MANILA, Philippines - Tone-bodied ladies clad in undergarments, getting down and dirty by tackling each other — the Lingerie Football League (LFL) is true fantasy football indeed. When LFL started as a Super Bowl halftime television special called Lingerie Bowl in 2009, no one guessed that it would become the legitimate pro-sports league that it has become today. Since its launch, the LFL has been named “the fastest growing sports league in the US†by NBC Sports.
The LFL women athletes, in their uniform tops and bottoms as well as custom helmet and shoulder pads, play 7-on-7 tackle American football. It may be sports entertainment at its sexiest, but the athleticism and drive that the women possess make the contact sport all the more worth watching. One such certified athlete is BC Angels running back Stephanie Manou, known by many as the Locomotive. “I’m pretty good at running people all over the place,†says the Toronto native.
She showcased her abilities and proved to be a force to be reckoned with very early on by scoring the very first touchdown in the history of LFL Canada. Her astounding performance consequently earned her a couple of Co-Player of the Game awards and Offensive Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player nods. While the players run the risk of bruising and experiencing wardrobe malfunctions (Stephanie’s bum got exposed once), these fearless femme fatales still block, grapple, and attack like real warriors on the field. For Stephanie, they have proven that “just because (we) may be pretty and attractive, it doesn’t mean that (we) can’t play a contact sport or can’t be aggressive.â€
You can catch Stephanie and the powerful, beautiful women of the LFL Canada teams, BC Angels, Regina Rage, Saskatoon Sirens and Toronto Triumph in action on KIX (Channel 63 on Skycable; Channel 10 on Globe Destiny Cable and Channel 220 on Cable link) Sunday nights at 10:30.