PAPALE GOES FROM SHOWBOATS TO FLAG FOOTBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
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by Andy Seeley
For the entirety of his life, Memphis Showboats wide receiver Vinny Papale has been around the game of football. But he had never played an organized game of flag football until he walked onto a field in Lahti, Finland last month and played for Italy in the IFAF World Flag Football Championship.
“This is literally the first time I played flag football ... ever,” Papale said.
Despite his lack of experience in the sport, Papale was intrigued when a friend called last October and told him Italy was looking for players with professional football experience to play for the country’s national flag football team. Papale “hopped on a call” with representatives from the Italian American Football Federation and liked what he heard.
He decided to give it a shot. After all, flag football is exploding around the globe. The sport will be featured as an exhibition sport at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
But first, Papale needed to confirm he was eligible for dual citizenship. Italy allows individuals of Italian ancestry to claim citizenship based on lineage. If Papale’s relatives who emigrated from Italy to the United States never renounced their Italian citizenship, he could qualify.
“I gathered all my documents and I went over to Italy in January (2024), and I filed all my paperwork,” Papale said. “And it all got approved, actually, while I was playing for Memphis. Right after the season at Memphis, I went back over there, to finalize everything, get my ID, my passport and all that, and I was official.”
While Papale has earned accolades playing traditional football at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, there was a learning curve.
“I describe it as backyard football,” Papale said. “I mean, at the end of the day, you're still playing football … but it is a different game for sure. When I caught the ball, I sometimes started to lower my shoulder because I was bracing for contact. And they're like, no. You can't do that.”
But once he had a firm grasp of some of those nuances that differentiate flag football from tackle football, Papale thrived. In seven games at the World Championship in Finland, Papale led the team with 527 receiving yards and reached double digits in touchdowns.
“At the end of the day, it's just football and I think it showed when I was over there,” Papale said. “It was my first week ever playing flag football, and I I think I did pretty well for myself.”
Led by Papale, the Italian team finished in sixth place in the tournament. Italy opened the group stage with a one-point loss to Canada (34-33), before easily dispatching Finland (50-27) and Singapore (62-6) to advance. In the round of 16, Italy handily defeated Germany 48-26. But Papale and his team ran into the eventual World Champion United States in the quarterfinals, falling 46-21. Italy avenged its earlier loss to Canada with a 55-26 victory in the knockout rounds, then fell just short in the fifth-place game, as France held on for a 46-40 victory.
“It was just really cool to be a part of a country and playing for something that big and just how passionate people are about it is something I'll never forget,” Papale said. “It was just an amazing experience.”
After that experience, Papale has his sights set on something he never thought he could say about himself. He now has aspirations to represent Italy at the 2028 Summer Games.
“Who wouldn't wanna be an Olympian?” Papale said when asked if he now has dreams of adding the title to his resume. “As a football player, it was never part of the Olympics. So growing up … it was, like, never even an option or anything that was attainable. And now that it is, it's sort of like a whirlwind mentally that that could even be a thing. I'm currently on the Olympic team as it stands now. Even though it's four years from now, it's just sort of hard to comprehend because I mean, the Olympics are the Olympics.”
For now, Papale has plenty on his plate. He’s getting married later this year, is about to finish his Master’s in Business Administration and works in real estate. And he’s preparing for the 2025 UFL season as well.
“I'm one of the guys that once that last whistle blew against Houston in Week 10, I was back in the gym that week,” Papale said. “So I'm constantly training, constantly staying in shape. I'm constantly in shape and always excited about any opportunity to play football.”