Category: Flag Football

Posts related to Flag Football

Creation of the first IAFA Flag Football Committee

Since the creation of the Irish Flag Football League, the popularity of Flag Football has been growing steadily. More and more clubs are signing up each year, our Team Ireland programme is developing and expanding and there is a growing demand to establish further domestic programmes to meet this increased demand for the sport.

As such, it has been decided to create an IAFA Flag Football Committee to help co-ordinate these activities and be a driving force for the continued growth of the sport. This Committee will be led by the IAFA Director of Flag Football, who will report to the IAFA Board on all Flag Football matters. As well as the Director of Flag Football, this committee will have the following executive members:

  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Competition/Athletic Coordinator
  • Officiating Coordinator
  • PRO/Communication OfficerIFFL Jersey

We are now actively recruiting for these positions and if you’re interested. A knowledge of Flag Football is not necessary, but is welcomed, but ideally we are looking for individuals with some experience in the positions they are applying for. Above all else, we are looking for individuals (male and female) who are willing to commit to the work involved and are eager to see Flag Football continue to develop as a sport. Please note that these are volunteer roles.

To apply for the roles, please follow the link below to complete an application form and we will get back to you as soon as possible:

bit.ly/IFFCRoles

Flag Football National Squad Named

Over the weekend, the Ireland Flag Football programmed worked with selected athletes to get to the 20 players that will compete in a friendly fixture later this year. These 20 athletes came from a wide range of clubs, some dedicated Flag clubs and others linked to kitted clubs. This is a great step forward for Flag Football in Ireland. Thanks to every player who turned up to the tryouts and training sessions, and congratulations to all the players that will represent Ireland later this year. The full list of these players are as follows:

PlayerNumberClub
Joe Grey1Dublin Vipers
Danny Lucas Johnson5UCD
Conrad Cook8Dublin Rebels
Andrew Bracken10Dublin Vipers
Sean Douglas11Dublin Vipers
Conor Brennan13Westmeath Minotaurs
Paul Grogan18Dublin Rebels
Jason Owens20Westmeath Minotaurs
Conor McGroarty22Dublin Vipers
Bobby Smith27Dublin Vipers
Ben Arulogun32Dublin Vipers
Michael Sykes36UCD
Darren Byrne42Dublin Vipers
Gavin Quirke85UCD
Peter Loughran87Craigavon Cowboys
Niall King91Westmeath Minotaurs

 

Flag Football National Team Progressing

In January this year, a series of open sessions were held to recruit players to try out for the Ireland Flag Football team. 78 players turned up for those try outs, and 35 were selected from these sessions by the Ireland Flag Football coaching staff; Head Coach Joe Grey, Assistant Head Coach Anne Gaule, Offensive Coordinator Dermot Corroon, Defensive Coordinator Steve Walsh and Assistant Defensive Coordinator Paul Kirkwood.

The selected players met for the first time in April to begin the process of refining the final selection. This Saturday sees the next step in that refining process to get to the final 20 players, who will train over the Summer to play International friendlies in September in Dublin.

The friendlies in September mark the end of the first of three phases in the development of an Ireland Flag Football programme. Phase two will be entering the European Championships in 2017 and the start of a Women’s Ireland Flag Football squad and the third phase will be entering the World Championships in 2018.

 

Flag Football National Team First Tryouts A Success

Last Saturday, 43 flag football players gathered at the National Sports Campus to take part in the first try outs for the Ireland Senior Flag Football team. Led by an experienced coaching staff, the players were put through their paces. Players first underwent a series of combine drills to assess their athleticism and stamina, before running through drills focused on testing flag football skills. The session finished up with a scrimmage where players could put the skills they learnt into practice.

Last weekend’s try outs were the first of two try outs planned for the Ireland team, the next being March 19th, again in the National Sports Campus. The Ireland coaching staff will select the final 40 players to make up the squad. More information on these tryouts can be found here.

How the flag football season works

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Here’s how the 2016 flag football season is going to work.

What do we know so far: 4 divisions. 18 teams. Each division has its own schedule. Regular season games will run until January 30th 2016 after which we go into playoffs mode with the top two teams of each division squaring off for a place in the semi-finals and final in March 2016.

Nothing much different from last year’s run.

The playoffs schedule is as follows:

Saturday 20/02/16

Playoff 1 – Seed 1 v Seed 8

Playoff 2 – Seed 2 v Seed 7

Playoff 3 – Seed 3 v Seed 6

Playoff 4 – Seed 4 v Seed 5

Saturday 5/3/16

Semi 1 – Top Seed v Lowest Seed

Semi 2 – Second Top Seed v Second Lowest Seed

Final

Now where things become interesting.

2016 will not see the IFFL run two but rather just one season (currently running) and will end with a National Championship final (EBC II) in March 2016 and not in August as previously done.

Instead, we will keep to one season every year as to give more room and time for other important initiatives. Some of these initiatives will take place throughout the spring and summer of 2016.

These comprise of creating a competitive Irish National Team, running certified Flag Football coach and officials training programmes, re-vamping and focusing on a “flag football in school” programme, and creating an all-women’s flag league.

Because of the amount of work these projects will require and the number of people who will be involved in making it work, we had to drop the summer season to deliver a high quality of execution and focus in order to safeguard the success of these programmes.

Ultimately, the main objective of these changes is to guarantee the strong but steady growth of Flag Football in Ireland. To that end we are looking for anyone willing to help out be it in coaching, admin work, first aid, marketing, etc. If you feel you could contribute in anyway fill out this form.

http://bit.ly/IFFLApplication.

If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to contact us.

Thank you for all your support thus far and looking forward to see more of you be part of the growth of the Flag Football in Ireland.

2016 Flag Football season kicks off.

IFFLdivisions

The 2016 Emerald Bowl Conference has kicked off!!

This year we see the number of teams participating increased to 18 playing across four divisions as follows:

Dublin: NUI Maynooth Buuls, South Dublin Panthers, Dublin Rebels, DIT Spartans, UCD and Dublin Vipers.

Midlands: Edenderry Eagles, Mullingar Minotaurs, Athlone Minotaurs, North Kildare Reapers, Roscommon Rogues.

Munster: Cashel Crusaders, Wexford Eagles, Marble City Muddogs, UL Vikings.

Ulster: Craigavon Cowboys, Coleraine Elks, PSNI Razorbacks.

Each division will see the top their top two teams going into Divisional playoffs in February 2016.

This year also sees the introduction of an all Irish squad with plans to compete on the international scene in 2016 and 2017. This automatically adds a real competitive dimension for each player taking part.

Please find the scores and stats on the flag football website:

http://iffl.leaguerepublic.com/l/league/942114132.html

Flag Football Summer League Starts Today

Following on from the success of the new Winter league, which was won by the Dublin Vipers, the Irish Flag Football League Summer League starts today with 8 teams playing in 2 conferences. The league will run from today until mid-July with the winners facing the winter league winners in the new National Championship game in August.

The introduction of the summer league marks a new era in flag football whereby flag players can play competitively all year round. Traditionally most competitive flag football in Ireland has taken place in the kitted football off-season due to the crossover between players in both formats. This year will be the first time that kitted and flag football leagues are running in parallel at the same time.

The North Division features 2 teams from the northern flag region – Carrickfergus & Craigavon – alongside 2 from the Dublin flag region – UCD & Dublin Vipers. The South Division features Dublin Rebels from the Dublin region, Mullingar Minotaurs & Edenderry Eagles from the Midlands and Cashel from Munster. Each team will play 8 games. The teams in each division will rotate as hosts from week to week.

Guillaume Poznanski appointed as Director of Flag Footbal

We are very pleased to announce that Guillaume Poznanski has been appointed as our new Director of Flag Football. Guillaume has been involved in team sports since his teens but more specifically in Volley Ball, Basket Ball and Olympic Handball.

He has been playing flag football for the past two years with the Dublin Vipers and is their current team secretary. Guillaume has been the regional co-ordinator for the Dublin Division of the IFFL for the past six months and has been successfully managing flag teams and events within the division and alongside the other IFFL divisions.

He is a fan of American Football since youth and an avid supporter of the Green Bay Packers.

Dublin Vipers win Flag Football Winter League

The Dublin Vipers won the inaugural Winter Flag Football League title with a close 27-26 victory over the Dublin Rebels at IT Tallaght yesterday. The Vipers and Rebels, both representing the Dublin conference, both won their semi-finals against the Midlands representatives earlier in the day.

Final:

Dublin Vipers 27-26 Dublin Rebels.

Semi-Finals:

Dublin Vipers (Dublin) bt North Kildare Reapers (Midlands).

Dublin Rebels (Dublin) bt Mullingar Minotaurs (Midlands).

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

Adult Flag Football starts on October 25th at UCD.

The Dublin conference of the Irish Flag Football League starts on Saturday 25th October – 6 teams playing at UCD.

IFFL-Dublin:

Six teams will be playing in the inaugural IFFL-Dublin competition which will kick-off at UCD on Saturday 25th October. The participating teams are:

Dublin Rebels

Dublin Vipers

South Dublin Panthers

U.C.D.

The competition will use IFAF/EFAF 5-a-side rules with teams allowed to field adult players over the age of 16.

Flag Football Meeting:

Earlier this month, a workshop style meeting of all parties interested in playing adult flag football was held at the CityWest Hotel in Dublin. The new flag football league will run on a regional basis, with the best teams from each region going forward to a annual National Championship competition. The set-up will also facilitate both winter and summer leagues.

Three regional coordinators were appointed as follows:

Dublin – Guillaume Poznanski

Midlands – Christopher Kane.

Munster – Adam Gillessen

 Additional coordinators will be appointed as interest grows in other regions.

Birth of adult Flag Football

On October 11th, representatives from a number of Irish clubs met up with IAFA Board members to discuss the development of adult Flag Football in Ireland. These clubs included four dedicated Flag Football teams, some of whom have been active for a number of years.

After a series of discussions and workshops, it was agreed to establish four regions (Dublin, Midlands, Munster and Ulster) and appoint a co-ordinator, experienced with flag football, to manage each region, as well as appoint an IAFA Flag Football representative:

  • Dublin – Guillaume Poznanski
  • Midlands – Ken Farrell
  • Munster – Adam Gillessen
  • Ulster – TBC
  • IAFA Flag Football Rep – Peter Keely

These co-ordinators will establish an co-ed league for each region and organise fixtures as well provide assistance to new and existing teams in their region. This format will also allow the best teams in each region to meet in National Flag Football Competition.

The IAFA Flag Football league will use standard IFAF 5-v-5 rules, enabling Irish flag football clubs to compete against European and International competition.

Team Ireland Flag Football playing at European Championships 2013 in Italy.

The Team Ireland flag football team is currently competing in the EFAF European Championship Finals in Italy. The competition is taking place in Pesaro from 22nd to 24th September 2013.

Ireland has been drawn in Group B for the group stages alongside Germany, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands. Group A consists of Austria, France, Israel, Czech Republic and Great Britain.

Each team plays round robin within their group on the 22nd and 23rd. A series of play-off games on the 24th will decide the final order from 1st to 8th.

The Irish team is being coached by Ken Farrell and consists of players from senior flag football teams.

Team Ireland Squad:
Brennan, Conor – QB, Mullingar Minotaurs
Corroon, Dermot – WR, Mullingar Minotaurs
Elston,Ted – S, South Kildare Soldiers
Elston, Will – CB, South Kildare Soldiers
Grey, Joe – QB, Terenure Titans
Loughran, Peter – CB, Cragavon Cowboys
Moran, Darragh – LB, Edenderry Eagles
Nolan, Gary – LB, Mullingar Minotaurs
O’Donnell, Brian – LB, Edenderry Eagles
Purcel, Nathan – C, Edenderry Eagles
Sommerville, Gary – WR, Dublin Rebels
Whelan, Eoin – RB, South Kildare Soldiers

Group B Fixtures/Results:
Sunday 22nd:
Germany 52:13 Ireland
Ireland 00:58 Denmark

Monday 23rd:
Ireland 36:60 Netherlands
Italy 39:06 Ireland

Tuesday 24th – 9th place play-off:
Ireland 24:39 Czech Republic