AFL Football Season Begins...

Cineplexx Blue Devils
Carinthian Black Lions
Turek Graz Giants
Swarco Raiders Tirol
Dodge Vikings






Knowing that I was craving something "American", a friend of mine here in Graz asked me to join him for some 'American' football. To my surprise, I found out some interesting facts about the team, and also had an opportunity to meet some of the players and the head coach.

I sat with not only my friend that invited me, but next to a woman from Venezuela that spoke english well. She was very pleasant to sit with during the course of the match, as she was kind enough to offer me loads of predictions on defensive calls by the opposing team. And to her credit, she was 100% correct. Now, the most interesting fact that she told me was that she was the coach's wife, and that he was from Northern California. Moreover, the two met eachother while he was serving in Venezuela as a Peace Corps volunteer! Crazy, huh? The head coach had spent his tour of duty in Venezuela about 25 years ago. Later, he would move back to Mount Shaska, build a family, and become the head coach at College of the Siskiyous (Junior College).

*The first game of the season ended in a win for the home team, Giants, but they lost two players from an already slim team. Another interesting fact I learned is that the Austrian players pay their own way, as this is considered a sort of club to them, while the American or British or Canadian imports are paid to play. Overall, I would say that the football team was as good as any American Junior College team. Nevertheless, it was fun, and I plan on attending all the games through July while I'm here in Graz.

Alittle bit more about the Giants team...

With the obligation of not only the Head coach of the Giants, Phil Maas undertook the responsibility as the only coach for this team. Phil and his wife have traveled to Graz every Spring/Summer since 2003, to help take this team to a championship. As I mentioned before, he already has another obligation when he returns to California as the assistant coach at College of the Siskiyous.

Phil was at College of the Siskiyous (Weed, California) as Athletic Director, Head coach and finally as an offensive Coordinator. This I found out was a necessary qualification for a job that pretty much has him making all the calls. Unfortunately, the Giants don't have as large of sponsors as other teams in the league, so they can't afford more coaching staff.

What's cool is that in the 2003 season during his first year, Phil led the Giants into the Austrian Bowl. I should also note here that this is Division 1, but is still remains one step lower than the European NFL (http://www.nfleurope.com/). Also impressive was that the Giants and Phil beat 'Team USA' (http://teamusafootball.org/) in that same year.









This year the Giants have obtained three Americans; Sheldon Cross (QB), Darvin Lewis (LB), and Jeremy Bohannon (DB/WR).








2006 Season Schedule:
http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.afboe.at/spielplan.php%3Fliga%3D1.Liga%26jahr%3D2006&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dgraz%2Bgiants%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D