Dec 01 2006
Yes, Virginia, There’s an American Football World Cup
It’s amazing the stuff you find on the Internet when you start poking around a bit. For example, there’s this picture:
That’s Eric Mangini, current head coach of the New York Jets. Earlier this week, Yahoo Sports columnist (and notorious Bush-hater) Jason Cole wrote this column about Mangini, which mentioned his first head coaching experience with the Kew Colts, a semi-pro gridiron team in Melbourne, Australia. After a little Googling, I found the above snapshot, which was taken in 1992 after Mangini’s Colts won a regional league championship game.
Must have been fun, being a 21-year-old kid in Melbourne, teaching a bunch of Australians how football is played on the other side of the world…
That got me to thinking — are the Kew Colts still around? A bit more Googling turned up the New South Wales Gridiron Football League, an 8-team league in the Australian province that’s actually holding its championship game, the Waratah Bowl, this weekend. My money’s on the Sydney University Lions, but hey, any given Saturday…
That’s not the only “Gridiron” league on the continent, though. Gridiron Australia reveals that there are more than 70 clubs playing American football down under, and while it’s not nearly as popular as Aussie Rules or Rugby, it does have a following.
It also has a national team, and it’s attempting to qualify for this:
Yes, folks, it’s the American Football World Cup, which takes place in Japan next July. It’s organized by IFAF, the International Federation of American Football, which is based in France — really? — and currently has member organizations from 45 countries. USA Football is a member, and it’s organizing the American entry into the World Cup, which will consist entirely of college football players who have used up their eligibility and aren’t wanted by the NFL.
The team’s coach? John Mackovic.
Gee, what could possibly go wrong?
Of course, now I’m wondering how I can get AOL Sports to pay for me to go to Japan next July and cover this. I mean, it’s the freakin’ World Cup, man. It’s American football on a global scale. Isn’t that what Roger Goodell is chasing after these days, what with all this talk of Toronto and Mexico City and regular season games in England? Hey, Japan is the two-time World Cup champion. I bet an NFL Japan developmental league (and its cheerleaders) would be 100 times hotter than NFL Europe. Maybe Goodell should get the NFL to pour some money into these pacific rim markets. After all, you never know where the next Eric Mangini will get his start, right?
19 Responses to “Yes, Virginia, There’s an American Football World Cup”
He looks just like Paul Simon.
Japanese women in cheerleaders outfits and I don’t have to pay for it? Count me in.
Do they play by rules closer to the NFL or CFL?
When I played for my university team (go Sharks!) we played straight NFL rules, not NCAA. Mostly because very few of us had ever seen an NCAA game, whereas NFL was on every week during the season.
International Football is starting to get big overseas and we should not take for granted what folks from other countries can do. Lets just look at Hockey, beaseball, and basketball. Problem is a lot of Americans do not support the teams that are trying to exist.
[...] We’re not sure how we missed this, but apparently, in July 2007, there’s going to be a football World Cup. And not the weird foreign kind of football either; we mean, like, real football. [...]
Did you know that there has been a US Team (see link) striving to compete in this World Cup for about the last four years? Did you also know that USA Football stepped in and stole our aspirations and efforts right from under our feet? Now, the only way we get to play is if they “don’t fill enough roster spots”….. How about this: Team USA players have been paying for their own travel expenses as well as room and board, AND Team fees (uniforms etc…) out of their OWN POCKETS because they believed they stood a legitimate chance of participating in this once in a lifetime event, AND the USA Football organization just comes in and takes over…. Not right at all.
Please view the website:
http://www.teamusafootball.us
This team is comprised of Adult Amateur (Semi-Pro) players from across the USA. We have competed internationally in order to get recoginition and qualification to play in the World Cup of Football (OUR GOAL) and our dreams have been shattered by an NFL endorsed organization which is supposed to foster the growth of Football world-wide.
You wanna know more, e-mail me here:
dickbrett69@yahoo.com
The Australia Leagues play to NCAA rules, with some modifications.
If you want to find out more about Football in Australia – drop me an email!
Yes, we play NCAA rules with all the ‘bells & whistles”.
Hi mate Keith Lamb here a former captain of the Kew Colts. Unfortunatley the isurance rules forced several Teams out of the league and the Colts were one of them. I played in that 92 Final and it was the Victorian Bowl. The Victorian version of the superbowl. The Colts won that game 26 to 20 on an inside run by Deisel from the 24 yrd line. The team we played were the Berwick Miners the returning champions and overall favorites to go back to back. Eric was young then but he displayed a superior intellect for coaching even then and knew how to get the best from his players. He was a hard coach on the practice field and did not endure excuses or slacking. If you slacked off you payed the price. And if you commited a penalty in the game you payed for that as well. He is a genious when it comes to resource management and knows how not only to manage the talent he has but also how to make that talent better.
One of the highlights of my career was playing for him. I am very proud of him.
Keith Lamb
Kew Colts Captain
is there a way you can email me this picture so i can print a copy? I lost mine and would like at least a copy for my kids..the image size here wont go bigger than thumbnail size
Can’t we just line the Colts up versus one of these teams and lay a 100 – 0 score on them to end this nonsense. The only teams that can claim a World Championship of “American” football have Lombardi trophies.
Great post. I had no idea that the jets coach did that. Thanks for finding. that picture.
lol, no one gives a fuck about american football. Its irrelevant everywhere except the US, the same way sumo wrestling is irrelevant everywhere but Japan.
Hey, don’t bag out Sumo Wrestling. It may not be as ‘relevant’ as a competitive sport outside Japan, but hey is it a spectacle to watch! And besides, American Football may be irrelevant everywhere except the US and parts of Canada (but that’s balanced out by the fact that Americans think they are the entire world), but when you say that, Australian Rules football is irrelevant everywhere except certain states of Australia (Victoria, WA, SA mainly), and if you want to go a bit further, you could say football (soccer) may be irrelevant to a few regions (mainly in North American and Oceanian countries), but is conversely relevant in the other majority of countries in the rest of the world…
[...] Dave’s Football Blog » Yes, Virginia, There’s an American Football It’s amazing the stuff you find on the Internet when you start poking around a bit. For example, there’s this picture : That’s Eric Mangini, current head coach of the New [...]
[...] Dave’s Football Blog » Yes, Virginia, There’s an American Football It’s amazing the stuff you find on the Internet when you start poking around a bit. For example, there’s this picture : That’s Eric Mangini, current head coach of the New [...]
GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE. WAVERLY SHARKS 91-95. REMERBER ME?
Enjoy some clips of my favorite team. The Essexville Garber Dukes!