some rules specific to the NEFL that have been adopted.
Current teams
Currently the NEFL has 40 teams playing in three different skill levels (conferences) with at least two teams based in each of the six New England states.