The World Indoor Football League (WIFL) was an indoor football league founded by Harry Pierce, owner of the Rome Renegades and Raleigh Rebels of the American Indoor Football League . The league was a splinter league that formed after disgruntled ownership in the AIFL, caused significant turmoil and resulted in several teams leaving the league.
14-595: Both the Rebels and Renegades were to play in the league, with the Rebels to be renamed as the Carolina Bombers . However, on October 16, 2006, Pierce folded both franchises. Daytona Beach Thunder player Javan Camon, in his second year with the club, died as a result of injuries received during a game against the Columbus Lions on February 26, 2007. Camon was involved in a helmet-to-helmet block during
28-566: A mostly complete schedule, with few cancellations. Before the 2005 season, nine teams left the league to form United Indoor Football . That same year, the Intense Football League ceased operations and four teams from there joined the league. Those teams however, left the league before the 2006 season started. For the 2005 season, the NIFL had an agreement with NFL to handle referee assignment and training. The 2006 season,
42-690: A professional indoor football team based out of Raleigh, North Carolina . They played their home games at the Dorton Arena and were members of the American Indoor Football League (AIFL). During the team's inaugural season, they played an all-road schedule as a favor to the league (the Ghostriders were also playing an all-road schedule, since they were a quick formation of the Carolina Sharks ), along with
56-859: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rome Renegades The National Indoor Football League ( NIFL ) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, AF2 , however, that changed briefly with their expansion into AFL markets such as Atlanta , Denver , and Los Angeles, and AF2 markets such as Fort Myers and Houston . Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur , Buffalo Bills running back Fred Jackson , New Orleans Saints quarterback John Fourcade and Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl running back Bam Morris , all played in
70-569: The Carolina Bombers on August 24, they would never have a chance to play in the new league, because on October 16, they ceased all operations, along with the Rome Renegades . This American football team article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a sports team in North Carolina is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to Raleigh, North Carolina
84-562: The NIFL. The league folded in 2008. The NIFL, based in Lafayette, Louisiana , was founded by Carolyn Shiver. The league started operations in 2001, with many teams coming from Indoor Football League being bought the previous year and folding operations. In 2002, the league added in the teams from the Indoor Professional Football League . 2003 was the most successful year for the league as 24 teams played
98-688: The WIFL in hopes of joining AF2 for either the 2008 or 2009 season. [4] . The World Indoor Bowl was the championship game of the World Indoor Football League. The only World Indoor Bowl was played between the regular season champion Columbus Lions and the Augusta Spartans , who won a semi-final game against the Osceola Ghostriders to earn the berth. Carolina Bombers The Raleigh Rebels were
112-597: The Year, and Danny Burnham of Rome, Georgia. was named Fan of the Year for his efforts assisting the league's PR department. Daytona Beach also made some news in the indoor football ranks when arena football legend Barry Wagner joined the team in March 2007; Daytona Beach had previously attempted such a publicity stunt by signing Terry Bradshaw to a similar contract in 2006. The Osceola Ghostriders also featured former New England Patriot Greg Jefferson for one game. On June 30,
126-701: The fact that they couldn't get a lease for an arena in Raleigh until 2006. During their first year, the Rebels compiled a mediocre record of 3-7, almost beating the Canton Legends for fourth place. Since the league had only six teams, everyone of them (including the Rebels) made the playoffs. Their inaugural year ended with a thud as they lost in the first round to the Legends. The Rebels' second year turned out to be better than their inaugural year. They finished
140-660: The late stages of the game. He was attended by paramedics and doctors at the Ocean Center arena for approximately 25 minutes without recovering. He was pronounced dead on arrival at an area hospital. [1] So, in his honor, the league's MVP award was named after him as the Javan Camon Award. [2] The award was given to Marvin Stone of the Augusta Spartans. Columbus Lions' Jason Gibson was named Coach of
154-636: The league's only championship game, the World Indoor Bowl, took place in Columbus, Georgia with the Augusta Spartans defeating the host Columbus Lions 63-60 before a crowd of 3,529. Two teams – Columbus and Augusta – announced on September 28, 2007, that they were moving to a reformed American Indoor Football Association for 2008. [3] The announcement came after the Daytona Beach Thunder announced they were leaving
SECTION 10
#1732787265994168-681: The regular season at 8-6 and automatically went to the Southern Conference championship game, due to the Richmond Bandits ' suspension, making them forfeit. However, a week's worth of rest couldn't prepare them for the top-seeded Rome Renegades , as they fell 63-14. Following their AIFL playoff loss, the Rebels announced their intentions to move to the WIFL with the Rome Renegades . They would have become charters member of this newly formed league. Despite changing their name to
182-416: The returning teams. However, the teams were all poorly funded and had problems fielding competitive squads. The San Diego Shockwave were declared the official league champion. The league then officially folded prior to the 2008 season. In 2016, a new website announced that the league operations were relaunched by Carolyn Shiver with announced goal of bringing 34 teams into the former AFL markets starting in
196-522: Was the most chaotic for the league to that point. Ten expansion teams were added to the league, but nine of them had problems that reflected badly on the league. The most notable situation was the owner of the Montgomery Maulers firing the entire team. None of the ten expansion teams returned to the league for the next season. The 2007 season started with the addition of several league-owned expansion teams, primarily to supplement games with
#993006