In the Fall of 1984, the Long Island Flag Football League was finally born. The basic game George Higgins created was 8-on-8, a 40X80 yard field, open hand blocking only, 1st downs at the 20-40-20 yard lines, and 3 ineligible linemen. It has became known as "8-Man Ineligible" flag football! Herman's won the Championship that 1st season in 1984 and in 1985 a Suffolk County division was added while the original teams in Eisenhower Park became the Nassau Division. In 1985, the Suffolk Champion "Commack Bulldogs" met the Levittown Dragons of Nassau in the first true "Long Island Super Bowl". Not even the public schools on Long Island had the two counties face-off (Nassau vs. Suffolk) at that time so, the Commack Bulldogs became the 1st "LONG ISLAND CHAMPIONS" of football in 1985!

      After steady growth in 1986 & 1987, a second division, the "B" Division was added in 1988 in each county. By the Spring of 1989 flag football fever was such that the LIFFL began one of the 1st "Spring Leagues" in the nation that March. Although many other football leagues such as the USFL failed to promote "SPRING" football, the LIFFL saw over '100 teams participate that 1st Spring with that interest more than doubling by the Spring 1998 season of 228 teams!

      1990 brought the LIFFL to television, the first "Flag Football" league to ever televise games. An explosion of growth from continued television exposure led to further expansion into Queens County in '1991 and the addition of a "C" Division. In the 1992, the LIFFL made history again by being the first non-professional league to play it's SUPER BOWL in an N.F.L. Stadium, Giants Stadium!  1992 also saw the creation of the American Flag & Touch Football League, a national organization spreading the style of play that originated on Long Island to the rest of the country! Long Island teams began competing against teams from around the nation in tournaments and, to date, have won 40 "National Tournaments"! In '1994, a "D" Division was added in Nassau & Suffolk counties. During the 1990's, the NFL came to the LIFFL for guidance with both its "Air-It Out" tournament series and NFL FLAG program.  To counter the trend of Long Island's youth away from football, the LIFFL began it's Youth League in 1995 and its rules are now used by the NFL across the country! In 1995, the LIFFL brought it's Youth League finals to Giants Stadium along with it's Adult league Finals that Fall. That day, a longtime adult division player also had his son playing in the Youth final later that same day at Giants Stadium! In a nutshell, that is what the Long Island Flag Football League has been about, providing lifelong memories.

     Like the tens of thousands of players who have participated in the LIFFL since 1984, George Higgins didn't want his football career to end with high school. So he created a league that grew from a six team experiment with traffic cones into the largest Football league, tackle- flag- whatever, in the world! Today, over 500 teams play on Long Island during two full seasons(Spring & Fall) and two mini-seasons(Summer & Winter). Over 6000 current players take the field each Sunday on 38 football fields from Queens to east end of Long Island! Tens or thousands of other players across the country, in places as diverse as Albany NY, Austin TX, or N. Virginia, now play the same rules each Sunday that were drawn up back in the early l980's, in Eisenhower Park, on a 120 mile sand dune known as "Long Island",  the "birthplace" of the sport of 8-Man Ineligible Flag Football!