When Annie Quindlen, senior in communication, scored her first touchdown in her very first flag football game, she wasn’t thinking about the points.
“I felt so athletic and awesome,” Quindlen said.
But amidst her celebration, something caught her off guard.
“I was surprised when the ref said, ‘That’ll be 9-0.’ I was thinking, ‘You mean 6-0, right?’”
But Quindlen didn’t realize that a touchdown scored by a woman receives three more points than if scored by a man, according to Auburn University’s co-recreational intramural flag football rules. The same applies for a touchdown pass thrown by a woman.
“It makes everyone feel pressure to have to pass to a girl or give her the ball, even if the guy is by the end-zone so that she can run the ball in and get nine points instead of six,” Quindlen said.
The rule isn’t special to Auburn, nor is it new. According to Daniel Overstreet and Nicholas Head, Auburn’s competitive sports co-coordinators, Auburn’s program adopts rules from the National Intramural and Recreation Sports Association.
Auburn has followed the rule since before 2000 along with other intramural programs at universities across the country, such as those at the University of Georgia, University of Alabama, Ohio State University and Florida State University.
Along with differences in the point system, co-rec flag football teams must adhere to other regulations, such as maintaining an equal or greater number of females than males on the field at all times. With the rules requiring a minimum of six players on the field, co-rec teams are required to have at least three women on the field. No rule exists regarding the minimum number of men.
Overstreet and Head said one reason the rules exist is to foster inclusion.
“Guys are out there playing, and girls are out there standing to the side because they aren’t getting passed to,” Overstreet said. “We’ve both officiated games where that has been the case.”
However, Overstreet’s main reasoning behind keeping the rule is to make co-rec flag football distinguishable from other forms of the sport.
“If we don’t have any different rules, there’s no reason to have a separate co-rec league,” he said. “We could just make the guys league open and have girls on the field. This makes it a different sport.”
Co-rec sports garner the most female participation, according to Overstreet and Head, even more than female-only intramural teams. And flag football isn’t the only sport to differ in traditional rules when applied to co-rec leagues.
In co-rec soccer, if a woman takes a penalty kick, a woman must be in goal to defend it, and rules regarding the minimum number of women are the same as in flag football.
In volleyball, the number of hits to sail the ball over the net determines if a girl must be involved in the play.
In softball, males are required to use their non-dominant hand at bat.
In basketball, baskets scored by women count for twice as many points as those scored by men, and men can’t leave their feet to block a woman’s shot in lieu of goal-tending.
“I think it’s good incentive for girls to want to play more and actually contribute to the game because we know we could rack up points for the team,” Quindlen said. “But it’s also very sexist that the rules or system automatically classify women as less capable of scoring or running or catching. And with that, their need to give us more points is patronizing.”
Quindlen’s teammate Julianna Dinsmore, senior in marketing, has similar conflicting feelings on the matter. Dinsmore, who has yet to score a touchdown this year, felt the difference in points had little effect on the team’s camaraderie. While she understands the intent to incentivize women to actively participate, she is still unsure if the execution of equality is as hoped.
“To me, no matter who scores, there should be only one score that’s possible,” she said. “I think that’s the most fair and equal scoring system.”
Brady Jernigan, senior in supply-chain management, said he doesn’t think the rules affect female treatment regarding equality, especially with the open and closed plays.
According to the rules, teams cannot have two consecutive plays in which a male player completes a pass to another male player. A play in which any combination of pass completion is allowed is referred to as an open play. Following a play with a pass from a man to another man, the play is said to be closed. This means a woman must either throw or catch for positive yardage before a man is allowed to complete a pass to another man.
“This really evens out the plays and football touches for both genders,” Jernigan said. “The rule does place a larger emphasis on girl’s athletic abilities.”
Yet, despite an understanding of the different treatment, he isn’t sure if the point values assigned to the different genders are where they should be.
“Ten points with the extra point does seem a little much,” he said. “Perhaps, eight points instead of 10 would be better.”
The issue of the point system has persisted since Head attended Auburn as an undergraduate in the early 2000s. He recalled a time both his flag football and basketball team lost in the finals due to the increased points for women.
“The thing is, we don’t want to devalue anyone’s points, but we also want to reflect the game as accurately as we can,” Head said.
Every year, Overstreet and Head re-evaluate NIRSA’s co-rec rules to determine whether Auburn students’ needs are being met.
“It’s really just a product of what the students want,” Overstreet said. “If we thought it was something that would benefit the participants and make their experience better, absolutely we’d be willing to change those rules.”
However, Overstreet said in his 13 years as coordinator and during his time as a student at Auburn from 2000-2005, no women or men have outright officially complained about the point system. While he and Head have asked students and staff members, many of whom are also intramural participants, the most common answer they receive is one of conflicted interest.
“They’ll say, ‘Oh, I’m playing co-rec. I’ll just stop and wait for a girl,’” Overstreet said. “When I was in undergrad and in graduate school, I was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ I played defensive line in high school, so I didn’t get a chance to score, so I’m scoring when I get the chance, but half our workers will say, ‘No, I’m waiting,’ and the other half will say, ‘No, I’m scoring the touchdown.’”
The discrepancy in point values and participation remains difficult to hash out for those involved in intramurals.
Ultimately, Head said the students participating in the sports have the final say in enacting a change if they so desire one.
“I think the biggest thing is who is advocating for that change,” Head said. “Sometimes folks just want to be heard or there’s a frustrating night where the girl didn’t score a touchdown or the other team’s girl did, but we have to realize it’s about those participating, not about Daniel or myself. It’s about those who register, and if they don’t like something or they do like something, we want to reflect the change and speak up because if they don’t think anything will change, then nothing will.”
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