The D.C. Divas football team gathers on the field to chant before a game
The Divas precede every game with a chant composed by founding head coach Ezra Cooper, who instilled a lot of the team’s culture before his death, in 2013, of a heart attack at age 39. The chant, in part: “A team together / Can’t be beat / Won’t be beat / DC pride / Diva pride.” Cooper, says wide receiver Lois Cook, “was the one who told us that we don’t play for the names on our backs. We play for the name on the front.”

The Washington Football Team You Should Be Rooting For

Since their founding, the D.C. Divas actually have a winning record.

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| Photographed by Phebe Grosser | Published on

They play football, and they wear burgundy and gold. But that’s where the similarities between the D.C. Divas of the Women’s Football Alliance and the Washington Commanders end: As wide receiver Lois Cook puts it, “We win.” The Divas have won three national championships since their founding in 2000 and, despite a disappointing 2021, have an overwhelmingly winning record. (They’ve also sent former players to the NFL, where Callie Brownson is a key coach for the Cleveland Browns and Desiree Abrams is an official.)

Full-contact professional women’s football is not for the uncommitted. Not only are players unpaid, but they have to buy their own equipment and pay for training in addition to traveling as far north as Boston and as far south as Tampa for games. “Honestly, you don’t see it as a burden,” Cook says. “We play for the love of the game.” This year, the team plays its home games at the St. James complex in Springfield and Thomas Jefferson High School in Fairfax, and a permanent home is still a ways off. The pandemic shut down the 2020 season, and 2021 was shortened to only four games, of which they lost three due to injuries. A rare losing season “tests your character,” Cook says. “But we are still the Divas.”

D.C. Diva football player Christina Burton stands on the sidelines with her daughter and son
Children are a common sight at Divas games and practices. Here, running back Christina Burton stands on the sidelines with her daughter and son, who also hands out water for the team. She’s not the only player who appreciates the team’s family-friendly atmosphere: “We have such a huge support system that I feel comfortable bringing my kids, knowing that while I’m on the field focused in the game, someone else has an eye on them,” Lois Cook says. 
D-liner Haneen Rababa works out. “She’s strong,” Cook says. “I have to line up against her sometimes in practice. And she’s not too concerned with me. She’s concerned with the quarterback. But if I’m lined up as a slot receiver, she’s right over top of me.”
This photo, from 2021, shows former quarterback Sylvie Aibeche, a French native, handing off to Ida Handel, a Swede. The Women’s Football Alliance, the Divas’ league, has a robust international outreach program that includes player exchanges with sister teams.
Defensive back Genaya Davis’s team nickname is “Silent”—she rarely speaks, whether in practice or in social settings. Instead, Cook says, “she does all her talking on the field.”
A post-game scene in Baltimore. The team encourages fans and family to come down onto the field after games end. Fans often become friends, Cook says: “We welcome it.”
Cook’s purple gloves here represent her ongoing quest to find gloves and cleats whose color coordinates with the Divas’ burgundy and gold. Unfortunately, she notes, this picture was taken at a game where the Divas played the Baltimore Nighthawks, who, like the NFL’s Ravens, play in purple. Charm City isn’t the Divas’ biggest rival, though: That would be the Boston Renegades, who often contend with the Divas for championships. (They won last year.) “For a long time, I just didn’t really like Boston,” Cook says. “Their fans are hard! Man, they’ll talk about you all day.”
Burton with her daughter at home.

This article appears in the June 2022 issue of Washingtonian.

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Andrew Beaujon
Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.

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