General

Two massive tournaments took place prior to the 4th of July weekend, featuring six of the top 11 teams in the country, in addition to games scattered across the landscape.

After all of that footy under the intense heat of late June, the net gain was one team moving two rungs up the ladder, with two others sliding up one spot.  The Orange County Bombers, winners of the Western Regionals, remained in the top spot for the fourth poll in a row, taking top votes from seven of the nine panelists.

Well folks, it took all of three weeks for the poll to be thrown into a tizzy.  But it happened, and we have a new number one team.

The New York Magpies' loss to the Fort Lauderdale Fighting Squids at the Eastern Regional tournament was enough to make five of the nine panelists give their #1 vote to someone else.  And, when the dust settled, the Orange County Bombers emerged on top of the second USAFL Top 20 Poll.

On October 18th, a new slate of USAFL National Champions will be crowned.  Whoever lifts the John Harrell Cup in the center of Cooper’s Field at Onion Creek Soccer Complex in Austin will lay claim to the title of best footy club in the land.

The path between this day and that one is rather long, however, and in the intervening 27 weeks, each team will take to ovals across the USA and do battle, jockeying for position on the ladder.

"For lo' the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."

Though the last bits of winter have invaded spring on the East Coast, Spring is in fact here.  In America, that means footy season is finally upon us.  34 clubs from coast to coast are ready for the 2015 season.  Many questions have bounced around the heads of footy players and experts in the offseason: