The Oregon Ravens are a professional women’s football team who are defying gender barriers in the sport. Last month, we featured a few of the players to learn what inspired them to start their football journey. This week, were so lucky to have the opportunity to sit down with Rachael Durrance, Director of Operations for the Ravens, to learn more about the team, their impact, and all about the Ravens’ family!
Recap
Many are surprised to learn that we have a professional tackle women’s football team in Oregon! The Ravens are part of the Women’s National Football Conference started that started in 2019 and has 17 teams around the country. Women are historically not represented in football, and the league is changing that.
The players on the Oregon Ravens often come to the sport having grown up with football, but not always having the chance to play themselves. The Ravens are that chance! Some players discover the Ravens through word-of-mouth, others via social media, and some from an internet search.
The Ravens’ Conspiracy is the team’s fan base, and they are some of the best fans out there! In fact, they won an award for it. The energy is infectious. Check out a game or the hashtag #OregonRavensConspiracy.
Tryouts are coming up, games start in the spring, and social media is year-round. Check them all out at oregonravens.com or on social @oregonravens.
Transcript
Portland Mom Collective
Hello, everybody. Welcome. I’m so excited to have you here. My name is Lee Ann Moyer. I’m the owner of Portland Mom Collective. And I have with me here, Rachael Durrance, who is the Director of Operations for the Oregon Ravens. We are so excited to partner with Future for Football to get to know the Ravens get to know what they’re all about. If you saw our posts last week, we kind of got into it a little bit, but we get a special treat and talking to Rachel today. So welcome, Rachael. Thank you.
Rachael Durrance
Thank you for having me and The Ravens.
Portland Mom Collective
it’s so cool what you all are doing. I would just love it if you could give maybe a brief history of the Ravens for people who might not have seen the article or who have never heard of you.
Rachael Durrance
Yes, the Oregon Ravens are a women’s tackle football team. We are part of the Women’s National Football Conference, the WNFC, the organization was started in 2019. They got off to a little bit of a rocky start because of COVID. They didn’t get to have their first season as planned because things were shut down and games were adjusted, things like that. But going into 2021, things got a little bit better. And now we’re off and kicking and really excited for the upcoming 2023 season.
Portland Mom Collective
So a women’s football team here and you said you’re a part of the Women’s National Football Conference. Did I get that right?
Rachael Durrance
Yes, you did. WNFC has 17 teams across the US and many different states. It was founded in 2018. They’re going into their fourth season overall as well. And yeah, it’s exciting to see how it has grown over the past few years.
Portland Mom Collective
Yeah, it’s so it was so cool to find out that we had a women’s football team here in the state. I was super excited; I think what you’re doing is awesome. I wanted to talk a little bit about what some of what I learned, which is a little bit about the conspiracy. So a murder – a group of crows is called a murder, and a group of ravens is called a conspiracy. So when we say the conspiracy, we kind of mean the ravens’ family, ravens — your conspiracy. Tell me a little bit about it, and what we need to know about that.
Rachael Durrance
I think when most people hear the word conspiracy, you think like secret or spy or conspiring, which maybe carries like a different negative tone to it. But for us, it’s just about having a family and we’re all conspiring to bring awareness to women and women in sports, and specifically women in football. So it’s, it really is a family organization. I joined last year, I was brought on as the Director of Operations this year, but I was just a football wife last year. I really enjoyed the community that the Ravens have, and we were actually awarded Best Fan Base. Not only do we have like an awesome team, but we also have an awesome set of fans, and we call them the Oregon Ravens Conspiracy. They have their own Facebook, and they’re just so great. They come out and support us every week, every game. It’s really a pleasure. It’s truly just a family event really.
Portland Mom Collective
So awesome. I got to go out and meet some of the players and hear a little bit about your team’s story. But I’m curious how people – how players – find you, hear about you, how they know to join the team. How does that work?
Rachael Durrance
It starts a lot with the players themselves. They often carry a presence about them. I noticed when going places it’s just — it’s just a fun group of people. And we are often asked like, ‘What are you guys doing?’ or like, ‘Who are you?’ So a lot of the recruiting comes from within. A lot of the women are passionate about football and share it openly with everyone. And then a lot of people even Google women’s football and I think are often surprised to find tackle football. You’ll find a lot of flag football and rec leagues and things like that. But to find it professional league to play in, it’s fairly new. And so they find us through players through searching and social media is how a lot of people find us and are brought on to the team.
Portland Mom Collective
I definitely felt while I was out there and I can see how it’s infectious. People must just be drawn to it in some way. You touched on this a little bit just now in your answer, but I’m really interested in saying that people are surprised to find out about the team and women’s football, that you’re all working to break down some barriers and a sport that people don’t often know women play. Can you tell me a little bit about what that’s been like for the team? And anything we need to know about that?
Rachael Durrance
Yeah, it’s really exciting. I think a lot of people, a lot of girls and women are brought up watching their brothers and play football, or their dads coach football or watching Sunday football with the team, but they aren’t often represented in that. That’s what’s so exciting about this league is that that you are starting to see that representation. The women, even though they may not know the sport and the rules of playing, they’ve watched it their whole lives. So they’ll come out and they’ll be like, ‘Hey, I don’t know how to play. But I really want to, this is something that’s been a part of my life forever.’ And, ‘I want to actually be able to participate for once.’ So it’s really exciting to bring on those women and be able to teach them how to play football and kind of see them develop through learning the rules of the game and getting out there and putting on a pad and helmets and, and the things that we’re just always seeing boys doing and that they get to do themselves now.
Portland Mom Collective
Yeah. Okay, so for anybody who’s interested, how can I get out and support you? How can they learn more about you tell us everything we need to know about how to join the conspiracy?
Rachael Durrance
Yes, oregonravens.com is our website. And if you’re interested in playing, there’s a player application on there, fill that out. And you’ll hear from us.
Portland Mom Collective
You’re having a tryout day soon, too. When?
Rachael Durrance
Yep. November 12, we’re having tryouts. So if you’re interested in coming out, fill out the player application. And we’ll give you all the information and then follow us on Instagram, Facebook, @oregonravens, and we are on Twitter and Tiktok as well.
Portland Mom Collective
So if you want to join the team, you can do that. If you want to join the Ravens family, you can do that. And also, if you just want to come out and see a game when did those start?
Rachael Durrance
The 2023 season begins in the spring, usually around April, our home field is in Portland. We play usually at Milwaukee High School, that can vary, but we’ll have a schedule coming up in the beginning of the year. And we’ll share that everywhere. We would love to have people come out and support us or join us.
Portland Mom Collective
Well, awesome. Rachael, it was so great to get to know the Ravens and hear a little bit from you. And thanks so much!
Rachel Durrance
Thank you.
- Women’s tackle football is a spring sport. Keep an eye on the Ravens’ website for information about game tickets.
- Moms play football, too! Several members of the Oregon Ravens have children, and staff helps watch kids during practices.
- All WNFC games are televised on Vyre network. Locally, fans can catch live streams at The Sports Bra, a bar in northeast Portland dedicated to women’s sports.
- You can also find the Oregon Ravens on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter!
There have never been more opportunities to play football! Today, tackle, flag, modified, co-ed, and YES, women’s football teams are available in towns and cities everywhere. Visit FutureForFootball.com to find a league near you and for other helpful resources.
