Texas Cardinals ready to make impact in Minor Football League

Mar. 3—A new minor league football team is coming to the area under the direction of a Henderson County area.

Thirston Hall is the general manager of the Texas Cardinals Minor Football League team, and is not considered a semi-pro football team.

The minor football is the only minor developmental football league in the world. The league has been around for 25 years and was founded by Dr. Richard Myles, Sr., a native Washingtonian and former player at Arizona State University. Myles previously played professionally as a member of the New England Patriots.

"No one has really heard about the MFL and they heard about me and contacted me," Hall said. "The MFL wants to come in and help the guys fulfill their dreams. They will be helping out with doing youth sports and our guys will be helping out with outreach programs, No Drugs, No Thugs programs, Meals of Kindness, Soup Kitchens and mentoring these young athletes. We will hold camps and help with getting kids to camps."

Currently, the Minor Football League has 16 U.S. teams with three in Texas. The Texas teams are the Cardinals, Rams and Steelers.

The other teams are the Oklahoma Cowboys, South Carolina Outlaws, North Carolina Oilers, New Jersey Raiders, Georgia Warriors, Washington Chiefs Inc., Maryland Colts, Florida Bears, Rochester Chargers, Louisiana Packers, Fort Lauderdale 49ers, New Mexico Saints and Tennessee Patriots.

Hall said the league has 32 franchise teams with 16 in America and 16 in Africa. The league is hosting a World Bowl for the first time this year, which will be held in Egypt.

"We will have a 44-to-45 players who will play in a 10 game season," Hall said. "We will start up June 5 and go for 10 games. With the playoffs, they will happen in mid August and you will take the four best teams in the divisions. They will have a chance to play and this is the first year that we will have a World Bowl. It will be hosted in Egypt and it would be great if we can do it where we are playing at."

Hall said the Minor Football League involves more than just having the opportunity to play the game of football.

"His (Myles Sr.) vision is to have players go from the field to the front office," Hall said. "The MFL is a laboratory of change and what that means is it helps them get jobs outside of the company. When they play for us, our guys are held to a higher standard. Everyone of our guys are committed to do 100 hours of community service. That doesn't mean they are in trouble. We want to help out with every city and town that we are a part of. We want to start out with the East Texas and North Texas areas and then try to branch out to South and West Texas. East Texas is because of the area that I am from and North Texas because that is probably where we will be playing."

The league is split into four different divisions, with two divisions in each conference. The website states that each division contains eight franchises.

Hall said when he was contacted about being the general manager, he was told the league focuses on getting players who are close to their homes

"We are targeting areas to get players where they can be at home and not have to do a lot of travel," Hall said. "We put out an ad for all the players who want to play and still have the opportunity. You have to have some college and then we have a combine. They will go to www.mflishere.com and sign up and when the time comes up, it will be announced on Facebook and with the media. We will have a dance tryout and she will come from Washington to coordinate that.

The dance team will consist of females who have had modeling and dance experience ranging from ages 18-30.

He said in terms of attendance to games, they have a deal in place where you get a season ticket for five home games guaranteed. Due to the global pandemic, the basic rules of mask wearing, temperature checks and social distancing are in place.

"Ticket sales are $100 a ticket for a season ticket," Hall said. "The vision he has includes three other members to get in for five home games for $100. This is for the first season and we will be selling tickets online and we will be announcing when we are selling tickets online."

More details about the Minor Football League can be found at www.mflishere.com.