Lingerie Football League Tryouts Pulls St. Louis Crowd

The Lingerie Football League came to town on Sunday looking for players.

About 75 St. Louis area women—dressed in athletic gear, not lingerie—showed up to try out for the 7-on-7 tackle football league with franchises currently in 12 cities.

The women ran pass patterns, caught the ball, fought through blocks and hit a tackling dummy on the fly like it wasn’t their first time. Several, like Amy Gamblin of Shrewsbury, said they’ve played before.

“I’ve always wanted to play football,” said Gamblin, who used to play with her brother and his buddies.

Jelisa Riddlespriger, of Florissant, said she’s happy women can finally play football.

“Lingerie football is the way to go,” she said. “I’ve played touch football with my boyfriend and his friends sometimes. I played powder-puff, ran track, played basketball. This is what I want to do.”

Evan Zalders, of Belleville, IL, via Webster Groves, and Bret Morrell of Belleville sat watching their respective girlfriends try out.

He said their girlfriends were nervous before the tryouts, but seemed to be having fun.

“It’s a good idea,” Zalders said. “Probably a lot of guys had this idea, just joking around, then some guy said, I’ll do it for real and make a ton of money.”