The Iowa Thunder derive their name from the Norse Godess of Thunder, Thrud, daughter of the Thunder God, Thor.  Her name means "Power and Strength."

IOWA'S PREMIER PROFESSIONAL WOMEN'S FOOTBALL ORGANIZATION

The Iowa Thunder Corporation was established to promote and support women's tackle football in Central Iowa.  The Thunder belong to the Midwest Division of the Women's Football Alliance (WFA).  The Thunder compete againest teams from Missouri, Kansas, and Minnesota comprised of an eight game regular season running from April through June, with the playoffs during July and August. 

The team's mission is to provide a safe, positive and fun opportunity for women in Central Iowa and surrounding areas to play tackle football.

The Thunder values their players and is dedicated to providing a quality experience for the players, fans, and sponsors. 

The Thunder is commited to:
-Providing Iowa with its first Women's Professional Football Team.
-Providing Iowa with a winning Women's Football Team.
-Providing safe locations and facilities for its players for both practice and games.
-Providing players with experienced coaches, trainers, medical staff, and a quality training program.
-Providing a positive experience where players are respected, their time valued, and family and occupational commitments are recognized.
-Providing an enviroment free of favoritism, embracing diversity and intolerant of harassment.

HISTORY OF WOMEN'S FOOTBALL

Although the idea of women playing professional tackle football may seem relatively new to most people, its roots actually reach back three quarters of a century. The first sign of women playing organized football seemed to present itself in 1926. It was during this time that an NFL team called the Frankfort (PA) Yellow Jackets employed a women’s team for halftime entertainment. Around 1965-1966 a Cleveland talent agent named Sid Friedman started a women’s semi-pro tackle football league as a “gimmic.” The league began with only two teams (Akron and Cleveland) and was called the Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL). This league eventually grew to include three more cities in Ohio and teams in Pennsylvania and New York.

The curiosity and popularity of women’s football began to grow, and in 1971 Friedman’s original WPFL added teams in Cleveland, Toledo, Toronto, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. There were also two additional teams, the Detroit Fillies and the Pittsburgh Powderkegs, that were independently owned and operated outside of Friedman’s organization.

In 1974 the National Women’s Football League (NWFL) was formed. There were seven original teams in this league, made up of several teams from previous upstart leagues of women’s football. These teams included the Dallas Bluebonnets, Fort Worth Shamrocks, Columbus pacesetters, Toledo troopers, Los Angeles Dandelions, California mustangs and the Detroit demons. In 1976 the NWFL added several new teams and incorporated three divisions: the Eastern, Southern and Western. These new divisions included the Oklahoma City Dolls and the Tucson Wild Kittens, drawing approximately 1,000 fans per game. By this time, the average cost to start up a franchise was approximately $10,000.

After the City Dolls handed the Toledo Troopers their first ever loss during the regular season (defeating them 14-8 in Oklahoma City), the teams faced one another in the first official NWFL Championship game in 1976. Toledo initially claimed the victory 13-12 when a City Doll PAT attempt was ruled no good. After further review of the game films however, the ruling was turned and the game was declared a tie. Toledo and Oklahoma City were declared co-champions and had to share the league title.

In 1978 the NWFL franchises based out of California decided to break away and form their own league, the Western States Women’s Professional Football League. This league was run by the Dandelions’ owner Russell Molzahn and consisted of the Dandelions, Hollywood Stars, Mesa (AZ) American Girls, Phoenix Cowgirls, Tucson Wild Kittens, Long Beach Queens, and Southland Cowgirls. This league was formed largely to the decision of the NWFL to limit play between the different divisions due to the cost of travel.

By the end of the 70’s the financial burden of owning a women’s football team was too much to bear for many. The City Dolls decided to suspend operations in 1979 and an attempt to revive the team three years later failed. The nearly unstoppable Toledo Troopers folded before the beginning of the 1980 season due to finances. That same season, the Southern division of the NWFL folded as well. By 1982 the only teams remaining in the NWFL were located in Ohio and Michigan.

Throughout the 80’s the NWFL went through several transformations in trying to get the league running successfully again. Finally in 1988 the league broke off into two separate organizations; the NWFL (based out of Toledo) and the Women’s Tackle Football Association (WTFA based out of Grand Rapids MI). While the WTFA wanted to continue to play tackle football, several teams in the NWFL chose to take up flag-touch football instead.
 
The 90's saw very little progress for the sport.

Since 2000 the resurgence of women’s tackle football has been booming. Several leagues have come and gone; some which were only started as transition leagues, others which could not find the financial support or field enough teams to make the league viable. 

In 2008, the Women's Football Alliance (WFA) was formed to help facialitate the growth of women's football nationally.  With far less travel, cheaper start up fees, and an attitude geared toward change and the pursuit of expanding women's football the WFA is quickly becoming the league of choice.  

Regardless of which league you play in or what team you play on, the bottom line is that those women that are making the sacrifice to be out on the field every week, do it for the love of the sport. Currently there are not any players with multimillion dollar contracts or signing bonuses. The mission of these leagues are to allow women the opportunity to play tackle football and promote women athletics. Although there are many struggles that come along with any new venture, it appears as if women’s football is definitely making an impact and should only increase in popularity in the years to come.