Month: February 2014

Shamrock Bowl XXVIII confirmed for Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Bowl XXVII - Tallaght Stadium

 The Irish American Football Association is pleased to announce that Shamrock Bowl XXVIII will take place at Tallaght Stadium on the weekend of 9th/10th August 2014. The stadium has hosted the Shamrock Bowl in three of the past four years. It also hosted the EFAF Atlantic Cup and The Gathering Bowl in 2013. 

Most of the American football events in the stadium have been well attended, with The Gathering Bowl setting a new record attendance of 3,000 people for a domestic American football event in the current era. The stadium has excellent spectator facilities and is fully equiped to host top level American football games. It is intended that Shamrock Bowl XXVIII will build on the success of previous games with new elements being added to this years event.

The kick-off time will be announced closer to the event.

Large crowd at 2013 Shamrock Bowl in Tallaght Stadium.

Officiating Clinic this Saturday is CANCELLED

Due to the uncertain weather conditions for Friday & Saturday morning, I have decided to CANCEL the Clinic on Saturday.

This is to avoid travelling when the road conditions may not be ideal early on Saturday morning.

The Clinic will be re-arranged for the same venue – UL campus – on Sat 8th March at the same time – 10:30 start.

I will advise on the exact room when details come through from UL Vikings.

2014 Schedules Published

The 2014 Irish American Football League schedule has now been published. This year we’ll see a record 19 teams playing competitive football in the IAFL’s 3 divisions.

Shamrock Bowl Conference:

The Shamrock Bowl Conference kicks off on Sunday 9th March. The tradition of opening the season with a university fixture is maintained with University of Limerick Vikings visiting Trinity College Dublin. Most teams then see their first action on 23rd March. Defending Champions, Belfast Trojans open against local rivals Carrickfergus Knights. Waterford also make their top division debut against fellow promotees, Dublin Dragons on this date. IAFL-1 Champions, North Kildare Reapers open their season against Waterford on 30th March. Dublin Rebels will host one of the big fixtures of the year on 15th June, when they host Belfast.

This years season is starting and finishing slightly later than the past couple of years to avoid the uncertain weather experienced last year. The Shamrock Bowl will be played August. We have a new scheduling formula this year, with interconference regular season games returning by popular demand after a one season absence – many teams expressed a desire to have a more varied schedule. The new formula retains local rivalries, but with other fixtures determined largely by geography rather than ranking.

IAFL-1

With 3 teams having been promoted to the SBC and two coming down, this years IAFL-1 division will comprise of 5 teams, playing each other home and away. The season opener is on 23rd March, when Mullingar host ex-SBC team, University College Dublin. One of the big innovations on the schedule is a ‘Friday Night Lights’ fixture on 4th July hosted by Meath Bulldogs. A new title game, to be played between the top two teams, has also been introduced – will be played in August – with the winners being automatically promoted to the SBC.

IAFL-2

With 4 newcomers joining at the same time, the Association decided that it would be best to keep them together in one division for their first seasons. Subject to completing their full schedules and meeting all the criteria, the newcomers will all be promoted to an expanded IAFL-1 in 2015. In 2014, the 4 teams will play a 6 game season – home and away against each other team. The first ever IAFL-2 fixture will be played between Dundalk and South Kildare on 6th April. Tyrone and Galway make their debuts against one another on 4th May.

2014 IAFL SCHEDULE [Note, the numbered playing weeks are on an all league fixtures basis, rather than per division]

Shamrock Bowl Conference

[matches league_id=40 season=2014 mode=all template=iafl-weeks]

IAFL-1

[matches league_id=41 season=2014 mode=all template=iafl-weeks]

IAFL-2

[matches league_id=42 season=2014 mode=all template=iafl-weeks]

New football supplier announced

We are delighted to announce that American Sports Ireland (ASI) will be supplying the Irish American Football Association (IAFA) with the Wilson GST football as our game ball for the 2014 season. From today, these footballs can also be purchased at a reduced rate by IAFA teams for use in training; teams wishing to avail of this offer can contact ASI directly at +44-754-7292749. IAFA would like to welcome ASI on board and thanks them for their support in our upcoming season.

Fans and members of the public can also purchase these footballs directly from ASI at the details above.