Amblint Poets * Carver Bulldogs * Deerborn Gryphons * Delle Chaparrals * Elderwood Archers * Green Rock Warriors * Lia Kompos Pumas * Northsouth Athletics (defunct) * Northsouth Generals * Petchon Predators * Plains City Travelers * Platte Cragsmen * Redwood Flyers * Salvation Brothers * Taawa Jackals * Tiny Sea Titans * Wight Ravens
The Uplantic Professional Football Federation began play in 1932, after founders Catherine Pennington and Giles Lydon saw the success of Uplantica’s professional baseball leagues and believed that football could be just as fruitful. After the revelation of a cheating scandal perpetrated by Giles Lydon and the Northsouth Athletics during the inaugural season, the UPFF folded and Uplantic Premier Football (UPF) was formed with the remaining nine teams and seven new teams.
The UPF is divided into four divisions of four teams. The winners of each division plus one Wild Card from each conference play for their respective Conference Championships, then the winners meet in the Uplantic Bowl.
The UPF championship trophy is named after founding UPFF commissioner Cathy Pennington. The Pennington Cup is one of a kind and travels to the possession of the team that wins it each year.
Teams
Amblint Poets
“Victory! in Word and Deed!”
Southern Conference – East Division
The Amblint Poets were formed as one of the six teams for a new league to rival the UPFF before it folded in early 1933. The Poets are owned by Jacob Helms, a real estate magnate who entered the world of professional sports by leasing several acres of his own land to the UA baseball league for Spring Training in 1928.
The Poets name alludes to the city’s reputation as a center for the arts, and as the birthplace of famed 17th-century playwright Aldon Eckersfeld. They play in the Woover Bowl, named for former Amblint Mayor Jeanine Woover, who helped bring an age of booming prosperity to the area with collectivist industrial policies and as a proponent of the Uplantic Pact at the turn of the century.
Carver Bulldogs
“Loyalty is Royalty!”
Northern Conference – East Division
The Carver Bulldogs were formed as one of the six teams for a new league to rival the UPFF before it folded in early 1933. The Bulldogs were founded by a bit of an odd couple: Chris Len, a cutthroat businessman from Tiny Sea, and Jerry Vigil, a local restaurateur and booster of youth athletics programs. Len is the majority owner of the Bulldogs with Vigil acting as GM. Chris Len also owns the Carver Canaries pro baseball team.
The Bulldogs team name is a reference to 12th century king Carver III, who was the first monarch in history to give a measure of legislative power to democratic processes. King Carver was affectionately known as “The Bulldog King” both because of his rotund appearance and his loyalty to the people of the Kingdom of Huett, which ruled in the region for over three centuries.
Deerborn Gryphons
“Fly high! Fly fast! Fly far!”
Northern Conference – East Division
The Deerborn Gryphons were formed as one of the six teams for a new league to rival the UPFF before it folded in early 1933. The Gryphons name has been used by Deerborn athletics teams going back at least a century to the Gryphons Club, a wrestling organization founded in the early 19th century. The name has been picked up at various points by competitive clubs for nearly every sport imaginable, but the UPF team is the first professional sports team to adopt the moniker.
Former Deerborn mayor Oswald Leedy Jr. teamed with Gryphons owner Melvin Sykes to advocate for funds among the wealthy elite families of the city. This would lead to the building of Gryphons Stadium, considered the one of the most stylish and iconic venues in Uplantica, located on the shore of Lake Woodlyn in downtown Deerborn.
Delle Chaparrals
“Dynasty or Dust!”
Southern Conference – East Division
The Delle Chaparrals were formed as a new team for the UPFF in 1932. They are owned by Joe Horn, who also owns the Delle Stars baseball team. Horn, who made the Stars the most recognized brand in baseball, commissioned Delle Artist Tito Lia Taawa to design the Chaparrals’ road runner logo. The Chaparrals colors consist of a darker shade of the Stars’ navy blue and lavender, in reference to the official state flower of Medland.
Joe Horn hired the coaching staff from Blaylock University’s championship football team, led by head coach Keith Merchan. Merchan proclaimed at his hiring press conference: “We will bring a football dynasty to Delle! Dynasty or Dust!”
Elderwood Archers
“Discipline Breeds Excellence.”
Northern Conference – West Division
The Elderwood Archers began in 1926 as an extension of the Elderwood Archery and Skiing Club, the most exclusive athletics club in Elderwood. As Northern Conference teams go, the Archers are the newcomers. They were the last of the pre-league UPFF clubs to form a football team.
As a result of both their status as an exclusive private club and of being the last NC club to break into football, the Archers are seen as an “elitist” team by newcomers to football, and as charlatans by fans of long-established football programs. Their use of metallic pewter helmets certainly does not dispel charges of elitism, and is also viewed as a gaudy play at class by fans of established programs. These damned-if-you-do-or-don’t judgments have led Archers fans to adopt a tenacious defensive stance, which fits in well with the bitterly contentious underdog fan base of the Elderwood Lakers baseball team, with whom the Archers share a stadium in Elderwood Park Center.
Green Rock Warriors
“Bring! It! On!”
Southern Conference – West Division
The Green Rock Warriors were formed as a new team for the UPFF in 1932. They are Green Rock’s only professional sports team. The Warriors team name is borrowed from Rock Valley School, the pride of Green Rock, a high school whose sports teams have bested teams from the bigger cities in Thronson for decades. In return for use of the name, team owner Gerald Hawsworth contributes a hefty annual sum to Green Rock’s school system.
There was some controversy around the originally planned insignia for the pro football team. Hawsworth’s art department originally borrowed the school’s logo, but the UPFF ethics board rejected the design for its depiction of racial stereotype and violence. The original logo depicted a medieval Itoldun warrior slaying a racist caricature of a Kutando warrior. The logo, which had existed for nearly half a century, had long been a point of contention among the minority Kutando population in the area, and the prospect of the image being used nationally led to a campaign to boycott the team before they even fielded a roster. Gerald Hawsworth ordered the logo changed, and the Rock Valley School changed theirs as well after a series of open community meetings in their school district.
Lia Kompos Pumas
“Speed, Agility, Power!”
Southern Conference – West Division
The Lia Kompos Pumas were formed as a new team for the UPFF in 1932. They are owned by Gwendolyn Katakien, a wealthy businesswoman from Tiny Sea who made a fortune as the inventor of a comfort-forward line of seats for tractors and horse carts. Katakien married Jonathan Richards, the owner of baseball’s Lia Kompos Miners in 1930. She had taken classes with UPFF founder Giles Lydon at the University of Harmony, and remained in touch. When Lydon and Pennington decided to start the league, they contacted Katakien, who was inspired to put together a franchise, in part, as a wager with her husband to see whose franchise could be more successful over the years. The Pumas name comes from Katakien’s love of wildlife and the outdoors. Pumas are a feared predator across the Uplantic west.
Northsouth Athletics (defunct)
“For the Township!”
The Northsouth Athletics won the Pennington Cup in the inaugural UPFF season, but were revealed to have cheated on their way to league-wide dominance. The revelation led to the dissolution of the UPFF and the team’s disbandment.
The A’s began as a private sports club exclusively for military veterans in 1889. The club initially focused heavily on shooting, skiing, swimming, and other outdoor pursuits. Northsouth Athletics fielded its first football team in 1919, and grew to be known as a powerhouse for rough contact sports, where many top Uplantic boxers and fighters trained.
After the founding of the USU in 1902, the club began to allow non-military civilian membership, and even became a cultural safe haven for dissenters and opponents of Harmonyc military might. Surprisingly, this cultural shift has not seemed to harm the popularity of the Athletics football team among the public at large, even though the military is still almost universally revered in Northsouth with its long history as an important crusade outpost.
Northsouth Generals
“Respect. Integrity. Excellence.”
Northern Conference – West Division
The Northsouth Generals were the last team to join the new UPF league for the 1933-34 season. Tim Trefellen, elder cousin of the Northsouth Guardians baseball team owner Abel Trefellen, saw an opportunity to break into sports and quickly funneled nearly his entire savings into building the team on short notice when plans for the UPF began to quickly fall into place in summer of 1933. The Generals play at Trefellen Field, originally the home of the baseball Guardians of the UUBO. Although no one from the family has commented publicly, it is widely believed that the Trefellen family do not approve of Abel’s eccentric personality and media presence, and view the Generals as a chance to reclaim the family’s dignity after Abel’s rise from runaway street tough to famed art dealer and successful businessman.
Tim Trefellen and the Generals management hope to present the team as a respectable, upstanding foil to the Northsouth Athletics, whose cheating scandal unraveled the fledgling UPFF after just one season, resulting in the team’s disbandment and a lifetime ban for the coaches and management from the new league.
Petchon Predators
“Shark bite fever!”
Southern Conference – East Division
The Petchon Predators were formed as one of the six teams for a new league to rival the UPFF before it folded in early 1933. Comorro Lani’i, owner of Petchon’s most successful laundry business founded the team. The Predators name refers to the various species of sharks that inhabit the waters of Petchon Gulf and Devil’s Bay. Some have speculated that the name my also indicate Lani’i’s animosity toward the Fishball Collective, a group of fishermen who own the Petchon Carp baseball team in the UUBO. Lani’i’s father was ousted from leadership when he attempted to unify the fisheries of south Medland under Tiny Sea owners in the 1880’s. The Lani’i family left the fishing industry and Petchon altogether, but Comorro Lani’i returned to the area at age 26 and started a laundry business which went on to great success.
Plains City Travelers
“Victory, Near or Far!”
Northern Conference – East Division
The Plains City Travelers were the name for the touring football team first fielded in 1922 by Hewitt Sporting, the top athletic club in Plains City throughout the early 1900s. The Travelers toured from the Orestric coast as far east as eastern Termina, playing scrimmages for small entry fees and challenging college and local teams, like the much more ubiquitous traveling baseball teams of the era.
While it can’t necessarily be proven, the legend goes that the massive popularity of football over other sports in southeastern Uplantica is due to the Travelers teaching the game to a plenipotentiary group from K’Taen while on tour in Wilder in 1923.
The Travelers wear roses on their helmets in reverence of team founder Bart Hewitt’s late wife, Rose. The rose is also a symbol of goodwill in the region, paying homage to the “Truce of Roses” of 1881, an inspiring if not altogether true story of a temporary halt to hostilities in the area during Emergence Day of that year.
Platte Cragsmen
“Highest Heights!”
Southern Conference – East Division
The Platte Cragsmen are the lone pre-existing team in the UPFF’s Southern Conference. They were formed by the Platte Climbers Club in 1923 to compete with college teams and teams from other major private athletic clubs. The football team was part of a handful of new additions in non-climbing sports to the club that year, which ultimately led to the dissolution of the Platte Climbers Club in 1935 after original members of the exclusive mountain climbing club objected to the club’s membership expansion. The Cragsmen name lives on with the UPFF team, along with their traditional sky blue and rock grey color scheme.
The original Platte Climbers Club was founded by infamous occultist Clinton Osbourne. The team does not endorse nor condemn the late magician’s practices, which have been condemned and vilified by both the state of Simmons and the Harmonyc Brotherhood church. Still, some find the use of the Cragsmen moniker a tacit endorsement of Osbourne’s worldview.
Redwood Flyers
“Fly, Flyers, Fly!”
Southern Conference – West Division
The Redwood Flyers were formed as one of the six teams for a new league to rival the UPFF before it folded in early 1933. Jim Tracy, former Yeshugg City mayor and owner of baseball’s Redwood Owls, sold the Owls team in order to finance the Flyers. Tracy is an aviation enthusiast, and named the Flyers in honor of his passion for air travel.
The Flyers play at Beach Gate Park, built on the shore of the Orestric Ocean. The park itself is bare bones, but the view from anywhere in the stadium is breathtaking and renowned.
Salvation Brothers
“For Salvation!”
Northern Conference – West Division
The Salvation Brothers represent the Harmonyc Brotherhood’s athletics division. The Brothers are branded in blue and gold, matching the baseball team in the UA, along with all other Brothers athletes.
Brothers football began playing in 1909, one of the first competitive teams fielded by the program. HB athletics teams double as a replacement for the unity of military conquest, which the state of Harmony agreed to permanently suspend with the founding of the USU in 1902, as well as an outreach to the secular world to both rehabilitate the HB in the eyes of citizens of the new USU and to recruit young people to the church through sports.
The current incarnation of the Salvation Football Brothers, like the Brothers baseball team, is not owned directly by the HB church, but by team owner Leland Arveland, who is a lifelong devout follower of the Brotherhood. Like the baseball team, Brothers Football employs non-HB people with no explicit religious requirements. The Brothers play on a field in the City Center, the same metropolitan complex that houses the baseball team’s home games, along with the HB’s sprawling administrative campus.
Taawa Jackals
“Everyone’s a Jackal, Woof! Woof! Woof!”
Southern Conference – West Division
The Taawa Jackals were formed as a new team for the UPFF in 1932. Anthony Thurman started the team with a loan from his brother, Taawa Chargers baseball team owner Micah Thurman. Anthony Thurman had tried and failed at several businesses on his own before taking the loan from his brother to start the Jackals. Rumor has it that UPFF founders Cathy Pennington and Giles Lydon were originally hesitant to work with Anthony before Micah reassured them of his belief in his brother’s ability to run a franchise. Despite the Chargers lack of success of the baseball field, their merchandise is some of the highest selling in the UA, so Micah Thurman’s word carried some weight with Lydon and Pennington.
Perhaps owing in part to their baseball team’s painful early days, fans of the Jackals have a reputation for being some of the rowdiest in the UPFF. Sapfoot Stadium West is one of the most feared destinations for visiting teams, regardless of the Jackals record in any given year.
Tiny Sea Titans
“Together We Are Titans!”
Northern Conference – West Division
The Tiny Sea Titans club was founded in 1901 as a secular athletic club in opposition to the Harmonyc Brotherhood’s religious stranglehold on all forms of culture in the state of Harmony. The Titans club was formed by Catherine Pennington and Giles Lydon after their departure from the University of Harmony. Before the league began play, Lydon and Pennington sold the Titans name to Tiny Sea businessman and former city councilor George Teakowa in order to form the pro football team, while Lydon and Pennington went to work full-time running the UPFF.
The Titans, like the Tiny Sea Metros baseball team, represent a growing demographic of secular people in southern Tiny Sea City, who want nothing to do with the ancient doctrines and biases of the Harmonyc Brotherhood in the city. The Titans secured funds with fundraising donations from all over the country to build Tiny Sea Coliseum, a stadium and community gathering place that rivals the size and majesty of the HB’s City Center in the northern part of the city, where the Brothers play.
There is an obvious rivalry between the Titans and Brothers. While the rivalry between fans can be quite heated, leadership from both football franchises, and from the religious and secular communities they represent, tout athletic competition as a healthy outlet for centuries of contentious history.
Wight Ravens
“Outwit, outlast, outplay!”
Northern Conference – East Division
The Wight Ravens were formed as one of the six teams for a new league to rival the UPFF before it folded in early 1933. Legendary singer Leonard Mark founded the team with his longtime manager and business partner George Gaarl. The team partnered with the Wight Gazette to hold a citizen’s vote on the team name. Among nearly 50 submissions, the “Ravens” won in a landslide over “Captains” and “Monsters” in the final round of voting.
Leonard Mark toured Uplantica with his music in the turbulent years leading up to the turn of the century and lent his celebrity to unification efforts that led to the creation of the USU in 1902. Mark is one of the most beloved folk figures in Uplantica and the Ravens are one of the most popular football teams nationwide.
Uplantic Sports Today 