KINGFIELD – Legend tells it that the birth of competitive mud football happened in 1972 in a field behind the airport in Carrabassett Valley when some recent University of Maine at Orono graduates formed the Carrabassett Valley Rats. Since then, more games and teams have been added throughout New England.
In 1981, the game moved to Kingfield and is now a part of the annual Kingfield Days Celebration. Bob Moore and Ronk Beedy are the veterans of the Carrabassett Valley Rats, having played since 1980.
Moore, the team’s coach, remembers playing in New York that year because the team that had won the previous year always had the honor of hosting the next game. But the teams added an extra game in North Conway, which has become another popular mud football event, so that the television series “Real People” could film them.
“I still see people that I met in 1980,” Moore said of the friends he’s met through the sport.
“Some guys talked me into coming out and having some fun,” Beedy said of joining the Valley Rats. He had never played football before. “It took me a while to get used to the bumps and bruises. It’s two-hand touch football, but when they touch you, you know you’ve been touched.”
Undoubtedly, Beedy inflicted a few bumps and bruises of his own, but all in all, everyone is friends on and off the field.
“It’s just getting together with the guys,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun wrestling in that goo. I know them all, and I’ve seen them come and go.”
Among his teammates, Beedy has played with his brothers and his sons. Donnie, 34, is the center, and Chad, 29, is the quarterback. Both are starters, which makes their dad proud. “It makes me swell up a little,” he said.
Mud football has become a serious competition over the years.
“There’s a few more rules and regulations,” Beedy said. “It is serious, but we still like to have a good time. But when you get out on the field, it’s really competitive.”
Teams have also begun recruiting college football players. “We’ve had to go out of state and out of our district to get decent players,” Beedy said.
Luckily they have some local talent, like Donnie Beady who played semi-pro football for the Central Maine Storm from 1995-98.
“Semi-pro or mud football, the atmosphere is the same,” Donnie said. “It’s the adrenaline and the love of the game. It’s awesome.”
The Carrabassett Valley Rats moved to a new field on the West Kingfield Road this year and got to play in some “new, nice mud,” Moore said.
“It’s a real nice field,” Beedy added. “No rocks and thick mud – real thick.”
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