College football players aspire to play in bowl games. Professional players dream of the Super Bowl. But a group of amateurs in New Hampshire just want to get muddy.
On Sunday, the Mud Bowl, a three-day festival celebrating its 50th year, wrapped up in a sloppy, muddy mess of football. Played at Hog Coliseum in North Conway, this annual event features athletes trudging through knee-deep muck in pursuit of the end zone. For these players, the mud brings out their inner child.
“You’re playing football in the mud, so you’ve got to have a smile on your face,” said Jason Veno, the 50-year-old quarterback of the North Country Mud Crocs. He described mud as the great equalizer, saying, “It’s just a different game in the mud. It doesn’t matter how good you are on grass. That doesn’t matter in the mud.”
The event kicked off on Friday night with revelry and music, followed by the Tournament of Mud Parade on Saturday. Over the course of the weekend, a dozen teams of both men and women competed, each hoping to emerge as the soiled victor.
Ryan Martin, who’s been playing mud ball for almost 20 years, emphasized the event’s social aspect. “You get to a point where you’re just like, I’m not going pro on anything. I might as well feel like I’m still competing day in and day out,” he said. Martin mentioned the lingering effects of the game, with mud infiltrating every nook and cranny of his body. “It gets in the eyes. You get cracks in your feet. And you get mud in your toenails for weeks,” he added.
Mahala Smith, a player from Sabattus, Maine, also cherishes the camaraderie of the event. Having fallen in love with football early in life, she joined a women’s tackle football team in 2018 and was eventually invited to play in the Mud Bowl. “It’s like a little mini vacation and everyone’s all friendly,” Smith said. “People hang out at the hotels and restaurants, people camp, we all have fires and stuff. It’s just a nice group event.”
Despite the fun, the teams take the competition seriously. The two-hand touch football games can get chippy, but once the matches are over, camaraderie prevails. Many participants were star high school or college athletes, and there have even been a few retired pros over the years, Veno noted.
This year’s theme was “50 Years, The Best of Five Decades.” Over its history, the Mud Bowl has raised more than $1 million for charity.
As the event concluded, mud-splattered players like Amanda Lackey of Bow, N.H., walked back to their huddles, embodying the spirit of this unique celebration of grit and friendship. Even as Jacob “Moose” Colon of Westfield, Mass., hosed off the mud, the memories of another Mud Bowl were already cementing in the minds of all who took part.
