European Weekend Recap: Roger’s Corner
Week four of Roger’s Corner has proven that there is no way to predict the football seasons throughout Europe. Football is in full swing throughout the continent. …Read on.
via Roger Kelly and ESS
The European American Football Championships will interrupt club schedules as six national teams in two groups will play in round robin action from May 30 to June 7 to determine the European champions! Group A consist of Germany, Sweden and Finland while Group B contains Austria, France and Denmark.
Let’s start by covering the IFAF Europe Champions League schedule which has four divisions. In the North, the Helsinki Roosters (Finland) moved into the Champions League semi-finals with a 2-0 record defeating Sweden’s Carlstad Crusaders 42-30 after Carlstad had taken a 17-0 first-half lead. In Copenhagen, the Swedish Orebro Black Knights beat the Copenhagen Towers (Denmark) 30-20.
In the South, France’s Thonon Black Panthers outgunned the Parma Panthers 45-41 in Parma, Italy. Thonon now moves on to semi-final play. Austria’s Blue Devils were idle but play Parma in the final game in the group.
There are two teams in the East and SBB Vukovi Beograd of Serbia made short work of Turkey’s Boğaziçi Sultans beating them 39-6.
Finally, the West group with four teams saw the Templiers from France extinguish the hopes of the L’Hospilatet Pioners from Spain with a 34-16 victory. Meanwhile the London Blitz beat the Nice Dauphins in London 34-26. The Templiers will move on to the semi-finals.
The four teams who will meet in the semi-finals on July 11 will be the Helsinki Roosters (Finland), the Thonon Black Panthers (France), D’Elancourt Templiers (France) and Serbia’s SBB Vukovi Beograde.
In EFL Big6 games, the Vienna Vikings (Europe # 2) beat the Braunschweig New Yorker Lions (Europe #3) 14-13 while Germany’s Berlin Adler (Europe #4) defeated the Calanda Broncos from Switzerland 42-20.
This series resumes on June 14.
In Eurobowl games, the Alphen Eagles from Holland surprised Switzerland’s Basel Gladiators 34-12.
Now to league play.
In Germany, there was only one game in the North as the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes reasserted themselves handing the Dusseldorf Panther an embarrassing 53-7 loss. Kiel has moved into third spot in the standings.
There was plenty of action in the South. Division leading Stuttgart squeaked by Marburg 36-33 remaining undefeated this season at 4-0. They have the league’s top offense having scored 168 points or an average of 42 points per game. The Allgau Comets edged The Rhein Neckar Bandits 37-36 while the Saarland Hurricanes overwhelmed Munich 66-21. Finally, Schwabisch Hall handed the Franken Knights their fourth straight defeat, thumping them 55-19.
In the Austrian top league, the Swarco Raiders solidified their hold on first place beating the Prague Black Panthers in a barnburner 63-62. A missed PAT doomed the Panthers. Meanwhile the Danube Dragons handled the Graz Giants 48-37 ruining the Giants chances for making the playoffs. So Swarco remains first in Austria followed by Vienna who were idle in league play as the Vikings beat the New Yorker Lions 14-13 in Big 6 action.
There were two games in Switzerland. The Zurich Renegades defeated Lucerne 42-34 for their second straight win. With it, Zurich now occupies the fourth and last playoff spot. Bern is on a slide suffering another loss, dropping a 36-14 decision to Winterthur. The Basel Gladiators still lead the Swiss league followed by Calanda, Bern and Zurich.
In Italy, the Milano Seamen remained in second place with a 27-0 win over fourth place Bergamo. Bolzano blanked Bologna 37-0 staying in third spot while Ancona beat Napoli 33-19 to creep closer to the fourth place Bergamo Lions.
There were only two games in the French league as the Flash pasted the Meteores 35-7 while the Cougars rolled up 64 points to defeat the Centurions 64-37. The Thonon Black Panthers still lead the French league followed by the Templiers, Flash and Molosses.
The Polish league number one the Gydina Seahawks showed no mercy in beating fourth place Kozly 54-26. But the Warsaw Eagles bumped the Wroclaw Panthers down into third place edging them 17-16. Finally, in a battle for fifth, the Steelers kept the Warsaw Sharks in the basement with a 27-16 win.
There were no games in the top Czech league this past weekend. The Prague Black Panthers sit atop the standings with a perfect 4-0 record followed by the Bobcats, Bulldogs and the Prague Lions.
In Denmark, the Triangle Razorbacks defeated the Gold Diggers 14-10 and now, with a 3-0 record occupy first in group 2. The Amager Demons beat Odense handily 47-22. With this, the Copenhagen Towers remain atop the Group 1 standings.
It was a national holiday in Norway, but the Oslo Vikings beat the Vålerenga Trolls 38-28 on Friday the 16th of May. Eidsvoll has a commanding lead in the standings followed by second place Lura and in third place, the Kristiansand Gladiators.
In the Spanish league, the Badalona Dracs have dominated all season and with a 9-1 record cannot relinquish first place. They are followed by Osos and the Valencia Firebats both at 6-4 with the Pioners trailing in fourth with a 5-5 record.
The Serbian league has SBB Vukovi Beograde topping the list with a 4-0 record but the Imperatori Nis are also 4-0 and in second. The Gat Novi Sad Dukes are third at 3-1 and the Kragujevac Wild Boars are 2-2 and in fourth.
The Swedish Super Series, top league in Sweden, kicks off May 23 with Arlanda playing host to defending champion the Carlstad Crusaders. In Finland, the teams in the Maple League play their first regular season games on June 13.
Again, write to us about anything related to football in Europe. We want your views and ideas so we will be awarding prizes for the best of both. Our email address is [email protected].
