Final Standings

Playoff Results

Recap

Quad City Steamwheelers from Moline, Illinois, repeated as af2 ArenaCup Champions thanks to a 55-51 victory over Richmond Speed from Virginia in ArenaCup 2001. Ironman Scott Hvistendahl hauled in a 3 yard Touchdown Reception from Quarterback Jay McDonagh with 10 seconds remaining to give the Steamwheelers the victory. A little over a minute earlier Kevin Harvey had caught a 13-yard reception from QB Bob Bees in the endzone to give Richmond a 48-44 lead in a rollercoaster game where the lead changed hands 16 times with neither team recording back-to-back scores. The game was played in front of 8,261 fans in Moline, Illinois.

Quad City Steamwheelers had finished the regular season National Conference Midwest Division Champions on 15-1 before defeating Macon Knights (10-6, American Southwest) 80-55 in the Quarter-Final Round and Carolina Rhinos (12-4, American Northeast) 35-16 in the Semi-Final Round. Richmond Speed’s path to the ArenaCup included posting a 13-3 record to win the American Conference Northeast Division title before knocking out Birmingham Steeldogs (12-4, National South Central) 67-60 in the Quarter-Final Round and in an exciting overtime game overcoming Tennessee Valley Vipers from Hunstsville, Alabama (14-2, National South Central) in the Semi-Final Round. Other teams to make the Playoffs were American Southeast Champions Tallahassee Thunder (11-5) and National Midwest runners-up Tulsa Talons (13-3).

About Arena Football League af2

The Arena Football League was the original Indoor or Arena American Football League, established in 1986. After the court ruling in 1998 that its patent (awarded in 1989) only referred to the rebound nets either side of the goalposts, everything else was football, and not under copyright, as it was already in the common sphere.

This opened the door to rival Indoor Leagues, and in an attempt to see them off Arena Football League created Arena Football 2 (af2) in 2000, an official Minor League. This was an over-expansion and coupled with the debts from the court case related to the patent, it incurred a legacy debt that left the League in no position to continue after 2019.

For the second af2 season in 2001, the league consisted of 28 franchises, in two conferences (American and National). The American Conference (East Coast) had two divisions of seven teams each: Northeast and Southeast and the National Conference (Central USA) also had two divisions of seven teams (Midwest and South Central). The top two teams in each division qualified for the playoffs, seeded 1-8.

ABOUT ARENA / INDOOR FOOTBALL

Indoor Football, also known as Arena Football was developed in 1986 as an 8v8 form of Indoor American Football. After an initial few seasons where the game was developed with a 4 team league, a full seasons League with eventually over a dozen teams was developed in the 1990 which was considered by the Wall Street Journal to be a fifth major.

The Arena Football League over-expanded in the 2000s with a Minor League, and its importance (and number of teams) waned since it first experienced financial diffulty in 2009, and it ceased operations after the 2019 season due to the legacy debt incurred.

There is now, however, Indoor Football Leagues all over America, all of which would now be considered Minor League or Semi-Pro (AAA, AA, or even A)

Indoor Football is played on a 50-yard field with two 8-yard endzones, and teams have 5 downs (attempts) to reach the endzone or the ball is turned over. 3 of those downs must be passing plays, making Indoor Football highly explosive and high scoring.

The main difference between Arena Football & Indoor Football is the rebound nets either side of the goalposts in Arena Football, which is the only part of the original patent given to the Arena Football League in 1989, that a subsequent ruling in 1998 ruled was copyright, the rest being Football already in other leagues.

Photo of Classic Moline Steam Tractor

References

[1] Arena Football (2001) af2.com Game Center -> 2001 Standings [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20011114102309/http://www.arenafootball.com/af2/games/index.cfm?include=/includes/standings.cfm&subnav_key=af2_games&page_type=dept&bar_img=af2_games_stands [Accessed 18 November 2022]

[3] Arena Football (2001) af2.com Game Center -> Scores [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20011115084356/http://www.arenafootball.com/af2/team/league_pressreleases.cfm?source=st&cont_id=69751 [Accessed 18 November 2022]

[4] Arena Football (2001) af2.com Game Center -> Scores [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20011215160558/http://www.arenafootball.com/af2/games/index.cfm?include=/includes/scores.cfm&subnav_key=af2_games&page_type=dept&bar_img=af2_games_scores [Accessed 18 November 2022]

[5] Arena Football (2001) af2.com Arena Cup – > Quad City repeats in a rubberband battle [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20011205122309/http://www.arenafootball.com/af2/team/league_pressreleases.cfm?source=st&cont_id=70462 [Accessed 18 November 2022]

[6] Arena Football (2001) af2.com -> Teams [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20011112215429/http://arenafootball.com/af2/team/index.cfm?page_type=dept&cont_id=53070&subnav_key=af2_teams&no_bar=true&subnav=false [Accessed 18 November 2022]

Image References

[8] PEKIN, NORTH DAKOTA, September 2, 2018: An old restored classic Minneapolis Moline and other tractors are displayed at the Labor Day Stump Lake Village Threshing Bee. Copyright: rjfiskness [Internet] Available from: https://www.123rf.com/photo_114870264_Pekin,%20north%20dakota,%20september%202,%202018:%20an%20old%20restored%20classic%20minneapolis%20moline%20and%20other%20tractors%20are%20displayed%20at%20the%20labor%20day%20stump%20lake%20village%20threshing%20bee..html?vti=n5qwnxcjeuf7d73tnf-1-30 [Accessed 19 November 2022]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Todd Zboyan, Tim Leadingham. Bart Barden & Sam Thompson.

ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 19 November 2022

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2022

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved. The Logos and Photos used in this article remain the property of the organisations and individuals which own the copyright and are used here for educational and information purposes only. Eirball is not officially connected or endorsed by Arena Football League.