Drive by Wrightsville Beach Park on a Sunday this spring and you can’t miss the action, as team after team of flag football players engage in friendly competition for a title that has become increasingly more coveted.
This season marks the 25th year the league has played, with all but the first season being competed at the Wrightsville Beach Park. The games often draw spectators, usually friends and girlfriends of the players, but one recent fan was there to reflect on how the league got started.
“It turned out much better to play the games at Wrightsville Beach. The girls from the beach would come watch us play,” said Jeff Babilonia, who started the flag football league in 1992 as a way to meet people in Wilmington, where he had recently moved here from Chicago. “I didn’t know anyone and I hated going to the gym. But I could play sports all day long. So I put an add in the paper and got a lot of response.”
While games the first season were played at the university of North Carolina Wilmington, Jeff moved them to Wrightsville Beach Park the follow season. Since then, the league has steadily expanded, growing from 10 teams at the start to 27 this season.
“If I would have known it would grow this large, I would have kept the league,” Babilonia said.
Babilonia’s team, named after the Mailbox Express store he owned, won the league six times in his 10 years of playing.
The competition has become stronger too, league players said.
In 12 years of playing, Terence Butler said the league continues to become more competitive. Most played football in high school or participated in other athletic activities. The league also draws players from a diverse set of backgrounds and professions.
“We have everyone here from bartenders to bankers,” said Butler, who plays on the team sponsored by Tavern Law, a downtown Wilmington restaurant and bar. “I’m here for the fun and for the competition. It keeps you youthful and healthy.”
Mike Wilson, playing in his first season in the league, said the experience has helped build camaraderie on the company team for which he plays, Marty’s Calves, representing N2 Publishing.
“It’s about coming out and having fun, it’s the name of the game,” Wilson said. “It’s definitely bringing us closer together.”
While watching the games, Babilonia reflected on his time as the league’s administrator, which included all of the organization, as well as lining the fields with chalk and sometime even keeping the peace.
“Part of my job was to keep everyone in line,” he said. “It’s a non-contact game but sometimes guys would play rough. I had to keep them for fighting. We would kick people out of the league for that, it wasn’t tolerated.”
As the league has grown, Babilonia said the participation has become more spirited. In particular, he said the uniforms had become more creative.
“I got a kick out of the team that wore tuxedo t-shirts as their uniform,” he noted.
After a decade of play, Babilonia ended his participation in the league in 2003. His team won the league in 2002 after he tossed a touchdown pass on the game’s last play. He came back for one more season, only to lose in a championship rematch to the “Wolfpack,” a team of former N.C. State students.
“I should have gone out on top,” he quipped.
The league will continue play throughout the month, with the championship scheduled for late March.
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