AJAFL

[RevNet]

If you want to view my AAFL thread, you can do so here.

This fantasy league will be called the Alabama Junior Australian Football League, or the AJAFL, for short.

This thread will be a continuation of that thread, and like that league, this one will have eight teams, and each one of the teams will have a parent club associated with them.

Here's the breakdown (Parent team in parentheses):

AJAFL Teams

Athens Athenians (Swampers)

Decatur Rivercrows (Missiles)

Etowah Warriors (Battalion)

Hoover Power (Steel Lynx)

Northport Dockers (Druids)

Auburn-Opelika Bengals (Governors)

Trojans AFC (Hornets)

Baldwin County Sharks (Buccaneers)

Here's the league map:

Unlike the AAFL thread, there will be no clash outfits, nor will there be sponsors.

Also unlike the thread, where I started north and headed south, this time, I'll start south and head north, so the first team is...

Baldwin County Sharks

Location: Gulf Shores, AL

Colors: Teal, Sand, White

I know I've put "Baldwin County, AL" instead of Gulf Shores. The reason being is that when I made the team, I wasn't too sure where I wanted to put this team's home park. I've decided that the team HQ would be put in Gulf Shores, but that the park would be somewhere between Gulf Shores and Foley.

Anyhoo, when people say "Alabama Gulf Coast", they usually refer to Baldwin County and the beaches of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach:

It is the largest county, by landmass, in the state. Its county seat, Bay Minette, is where the recent "Jail or Church" program controversy took place.

This team borrows the teal color from the Mobile Buccaneers. It also takes Mobile's three wide-striped socks and thins them into double-wave stripes. The primary logo originally was going to be the secondary logo, but it looked so well that it became the primary. That gave me the opportunity to come up with what is perhaps my favorite secondary logo of the AJAFL. Other than that, this is "the beach team". The wordmark is done in Jolly Roger.

[Mr. Aware Eagle]

Your AAFL thread was a lot of fun for me. I've recently gotten into Australian football and I'm from central Alabama. Can't wait to see how these turn out. Keep it up!

[RevNet]

^Thank you, Mr. Aware Eagle.

Now with this next team...

Trojans AFC

Location: Troy, AL

Colors: Gold, White, Black

Updated 10.27.11: Added a black sash to the home jumper.

...I approached a bit of a snag, and it was: Do I call them the Trojans? If not, what do I call this team? You see, there is an university in Troy named Troy University (formerly Troy State University). Their mascot is, you guessed it, the trojan, and yes, they do have a (NCAA FBS) football team. So, to distinguish one from the other, I decided to let this team keep the trojan mascot, but name it "Trojans AFC" instead.

This team adopts the gold color from its parent team, the Dothan Hornets. That's about all it adopts from the Hornets. The primary logo (which originally was going to have eyes on the sides of the "T") gives homage to the previously mentioned university, but isn't a carbon copy of the logo I just linked. My favorite part of the kits are the socks, because they're really unique and just scream "Trojans AFC". The wordmark is done in Maximillian Antiqua.

[RevNet]

Next team up...

Auburn-Opelika Bengals

Location: Auburn, AL

Colors: Orange, Red, White

Ok, the reason I named this team "Bengals" is because the Auburn area is spoiled. What do I mean? Not only is their college team named the "Tigers", but their high school team is named "Tigers" as well. Not only that, their colors are similar. I wanted to get away from that with this team, so I had the team take the red from their parent team, the Montgomery Governors. Otherwise, with the navy blue, it would've looked like an Auburn football uniform done on an Aussie Rules kit, and I certainly didn't want that. That is the same reason that the team is named Auburn-Opelika and not just Auburn.

Now on to the logos: The primary is my favorite on this team, because I wanted to evoke a jungle feel throughout the identity. The secondary logo is really neat, because from the get-go, I knew I wanted to make the small-case "a" (for Auburn) and "o" (for Opelika) be a part of it in someway, so I made them the eyes of the bengal. With a logo on the sides of them, this team's socks are also a nod to the Governors. The wordmark is done in Pinstripe Limo.

[RevNet]

Next team...

Northport Dockers

Location: Northport, AL

Colors: Navy Blue, Irish Green

Northport is across the Black Warrior River from downtown Tuscaloosa (the name "Tuscaloosa", BTW, came from Tuskaloosa, a Mississippian chief who led the Battle of Mabila (unsuccessfully) against Hernando de Soto in 1540, and it combines the western Muskogean words "taska" and "losa", which mean "Black Warrior"), but by the looks of things, it is its own town. Not only that, it's an growing town. Where as its parent team's town is known for the Crimson Tide, Northport is known for its arts. There is an Art Night that is held monthly, and then there is the annual Kentuck Festival of the Arts held in October, which displays folk art as well as contemporary art.

The blue is for the water of the Black Warrior River, and the green is borrowed from the Druids. I really like the away kit, because it's different. The primary logo is kind of abstract, but you know that it's an anchor. The top of it points north, as in, well, Northport. The wordmark is done in ITC Stone Serif Bold.

[RevNet]

That's it for the South Division. The first team from the North Division is the...

Hoover Power

Location: Hoover, AL

Colors: Yellow, Black, White

Updated 10.27.11: Added "POWER" to the home jumper. Added lightning sash to the away jumper to match the away socks.

Hoover, nobody doesn't...oh, wrong Hoover. All you really need to know about this city of 80,000+ is that the high school is where MTV shot two seasons of Two-A-Days, the series that followed the football team on the field and off. Therefore, you all know that Hoover High has a great football team.

The Power borrow the yellow from their parent team, the Birmingham Steel Lynx. The primary logo originally was going to be a different shape (similar to this), but I figured that a rounded square shape would be more appealing. The "Hoover" part of the wordmark is done in Lightning Bolt, and the "Power" part is done in Impact.

[Alphabet Man]

I think the pick of the bunch are the Baldwin County away - nice, simple and classy - and the Northport Dockers away - nice deisgn, just perhaps change the anchor to purple so it stands out from the green lines behind it.

Improvements:

Baldwin County home- maybe bring the waves up a bit, and move the logo down into the white part - a bit like the old brisbane lions jumpers

Trojans - i think is bit too yellow, perhaps make a black version of the away with a yellow trojan head. the away looks good.

Bengals - not really sure about these ones

Hoover Power - i think theres a tad too much yellow, use the yellow as accent colour to make the power thing stronger against the black. The away - its very white?

On the whole I like these a lot, i see what your trying to do, its good keep it up.

[Mr. Aware Eagle]

The Northport Dockers set is awesome! My favorite.

I also really like the Auburn-Opelika set. At first the logo and colors were kind of odd, but I've really warmed up to it. Or maybe I'm just biased because I live in Auburn.

[RevNet]

As a special treat, I will reveal the next team, and that is the...

Etowah Warriors

Location: Gadsden, AL

Colors: Maroon, Gold

Ah, home sweet Etowah. Because even though Boaz is in Marshall County, it straddles it and Etowah County and I live on the Etowah side. Anyhow, the word "Etowah" is a Cherokee word meaning "edible tree". Etowah County is the smallest county in the state. Its county seat, Gadsden, was founded by John Riley, a half-white, half-Native American settler in 1825 as Double Springs. In 1989, Gadsden was named one of the seven worst cities to live in the US by Rand McNally. This prompted city leaders into action, and in 2000, Gadsden recieved first place in the City Livability Awards Program.

I named the team "Warriors" to avoid any Native American controversy. The team takes the gold from their parent team, the Anniston Battalion. The secondary logo (a circular logo, which is another nod to the Battalion) has three feathers to represent the cities of Gadsden, Attalla, and Rainbow City, which bleed into each other. You could say the same thing for the three stripes on the home jumper. The wordmark is done in the standard Charlemagne typeface.

[RevNet]

Next team up...

Decatur Rivercrows

Location: Decatur, AL

Colors: Green, Red, Blue

Updated 10.30.11: Changed shorts from green to blue.

In Alabama, Decatur is known as "The River City" because its early success (founded in 1820; destroyed in the Civil War, especially in the 1864 Battle of Decatur; refounded in 1887 as New Decatur) was due to the fact that it was founded along the Tennessee River. Whereas Mobile has many styles of architecture within its city limits, Decatur is known for only one: Victorian. It has the largest Victorian-era home district in the state. It also has the state's oldest opera house (the Cotaco Opera House on Johnston Street) and the state's oldest bank building (the Old State Bank). Have you ever seen one of these?:

Well, thank Decatur, because the first wave pool in the US was built and is still in use at the Point Mallard Aquatic Center.

The only thing that the R-Crows take from their parent team, the Huntsville Missiles, is the red color (The blue is a lighter blue than the Missiles' navy). On the away jumper, for a little uniqueness among the AAFL and the AJAFL, I decided to make the sleeve/arm cuffs and collar different colors. On the home jumper, I decided to split the colors of blue and red down the back as it is in the front. The wordmark is done in Europe Underground.

[Mr. Aware Eagle]

The Warriors set is awesome! The colors are excellent (They actually remind me of Hawthorne Hawks).

I like the Decatur set okay, but the jersey could use some touching up. The green shorts combined with the green lower jersey is a bit too much. Maybe you could try having different colored shorts.

[RevNet]

Last team up...

Athens Athenians

Location: Athens, AL

Colors: Greek Flag Blue (Pantone 286 C), Concrete Gray, White

Founded in 1818 as Athenson, Athens is one of the oldest cities in the state. It was also home to the first two governors of Alabama, William Wyatt Bibb (Bibb County is named after him) and his son, Thomas Bibb. In 1822, Athens Female Academy was established, and today, it is known as Athens State University, of which I am alumni. In 1934, Athens was the first city to be powered by the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority).

Since Athens was named after the Greek capital, I thought it appropriate to have the colors of the Greek flag (blue and white), along with a gray color, be the team colors. I also thought to name them the Athenians, because it just went with what I was doing. The thing that the Athenians take from the Shoals Swampers (their parent team) is the sock pattern. The "A"'s on the logos are an original creation, and I'm proud of them. The (rest of the) wordmark is done in Augustus.