RICHMOND STUNS PAFC, OWNERS BEGINNING TO RIFT
It was expected to be another wash season for the PAFC, which has become a three-headed race between the Chicago Stars, Fort Wayne Generals, and Indianapolis Flames for the title of “World Champion of Football”. However, former Cincinnati Rivermen and Pittsburgh Shamrock QB Clarence Stanley was lured away from the AFL to join the Richmond Patriots, adding the first bit of major AFL talent to leave for the PAFC. Stanley helped the Patriots in their first season to a second-place regular season finish, ready to face the undefeated Chicago Stars in the title game. As for the two other new teams, the Baltimore Barons managed a third place finish with the talent from the 1952 Calvert team, and the Boston Rebels finished dead last, only winning a single game. Boston Rebels owner Frank Goldstein stated that he was not pleased that two teams from “lesser leagues” managed to place better than his supposedly elite Northeastern team. Goldstein received almost immediate pushback for those comments, as the Rebels rarely even finished above .500 in the 9 years they were in the league post-WWII. In the World Championship, Chicago was widely expected to dominate, but Stanley finally came in the clutch and gave the Patriots an upset win. While most owners were congratulating Richmond for managing to win a top-heavy league, Chicago Stars owner Virgil Bradshaw was furious. “This was the best-looking and hardest working group of men in Chicago, maybe even the world,” he said in an interview for the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s outrageous that this team didn’t win a title.” In a profanity-laced tirade, he would end up calling the Chicago Hogs “a filthy bunch of boys” after learning of their title victory from the week prior. Bradshaw has come under fire for how he is not treating the AFL as a serious threat to the PAFC, still treating it as a league that is lesser to what he sees as a breakaway league that will eventually submit back to his league in due time. He has become increasingly more disliked among the other PAFC owners, with almost all of them (besides Indianapolis owner Gideon Bachman and Fort Wayne owner W. Lloyd Scott) turning against him in one way or another, including his son Julian. The real dividing point was when the PAFC began to discuss potential television and radio deals to keep pace with the AFL’s popularity in their meetings in February. Minneapolis minority owner Reuben Braun had proposed that the PAFC develop a similar plan to the AFL and have either ABC or CBS broadcast the championship game and select regular season games spread out amongst the teams. Bradshaw argued for he though was a slightly more reasonable agreement, wanting the Chicago Stars to always have a game broadcasted every week while rotating the other televised slot among the other teams. Boston owner Frank Goldstein then argued that Boston should get an equal amount of broadcasted game as Chicago since they are more of a “premier” team compared to the others, which drew ire from pretty much every owner, including Bradshaw. Goldstein was once again dragged out of another owners meeting after nearly scuffling with Bradshaw, but the younger Julian Bradshaw kept Goldstein in line and forced him out before a punch was thrown. After that mess,Bradshaw re-proposed his idea, and nearly every other owner walked out on the deal, including Julian. In what many thought would be a step forward for the floundering league was just another step back in challenging the AFL. For now, the supposedly premier football league in the U.S. will have to wonder if it will meet the same fate as the other regional leagues to the constant amount of in-fighting and Bradshaw lessening the league’s public image with his comments.
DUTCH LIONS, TIGERS DOMINATE FINAL NYPL SEASON
The final season of the New York Professional League was widely predicted to be a two-horse race between the Newark Tigers and New York Dutch Lions. The Bronx Bulldogs were effectively a skeleton team, while Brooklynites were mourning the last season of the once-dominant Kings. As a result, New York and Newark ran the table, splitting their series against each other while each sweeping the Bulldogs and Kings. After a relatively uneventful regular season, the final game of the NYPL would be the championship between the Dutch Lions and the Tigers. It was a back and forth game for the first half, but the Dutch Lions literally ran away with the game, as the Tigers could not stop their rushing attack. New York would run up the score and win their 7th championship, as well as putting an end to the rapid decline of the NYPL. It’s now a question of whether the Dutch Lions can adapt to a higher level of play, as Midwestern football has always been seen as a higher quality version of football compared to the Eastern leagues. With the NYPL officially defunct, players from the Bronx and Brooklyn teams will be distributed among the new ASPFL, with New York getting the first picks if they wish to select any players. As for how the remaining NYPL teams will do in the future, Newark is expected to fit right in with the ASPFL next year, but New York is expected to struggle if they keep the exact same team right now. They will have to make some moves to remain competitive in the AFL, whether it being the AFL giving them players or the Dutch Lions having to trade for assets. They’ll become an official member of the AFL once the spring meetings commence, so they will have to wait until then to do anything.
BOSTON FINALLY WINS NEFL TITLE
In the last year before the NEFL would get reorganized, the Boston Bards were determined to finally win their first title before leaving to make way for a true professional team. Unlike the lopsided NYPL, the NEFL once again featured a tough title race between perennial contenders Boston, Hartford, Portland, and Providence. Each of the 4 teams fought hard through the first 6 weeks of the season, with no clear favorite entering the last half of the season. Hartford would fall apart first, with injuries to their starting RB causing them to fall out of title contention. Two-time defending champions Portland would snatch up the regular season championship, leaving Boston and Providence to fight for the final spot in the championship game in the final regular season game between the two. The de facto tiebreaker game was a defensive battle, as neither team could break through the other and forced turnovers in what seemed like every other drive. Boston’s defense would bring back two turnovers for touchdowns and would topple the Bears 14-0 to appear in their 9th championship game against the Lumberjacks. Boston’s defense kept on rolling, forcing 3 turnovers and returning 1 for a score to finally secure their first title 17-7. The Bards winning their first marks the end of an era for the NEFL, as it will transition to become the ASPFL for the 1955 season. A major reorganization of players and teams is to be expected, including some of the best being chosen to become part of the new Boston AFL team. Whether all the players will be placed onto new teams is to be determined, as a resolution about the reorganization of the NEFL will take place during the spring meetings.
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