TOUCHDOWN

American Football was massive news in the '80s and then seemed to die a death. But with new NFL teams in Holland, Spain, Germany and Scotland, the game seems to be making a comeback. The repositioning of American Football hasn't completely eliminated the hype and razzmattaz. It's still a great day out, especially for families, who make up nearly 60% of the crowd.

Text by Graham McColl

It's two decades since American football landed in Europe like some alien spaceship. The razzmattazz that surrounded the game, complete with cheerleaders, fireworks and blaring rock music, was an approach to sport that hadn't been seen in Europe. It seemed a fad, a fashion, a novelty of the '80s however, and by the early '90s American football in Europe had become a shadow of its former self. Now the game is making a return with the carefully structured NFL Europe league who are determined to put down firmer, stronger roots in Europe. And with famous fans like Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, tennis star Boris Becker, Prince Albert of Monaco and supermodel Heidi Klum, it would appear that European American Football is creating quite a stir.

Six teams compete in the NFL Europe league: Amsterdam Admirals; FC Barcelona Dragons; Berlin Thunder; Frankfurt Galaxy; Rhein Fire and the Scottish Claymores. The new season runs from 5th April until 14th June, when the top two teams in the league will contest the World Bowl in Glasgow.

"What we did was reposition the game," says Ronald Buys, General Manager of the Amsterdam Admirals, which shares facilities with Ajax at the Amsterdam ArenA. "We shifted the focus on music and entertainment and made it more about the actual game. In 1999 an average spectator would come to see us just once a season. Now the average spectator visits more than three times so we have a significant fan base. People are buying into it more."

The repositioning of American football hasn't completely eliminated the hype and razzmattaz, however, and it is still a great day out, especially for families, who make up 60% of the crowd. Women account for 32% and it's a sport with a youthful face: 75% are under 35. As Buys explains, "American football is a social event and fans of the opposing teams share seats. We still have cheerleaders and there's lots of crowd interaction by doing things like shooting T-shirts into the crowd with massive fun guns. Sometimes the T-shirt will include a ticket for the next match. We open the gates at 5pm, kick-off is at 7pm and when the game ends at 10pm there's a party with a DJ until midnight. It's crucial that people get acquainted with the rules, so our stadium announcer explains the action and 3D graphics on large screens help people understand what's going on."

In Barcelona, The Dragons are embarking on a partnership with FC Barcelona that sees the American football team now adopt the name FC Barcelona Dragons, use the Barça shield on their uniform, have soccer players appear in their advertisements and use FC Barcelona's 16,000-capacity mini-Nou Camp. Simultaneously, the growth in popularity of flag football - a game of touch American football that is without the professional game's heavy tackling - has enabled youngsters in Barcelona to get a better understanding of American football's finer points. "Our alliance with FC Barcelona is very exciting because Barcelona is more than just a football club. It means we're an accepted part of the Catalan community. FC Barcelona fans may also look at us differently whereas before they might have said our game was too different from soccer," says Rafa Cervera, General Manager of the Dragons.

Attendances in Amsterdam, Barcelona and Glasgow are respectable: the Admirals average 15,000; the Dragons 10- 12,000; the Claymores 12-13,000 but it is in Germany that the game has really gripped the public's imagination.

IN GERMANY WE HAVE THREE- HOUR-LONG PARTIES WITH SIDESHOWS, FOOD STANDS AND DJS, WITH 65-70% OF FANS TURNING UP TWO-AND-A-HALF HOURS BEFORE THE GAME.

"German people really let their hair down under certain circumstances and there's something about our sport that the Germans have taken to," says Alastair Kirkwood. "In Germany we have three-hour-long parties with sideshows, food stands and DJs, with 65-70% of fans turning up two-and-a-half hours before the game. In Dusseldorf and Frankfurt we've become the biggest sport event in the area." Rhein Fire average crowds of 40,000 and Frankfurt Galaxy 30,000. "I hate playing in Germany," says Rob Hart, a field kicker with the Scottish Claymores, "because you generally lose, but the atmosphere over there is phenomenal. It is fantastic to play in front of that number of people."

Alastair Kirkwood comments, "In Germany we've got three teams so you can create some relevancy and rivalry. The last game between Rhein Fire and Frankfurt drew 59,000 people whereas in Barcelona we still have an issue in that it's Barcelona versus a Scottish team or a team from Gelsenkirchen. One major way to grow the sport would be to create local rivals."

Matches between the Dragons and the Claymores may still have an extra-special atmosphere this season: significant numbers of Claymores fans from Scotland and North-east England will be using easyJet's new Newcastle-Barcelona route to attend matches.

NFL Europe's administrators have investigated establishing a rival team to the Dragons, in Madrid, but the biggest concern is the enormous expense of establishing new teams. "We have to rent out big stadiums," says Kirkwood, "such as Hampden Park, the Amsterdam ArenA and the Olympic Stadium, Berlin. So the cost of renting these out, marketing and spreading flag football across Europe adds up. Renting large stadiums is necessary because we need extensive facilities; trackside you can have 50-60 people at an American football game." France and Italy are other possible new territories for NFL Europe if the expense of setting up teams can be overcome, although Prince Albert of Monaco has intimated that he would be keen to start a team in the principality.

So for the time being, it would seem that the NFL Europe will continue to be funded by the thirty-two owners of the NFL teams in North America. Each NFL Europe club has a roster of 48 players per season, of which 40 are American. Most are youngsters allocated from NFL clubs to gain competitive experience. The arrangement works well but the ultimate aim of NFL Europe is to have a fully independent league. Whilst crowds for games in Europe may sometimes compare to those in the US, there is a gulf the size of the Atlantic when it comes to players' wages. A 30-second TV advertisement at the annual Superbowl in the States costs $2million, and with money like that Stateside, players can earn fabulous sums of money; 26-year-old quarterback Donovan McNabb recently signed a five-year $116million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles. The NFL Europe league is less lucrative, with players earning approximately €20,000 a season. Rob Hart states, "The money's OK but I've got a job with an employment agency and they're very flexible about giving me time off. You're not doing it for the money, though. You're following a dream and the possibility that you might get into the NFL."

Last season, Rafa Cervera of the Dragons took delight in the sound of booing rolling around her stadium - a sure sign that American football is taking an emotional hold. "We have 2,000 people who boo the coach," she says. "It's the best thing that can happen to us because it shows they understand the game and participate in it by showing their disapproval." Ronald Buys at the Amsterdam Admirals is seeking a similar type of acceptance, "What I'd love to see is people - whether they love the game or not - coming into work and asking "What did the Admirals do last night?" When we achieve that, I know we'll have firmly established ourselves and will certainly be a permanent fixture."