Cumberland Cardinals

The Cumberland Valley Cardinals are a semiprofessional outdoor football team from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. They play in the North American Football League.

Brief Stint in the AIFL

After a reorganization of the American Indoor Football League that saw the departure of the Carolina Ghostriders and the Syracuse Soldiers, the Cardinals were asked to fill two holes in the schedule. In their first game against the nearby Johnstown Riverhawks, the Cardinals lost by a score of 68 to 0, billed as the first shutout in AIFL history, although, since it was an AIFL team against a non-AIFL team, that would not be a fair comparison. Their second game against league powerhouse Reading Express had a similar result, a 74-0 loss. As a result, the AIFL declared that all records set against the Cardinals and the Ghostchasers, a road team hastily established to fill the schedule of another road team, the Carolina Ghostriders, would be marked with an asterisk. The Cardinals were yanked from the schedule and replaced with other NAFL teams, including the Columbus Fire; while neither one won, at least they scored, which is more than can be said for the Cardinals.

The games referenced were not or never meant to be anything other than scrimmages for the Cardinals. Both opponents considered them real games but the Cardinals used them as a way to judge new players since they were unable to obtain scrimmages with other teams. It should also be noted that the Cardinals were out of season, as the NAFL is a summer/fall league and the AIFL played in spring, and were likely unprepared for a full-contact game.

References

* [http://www.americanindoorfootballleague.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=543&Itemid=2 AIFL Score Summary: Riverhawks 68, Cardinals 0]
* [http://www.americanindoorfootballleague.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=570&Itemid=2 AIFL: Records set against Cardinals, Ghostchasers to be asterisked]