CONWAY, N.H. — College football players aspire to play in bowl games. Professional football players dream of playing in the Super Bowl.
Amateurs in New Hampshire just want to get muddy.
The Mud Bowl on Sunday was a three-day mud fight, now in its 50th year, as players waded through knee-deep mud to try to reach the end zone.
These athletes unleash their inner child through playing in the mud.
“You have to have a smile on your face when you’re playing football in the mud,” said Jason Beno, 50, quarterback for the North Country Mud Crocs, who described the mud as an equalizer. “It’s just a different game in the mud. It doesn’t matter how good you are on grass. In the mud, it doesn’t matter.”
This annual event takes place at Hog Coliseum in the heart of North Conway. It starts with a fun night of partying and music on Friday night, followed by the Mud Parade tournament on Saturday. Twelve teams, both men and women, compete in the tournament, hoping to be the dirty winners.
Ryan Martin has been playing Mudball for nearly 20 years and said this is a great opportunity to catch up with old friends he grew up with.
“Sometimes I think, ‘I’m not going to do anything professionally. It feels like I’m competing all day,'” he said.
He also admitted that the sport still leaves after-effects, mainly the mud seeping into every nook and cranny of his body.
“It gets in your eyes. It cracks your feet, and mud gets in your toenails for weeks,” he said. “It gets in your ears. You have to clean them out for a long time… If you blow your nose and you get mud in there, oh, I didn’t know it was still there.”
Mahalla Smith was also drawn to the camaraderie of the event.
She said she was hooked on soccer from a young age, playing the sport since she was in first grade, and in 2018 joined the girls’ tackle soccer team, where she played for a few years before being invited to play in the mud.
She said she had a really fun weekend.
“It’s like a little mini vacation. Everyone is so friendly,” she said. “People hang out in hotels and restaurants, and we go camping, and we all have fires and stuff. It’s like a great group event.”
It’s fun, but the teams are serious about winning. And while two-handed touch football can be a bit squeaky on the field, it’s all fun after the game. Many of the players were star high school or college players, and there have been a few retired pros over the years, Veno said.
The theme was “50 Years, 50 Best Years.” Over the years, the event has raised more than $1 million for charities, officials said.
