New England Patriots and Massachusetts governor push for flag football progress
· Yahoo Sports
Football trailblazer Jen Welter and Massachusetts governor Maura Healy joined the New England Patriots Saturday, Aug. 1, to celebrate football's female trailblazers and push for flag football growth in New England.
They gathered to unveil a new installation at the New England Patriots Hall of Fame, honoring the decades of women who have brought women’s football to the point where it is today. Created by Welter, "Kick [gl]ass: Women in Football" will be on display from July 2026 to January 2027.
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"Football has often been called the final frontier for women in sports, so this installation is a love letter to the women whose strong shoulder pads the game stands on today. The hidden figures of football," Welter said. "Women are transforming football at every level - as players, coaches, officials and leaders - and this installation makes that progress visible."
Welter made football history as the first woman to coach in the NFL when she worked on the Arizona Cardinals' linebackers coaching team, and broke new ground as a player when she became the first woman to play a non-kicking role on a men's professional football team during her time with the Indoor Football League team the Texas Revolution.
Healey joined Welter at the unveiling to push for growth in the sport's next arena for women: flag football.
Flag, though an official high school sport in 23 states and counting, has not yet crossed that threshold in the Patriots' home state of Massachusetts, where they have been heavily involved in its growth.
"We need flag football for girls in high schools across Massachusetts. MIAA, I call on you to get this done," Healey said Saturday in conversation with Welter, calling on the state's high school athletics governing body. "It's so important to our girls. It's access, it's opportunity...They deserve the stability, they deserve the competition, and they deserve the opportunity to be great."
The push from the governor comes as flag football is exploding in popularity across the country. Beyond its growth on the high school level, the NCAA recently recommended it to become a championship collegiate sport by 2028, and it will be making its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New England Patriots and Massachusetts governor push for flag football progress