Ansbach Grizzlies
Encyclopedia
The Ansbach Grizzlies are an American football
team based in Ansbach
, Germany
. The club, together with the Düsseldorf Panther
and the Munich Cowboys
, is one of the oldest in Germany. The Grizzlies were a dominating force in the game during the first decade of American football in Germany, reaching all of the first eight German Bowls
.
.
In 1979, the Grizzlies became a founding member of the American Football Bundesliga, renamed the German Football League
in 1999, together with the Frankfurter Löwen
, Düsseldorf Panther, Munich Cowboys, Berlin Bears und Bremerhaven Seahawks
.
The first three league seasons were dominated by Ansbach and Frankfurt, who met each other in the German Bowl on each occasion. In 1979 and 1980, Frankfurt, playing at home, proved the stronger, defeating the Grizzlies. In 1981, the year the club split from the SpVgg Ansbach and became independent as the Ansbach Grizzlies 1981 e.V., the Grizzlies finally triumphed and won their first German Bowl. For Frankfurt, it was the last-ever Bowl appearance, while Ansbach also won the one and only edition of the German Cup that year.
After defeating the Cologne Crocodiles
in the 1982 edition of the German Bowl, Ansbach had to face a new opposition in the following four finals, the Düsseldorf Panther. The two teams stood for opposing styles of football, the Panthers favouring a long-ranging passing game while the Grizzlies relied on their strong defence. Of the four encounters, three went for the team from Düsseldorf
, with Ansbach only able to win the 1985 final. It was not until the mid-2000s that the Braunschweig Lions
surpassed the Grizzlies record of eight consecutive finals, the Lions eventually playing in twelve from 1997 to 2008. The Grizzlies participated in the first-ever edition of the European Football League
in 1986, losing to the Birmingham Bulls
in the quarter finals.
With the lost 1986 Bowl, the golden area of the team came to an end. Its domination of football in Southern Germany was halted by the Badener Greifs
in 1987, and the Grizzlies were knocked out in the semi-finals. The move to semi-professional players lead to the demise of the team as a powerhouse and, by 1991, it was relegated from the Bundesliga. It suffered four relegations in a row in the following years and carried out a generation change in the process. By 1995, the club managed to stabilise itself, now playing in the Bayernliga, the Bavarian league. It played a couple of successful seasons until 1999, when a substantial loss of players forced it to withdraw from competition for a year.
The team had to restart at the lowest level of football in Bavaria
, but managed to work its way up again to the Bavarian league by going undefeated in the state league all season in 2001. The team continued as a dominant force in Bavaria in 2002 and narrowly missed out on another promotion to the college-player reinforced Burghausen Crusaders.
Since then, the clubs fortunes have once more declined and, lacking players, has been unable to field a team in 2009 or 2010.
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...
team based in Ansbach
Ansbach
Ansbach, originally Onolzbach, is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is situated southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the Fränkische Rezat, a tributary of the Main river. As of 2004, its population was 40,723.Ansbach...
, 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...
. The club, together with the Düsseldorf Panther
Düsseldorf Panther
The Düsseldorf Panther are an American football team from Düsseldorf, Germany. The club is the oldest still existing American football club in Europe, having been formed on 1 May 1978....
and the Munich Cowboys
Munich Cowboys
The Munich Cowboys are an American football team based in Munich, Germany. The club, together with the Düsseldorf Panther and the Ansbach Grizzlies, is one of the oldest in Germany. The team refers to itself as The Grand Old Team of the South....
, is one of the oldest in Germany. The Grizzlies were a dominating force in the game during the first decade of American football in Germany, reaching all of the first eight German Bowls
German Bowl
The German Bowl is the annual national championship game in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the German Football League....
.
History
The Ansbach Grizzlies date back to the 3 April 1979, when an information session on the sport was held by Erich Grau and Uli Sorge, after which fifteen players ordered their football gear and formed a team. Initially, this team was part of the multi-sports club SpVgg AnsbachSpVgg Ansbach
SpVgg Ansbach is a German football club from the city of Ansbach, Bavaria.The clubs greatest league success came in 2001, when it earned promotion to the tier-three Regionalliga Süd, where it lasted for only one season...
.
In 1979, the Grizzlies became a founding member of the American Football Bundesliga, renamed the German Football League
German Football League
The German Football League is the elite league for American football in Germany. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA....
in 1999, together with the Frankfurter Löwen
Frankfurter Löwen
The Frankfurter Löwen were an American football team from Frankfurt, Germany.The Löwen were the first American football club to be formed in Germany. The club, a founding member of the American Football Bundesliga, was also the winner of the first two editions of the German Bowl...
, Düsseldorf Panther, Munich Cowboys, Berlin Bears und Bremerhaven Seahawks
Bremerhaven Seahawks
The Bremerhaven Seahawks are an American football club from Bremerhaven, Germany.The club is one of the six founding members of the American Football Bundesliga, alongside the Düsseldorf Panther, Frankfurter Löwen, Ansbach Grizzlies, Munich Cowboys and Berlin Bears, but has not played at this level...
.
The first three league seasons were dominated by Ansbach and Frankfurt, who met each other in the German Bowl on each occasion. In 1979 and 1980, Frankfurt, playing at home, proved the stronger, defeating the Grizzlies. In 1981, the year the club split from the SpVgg Ansbach and became independent as the Ansbach Grizzlies 1981 e.V., the Grizzlies finally triumphed and won their first German Bowl. For Frankfurt, it was the last-ever Bowl appearance, while Ansbach also won the one and only edition of the German Cup that year.
After defeating the Cologne Crocodiles
Cologne Crocodiles
The Cologne Crocodiles are an American football team from Cologne, Germany.The clubs greatest success came in 2000, when it won the German Bowl for the first and, so far, only time...
in the 1982 edition of the German Bowl, Ansbach had to face a new opposition in the following four finals, the Düsseldorf Panther. The two teams stood for opposing styles of football, the Panthers favouring a long-ranging passing game while the Grizzlies relied on their strong defence. Of the four encounters, three went for the team from Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, with Ansbach only able to win the 1985 final. It was not until the mid-2000s that the Braunschweig Lions
Braunschweig Lions
The New Yorker Lions are an American Football team from Braunschweig, Germany. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions....
surpassed the Grizzlies record of eight consecutive finals, the Lions eventually playing in twelve from 1997 to 2008. The Grizzlies participated in the first-ever edition of the European Football League
European Football League
The European Football League is a European Cup style tournament for European American Football teams affiliated to EFAF...
in 1986, losing to the Birmingham Bulls
Birmingham Bulls
The Birmingham Bulls were a professional ice hockey team based in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. They played in the World Hockey Association from 1976 to 1979 and the Central Hockey League from 1979 to 1981. The Bulls played their home games at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center.Prior to being...
in the quarter finals.
With the lost 1986 Bowl, the golden area of the team came to an end. Its domination of football in Southern Germany was halted by the Badener Greifs
Badener Greifs
The Badener Greifs are an American football club from Karlsruhe, Germany.The clubs greatest success came in 1987, when it reached the German Bowl but lost to the Berlin Adler.-History:The club was formed in 1982 by a group of motor cycle enthusiasts....
in 1987, and the Grizzlies were knocked out in the semi-finals. The move to semi-professional players lead to the demise of the team as a powerhouse and, by 1991, it was relegated from the Bundesliga. It suffered four relegations in a row in the following years and carried out a generation change in the process. By 1995, the club managed to stabilise itself, now playing in the Bayernliga, the Bavarian league. It played a couple of successful seasons until 1999, when a substantial loss of players forced it to withdraw from competition for a year.
The team had to restart at the lowest level of football in Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, but managed to work its way up again to the Bavarian league by going undefeated in the state league all season in 2001. The team continued as a dominant force in Bavaria in 2002 and narrowly missed out on another promotion to the college-player reinforced Burghausen Crusaders.
Since then, the clubs fortunes have once more declined and, lacking players, has been unable to field a team in 2009 or 2010.
Honours
- German BowlGerman BowlThe German Bowl is the annual national championship game in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the German Football League....
- Champions: 1981, 1982, 1985
- Runners-up: 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986
- German Cup
- Champions: 1981
- Junior BowlGerman Junior BowlThe German Junior Bowl, usually only referred to as Junior Bowl, is the annual national championship game for junior teams in the sport of American football in Germany. It is contested by the two best teams of the GFL Juniors....
- Runners-up: 1990
- EFLEuropean Football LeagueThe European Football League is a European Cup style tournament for European American Football teams affiliated to EFAF...
- Participations: 1986
- American Football BundesligaGerman Football LeagueThe German Football League is the elite league for American football in Germany. Playing rules are based on those of the American NCAA....
- Southern Division champions: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988
- Play-off qualification : (11) 1979–1989
- League membership : (12) 1979–1990
German Bowl appearances
The clubs appearances in the German Bowl:| Bowl | Date | Champions | Runners-Up | Score | Location | Attendance |
| I | November 10, 1979 | Frankfurter Löwen | Ansbach Grizzlies | 14–8 | Frankfurt Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010... |
5,000 |
| II | July 30, 1980 | Frankfurter Löwen | Ansbach Grizzlies | 21-12 | Frankfurt | 7,000 |
| III | August 5, 1981 | Ansbach Grizzlies | Frankfurter Löwen | 27-6 | Cologne Cologne Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the... |
11,000 |
| IV | November 2, 1982 | Ansbach Grizzlies | Cologne Crocodiles | 12-6 | Essen Essen - Origin of the name :In German-speaking countries, the name of the city Essen often causes confusion as to its origins, because it is commonly known as the German infinitive of the verb for the act of eating, and/or the German noun for food. Although scholars still dispute the interpretation of... |
10,000 |
| V | September 25, 1983 | Düsseldorf Panther | Ansbach Grizzlies | 22-7 | Nuremberg Nuremberg Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664... |
7,000 |
| VI | October 13, 1984 | Düsseldorf Panther | Ansbach Grizzlies | 27-13 | Essen | 10,000 |
| VII | November 12, 1985 | Ansbach Grizzlies | Düsseldorf Panther | 14-7 | Cologne | 9,000 |
| VIII | July 27, 1986 | Düsseldorf Panther | Ansbach Grizzlies | 27-14 | Würzburg Würzburg Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian.... |
10,000 |