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The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional
arena football Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...
league that played its games in the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. It featured players from the now-defunct
Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...
(AFL) and other indoor football leagues' rosters while also using players from China or who are of Chinese descent, The six team, eight-on-eight football league consisted of four Chinese players and four "foreign" players on the field at a time. The league began play in the fall of 2016 and held two seasons, one in 2016 and another, heavily abbreviated, schedule in 2019. It was the first professional
American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
league to play in China. The CAFL was not directly affiliated with the AFL, instead owned by AFL Global, LLC, a company that was created by Martin E. Judge Jr.


History

In August 2012, Ganlan Media International received exclusive rights from the AFL to establish a new Chinese arena football league. The project was headed up by Martin E. Judge, Jr. and
Ron Jaworski Ronald Vincent Jaworski (born March 23, 1951), nicknamed "Jaws", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He played college football for the Youngstown State Pengui ...
, who are both part of the
Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...
's ownership group. The CAFL has been branded as AFL China, the China American Football League and the China Arena Football League. The China Arena Football League has stuck as the league's official name. AFL coaches and trainers traveled to China to help teach the rules of the sport to squads made up of Chinese and American players with the goal of starting an official Chinese arena league. AFL China and Ganlan Media were created in 2012 by businessman Martin E. Judge, Jr., founder and owner of the Judge Group. The company, called ''AFL Global, LLC'', looks to introduce and launch professional Arena Football teams and franchises in various locations throughout the world (a la NFL Europe). After their successful trip to China to help promote the game, they formally announced plans to further develop AFL China by the fall of 2014 by starting a comprehensive training program in May 2013 with exhibition games planned for the cities of Beijing and Guangzhou in October. This would be the first time professional football of any kind will be played in China with the support of the Chinese government and the CRFA ( Chinese Rugby Football Association). On November 2, 2013, AFL China and Ganlan Media presented its first
exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...
"all-star game" at the
Neal Blaisdell Arena The Neal S. Blaisdell Center is a community center near downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. The complex has a multi-purpose arena, concert hall, exhibition hall, galleria, meeting rooms, Waikiki Shell and others. Constructed in 1964 on the historic Wa ...
in
Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
, which was the home of the
af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football r ...
's
Hawaiian Islanders The Hawaiian Islanders were a minor league team of the Arena Football League's developmental league, the AF2. Based in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Hawaiian Islanders home field was at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center Arena. It competed in the AF2 Natio ...
from 2002 to 2004. The East vs. West set-up featured AFL players, led by quarterbacks
Dan Raudabaugh Daniel "Red" Raudabaugh (born March 30, 1987) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the Arena Football League (AFL) for the Dallas Vigilantes and Philadelphia Soul. He played college football at Miami University. ...
(
Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...
) for the East All-Stars and
Nick Davila Nick Davila (born May 22, 1985) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the Arena Football League (AFL). A four-time ArenaBowl champion, and three-time AFL MVP, he played for the Arizona Rattlers from 2010 to 2016 ...
(
Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...
) for the West All-Stars.
Clint Dolezel Clint Dolezel (born March 25, 1970) is an American American football, football coach and former quarterback in the Arena Football League (AFL). He currently serves as the head football coach at East Texas A&M University. Dolezel played as a qua ...
(Philadelphia) coached the East and
Kevin Guy Kevin Guy (born December 6, 1972) is an arena football coach and former wide receiver and defensive back who is the head coach for the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League (IFL). He played his college football at the University of West ...
(Arizona) coached the West. The East won that contest 67–63. On November 10, 2013, the second all-star game with the same two teams took place in front of over 6,000 fans at
Capital Gymnasium The Capital Indoor Stadium () is an indoor arena in 56 Zhongguancun South Street, Beijing, China that was built in 1968. It hosted matches between national table tennis teams of China and the United States in 1971; these matches were part of the ...
in
Beijing, China Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, making it the first-ever professional football game of ''any'' kind, outdoor or indoor, to be played in China. The East won that game 69–52. Ganlan Media has since dropped its corporate name and AFL Global, LLC, has become the sole rights-holder to the league which changed its name from AFL China to the CAFL. In October 2014, the
Chaoyang Sports Centre Chaoyang Sports Centre (Simplified Chinese: 朝阳体育中心) is a multi-use stadium in Chaoyang District, Beijing, China. It is currently used mostly for athletics matches. The stadium is able to hold 8,000 people and was opened in 2003. It ho ...
in Beijing hosted the 2014 Chinese Rugby Festival to help continue to showcase the new sport in China. Six teams, the Hebei Nirvana, Shandong Flames, Shenyang Tigers, Tianjin Pirates, Wuhan Nine Headed Birds and Xian North-West Wolves (all composed of collegiate players), played in a round-robin tournament at the first-ever CAFL University Championships to determine the inaugural champion. Shandong defeated Hebei 46–42 to win the trophy and thus cementing the CAFL's plans for a 2015 launch. Despite being marketed as an indoor game, the inaugural games were played ''outdoors''. The first government-sanctioned CAFL games were to be played in the fall of 2015; this was later postponed until the next year. The 2016 season was known as the "Super Series". The championship game was called the " China Bowl". The league held its first draft on June 10, 2016. 120 players were drafted with 60 of them being Americans, including 43 who have AFL experience. 60 players from China or players who are of Chinese descent were selected as well. The league's footballs are provided by Spalding. In September 2016, Xenith became the CAFL's exclusive equipment partner and Legend Sportswear became the CAFL's exclusive jersey and merchandise partner. In 2016, all of the league's games were shown in China on
iQiyi iQIYI (, pronounced in English as ), formerly Qiyi (), is a Chinese subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Baidu. Headquartered in Beijing, iQIYI primarily produces and distributes films and television series. i ...
and in the United States on
ONE World Sports One World Sports (stylized ONE World Sports) was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television channel. Owned by One Media Corporation, which was led by Seamus O'Brien, the network was primarily devoted to international sports, i ...
. In June 2017, it was announced that the 2017 season was being moved to the spring of 2018. The league held the 2017 CAFL Draft on July 10, 2017. The league postponed their second season again, announcing they would not play until 2019. After an abbreviated 2019 season, and the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
disrupting worldwide sport, the CAFL's online presence had disappeared or gone offline by 2021.


Key personnel

* Martin E. Judge, Jr. – Founder & Chairman *
Ron Jaworski Ronald Vincent Jaworski (born March 23, 1951), nicknamed "Jaws", is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He played college football for the Youngstown State Pengui ...
– Partner *
David Niu David Niumataiwalu, better known as David Niu (born 3 January 1966), is an Australian-American dual-code international rugby league and rugby union administrator, coach and former player. Regarded as one of the founders of rugby league in the U ...
– President * Gary R. Morris – Chief Executive Officer *
Dick Vermeil Richard Albert Vermeil ( ; born October 30, 1936) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. L ...
– League Executive * Ken Bozarth – Head of Football Operations * Ed Wang – Vice President of Football Development * Lou Tilley – Vice President of Creative & Broadcast Operations


Teams

The teams for the inaugural CAFL season were announced on May 3, 2016. The inaugural teams were the Beijing Lions,
Dalian Dragon Kings The Shenyang Rhinos were a professional arena football team based in Shenyang, Liaoning participating as members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They were originally called the Dalian Dragon Kings and were based in Dalian Dalian ( ...
, Guangzhou Power, Qingdao Clipper,
Shanghai Skywalkers The Shanghai Skywalkers were a professional arena football team based in Shanghai, China. They were members of the China Arena Football League The China Arena Football League (), often abbreviated as the CAFL, was a professional arena footbal ...
and
Shenzhen Naja The Wuhan Gators were a professional arena football team based in Wuhan, Hubei. They were members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They were originally called the Shenzhen Naja and were based in Shenzhen, Guangdong. They were named afte ...
. After the 2016 season, the Dalian Dragon Kings and Shenzhen Naja relocated to become the Shenyang Rhinos and
Wuhan Gators The Wuhan Gators were a professional arena football team based in Wuhan, Hubei. They were members of the China Arena Football League (CAFL). They were originally called the Shenzhen Naja and were based in Shenzhen, Guangdong. They were named aft ...
, respectively.


Only played in 2016


References


External links


China Arena Football League official website

China Arena Football League official website
{{CAFL Indoor American football leagues Sports leagues established in 2012 2012 establishments in China Sports leagues in China American football in China Professional sports leagues in China