American Football Leagues from around the World

[Dragunov]

I think it would be interesting to know about other American Football Leagues in other countries. And also what team is considered the best from it.

http://www.onefa.org/imagenes/casonefa.jpg

For example in Mexico we have the College League called ONEFA. We also have the Aztec Bowl, is classic MEXICO vs USA.

Here is a short story about the ONEFA:

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National Student Organization of American Football, (in Spanish, ONEFA: Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Fútbol Americano) is a Mexican college football league.

American football had been played in Mexico since the early 1920s in different colleges and universities, mainly in Mexico City. In 1928 the first professional championship was played, organized by Jorge Braniff. From the 1920s to the 1970s more universities and colleges joined the championship, and four categories, called fuerzas were created. The First Fuerza became the National League in 1970, and in 1978 it was reorganized under the name ONEFA.

The universities that originally participated in the ONEFA were Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo, National Polytechnic Institute (IPN), Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua and Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio Narro.

Today the ONEFA is divided into three categories: Liga Mayor, Liga Intermedia and Liga Juvenil. The most important one is the Liga Mayor, whose championships are organized into three conferences: the Big Twelve, the National Conference, and the Pacific Conference.

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The best team in my opinion, and my favorite is Borregos Salvajes ( Savage Rams) ITESM from the Tecnologico de Monterrey . The average height is 1.85 meters. The average weight is 99 Kilograms.They have won 7 Championships.


http://www.onefa.org/imagenes/banmty.jpg
http://www.terra.com.mx/galeria_de_fotos/images/132/263518.jpg
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3940/228480gw7.jpg

[Videos:]

The team motivates itself before the game with the cheer ''BorreGos' Haka'' ( they even speak englishp-) )
http://www.youtube.com/v/0WmNFSenpU0

BORREGOS TOLUCA vs MONTERREY 2003
http://www.youtube.com/v/jPTs4s1l9cE

[Wilco]

U.S. should have a football invitational and invite teams from around the world over, these guys look like they could be a great competition. Bunch of quick bastards.

[scm77]

Canadian Football League. (http://www.cfl.ca/) This is the Professional football league in Canada. There is also a university league (CIS) and various High School and Youth leagues across the country.

CFL field is 110yds long with 20 yd endzones. It's also wider then a NFL field. Also there are only 3 downs instead of 4. While this does sometimes mean more punts, it's usually more exciting, has more passing and big plays.

The championship game and trophy is called the Grey Cup. Shown here being held by Edmonton QB Ricky Ray.

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/5089/greycupfr0.jpg

Eastern Conference.
-Montreal Alouettes
-Toronto Argonauts
-Hamilton Tiger Cats
-Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Western Conference
-Edmonton Eskimos
-British Columbia (BC) Lions
-Calgary Stampeders
-Saskatchewan Roughriders

Right now the best teams are the BC Lions (8-3) in the Western Conference, and the Toronto Argonauts in the East. Toronto (7-5) is tied with Montreal (7-4) for first place in the East, but Toronto has won five games in a row and Montreal has lost four in a row.

Some of the star players.

Ben Cahoon - one of my favourite players. Not the biggest or fastest reciever, but he runs great routes and catches anything that comes near him.
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3682/cahoonfh5.jpg

Damon Allen - Brother of NFL hall of fame member Marcus Allen, he recently became the all time pro football passing yards leader.
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/3584/damongc3.jpg

Milt Stegall - recently scored a 100yd game winning touchdown on the last play of the game. One of the best WR's to ever play in the CFL.
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/43/miltmz8.jpg

Geroy Simon - leauge leading reciever
http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8676/geroymy3.jpg

Some of the many players who played in the CFL and then went on to the NFL include Doug Flutie, Jeff Garcia, Joe Theisman and Warren Moon.

[Kiwi_Gunner]

[Videos:]

The team motivates itself before the game with the cheer ''BorreGos' Haka'' ( they even speak englishp-) )
http://www.youtube.com/v/0WmNFSenpU0

that was one of the better haka i've ever seen a non-kiwi do. their ****ounciation of the maori words sounded ok.

[Sniffit]

In sweden we have 42 teams that are currently participating in the different leagues and a few others that exist but doesn't play any games due to different reasons.

The best team through all times is Stockholm Mean Machines.
The final in this years league is played today between Stockholm Mean Machines and Carlstad Crusaders.

I'll provide some photos later on.

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

U.S. should have a football invitational and invite teams from around the world over, these guys look like they could be a great competition. Bunch of quick bastards.

Yeah. It would be good if the NFL had some good coaching camps in other countries too. Rugby playing nations like England, Australia and New Zealand have got people who are definately capable of playing in the NFL. But the option of American football is never really there.

[Violet Fashion by Mindy]

And thank **** for that.

[CMNot]

http://forums.opflash.org/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif

[kosse]

Yeah. It would be good if the NFL had some good coaching camps in other countries too. Rugby playing nations like England, Australia and New Zealand have got people who are definately capable of playing in the NFL. But the option of American football is never really there.

Looks stupid game. We will make team from our Strongman comptetitors (we have many World's Strongest man title holders). They will totally obliterate other teams.

http://www.dlc.fi/~gold-cam/loglift.jpg

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

Looks stupid game. We will make team from our Strongman comptetitors (we have many World's Strongest man title holders). They will totally obliterate other teams.


Yes, they would obliterate other teams in every area apart from passing, running, scoring touchdowns and kicking.

[bluffcove]

Did anyone see the Johnny wilkinson documentary when he went to he states, and had a trial for an American football side, he was put against the teams kicker and scored something like 95 / 100 kicks.

The American coach said - "Our guys can do 97 but your good Ill give you that"

Johnny says - "I kick with the other foot normally"


Wilkison's strength is as a kicker - yet he still pulls these out of the bag!
http://wesclark.com/rrr/wilko-tackle.jpg

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

Did anyone see the Johnny wilkinson documentary when he went to he states, and had a trial for an American football side, he was put against the teams kicker and scored something like 95 / 100 kicks.

The American coach said - "Our guys can do 97 but your good Ill give you that"

Johnny says - "I kick with the other foot normally"

:lol:

I saw one with David James and Martin Johnson.

The best bit was when they tried out James as a wide reciever. "You're a goalkeeper? So you should be good at catching...".

He was rubbish.

[bluffcove]

And that answers so many of my doubts about David James.

How did Johnson do?

[kosse]

Yes, they would obliterate other teams in every area apart from passing, running, scoring touchdowns and kicking.

No need to be good at that when your enemy has already been incapacitated p-)

[ronin2172]

Yeah. It would be good if the NFL had some good coaching camps in other countries too. Rugby playing nations like England, Australia and New Zealand have got people who are definately capable of playing in the NFL. But the option of American football is never really there.

I agree there are a lot of atheletes from other parts of the world that have the physical attributes to play..

The problem will always be the cerebral aspect. Football American style requires a lot more thinking than a lot of people realise. Just learning the playbook can be a near impossible task. The one has to learn the nuances of their particular position. For instance not only does a linebacker need to be able to run fast and have the strength to deal with o lineman but he has to be able to read the offense, know when to blitz, or when to back off and drop into coverage, take the proper angle on a pursuit, use your hands to protect your knees, then use proper tackling technique.

And one can only learn those though years of playing and coaching, starting in pop warner or optimus, gradually to high school then to college ( where the real weeding out starts to happen) then if he's lucky the NFL comes a calling, and has a 20% or less chance of making it on an NFL roster.

[bluffcove]

Watch a decent Scrum half,fly half or flanker, Im sure they read play alot faster, they dont get ot stop and reassess every thirty seconds!

[Five-to-One]

isnt there an NFL europe branch? I remember seeing a brief clipping on the score of Hamburg vs some other euro city. Was it a failed expansion like the CFL in the U.S. ?

[kutter]

isnt there an NFL europe branch? I remember seeing a brief clipping on the score of Hamburg vs some other euro city. Was it a failed expansion like the CFL in the U.S. ?

Theres still actually 6 NFL Europe teams right now, with all but one of them are located in Germany:
http://www.nfleurope.com/
They use to have a few more teams (1 in Scotland, 1 in Spain and 2 in England) but they all folded.

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

NFL used to be really popular here when there were highlight shows on at reasonable hours. To watch NFL in the UK you have to watch the live coverage, which is very good, but it'll start at 1 am and go to 4/5 am. Most people don't even realise it's on TV.

[bluffcove]

It takes five hours more importantly!

that makes it as dull as cricket!

[Elemental666]

http://www.dlc.fi/~gold-cam/loglift.jpg

Jouko Ahola i believe?That dude is freaking amazing...
Anyway,i would LOVE to have American Football in Israel,like in High-School teams and all that stuff,looks fun.

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

It takes five hours more importantly!

that makes it as dull as cricket!

That's another thing. All the breaks would annoy people used to football and rugby. Although it means each down is played at near full energy, it's a bit fraustrating.

[kosse]

Jouko Ahola i believe?That dude is freaking amazing...
Anyway,i would LOVE to have American Football in Israel,like in High-School teams and all that stuff,looks fun.

That's him http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/6384/worshipqu4.gif

[Miles.]

Watch a decent Scrum half,fly half or flanker, Im sure they read play alot faster, they dont get ot stop and reassess every thirty seconds!

I respect that.

Like ronin was saying, the individual player has a lot to memorize, sort out, assess the risk/reward of blitzing or staying in coverage, as well as the physical demands.

American football has certain a certain "war campaign" to it. Your offense has weapons; individuals with characteristics that you can exploit against opposing players. Some guys can run routes well/have good timing with the QB, some guys are huge and can leap at the ball's highest point, some guys are small and quick and can bust through a zone coverage. Some recievers/tailbacks command a double team, so you can decoy them and expoit other matchups.

Your defense has to find the matchups that give you the best chance. Sometimes, you will "take" a few plays from a certain player because at least you're not giving up the big play to another. If you blitz and the offense runs a screen, you're ****ed, so someone has to contain. If you play zone, you can't let anyone get past the safeties. And so on, and so on...

It is less about constant play and more about matchups. Planning a certain attack, stymying the opposing offense's gameplan, and gaining field position through the kicking game. Quite an intricate game...

[bluffcove]

A five metre scrum is played at full energy as is a 22drop out. If the scrum half calls "red zone" you go full at it regardless.

Its the fact that the captain on the pitch and the players dont make their own decisions and need a bloke with a clipboard to run on and make all their decisions that slows the game down

[Miles.]

A five metre scrum is played at full energy as is a 22drop out. If the scrum half calls "red zone" you go full at it regardless.

Its the fact that the captain on the pitch and the players dont make their own decisions and need a bloke with a clipboard to run on and make all their decisions that slows the game down

There is a lot more to American Football. That's why!

[captainahab]

EFL in europe. Vienna Dodgewoot Vikings won the EUROBOWL. they are the best players in europe.some are former NFL players...I consider to start playing there...

[ronin2172]

Watch a decent Scrum half,fly half or flanker, Im sure they read play alot faster, they dont get ot stop and reassess every thirty seconds!it's a lot different in football...because trickery is the name of the game reading a play fast is nice but making the right decision is even nicer.

there is so much you have to be aware of in football, you have more going on at one time than perhaps any other sport...

Down and distance, who is actually in the game for the opposition, formations, shifts in formation (when the QB sees what you intend to do he will change the play at the line...and you have to react accordingly), tendencies of your opposition (here'es where all the hours of breaking down game film come in), call your own coverage, look for hints in body language from the QB to the center..

Tons of times I have seen a defender get suckered into a bad play becaue he made the fast decision not the right one.

[bluffcove]

So ban time outs, make more mistakes have faster play and get the game over with in a sensible amount of time.

[signatory]

Hmmm.. all I know is that Sweden won European championship last year and is qualified to WC Japan 2007.. and the dominating team in the 'elite' league is the "Stockholm Mean Machines"..

Games are not typically on TV or in the news... actually I think the only American football ever on Swedish TV is the US Superbowl p-)

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/379/050730em528a963aum3.jpg

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/129/060423smmvsmp02128ac889jl7.jpg

[ronin2172]

So ban time outs, make more mistakes have faster play and get the game over with in a sensible amount of time.

right and u can tell footy players to stop passing the ball aimlessly around midfield for 80% of the game, tell managers to stop playing so negatively, and to all concerned stop acting like you got shot when someone tackles you

[bluffcove]

As I frequently do.
Anything to make paly faster, You concede penalties for time wasting in most sports!

[Miles.]

You concede penalties for time wasting in most sports!

Same thing in American Football. It's a matter of what you're used to.

[Dragunov]

So we have Canada, Sweden, Mexico... but what about China, Russia, Japan? Would be interesting.

[sucker4gurls]

Germany has 5 teams and the Netherlands has 1 I believe. They are part of NFL Europe.
Berlin Thunder
Hamburg Sea Devils
Rhein Fire
Frankfurt Galaxy
Cologne Centurions
Amsterdam Admirals

[Count Lippe]

I think Scotland has a team too. The ... Claymores, can't remember the city...

American Football in Germany might be popular in the south where there was a strong US presence, but you can't call it a mainstream sport...

[ed316]

I think Scotland has a team too. The ... Claymores, can't remember the city...

American Football in Germany might be popular in the south where there was a strong US presence, but you can't call it a mainstream sport...


I think they are the Scottish Claymore and they play in Glasgow IIRC.

[Red Craiola]

Italy has an American Football League. There are 20 teams, most of them are located in the northern part of the country, and they are divided in two "conferences", North and South (the latter includes Florence, Rome and Naples). I used to play for the Milan Rhinos youth team. The strange thing is that youth teams (usually 15 to 18 yers old) is played like Arena football, 8 vs 8. The consequence is that most of the senior teams lack good linemen, both offensive and defensive ones.

[mudbunny]

There are several problems with this.....
1. American football is expensive to play. (pads, helmet, shoes etc.)
2. Alot of American high school teams are more competitive and entertaining to watch than any foreign team could be. (Pennsylvannia, Texas, Cali.)
3. Folks across the pond like to mock Americans ignorance of sports like Soccer or Rugby, yet make statements like "well, he can bench 700 lbs. so he would be able to play football"; uh, no. It's great if you can lift a small car, but if you can't move your large a$$, then I have no need for you. I can stick a fairly big, fast kid in a weightroom and get his strength to a level needed, but you can't teach speed and agility to an immobile meathead. So, let's keep the foreign ignorance of this American game to a minimum, okay.

[mudbunny]

There were amatuer leagues in Japan, which was neat to see, but to put it mildly, it was horrible football.

[skatey]

2. Alot of American high school teams are more competitive and entertaining to watch than any foreign team could be. (Pennsylvannia, Texas, Cali.)

Hmm, kind of a ignorant statement, have you seen all football teams in all of the world play? If not, how can you judge their competetivness?

[toki]

Germany has 5 teams and the Netherlands has 1 I believe. They are part of NFL Europe.
Berlin Thunder
Hamburg Sea Devils
Rhein Fire
Frankfurt Galaxy
Cologne Centurions
Amsterdam Admirals

RheinFire is from my hometown Düsseldorf and they (unfortunately) draw more then our football (soccer) team due to the fact that we're in the third division. Which is probably unique in europe, I've only seen 2 NFL europe games live, but as i heard Rheinfire had the best attendance in the league over the years for obvious reasons.

We also have a german league and our Team is called Panthers, it was found in the 70's. Funny thing is i personally know half of the players even though i have no real connection to football and we're not quite a 'village'. The Panthers profit from RheinFire and their infrastructure even though they existed 20 years earlier.

Panthers:
http://www.duesseldorf-panther.de/error.gif
http://snapshots.afvd.de/images/bild0925.jpg

Rheinfire @ LTU Arena:
http://www.youtube.com/v/Y7wQR3mkBU0

Rheinfire @ LTU Arena:
http://www.fireabend.de/galerie/d/740-1/rf-fg-084x.jpg
http://www.fireabend.de/galerie/d/712-1/rf-fg-044x.jpg
http://www.fireabend.de/galerie/d/272-1/060429rf-bt-012x.jpg

same place with our football:
http://www.europlan-online.de/Deutschland/D/Duesseldorf/LTU_Arena/01.jpg
What i hate is how the field looks after a game. Not good for the other football.