Special to The Detroit News

Tim Keenan

SHELBY TOWNSHIP - Pete Rozell is the NFL commissioner credited with ushering pro football into the modern era and putting it in competition with baseball as the nation's favorite pastime. Francis Meram is the Pete Rozell of flag football.

Meram, 26, started a flag football league seven years ago when he was managing Shelby Soccer City as a college student. That league had four teams and 30 players.

"I got a bunch of guys together and started a league," Meram said. "It kind of just started from there."

He now operates or co-operates several leagues in which 200 teams compete year-round.

The Shelby Township resident, now a civil engineer who runs his own construction company during the day, spends his weekends and evenings building a flag football empire.

Meram's Detroit Xtreme Flag Football League runs its flagship organization in Shelby Township and has leagues in Taylor, Grand Blanc, Detroit, Dearborn and Royal Oak.

More than 40 teams finished an eight-week season in May with squads named World of Hurt, Macomb Strength and Swat winning divisional titles.

The Shelby league plays indoors as Soccer City with eight players on the field at a time in full-contact games, which means there is open-hand blocking on the line and downfield blocking is allowed.

Other eight-on-eight leagues, such as the one in Detroit that features teams from the Detroit police and fire departments, play outdoors on full-sized gridirons.

"It's as close to real football as you can get without tackling," Meram said. "It's really competitive."

The DXFFL counts among its regular players former NFL, arena league and college players.

"(Backup Detroit Lion quarterback) Mike McMahon came out to play while he was in contract negotiations," Meram said.

Some DXFFL leagues use the less-intense four-on-four format. They play on a 60-by-25-yard field, and there is no contact.

"It's generally all about speed and agility with no contact, no blocking, no rushing the quarterback," Meram said.

In all flag football games, unlike standard football, all players are eligible to receive passes. "Tackles" are made when defenders pull one of three flags off of the ball-carrier's belt.

The 10-team Royal Oak league, which was a separate entity from Meram's group until recently, plays the four-on-four game with co-ed teams.

Bryan Ledin, 31, of Rochester runs the Royal Oak league and leagues for dodge ball, kick ball, volleyball and softball. This summer is the first time he offered a co-ed flag football league.

"Everyone's having a great time, and we're looking forward to the fall," Ledin said.

"It's the ability to go out and play together in a social setting," he said of the allure of flag football. "There are a lot of athletic girls who never had the opportunity to play football."

The DXFFL charges teams approximately $1,200 to play an eight-game schedule plus playoffs. The league provides, ball, flags, field markers and officials who are certified to referee high school games.

"We put a lot into our product to make sure it's one of the best around," Meram said.

Meram also is spearheading the Michigan Flag Football Association, which is designed to standardize rules statewide and crown a state champion.

Meram will stage the first ever MFFA State Cup games Nov. 13-14 at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

"The idea is to gather all league champions from around the state at the end of seasons to play for one single championship," Meram said.

About flag football

To find out about flag football in Metro Detroit, go to the Web: www.dxffl.com

www.michiganflagfootball.com

www.detroitflagfootball.com

www.flagfootballusa.com

Photo Above:

In flag football, tackles are made when defenders pull one of three flags off the ball-carrier's belt. Ron Krzeminski tackles Tim House.

Michael Davis, who plays in one of Metro Detroit's flag-football leagues, tries to disrupt a pass to Dan Yell in a recent game.

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