By J1 Reporters Sydney Monahan and Anna Nulty

Marian football, a club, a sport, and an unexplained mystery. More than 23 years ago, Latin teacher, Mark Koesters began Marian football club.

The main goal of the football club is still largely unknown. The focus of the club was the historic T­shirts that read “Marian Football.” The shirts were sold and distributed to all of the members. Once the money was collected, Koesters donated all the earnings toward The Marian Scholarship Fund. Although the club was made for fun, the true effect of the club was felt by the whole Marian community.

The only requirements for membership in the club were being able to identify a football and other basic football rules. When the club met, the topic of discussion was usually not football, in fact it was far from it. The meetings usually revolved around what everyone did that weekend and fun, light­hearted conversations. “Marian never lost a game,” Koesters said, never mentioning the fact that they also never played a game.

The reason the club was disbanded was because the girls who started the club eventually graduated. “Once the seniors who started the club graduated, there just wasn’t enough interest left in the club to keep it going,” Koesters said. While the actual club died out, the spirit of the club lives on in the Marian football t­shirts that are still being sold. “I actually have two,” senior Julia Nulty said.

Seeing a girl who attends an all­ girls high school wearing a football t­shirt in the hallways or outside of school is part of the reason the club was started in 1992, because it is considered funny.

“I assume the T­-shirts were made to be funny because obviously Marian doesn’t have a football team,” Joey Carollo said, a freshman who recently joined the Marian community.

Any Marian girl can be in on the joke by getting a t­shirt that is currently being sold at the Marian Bluetique for $15. Some of the Marian football club history has been lost with time, but the T­shirt legacy keeps the joke circulating inside and outside of the Marian halls.