9th December 2005

TEAM IRELAND TO PLAY IN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

IRELAND ENTERS GROUP C FOR 2007.

The Irish American Football Association has decided to enter a team into Group C of the European Championships. The decision was made during the recent AGM/EGM meetings in Dublin. Group C comprises of Ireland, Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine, Moldova, Luxembourg and Estonia.

The Group C tournament is due to take place in 2007 at a venue yet to be determined. This will be the first time that an Irish National Team has entered an official EFAF tournament for National Teams. Over the past two seasons, Ireland has fielded an IAFL Allstars selection of Irish based players in a number of fixtures against foreign teams (including two Celtic Classics). From this point forward the team will be known as Team Ireland and will be open to all players eligible to play for Ireland. The team has been in receipt of some grant aid from the Irish Sports Council, which covered the majority of the teams training expenses in 2005 and further funding is under consideration. Head Coach Phil DeMonte is excited at the prospect of playing in the European Championships and is in the process of putting together a training schedule. Training sessions will probably be located in the greater Dublin areas during 2006.

If there are any players of coaches interested in joining Team Ireland, please contact Coach DeMonte at teamireland@americanfootball.ie