Month: February 2015

IFFL Winter League finals

This Saturday, the finals of the IFFL Winter League will take place in IT Tallaght, with the first game kicking off at 11am. The Irish Flag Football League was setup this year in response to the growing popularity of flag football in Ireland. Flag football is a non-contact version of the game and in Ireland, uses 5-v-5 rules.

The Winter League ran from October last year until the end of January. The Dublin Vipers won the Dublin division with the Dublin Rebels securing second place. The Mullingar Minotaurs won the Midlands league, followed by the North Kildare Reapers. This means all four teams made it to the finals to compete to be the first ever IFFL Winter league champions.

The schedule for the day is as follows:
Game 1: Mullingar Minotaurs vs Dublin Rebels
Game 2: Dublin Vipers vs North Kildare Reapers
Final: Winner Game 1 vs Winner Game 2

IAFL2 Schedule & Line-up announced

The line-up and schedule for IAFL2 was announced this week. Six teams will be participating. Galway Warriors and South Kildare Soldiers are the two returning teams from 2014 following the promotion of Tyrone Titans and Dundalk Mavericks to IAFL1. Joining them will be the IAFA’s newest kitted club – Derry/Donegal Vipers. These three clubs will be joined by second teams from three SBC clubs. Belfast Trojans 2nds will play a full league schedule in IAFL2 and UL Vikings 2nds and West Dublin Rhinos 2nds will play a half schedule. The expansion of IAFL2 means that 2015 will have the most teams ever playing competitive American football in Ireland – 22 in total, breaking last years record setting 20.

Over the past year, the IAFA has announced a change in policy with regard to multiple teams from on club playing competitively – from 2015 onwards, they will be allowed to play a full schedule and SBC club 2nd teams will be eligible for promotion to IAFL1. As player numbers in clubs increase, it is expected that more team will field 2nd or even 3rd teams in future years.

Derry/Donegal Vipers are the newest club to join IAFL2 and give the IAFA a presence in two new counties. Both Galway and South Kildare will be hoping to build on their debut seasons in 2014 and push for promotion to IAFL1. As IAFL2 has a development ethos, there is no set number of teams who can be promoted to IAFL1. All teams who are capable of playing in IAFL1 can achieve promotion. IAFL2 is all about getting on field experience for relatively inexperienced squads.

The season will kick off in April with full schedule teams playing 6 games each. Some of the games have been scheduled as doubleheaders with SBC fixtures thus giving SBC fans a chance to see these new teams developing. The full schedule can be viewed at the following link:

http://www.americanfootball.ie/iafl-standings/#iafl2

IAFL2 Line-Up:

Galway Warriors

South Kildare Soldiers

Derry/Donegal Vipers

Belfast Trojans 2nds

UL Vikings 2nds

West Dublin Rhinos 2nds.

Atlantic Cup joins GFL International. Netherlands to host 2015 tournament.

The Atlantic Cup grouping has formally joined German Football League International (GFL International). This years tournament in the Netherlands will be the first to be run by GFL International.

GFL International currently runs Europe two most prestigious club competitions – the Big6 EuroBowl and the European Football League (EFL). Like the Atlantic Cup, both of these competitions were formerly run by EFAF. The inclusion of the Atlantic Cup means that GFL International competitions now include most western European nations. The current line-up of countries inlcudes Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ireland. A number of other countries are expected to be included in the future.

This years GFL International Atlantic Cup will be hosted by the Netherlands with the provisional line-up as follows:

Belfast Trojans (IAFA).

Groningen Giants (NL)

Gent Gators (BEL)

Dudelange Steelers (LUX)

The tournament will take place over the last weekend in September, with Shamrock Bowl Champions, Belfast Trojans representing the IAFA.

With the standard of play improving every year in Ireland, joining GFL International will also give Irish clubs access to the EFL in future years. The IAFA will now also be able to cooperate with the other GFL International countries in areas such as coaching and officiating.

Colum Lavery appointed as IAFA external Board Member.

The IAFA is pleased to announce that Colum Lavery with be joining the IAFA as its external Board member. In line with corporate governance ‘best practice’, the IAFA Constitution provides for the appointment of an external Board member to its nine person Board.

Colum is a full time employee of World Rugby (formerly known as the IRB) where he is their Member Services Manager. His role includes governance, logistics and monitoring compliance with World Rugby’s membership pathway and criteria.

Colum is also the current President of Softball Ireland, where he was involved in the development of their high performance program and the hosting of the recent European Softball Congress.

Prior to working for World Rugby, Colum was employed in the financial sector in company secretarial services.

The IAFA is very pleased to have Colum on board – his professional/international sports experience and understanding of American sports will be a big asset to the organisation.