[tps_title]Around the Continent: Week 8 – Don’t Miss Any of the Action[/tps_title]
The Week 8 edition of the European edition of Around the Continent is filled with football action from Austria to Ukraine.
However, we have to start on a sour note, as there was a score from Spain that no one wants to see in any one of Europe’s top leagues. The Spanish league leading Valencia Firebats recorded a ridiculous 76-0 victory over the second place Osos Rivas of Madrid. Lopsided scores do happen, far too often in fact, but to have a team like Osos Rivas totally quit in the hunt for a championship while also playing Champions League is unheard of. The club explained that the players showed up in body but not in spirit. Football is a game of heart. If you do not show up to play, you should not be there at all. One hopes it never happens again. Admittedly, Osos was playing without seven starters but even the club admits that is no excuse.
There were plenty of other embarrassing lopsided scores though. Generally, they were between top tier teams and lower teams. However, the Porto Mutts in Portugal, rolled up a 102-0 win over the Algarve Sharks in the Portuguese playoffs. Is it time to rethink the size of leagues? Keep reading and give us your thoughts.
Otherwise, there is plenty of news from around the European continent. so make sure to check it out every week. Another shout out goes to Filippo Rostoni who is invaluable at gathering facts and keeping us on our toes. Also a special thank you to Tiberiu Anghelina from Romania for making sure we have our facts straight about American football in his country. We have added the ELAF – Eastern League of American Football – this week after Alexander Malyshev pointed it out once we had published the original story. We apologize.
So far Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Ireland, Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Norway, Latvia, Estonia, Belarus, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, the Ukraine, Russia and Denmark have kicked off their seasons.
We do everything we can to stay on top of developments in each country but cannot always keep up with it so this is where we need your help. Please keep us informed of events when they happen in your country. And please send us game photos from your most recent games.
Don’t hesitate to let us know if we have missed something or made a mistake. If we don’t respond quickly, keep trying. We are a tiny staff and we will eventually get your information posted. Also, if you have a tournament or new league write to us at info@americanfootballinternational.com.
Finally, if you can share on Facebook or retweet on Twitter we will spread the news even further.
Alpe Adria League
The Alpe Adria seven team league involving teams from Slovenia (Maribor Generals, Alp Devils) Croatia (Zagreb Patriots) Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo Spartans) and Serbia (Pancevo Panthers, Belgrade Blue Dragons) swung back into action this past weekend.
The Patriots have taken over top spot in the West division while the Serbian Pancevo Panthers still lead the East.
Austria
Alexander Thury threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Vienna Vikings to a 41-28 win over the winless Graz Giants. Vienna’s defense held Graz to a mere 10 yards rushing in helping secure the win. In the only other game, the Swarco Raiders scored two touchdowns in each of the second and third quarters and added a fourth quarter field goal to down the Prague Black Panthers 31-22.
The Vikings remain atop the standings at 4-1 while Swarco has climbed into second at 3-2. Prague occupies thrid at 2-2 followed by the Danube Dragons also at 2-2.
Baltic Sea League
The Baltic Sea League, featuring teams from Latvia, Estonia and Belarus was idle this past weekend. Play resumes May 16 as the Tartu Titans will host the Vitebsk Lynxes in Estonia while the Grodno Barbarians take on the Minsk Pagans in Grodno, Belarus.
Belgium
Flemish conference (FAFL)
No games were played in the Flemish conference. The Ghent Gators are undefeated at 5-0 and lead the conference followed by the Brussels Black Angels who are 4-0.
French Conference (LFFAB)
The French conference saw the Brussels Tigers blank the Louvain Fighting Turtles 42-0 while the Liege Monarchs edged the Waterloo Warriors 34-33. The Brussels Tigers still top the French conference at 5-0-1 followed by Liege at 4-1-1.
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CEFL
The league takes a hiatus until May 23 when Novi Sad plays host to defending champion Vukovi Belgrade.
Vukovi has reached the final every year since the league began in 2006 and won five times while losing four. The Silverhawks have made the final three times and won it once, in 2012. This is the third time since the league’s inception that the Blue Devils will participate. They reached the championship in 2009 but lost to Vukovi.
Croatia
The Croatian league kicks off in the fall.
Czech Republic
The Prague Black Panthers, playing the second game of the weekend (they dropped a 31-22 decision to the Swarco Raiders in Austrian league play) played crosstown rivals the Prague Lions and blanked them 21-0. The Pribram Bobcats traveled to Trnava and downed the hometown Bulldogs 26-6.
The Black Panthers remain undefeated in first place at 4-0 but now the Bulldogs Bobcats have re-taken second with a record of 2-2.
Denmark
The Amager Demons evened their record at 1-1 in beating the Horsens Stallions 9-6 in the only game played in Denmark.
The Razorbacks and Gold Diggers are tied at 2-0 followed by the Towers at 1-0.
The Danish Junior National team whipped the Swedish Junior National Team 31-0 in the 4-Nations EJC Qualifying Tournament to advance to the European Championships.
Eastern League of American Football
The league kicked off on April 24 as the Minsk Litwins rolled over the Voronezh Mighty Ducks 47-10 in Minsk. In the second game the Minsk Zubrs scored 20 fourth quarter points to run over the Moscow Bruins 34-19.
League play resumes on May 23 as the Moscow Bruins will host the Voronezh Mighty Ducks while the Zubrs and Litwins will face each other in a Minsk derby.
Finland
The Maple League starts in June 11 as the Seinaijoki Crocodiles host the Porvoon Butchers.
France
The French league – FFFA – got back underway with a full slate of games. The Thonon Black Panthers advanced to third in the standings with a 21-14 win over Asnieres Molosses. The La Courneuve Flash handed the hapless Nimes Centurions a 30-0 pasting to also advance into playoff position as the Nice Dauphins lost their second straight game, 44-20 this time to the league leading Saint-Ouen Cougars. The Aix-en-Provence Argonautes secured second place with a 31-7 away victory over the Elancourt Templiers.
With one weekend remaining in regular season play, the Saint-Ouen Cougars will finish first in France and have home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They play host to the Elancourt Tempiers, the only team they have not beaten in France tying them 14-14 earlier in the year. The Argonautes have a game in hand but cannot catch the Cougars. Third and fourth are now sewn up as the Black Panthers and Flash are all tied at 5-4 each with a victory over one of the other two. With two games remaining, this will be a thrilling finish to the French regular season.
The Cougars lead the league with a 8-0-1 record followed by the Argonautes in second at 6-2 and the Panthers in third at 5-4 followed by the Flash also at 5-4. The Dauphins have dropped to fifth at 4-5.
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Germany
North
The Dresden Monarchs rolled up 238 yards of offense in the first half against the reigning champion Braunschweig New Yorker Lions and then literally hung on in the second to beat the Lions 27-26. The Lions could only muster 11 yards in the first half but found their game in the second and after erasing the 14-6 halftime deficit looked poised to hold on and beat the Monarchs. Somehow though, Dresden managed to engineer a five minute long 90 yard drive and score with seconds left to re-take the lead. Braunschweig did not quit and ended the game with a first down on Dresden’s one yard line as time expired. It was a game for the ages.
Newcomers the Hamburg Huskies traveled to Dusseldorf and handed the Panther a 27-10 defeat.
South
A full slate of games was played in the South as the Stuttgart Scorpions rolled over the Franken Knights 53-0. The Saarland Hurricanes then beat up on the Rhein-Neckar Bandits 33-7. The Allgau Comets are the surprising division leaders after blanking the Munich Cowboys 19-0. Finally, the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns are starting to show that they may be the team to beat in Germany with a 43-7 drubbing of the Marburg Mercenaries.
Great Britain
North
The reigning North title holders, the East Kilbride Pirates upended the Coventry Jets 37-6. Their bitter rivals in the North, the Tamworth Phoenix then beat the Sheffield Predators 21-8 in Sheffield. The Lancashire Wolverines were merciless in pounding the Yorkshire Rams 50-0.
The Tamworth Phoenix sit in first after two games (2-0) followed by the Lancashire Wolverines who are also at 2-0.
South
The London Olympians hosted the South Wales Warriors beating them 27-10.
The London Warriors and London Blitz sit comfortably atop the standings both with 2-0 records.
Holland
The Hilversum Hurricanes remain in second in Group B after beating up on the 1-6 Lightning Leiden 40-0. The Alphen Eagles regained first place in Group A after defeating the Rotterdam Trojans 34-26.
The Eagles now sit in first place in Group A with the win over the Trojans. The decider may come May 24 when the Eagles and Falcons meet for the third time this season. The Crusaders have a stranglehold on first in Group B with a 6-1 record.
Hungary
The Budapest Cowbells climbed to top spot in the league with a 37-0 shellacking of the visiting Ujpest Bulldogs. In the only other game the Györ Sharks doubled the Miskolc Steelers 41-20.
The Cowbells have retaken first at 4-0 followed by the Bratislava Monarchs with a 3-0 record. The Monarchs still have the best offense averaging more than 50 points a game so far.
Ireland
North
Only one game was played in Ireland this past weekend. The Belfast Trojans asserted their dominance of the North by manhandling the Dublin Rebels 43-8. The Trojans now lead the North at 4-0.
South
The Vikings still top the South at 5-0 with Trinity College trailing well behind at 2-1.
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Italy
North
In the only game played in Italy this past weekend, the Milano Seamen somewhat attoned for their loss to France’s Thonon Black Panthers the week before in Champions League play by beating the Torino Giaguari 32-25. With that, the Milano Seamen lead the North at 6-1 trailed by the Bolzano Giants at 5-2. The Parma Panthers are third at 5-2 while the Rhinos are in fourth but also at 4-3.
South
No games were played in the South. The Lazio Marines continue to lead the conference with a 7-0 record followed by the Dolphins at 6-1. The Marines are averaging a league-best 43.5 points per game while only giving up 13, also a league best.
Norway
The Eidsvoll 1814’s remain undefeated in Norway at 3-0 after defeating the Valerenga Trolls 21-6. Then the Oslo Vikings won their second straight by downing the Nidaros Domers 35-13.
The Lura Bulls sit alone at the top of the Norwegian standings at 3-0 trailed by the 1814’s also at 3-0.
Poland
The defending champion Gdynia Seahawks did not have an easy time of it in downing the Bialystok Lowlanders 35-32. The two teams combined for 34 fourth quarter points but the surging Lowlanders who scored 20 of those points, fell short. The Warsaw Eagles beat up on Kozly 41-8 to keep pace with the Panthers and Seahawks. The Wroclaw Panthers are asserting themselves as the team to beat in Poland scoring 38 first quarter points in whipping the Bedzin Steelers 65-6. Finally Husaria kept their playoff hopes alive in defeating the Warsaw Sharks 47-35.
The Panthers are in sole and undisputed first place at 6-0 having racked up 295 points in six games. The defending champion Seahawks are second at 5-1. The Eagles are third at 4-2 ahead of the Lowlanders who are at 3-3.
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Portugal
Playoffs
The quarterfinals kicked off this past weekend. The Porto Mutts who finished first in the North made mincemeat of the Algarve Sharks in the first quarterfinal with a 102-0 shellacking. Then the Lisbon Crusaders, second in the South were to take on the Paredes Lumberjacks, third place in the North but the game was postponed pending a ruling by the Portuguese American Football Association.
Romania
It was a week of lopsided victories in Romania. The Timisoara 89ers destroyed the Resita Locomotives 61-0 while the Bucharest Rebels overwhelmed the Mures Monsters 54-7. The win boosted the Rebels back into top spot in the South East conference dropping the Warriors to second. The Cluj Crusaders are first in the North West undefeated at 4-0.
Russia
The Russian league kicked off with eight teams in action. The Podolsk Knights beat the Moscow Black Storm 27-0 in the season opener. The Moscow Spartans beat up on the Moscow Dragons 34-0. In a weekend of blank scores the St. Petersburg Griffins whipped the Jaroslavl Rebels 38-0. And in the only win over a team that scored, Moscow United beat the St. Petersburg North Legion 14-6.
Serbia
In the only game in Serbia this past weekend, Beograd Vukovi beat Nis Imperatori 27-8.
The Novi Sad Dukes top the standings at 3-0, followed by Vukovi at 3-0, while Pancevo sits in third at 2-1.
Vukovi Belgrade fell behind in the first half to Istanbul’s Bogazici Sultans in a Champions League East match-up only to recover and go on to win 34-19.
Slovakia
The Slovakian league was idle this past weekend. Action resumes May 16 as the Trnava Bulldogs play host to the Nitra Knights.
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Spain
In the most bizarre performance between two playoff bound teams from the top league in a country, the first place Valencia Firebats handed the second place Osos Rivas from Madrid a horrible 76-0 thrashing. This was an embarrassing performance on the part of Osos Rivas. Even though they were missing seven starters, there is no place for this in American football at the highest level in Spain.
In the other two games played, the Badalona Dracs handed the Mallorca Voltors their ninth straight loss, 56-6 and solidified their hold on third place. Finally, the Valencia Giants doubled the L’Hospitalet Pioners 28-14 and will finish fourth.
With only one game left to play in the Spanish league the Firebats will finish first with an 8-1 record, but Osos Rivas is in second at 6-3, the same as Badalona. So this weekend’s game between Osos Rivas and the Dracs will be for home field advantage in the semi-finals. The Dracs need to win by more than three to earn second.
Sweden
The Swedish season entered its second weekend of play. The defending champion and heavy favorites the Carlstad Crusaders with a new head coach at the helm handed the Limhamn Griffins at 41-13 loss. The Uppsala 86ers, still smarting after a tough loss last week to Carlstad, rebounded with a 39-0 drubbing of the Stockholm Mean Machines. Then the Tyreso Royal Crowns spoiled the home opener of the Vasteras Roedeers trouncing them 62-13.
Switzerland
There were two games on tap in Switzerland. The Calanda Broncos dispatched their arch rivals the Basel Gladiators handily 45-10, scoring 28 points in the fourth quarter. Lukas Lutscher caught two touchdown passes for the Broncos while Tommy Tribolet was the game’s leading tackler with eight stops and two tackles for loss. The Bern Grizzlies dumped the Zurich Renegades 45-27 to edge closer to Basel in the standings.
Calanda remains in first place in the Swiss league at 5-1 followed by the Gladiators at 3-2. Bern is right behind in third though also at 3-2.
Turkey
In the final games of the regular season in Turkey, the Koc Rams beat the ITÜ Hornets 27-7 which left them undefeated at 7-0 and in first. The Bogazici Sultans took care of the Anadolu USK Rangers 46-12 so they finished second with a 5-2 record.
Both the Rams and Sultans will now face each other in the Turkish championship game on May 30/31.
Ukraine
The Ukrainian season is fully underway. This past weekend in Group A play, the Kiev Slavs defeated the Odessa Pirates 21-17 for their second victory of the season. Meanwhile the Kiev Bulldogs whipped the Dnipropetrovsk Rockets 50-6.