IAFL / AFAI Team 1988-1993

Home Ground: Allen Park, Antrim

Colours: Purple Jerseys/ Yellow Pants with Purple Stripe/ Yellow Helmet with Purple Stripe

History: Team from Antrim that was successful during regular-season play but failed to translate that into Shamrock Bowl success. The Bulldogs played three festival matches in 1988 before they reached the Shamrock Bowl in their first season in the IAFL in 1989, and indeed, in three of the first four years of the teams existence, losing all three before folding after the 1993 season. Other notable achievements include winning their Division in their debut season in 1989, and becoming the first Irish team to defeat the Dublin Celts in five years on opening day in 1992. [5]

Honours: Shamrock Bowl Runners-Up 1989, 1991, 1992. CGL Baron First Division Champions 1989.

Career Record: W-L-T: Total: 21-19-1 , Regular Season: 15-9-1 , Post-Season: 1-4-0, International: 1-1-0, Festivals: 0-2-0 Preseason: 0-3-0 (Full Record Unknown).

Home Venue – Allen Park, Antrim

Links to Year-by-Year Season Reports & Rosters

1992

Year-by-Year Record

Year	Lge	RS W-L-T	Pts / Pos	PS W-L-T	Chp	Oth W-L-T	Chp
1988	Fest	–	–	–	–	0-2-0	–
1989	IAFL	7-1-0	.875 / 1st	0-1-0	D1	1-1-0	–
1990	AFAI			0-1-0		0-1-0	–
1991	AFAI	3-3-1	.500 /	0-1-0			–
1992	AFAI	5-1-0	.833 /	1-1-0		0-1-0	–
1993	AFAI					0-1-0

[20][22] 1991 Record Compiled from: [7-12] 1992 Record compiled from [13-18]

1988 Season Results

Week	Date	H/A	Opposition	W/L	Score
F1	1988	N	Dublin Tornadoes	L	0-46
F2	17.07.1988	N	Labbatt Spartans	L	8-22
F3	13.08.1988	Birr	Dublin Tornadoes

1989 Season Results

Week	Date	H/A	Opposition	W/L	Score
1	07.05.89	A	Belfast Spartans	W	40-0
2	14.05.89	H	NI Giants	W	6-0
3	21.05.89	A	Dublin Tornadoes	W	1-0 #
4	28.05.89	H	East Antrim Cougars	W	1-0 #
5	04.06.89	H	Dublin Tornadoes	W	1-0 #
6	11.06.89	A	Dublin Celts	L	9-14
7	18.06.89	H	Craigavon Cowboys	W	17-7
8	09.07.89	A	NI Giants	W	13-7
CGL R1	1989	H	Furness Phantoms (Eng)	W	34-6
CGL SF	1989	A	Severn Valley Warlords (Eng)	L	0-5
SB IV	1989	Belfast	Dublin Celts	L	6-7

[3]

1990 Season Results

Week	Date	H/A	Opposition	W/L	Score
PS1	01.04.90	A	Craigavon Cowboys	L	6-25
1	06.05.90	H	Belfast Spartans	W	15-12
2	13.05.90	H	Belfast Spartans	L
5	03.06.90	H	Craigavon Cowboys	L
6	10.06.90	H	Carrickfergus Cougars
7		A	Craigavon Cowboys
SF	22.07.90	A	Belfast Spartans	L	0-6

1991 Season Results

Week	Date	H/A	Opposition	W/L	Score
1	05.91			W
2	19.05.91	H	Dublin Tornadoes	W	32-6
MW	29.05.91	H	Belfast Spartans	T	6-6
4	02.06.91	A	Dublin Celts	L	8-13
	16.06.91	A	Dublin Tornadoes	L	0-6
	21.07.91	A	Belfast Spartans	W	27-6
	28.07.91	A	Dublin Celts
SB VI	91	N	Dublin Celts	L	0-44

1992 Season Results

Week	Date	H/A	Opposition	W/L	Score
PS 1	26.04.1992	N	Dublin Tornadoes	L	0-3
1	1992	H	Dublin Celts	W	6-0
2	1992	H	Lee Valley Steelers	W	60-0
6	1992	H	Drogheda Vikings	W	50-0
10	23.08.92	A	Dublin Tornadoes	L	0-8
12	06.09.92	H	Belfast Spartans	W	11-8
	??	A	Craigavon Cowboys	W
SF	92	A	Dublin Tornadoes	W	19-6
SB VII	92	N	Craigavon Cowboys	L	6-14

1993 Season Results

Week	Date	H/A	Opposition	W/L	Score
PS 1	25.04.1993	N	Dublin Tornadoes	L	0-22
5	19.06.93	A	Dublin Celts	L	0-3

References

Sources

[1] Anon. (1990) “American Football double-header” Sunday Life May 6, 1990. pg. 59

[2] Anon. (1990) “American Football Column: Spartans in revenge bid” Sunday Life May 13, 1990. pg. 46

[3] Anon. (1990) “American Football” Sunday Life May 20, 1990. pg. 56

[4] Anon. (1990) “American Football: Junior game is on the up!” Sunday Life May 27, 1990. pg. 58

[5] Anon. (1990) “American Football: off form Bulldogs lack any real bite” Sunday Life June 3, 1990. pg. 46

[6] Traynor, Jonathan (1990) “Local League action hots up” Sunday Life June 10, 1990. pg. 42

[7] Anon. (1990) “American Football: Cowboys riding high..” Sunday Life August 5, 1990. pg. 43

[8] Traynor, Jonathan (1991) “American Football: Clash of Titans!” Sunday Life May 28, 1991. pg. 46

[9] Anon. (1991) “Scoreboard: Gridiron” Sunday Life June 2, 1991. pg. 53

[10] Anon. (1991) “Gridiron: Antrim Dawgs go for walkies” Sunday Life June 9, 1991. pg. 41

[11] Anon. (1991) “American Football: Rows spoil Irish scene” Sunday Life July 28, 1991. pg. 43

[12] Naughton, L. (1991) “Minority Report: Defensive Tornadoes do it”, Evening Herald. Thursday, June 27, 1991, pg. 59.

[13] Anon. (1992) “IRISH CHAMPION CELTS STUNG BY BULLDOG SPIRIT”, First Down. July 11, 1992, pg. 17.

[14] Naughton, L. (1992) “Minority Reports: U.S. Football”, Evening Herald. Thursday, July 2, 1992, pg. 65

[15] FD Reporter. (1992) “At last! It’s the Dub-win Celts!”, First Down. August 15, 1992, pg. 17.

[16] Naughton, L. (1992) “Minority Reports: U.S. Football”, Evening Herald. Thursday, August 27, 1992, pg. 61

[17] Naughton, L. (1992) “Minority Reports: U.S. Football”, Evening Herald. Thursday, September 10, 1992, pg. 70

[18] Naughton, L. (1992) “Minority Reports: Gridiron grief for Dubs!”, Evening Herald. Thursday, September 17, 1992, pg. 76

[19] Anon. (1993) Irish Zeros. First Down. 19 June, p. 21.

Websites

[20] Britball Now (2016) Historial League Tables [1989] [CGL] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/historical-league-tables-in/ [Accessed 27 February 2017]

[21] Irish American Football Association (2018) Shamrock Bowl History [Internet] Available from: hhttp://www.americanfootball.ie/american-football/shamrock-bowl-history/ [Accessed 23 March 2018]

[22]Britball Now (2016) Results Section [1989] [CGL] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/results-section.html [Accessed 27 February 2017]

Newspapers

[23] Anon. (1988) “Birr Vintage Festival” Nenagh Guardian. Saturday, August 13, 1988. pg. 15.

Websites

[24] Britball Now (2016) Historical Results [1988][Friendlies] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/results-section.html [Accessed 12 January 2020]

Images

[25] Trinity Bowl 1992 Poster (Personal Collection of Author).

Newspapers

[26] Naughton, L. (1993) “Tornadoes top dogs!” Evening Herald. Thursday, April 29, 1993. pg. 103 (59)

[27] Naughton, L. (1993) “US Football” Evening Herald. Thursday, April 15, 1993. pg. 100.

Internet Archive

[28] Irish American Football Association – Wayback Machine Web Archive (2016) A brief History of American football in Ireland [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20071118171931/http://americanfootball.ie/history.htm [Accessed 6 July 2017]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Cillian Smith, Michael Smith, Ralph Schmeer and Michael Brophy of the Irish American Football Association and Irish American Football Officials Association.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American & World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 21 January 2021

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2019-2021

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.