Currently in its fourth summer of hosting basketball games: an unlikely “coincidence” has helped the Embargo League add a flag football league to its repertoire.

Embargo League co-founder and CEO Dylan Cantara shares a workplace, Cask & Pig in Dartmouth, with Owen Ribeiro and Valentino Aiello, who own the Backyard Football League, an organization that runs one-day football tournaments from time to time on the South Coast.

“It was kind of a coincidence that [Cantara] owned a basketball league and we ran football tournaments,” said Ribeiro. “I think it just kind of came up one day in conversation to try and do something together this summer for the community.”

“So far, so good” according to Cantara.

“Everything is running a lot smoother than we thought,” said Cantara. “It's been great to see a lot of new heads. A lot of people in the football league aren’t playing in the basketball league, so it is good to meet a lot of new people and create a brotherhood.”

Four games are held every Sunday morning at Dartmouth Middle School.

In a May interview, Cantara said that his goals for the growth of Embargo League include adding additional sports, leagues and eventually establishing a sports facility.

Cantara said four weeks of Embargo Football has further motivated him to reach the goal of having a facility with turf fields.

Statistics like passing and receiving yards and touchdowns are collected for each player in the league on a weekly basis, which Cantara believes is one special thing about Embargo that keeps players interested.

“They really know what they are doing in terms of running actual leagues,” said Ribeiro of Embargo. “We sort of had this vision of doing an 8 week season and then finishing it off with a playoff which will be like one big tournament.

According to Ribeiro, the trio is currently looking for a place to hold the playoffs of the football league.

“We think it could be a big event that is awesome for the community,” said Ribeiro.