Around the Continent: Easter Weekend Edition
[tps_title]Around the Continent – Easter Weekend 2015[/tps_title]
Week Three and the Easter Weekend Edition of Around the Continent saw the Premiership in Great Britain kick off with one game. We intend to keep you abreast of all the news from around the European continent so make sure to check it out every week.
So far Spain, Portugal, France, Holland, Ireland, Belgium, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Switzerland have kicked off their seasons. The Turkish league resumed two weekends ago after a three month hiatus.
We also want to hear from Estonia, Lativa, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia and any other country playing American football. Look for a story about the Eastern League of American Football this week with teams from Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Russia.
Due to the Easter weekend, this was a fairly quiet week for game action as many countries observed the holiday and few games were scheduled in the top divisions. However, in Austria, the Swarco Raiders had a busy weekend winning one and losing one in back to back games. This won’t be the only time they play two games in two days this season as they are playing in their own Battle4Tirol as well as the Big6 in addition to Austrian league play.
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. Last week, we had a few more misses but again our readers helped us straighten things out. Please keep us informed of events when they happen in your country.
We have tried to do previews for each country but without input from the leagues, this becomes an almost impossible task at times. Please help us here by letting us know who to contact in your country. 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 [email protected].
Finally, if you can share on Facebook or retweet we will spread the news even further.
Austria
The Danube Dragons made an emphatic statement as they downed the Swarco Raiders 42-23, handing Swarco their second straight Austrian league defeat. The Raiders lost the opening game of the Austrian season 26-21 to the Vienna Vikings.
However, the Raiders atoned for this poor result on Easter Sunday by dumping the visiting Stuttgart Scorpions 34-9 in the Battle4Tirol, scoring 28 points in the second half after a slow first half.
This coming weekend, the rest of the Austrian league hits the field as the Prague Black Panthers host Vienna and the Graz Giants visit Swarco in Innsbruck.
Belgium
The Flemish conference of the Belgian American Football League saw six of the eight teams in action. The league leading Ghent Gators (5-0) made no mistake trouncing the 1-3 Limburg Shotguns 52-0. Meanwhile the Brussels Black Angels (3-0) downed the Leuven Lions (0-5) 48-7 while the Antwerp Diamonds posted their second straight victory downing the winless Puur Titans 24-6.
The four team French conference was idle. The Brussels Tigers, finalists in the Belgian Bowl in 2014, are 3-0-1 in Group 1 although with the Liege Monarchs in second at 2-1.
