I was just asked (and accepted) to take part in the (American) Football kickoff in Germany later this month in Dresden. Does anyone know more information about (American) Football in Germany? How popular is it in Germany and are the rules different than Football in America? Thanks in advance.
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
I cannot comment about american football in Germany, but in Austria it’s popularity is rising. I don’t know much about football (I think I know what a touchdown is, and that’s almost all 🙂 ) but I notice quite many live broadcasts in our local TV, both from NFL and from local matches. If I see it correctly, Austria has FIVE teams in Europe’s top-twenty:
http://www.efaf.de/eurobowl/text.php3?Inhalt=top20
I know that the NFL attempted to have a European league, and conducted several seasons, with changing line-ups of teams. That league folded permanently last year. The popularity, however, seems to be rising, and perhaps some derivative leagues are continuing operations.
IIRC, NFL Europe, before it folded, had several teams based in Germany, so it appears that American football might actually be pretty popular in Germany.
AFAIK, it is the same game as football here in the U.S.
I do not know anything about American football.
I do not know any German football team.
I even do not know if such a (professional) team exists.
I do not know anyone who does know…
I never saw that American football was sent via television.
[…]
Any more questions? 😉
Best wishes from Germany
Jochen
PS: ask some Germans about football and many of them are going to say that’s great – but that’s because they mix it up with “Fußball” (soccer) which is quite different
Like many sports the American style of football has become transplanted outside of the USA. It is played actively in many countries around the world. It has a strong following in Germany, Mexico, Japan, Australia, and Scandinavia. There is an equivalent of FIDE, the International Federation American Football or IFAF which is the major international regulatory body. Like the international football World Cup, there is a IFAF World Cup also called the Gridiron World Cup. The first was held in 1999 and it has been contested every 4 years since.
The first IFAF world cup was hosted by Italy in 1999 and won by Japan 6-0 (OT) over Mexico with Sweden beating Italy 38-13 for 3rd place. The second cup was held in 2003 in Germany and won again by Japan over Mexico 34-14. Germany took third with a 36-7 win over France. The third world cup was just completed in 2007 and was hosted by Japan. It was also the first time the USA sent players – a mixture of collegiate players a few pros. They found a scrappy Japanese team who gave them quite a battle before falling 23-20 in overtime. Third place was won by Germany 7-0 over Sweden.
See the website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Football_World_Cup
for more details.
Hope that helps.
Treetown
“I cannot comment about american football in Germany, but in Austria it’s popularity is rising.”
If you can’t comment on what she’s asking, then keep quiet.
First of, all, American Football is a perverted version of soccer, which is perverted by itself, with gay players kissing each other after each goal is scored and hurting other players by making intentional fouls. Supporting soccer or American Football is a sin in my opinion.
Thank you for the info. In either case, it will be fun 🙂 I think they want me to do the coin toss to start the first game for this league or team or something like that. I guess I will know more when I get there.
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
No doubt you’ve been chosen as a chess celebrity and likely to publicize the upcoming Olympiad. May I suggest that instead of a silver dollar that you use two pawns, one white and one black, just like at chess clubs? Mix up the pawns and randomly hold them behind your back.
If the team captain picks the hand with the white pawn, he won the “toss” and may pick to receive or defer. Conversely, if the captain picks the black pawn, the other team gets to pick.
Just my $0.02 for today. Keep up the good work for American chess!
Michael Aigner
Michael,
That is a great idea! I will suggest that to the organizer. I am helping Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Germany, etc. promote chess. Unfortunately, our federation wants me to do very little if anything in this area. But don’t worry, I will continue to do what I can to help, one way or another. Thanks again Michael!
Best wishes,
Susan Polgar
In the German system, the invited guest has to drink a “stein” of beer in 15 seconds then shout loudly “Luftwaffe”.
I gueßß I am just a ßucker for ßportß.
Paßß it on.
Anonymous said…
In the German system, the invited guest has to drink a “stein” of beer in 15 seconds then shout loudly “Luftwaffe”.
I thought it was a shot of “Yeager-Meister”
Followed by a belched message saying: “Küssen Sie mein Esel-Yankee-Schwein!”
Anonymous of 7:08 PM, my posting was more on topic than your’s which is entirely useless. Maybe you need to take a look on a map of Europe to understand why my info is a useful addendum. I wasn’t talking about Australia.
And don’t try to tell ME what to do or not. It’s YOU who had nothing to offer on the topic.
American Football is a lot more like Rugby Football (rugger) than it is like Association Football (soccer).
Myself, I prefer Canadian Football, though perhaps the biggest spectacle of all is Australian Rules Football. I just love the guys with the hats!
What popularized American football in Britain when I was there in the 1980s was a BBC (or ITV?) programme which condensed the most important or exciting NFL game of the previous weekend into a 30-minute format.
American football is said to become a brilliant game if the one-platoon system is used, where the same players have to play offense and defense. Then players must be lighter, fitter, and faster. This was the standard in college and pro until the 1940s and early 1950s.
The abortive XFL billed its players as the real tough guys, and I’d hoped they would use single platoons to prove it (and pay fewer players too!). Susan, the XFL’s replacement for the coin toss was far less decorous than Michael Aigner’s great suggestion: players chosen by each team had to dive and fight after a ball thrown by the referee! Make sure you know what you are getting into…:-).
American football or as some countries call it Gridiron football, is played in 36 countries. There is an article on Associated Content entitled “Football, not just Americas game” that may help you out. I even know of a production company working on putting together a TV program about football Worldwide. Check it out!