The Ellington Roadrunners have recently become a Member Town of the Southern New England Youth Football Conference, (SNEYFC). All Ellington residents, and residents of towns that physically border Ellington are eligible as long as players meet the listed age and weight requirements. Athletes who reside in the following towns are also eligible to play in the Ellington Football League. ( Towns eligible update coming). The SNEYFC is one of the most competitive football leagues in the state and the Roadrunners are a cornerstone of the league.
As a Roadrunner, your player will begin practice on Monday August 1, practicing 5 days a week, (6:00 to 8:00), (D Team practices 4 nights per week). When school begins practice will be reduced to 3-days per week. Practices are high energy and run by trained and experienced coaching staffs at every level. Players will learn the fundamentals of football and through conditioning and more technical training, they will build confidence and become a Team.
The SNEYFC continues to grow with 14 plus teams, including Tolland, Colchester and Plainfield who are all former NCFL teams. SNEYFC plays 1 game per week regular season schedule (schedule TBA).
Playing-time at every level is based on several aspects of the game to include but not limited to player safety, knowledge, participation, attendance at practice and skill level. A balance of developing players, winning games and having fun is paramount for coaches at every level. Our goal is to teach kids to love this game and move them to the next level year after year, right through high school and beyond!
Here is some information to know regarding ages/weights for the SNEYFC.
4 DIVISIONS OF FOOTBALL (BASED UPON LEAGUE AGE) If at any point in time (including after the conclusion of the playing season and Super Bowl), a player is determined to be ineligible to participate due to any circumstance (including but not limited to player age, player residence or falsification of any weigh-in data), that player will immediately be deemed ineligible and all games from that season (including playoff, Super Bowl and Bowl Games) will be forfeited by the offending town and the offending town will be required to surrender any awards achieved (Super Bowl trophies, Bowl Game Trophies/Plaques) and the SNEYFC Executive Committee will award these to the appropriate team. In addition, further sanctions will be levied against the violating town by the Executive Board of the SNEYFC. Football The date in which league age is determined is June 1st of the current calendar year for all divisions.
1. (A Team) Senior Division a. League age 12-14 but younger players can play up 16 b. No player can turn 15 years of age during the current calendar year and must be in the 8th grade or lower. c. There is no maximum weight at this division. Players over 150 pounds (non-skill weight) are permitted to line-up anywhere on the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. However, players over 150 pounds (non-skill weight) will not be allowed to run, catch or throw the football and must be numbered according to their weight at the official weigh-in (e.g., non-skill weight players must be numbered 50-79). Note - The line of scrimmage extends from sideline to sideline and is within 1 yard of the end of the football in each direction). d. Skill position weight = 150 pounds and lower
2. (B Team) Junior Division a. League age 10-11 but younger players can play up b. There is no maximum weight at this division. Players over 125 pounds (non-skill weight) are permitted to line-up anywhere on the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. However, players over 125 pounds (non-skill weight) will not be allowed to run, catch or throw the football and must be numbered according to their weight at the official weigh-in (e.g., non-skill weight players must be numbered 50-79). Note - The line of scrimmage extends from sideline to sideline and is within 1 yard of the end of the football in each direction). c. Skill position weight = 125 pounds and lower
3. (C Team ) Micro Division a. League age 8-9 but younger players can play up b. There is no maximum weight at this division. Players over 100 pounds (non-skill weight) are permitted to line-up anywhere on the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. However, players over 100 pounds (non-skill weight) will not be allowed to run, catch or throw the football and must be numbered according to their weight at the official weigh-in (e.g., non-skill weight players must be numbered 50-79). Note - The line of scrimmage extends from sideline to sideline and is within 1 yard of the end of the football in each direction). c. Skill position weight = 100 pounds and lower
4. (D Team) Pee Wee Division a. League age 6-7 but younger players can play up b. There is no maximum weight at this division. Players over 85 pounds (non-skill weight) are permitted to line-up anywhere on the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage. However, players over 85 pounds (non-skill weight) will not be allowed to run, catch or throw the football and must be numbered according to their weight at the official weigh-in (e.g., non-skill weight players must be numbered 50-79). Note - The line of scrimmage extends from sideline to sideline and is within 1 yard of the end of the football in each direction). 17 c. Skill position weight = 85 pounds and lower d. There is no minimum age for this division.
The low-end age requirement would be dictated by each league based upon their insurance policy, internal by-laws and the assessment of skill level, capability and competency of each player. 5 Player Movement a. Players are allowed to move up a division at any time, just like they have been able to in the past. However, if a player moves up a division they are permitted to move back down at any time. The purpose of this is to allow a player to participate in their age appropriate division but to allow that player (if potentially prepared to play up a division) to help with any roster number issues at a higher division. However, a child will only be allowed to participate in 1 game per week unless approved by the SNEYFC Executive Board or by agreement of the opposing coach (if the SNEYFC Executive Board is not available) AND only if the addition of a player or players is required to reach the league minimum of 14 eligible players on the sideline. The Executive Board of the SNEYFC must be notified of any player movements. b. Players that move up a division for any reason will only be allowed to do so twice. Once that player moves up a third time the move will be permanent, regardless of league age. This means that once a player is active on the sideline for a game in a division that is higher than their league age division for the third time they will be required to remain at that division.
*** Please visit the GENERAL INFORMATION TAB (Under By-Laws) on our website for the 2022 EFL By-Laws, SNEYFC By-Laws and Playing Rules for both Football and Cheer.
There is no game more rewarding, or one that provides more life lessons than football!
Player Safety
"Football is not a contact sport, it's a collision sport - dancing is a contact sport." - Vince Lombardi
The most important part of our daily focus is player safety. All of our coaches are members of the National Alliance of Youth Sports, and are USA Football “Heads Up” certified, which trains coaches in head injury awareness and prevention. The Ellington Roadrunners use state of the art equipment that is regularly recertified to make sure it meets all factory standards. Please feel free to contact your players coach with any safety questions or concerns you may have.
Lately, football, and specifically youth football has been getting a significant amount of negative media coverage. Due diligence should be done by parents to ensure the proper information is obtained, and parents of children who wish to pursue football can make a good decision. And where some have publicly come out to say that “if they had a son they would not let them play football”, other testimonials can be found very easily. See below from TV Personality and Heart Surgeon Dr. Oz:
“I had to face the decision this fall about whether my son would play football,” Oz said. “He’s 14. I let him play Pop Warner and youth football, but in high school he really began hitting people.”
Oz played football in high school and at Harvard in the early 1980s. The sport’s ability to form his character appealed to him then, and even more so now in his career as a surgeon.
“I wouldn’t be who I am today without football,” he said. “There’s no question about that in my mind. It taught me how to fail and recover. I learned how to make a calm center in a maelstrom of activity around me, which is what I do in surgery. In your moment of need you don’t want to be surrounded by intellectuals. In football, you train people to be men of action. I decided if that’s what (Oliver) wanted to do, I would not take away from him that opportunity.”