World League of American Football

The World League of American Football ( WLAF ) was in 1991 and 1992 an offshoot of the National Football League (NFL), the most important professional league in American football .

After the ten teams from North America and Europe had played the World Bowl twice , the game was suspended due to a lack of commercial success in the USA. From 1995 the game operations were resumed only with European teams as a World League. From 1998 the league was renamed NFL Europe , later NFL Europe .

history

US professional football in Europe

As early as the 1970s, the Dallas Cowboys Kick Scout Bob Kap developed the plan for a subsidiary minor league of the NFL for Europe, known as the Intercontinental Football League, with the former president of the TSV 1860 Munich soccer club Adalbert Wetzel . This was to start playing from 1975 first with six, but later with ten teams in Europe and Asia (one team should play in the Asian part of Istanbul ); the NFL owners adopted the plan in the summer of 1974 and hired Al Davis and Tex Schramm to carry it out. Because of the NFL players' strike, the difficult economic situation ( oil crisis ), the competition from the World Football League and, above all, the lack of spread of American football in Europe, the plan was first postponed in 1975 and finally abandoned. Both leagues were ahead of their time, as it wasn't until the 1980s that cable television increased the number of stations that could and would broadcast football games.

After the US TV station ABC missed out on the award of the NFL rights, some wealthy entrepreneurs, including Donald Trump, founded the United States Football League (USFL) in 1982 , with which they wanted to compete indirectly with the established NFL. staggered in spring, although or because football in the USA is traditionally played in autumn. After the USFL decided, however, to want to play at the same time as the NFL and college football in the fall of 1986, the league failed. In addition, the USFL sued the NFL with the charge of creating a monopoly for professional footballers, won the trial, but was only awarded symbolic damages of $ 1.

In Great Britain , the American professional football league NFL became known through broadcasts on private television there. The NFL used this to play a preparatory game at London's Wembley Stadium in the summer of 1986 under the name American Bowl , starting with the high-profile match between the Dallas Cowboys and the reigning Superbowl champions Chicago Bears .

In order to open up markets outside the USA, to provide young players and reservists with game practice and, last but not least, to rebut renewed monopoly lawsuits, some owners of NFL teams came up with the plan to found their own league with youth teams, similar to baseball clubs do with their "farm teams". Again, the season was set for spring so that good players could then take part in the preparation of the actual NFL clubs.

Since this new football league should not be limited to the USA, but should be present worldwide, it was called the World League of American Football , or WLAF for short . Due to the enormous distances and time differences, however, Australia, Asia and Japan (where the NFL also played preseason games) and Hawaii were excluded again.

In 1990 this new league was announced. After the NFL was already well known on the British Isles, the American Bowl series was moved to the Olympiastadion Berlin for promotional purposes and in view of the fall of the Berlin Wall . There were five games from August 1990 ( Kansas City Chiefs - Los Angeles Rams ) to August 1994 ( New York Giants - San Diego Chargers ).

The WLAF from 1991 to 1992

The WLAF started playing in March 1991 with six teams in the USA , three in Europe and one team in Canada , at that time still divided into three divisions. In Europe, in addition to the already established London, Barcelona also came into play as an Olympic city in 1992 with a renovated Olympic Stadium. Frankfurt was chosen for Germany because of the large number of US military represented there, from whom one hoped for a secure fan base, since one did not really want to trust the German fans alone. Oliver Luck , a former Houston Oilers quarterback and lawyer of German descent, will serve as president of the Galaxy . A team in Italy, particularly Milan, was also under discussion.

The opening game took place on Saturday, March 23, 1991 in Frankfurt's Waldstadion in front of 23,167 spectators. The Frankfurt Galaxy scored the very first two points with a safety , but lost to the London Monarchs 11:24. The television broadcast for Germany took place at the former broadcaster Tele 5 .

Squad

The squad consisted mostly of hopeful young players who could not get a place in the NFL teams, some substitutes posted by the NFL teams who were supposed to collect match practice, and the so-called "Nationals". These non-American actors from all over the world should increase international interest. In the first season, some shot putters, track and field athletes or judo fighters were retrained, which did not lead to success. Later on, experienced talents from mostly German amateur teams were used, who were able to make a significant contribution to the game and, in individual cases, made it into the NFL.

1991 season

The game was played from April to June, in ten games. Wembley Stadium in London was chosen as the venue for the World Bowl , and the then satellite TV broadcaster Super Channel was to broadcast live throughout Europe. Surprisingly, the three European teams mostly clearly beat their opponents from overseas, to the displeasure of the fans and press there. The Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks lost all ten games and also their place in the league, since they were replaced by Ohio Glory in 1992 .

Four teams moved into the playoffs, in addition to the three division champions (in Europe the London Monarchs ) as a wildcard, the best of the remaining teams. The Barcelona Dragons qualified for this with an unexpected victory over the Monarchs in the last game of the season. Without this defeat, the Frankfurt Galaxy would have moved into the playoffs, which were universally considered the second best team. As expected, the two European teams beat their American opponents in the semi-finals. The triumphant World Bowl home win of the Londoners in the fully occupied Wembley Stadium was then only a matter of form.

1992 season

For the second season, care was taken that the US teams got the better players, whereupon Orlando and Sacramento were able to make the 1992 World Bowl among themselves. The fans in Europe, however, remained loyal to their teams, which were no longer so victorious, and enjoyed a party in the stadium even when they lost.

Even with the now successful US teams, the world league could not achieve the goals it had set for itself in its home market, although spectacular innovations (including a TV camera in a helmet, emphasized offensive style of play) and rule changes (including two-point conversion as in college football) were tried out were.

Apart from the professional players who were ridiculed as second-rate (who, however, could offer better football than the popular amateur college teams), the timing will have been a mistake: Although in the USA football is traditionally only played from August to January (even under the most adverse Weather conditions), the WLAF, like the NFL Europe later , played in the spring, when the baseball season traditionally begins. The USFL , financed by Donald Trump , also failed in the 1980s despite high-class players and the like. a. with this choice of dates.

Temporary end

As a consequence, the game operations of the WLAF were stopped by the investors (some of the NFL team owners) - for the time being, as it was said. Curiously, the "World League of American Football" did not fail, as feared, because of a lack of interest outside the USA, but in the home of the sport. However, the years 1993 and 1994 were used to develop a new concept. In addition, the " American Bowl " games continued in Berlin.

The 1995 World League comeback

After a two-year break, games were resumed in 1995 - without teams in the USA, with a purely European league, which, however, retained the name , which has now been shortened to World League . It wasn't until 1998 that the global claim was abandoned and the NFL approved the use of their "good name". The offshoot league was named NFL Europe . Members were Barcelona Dragons, Frankfurt Galaxy, London Monarchs, Amsterdam Admirals, (Düsseldorf) Rhein Fire and Scottish Claymores. In the years that followed, three teams were closed in the face of ever decreasing audience interest and replaced by German teams: London / England Monarchs → Berlin Thunder; Barcelona Dragons → Cologne Centurions, Scotland Claymores → Hamburg Sea Devils. The Hamburg Sea Devils came straight away to an average of over 20,000 spectators at home. In Berlin, Cologne and Amsterdam the numbers remained below 20,000. Only in Frankfurt (33,000), Dusseldorf (27,000) and Hamburg (22,000), was the audience great. For the 2007 season, the name was changed again to "NFL Europe", but the league was probably already closed. After the World Bowl XV in Frankfurt (Galaxy 28, Sea Devils 37) the end of the league was announced. The record champion with four World Bowl titles is Frankfurt Galaxy.

World Bowl Winner of the WLAF

• 1991 London Monarchs 21-0 Barcelona Dragons
• 1992 Sacramento Surge 21-17 Orlando Thunder

Results 1991

team	Record	PF	PA
Europe
London monarchs	9-1-0	310	121
Barcelona Dragons	8-2-0	206	126
Frankfurt Galaxy	7-3-0	155	139
North America East
New York / New Jersey Knights	5-5-0	257	155
Orlando Thunder	5-5-0	252	286
Montreal Machine	4-6-0	145	244
Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks	0-10-0	123	300
North America West
Birmingham Fire	5-5-0	140	140
San Antonio Riders	4-6-0	176	196
Sacramento Surge	3-7-0	179	229

Playoffs

Barcelona	10	Birmingham	3
London	42	NY-NJ	26th
World Bowl I (London)
London	21st	Barcelona	0

Results 1992

team	Record	PF	PA
Europe
Barcelona Dragons	5-5-0	104	161
Frankfurt Galaxy	3-7-0	150	257
London monarchs	2-7-1	178	203
North American East Division
Orlando Thunder	8-2-0	247	127
New York / New Jersey Knights	6-4-0	248	188
Montreal Machine	2-8-0	175	274
Ohio Glory	1-9-0	132	230
North American West Division
Sacramento Surge	8-2-0	250	152
Birmingham Fire	7-2-1	192	165
San Antonio Riders	7-3-0	195	150

Playoffs

Orlando	45	Birmingham	7th
Sacramento	17th	Barcelona	15th
World Bowl II (Montreal)
Sacramento	21st	Orlando	17th

Web links

• NFL Europe Homepage

Individual evidence

1. ^ Massimo Foglio: La Storia della IFL. In: endzone.it. February 10, 2006, accessed August 22, 2010 (Italian). 
2. ↑ Tod Maher: Origins of the WLAF . In: Professional Football Researchers Association (Ed.): The Coffin Corner . tape 14 , no. 2 , 1992 ( pdf [accessed August 22, 2010]). pdf ( Memento of the original from December 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.