Around the Continent: Roger’s Corner – 7/2/14
Plenty of American Football in Europe!
There was plenty of American Football played all over the continent last weekend.
In the EFAF Eurobowl, the final game was played and the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (Europe #10) assured themselves of a spot in the final by beating the Dusseldorf Panther 59-6.
The EFAF Big6 championship game will be played July 19th between the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions (Europe #1) and the Berlin Adler (Europe #2)
In the IFAF Europe Champions League, the playoffs are already set with the semi-finals slated for July 11 and the championship game July 13. The Thonon Black Panthers (Europe #6) and French champions will face the Serbian squad SBB Vukovi Belgrade (Europe #19) in one semi-final, while the Elancourt Templiers (also France) will play the Helsinki Roosters from Finland (Europe #11).
We had intended to provide a breakdown of the structure of American football in Europe but this has been delayed one week.
Here then is what happened around the continent last weekend.
Austria
In the final two games of the regular season, both the Vienna Vikings (Europe #3) and Swarco Raiders (Europe #9) were in action as first place was up for grabs. Swarco took on the fourth place Prague Black Panthers (Europe #4), a team they barely beat three weeks ago 63-62. This time, playing in Prague in what was the first of two back-to-back games for the Panthers, Prague made no mistake. They jumped out to an early 27-7 lead and went on the win 40-21. In the other game, Vienna faced the Graz Giants and defeated them handily 38-13. With this, the semi-finals will see the Raiders play the Danube Dragons July 12 and the Vikings taking on Prague on July 13.
Belgium
Belgian Bowl XXVII saw a new champion crowned as the Ghent Gators made no mistake handing the defending champion the Brussels Tigers a 38-0 pummeling. This was the first ever title win for the Gators and they did it on their first try. Read the game recap here: www.americanfootballinternational.com.
CEFL (Central European Football League)
As expected, the Ljubljana Silverhawks had an easy time of it with the Docler Wolves handing them a 55-6 thrashing. That win put them into the CEFL championship game against Vukovi Beograd (Europe #19) on July 20. The two teams met twice this year and split the series. But in the first game the Silverhawks won 15-6, while in the second meeting, Vukovi whipped them 48-20.
