Building a Football League in Russia — Then Bringing the Lessons to Briar Cliff

By Eli Meschko

Media & Communications Coordinator

When Jeff White first got into coaching football, he had no idea where it would lead him to.

The San Diego native started his journey as a 20-year-old high school football coach. After four years, he moved on to his first collegiate job as a videographer — videotaping practices and breaking down film.

That job turned into an analyst position, and from there, he bounced around the country in different jobs with his last coaching job being a wide receivers coach at Houston Christian University (formerly Houston Baptist University).

But in between all this movement arose a unique story for White. He made the trip across the globe to Russia to do some coaching clinics. Turns out, Russia had a Pop Warner-style league called the Children’s League of American Football.

“I saw that there were a lot of kids who, when they turned 17, aged out of this league,” White said. “But at 17, they’re just not coming into their prime as young athletes, and they still wanted to play football. So, I saw it as a good opportunity to form something official to give them the opportunity to continue to play American football.”

Thus, the Russian League of American Football was founded by White. Though, this wasn’t the first time Russia had an official American football league. In 1991, the Soviet Championship was founded and became the Russian Championship in 1992, but the league was suspended in the turmoil of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Convincing investors and sponsors to be involved wasn’t necessarily challenging, as they were all intrigued by the potential of the league. However, the prevailing attitude of Russians was rather pessimistic about the chances of success.

Not in terms of not believing in White’s project specifically, but more so questioning why the league could be successful. Still, White was able to convince them of the league’s potential.

With a new official American football league reestablished under White’s leadership, it was time to build from the ground up — starting with gathering fan support.

From the very beginning, White established a fan education program. The challenge wasn’t convincing the Russian people to love football as a sport, as Russian society loved combat sports, and American football to them was seen as the ultimate combat sport.

The challenge was getting them to understand the nuances of the game. So, the league would hand out pamphlets of referee signals and the rules of football with every game program. He knew that once the league developed familiarity among the populace, the league would grow.

“We would go around to shopping malls all over Moscow and would set up little fan fest areas,” White said. “People could try on shoulder pads, try on a helmet, catch a football and even tackle a dummy. We would also have highlights from American football games so they could watch.”

The next challenge was finding a stadium to host the league’s games. Of course, there weren’t any traditional American football stadiums lying around Moscow, but White was able to strike a deal with CSKA Moscow to use its indoor facility, which seated about 4,000.

The only challenge was convincing CSKA that American football wouldn’t completely destroy the grass, so the league ended up having to play on old-school turf.

With the groundwork laid out, it was time to form teams and rosters. It wasn’t too complicated of a process, but the league was under the jurisdiction of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and the European Federation of American Football (EFAF).

The IFAF and EFAF had a rule limiting the number of Americans that could be on each roster, more specifically, the number of American passport holders to five per team. This wasn’t too big of a deal, as the majority of players were Russians who came through the Children’s League system, but it was always a good idea to have some Americans on each roster, especially at Quarterback.

However, to get around the IFAF/EFAF rules, an ideal American recruit would be someone with dual citizenship. The league could register these players under their non-American citizenship, thus not counting against the limitation on American players.

“The majority of coaches were also Russian or at least could speak Russian because there’s a language barrier,” White said. “I poached most of them from the Children’s League, as I also needed people who were familiar with American football and how to develop it.”

Communication between the American players and their coaches and teammates wasn’t much of an issue either. At the time, the players and the majority of the coaches under the age of 40, the post-Soviet generation, spoke decent English.

Throw in the fact that everyone involved understood the syntax of football, “football code,” so there wasn’t much of a communication barrier for the Americans. The biggest barrier was financial. Players didn’t make much playing but were set up with jobs as English teachers in Russian schools. They were also given an apartment to live in and paid travel back and forth between America and Russia.

“It’s not a bad gig if you want to keep playing football,” White said. “That’s pretty standard across other European leagues and teams.”

He spent a few more years cultivating and growing the league to six teams. However, things out of his control forced him to pack his bags and come back to the States. After taking time to earn his master’s and doctorate degrees from LSU, he made the move to Sioux City to take on his role as an assistant professor of sport management.

In the classroom, he is very big on practical learning and tries to bring in several examples from his experience in Russia and other experiences. His students are well engaged, which he said makes coming to work fun.

“The sport management program is one of the fastest growing programs on campus,” White said. “There’s a lot of momentum going on with the program that I’m happy about.”

Whether in a stadium in Moscow or a classroom in Sioux City, White remains committed to helping young people discover their potential, build new skills, and follow paths they never imagined. And for him, that is what makes the journey worthwhile.