American Football in the Netherlands

The beginning

Dutch American Football has been on the map both nationally and internationally for more than twenty years. However, it took almost 40 years before the first American Football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

game played in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

was followed up. In 1946 two American University teams played an exhibition game in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium. Not until 1980 did the following step appear, when René Koningsferander issued a request on the TV sports programme 'Sprekershoek' for people who were interested in doing something with American Football in the Netherlands.

Koningferander had been introduced to the sport by his gymnastics teacher Guus Annokkee who would go on to be the founder and inaugural chairman of the NAFF (Nederlandse American Football Federatie). Koningferander's TV plea instigated the founding of the Netherlands' first domestic club: the Amsterdam Rams.

1981 - 1984: Growth of interest

The first game played by a Dutch American Football team was on Easter Sunday in 1981 when the Amsterdam Rams faced the Herne Tigers from Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. A lack of any Dutch opponents forced the Rams to compete in the German Oberliga in the 1983 and 1984 season. This successful German adventure led the Rams to a 1984 victory in the Oberliga West Division.

Meanwhile, initiatives were springing up all over the Netherlands via exhibition games and the broadcasting of college football by the fledgling SkyChannel. From these flames a number of Dutch clubs emerged including The Hague Raiders, Delft Dragons

Delft Dragons

Delft Dragons are an American football team based in Delft, the Netherlands.-History:*FoundationsBetween 1984 and 1993 a previous team had existed in Delft: the Delft Dragons. Unfortunately this team folded due to lack of players...

, Rotterdam Trojans

Rotterdam Trojans

The Rotterdam Trojans are an American football team based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Founded in 1984, the Trojans are the second oldest surviving team in the Netherlands, behind the Amsterdam Crusaders...

, Zwolle Bulldogs, Alphen Eagles and Utrecht Vikings. Toward the end of 1984 a number of players from the Amsterdam Rams broke off to form a second team from the nation's capital city: the Amsterdam Crusaders

Amsterdam Crusaders

The Amsterdam Crusaders are an American Football club from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Together with the Rotterdam Trojans and Alphen Eagles, Amsterdam Crusaders are the oldest surviving Dutch American Football club.-Beginnings:...

.

The Rams returned to the Netherlands and, along with the new teams, formed the Nederlandse American Football Federatie (NAFF).

1985 - 1989: Dutch competition

The first Dutch American Football season took place in 1985. Eight teams in a single division would compete against each other for a place in the Dutch championship game initially called the "Super Bowl". The first championship game saw the Amsterdam Rams face their former team-mates the Amsterdam Crusaders

Amsterdam Crusaders

. The Rams won the only Super Bowl - from 1986 the championship game was renamed the Tulip Bowl

Tulip Bowl

The Tulip Bowl, like the Super Bowl, is the final match of the season for the top division of the American Football Bond Nederland . The AFBN is the organisation responsible for American football in the Netherlands...

.

Many factors combined to produce an explosive growth in this new sport which had been imported from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The number of teams grew from 8 in 1985 to around 40 by the end of the 1980s. In addition, the teams from larger cities were able to professionalise further by obtaining large sponsors, attracted by the freshness of the sport and the considerable media attention both in the TV and press, which enabled them to hire American players and coaches.

In 1986 the Netherlands organised Eurobowl

Eurobowl

The Eurobowl is both the final game and the trophy of the European Football League , a European American football contest.-Eurobowls:-Champions:...

I - the final of the European championship for national champions. The Amsterdam Rams achieved a respectable 3rd place in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, with the Finnish Taft Vantaa claiming 1st place.

1987 saw the NAFF run a full Dutch competition with no less than 3 divisions. This season also saw the debut of Dutch officiating crews, supported by officials from the US airbase in Soesterberg.

Early Nineties: Dutch Dynasty ?

The early 1990s saw the growth of American Football in the Netherlands settle down. The obvious next step was to look to the future. Youth teams and a youth competition were formed, and flag teams for the youngest participants. The top division of senior competition saw an enormous increase of quality, aided by the import of US players and coaches. By this time the Dutch competition was considered one of the strongest in the whole of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. In 1993, two Dutch teams made it to the semi-finals of the Eurobowl: The Amsterdam Crusaders

Amsterdam Crusaders

and The Hague Raiders. The Amsterdam Crusaders

Amsterdam Crusaders

(who had dominated the NAFF competition between 1987 and 1991) showed their class at European level by reaching 5 Eurobowl

Eurobowl

The Eurobowl is both the final game and the trophy of the European Football League , a European American football contest.-Eurobowls:-Champions:...

finals and winning the European championship in 1991 and 1992, sparking talk of a "Dutch dynasty". The Dutch National team, the Dutch Lions, won the bronze medal in the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland, in 1991. Head coach at the time was coach John Ralston.

Late Nineties: Challenging Times

The mid-nineties saw the growth of the sport stagnate in the Netherlands, bringing about the demise of several clubs. The novelty of the sport wore off and it was evident in the diminishing interest of sponsors. Television exposure was no longer to be taken for granted and the growth of the youth competition was suffering. Conversely the sport was undergoing a renaissance in the rest of Europe, with media interest and crowds growing. This situation forced the decision by the Amsterdam Crusaders

Amsterdam Crusaders

to pull out of the Dutch competition and instead compete in the ill-fated Football League of Europe

Football League of Europe

The Football League of Europe was an European semi-professional American football league. It was founded in 1994, renamed 1995 in American Football League of Europe and dissolved after the 1995 season...

in 1994 and 1995

While the sport was struggling in the Netherlands, bigger thing were afoot for American Football on a global scale. 1991 saw the birth of the World League of American Football

World League of American Football

The World League of American Football was founded in 1990 with support from the National Football League to play professional American football in North America, Europe and later possibly Asia...

(WLAF). This precursor to NFL Europa was a professional competition founded and funded by the US league: the NFL. The intentions of the WLAF

World League of American Football

The World League of American Football was founded in 1990 with support from the National Football League to play professional American football in North America, Europe and later possibly Asia...

were two-fold: to increase the popularity of the sport in Europe and to act as a feeder league to the NFL, testing out young players who were on the brink of breaking into the NFL. These developments had a large influence on Dutch American Football.

By the end of the 1990s American Football

American football

as a sport in the Netherlands was in crisis. Only a third of teams had survived, no sponsors were involved in the sport, and the level had suffered as a result. At the same time, the Amsterdam Admirals

Amsterdam Admirals

The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team in NFL Europe based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.-History:The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to be based entirely in Europe...

of NFL Europa were pulling in crowds of 12,000 for home games - many of them spectators who ten years earlier would have been supporting the teams in the Dutch competitions.

The beginning

1981 - 1984: Growth of interest

1985 - 1989: Dutch competition

Early Nineties: Dutch Dynasty ?

Late Nineties: Challenging Times

See also