Autumn 1942

Date	Venue	Winners		Runners-Up
14.11.1942	Ravenhill Stadium, Belfast	Hale	9	Yarvard	7
21.11.1942	Inver Park, Larne	Yarvard	14	Tech	0

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Hale	1	1	0	0	9	7	1.000
Yarvard	2	1	1	0	21	9	.500
Tech	1	0	1	0	0	14	.000

Reference: [1-5, 12-14]

ETO Championship Spring 1943

Date	Venue	Winners		Runners-Up
08.05.1943	White City Stadium, London	Yarvard Crimson Tide	19	Tech Fighting Irish	6
10.06.1943	Ninian Park, Cardiff	Yarvard Crimson Tide	14	Hale Blue Devils	0
26.06.1943	Eastville Stadium, Bristol	Yarvard Crimson Tide	40	Hale Blue Devils	0

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Yarvard Crimson Tide	3	3	0	0	73	6	1.000
Tech Fighting Irish	1	0	1	0	6	19	.000
Hale Blue Devils	2	0	2	0	0	54	.000

Reference: [11]

ETO Autumn 1943

Date	Venue	Winners		Runners-Up
10.10.1943		Podhs		Ball Toters
17.10.1943	Elm Park, Reading	Red Tornado	14	Gremlins	0
24.10.1943	Wellingborough	Engineering Bulldozers	0	Ball Toters	0
31.10.1943	Elm Park, Reading	Skytrain	0	Red Tornado	0
28.11.1943	Oxford University	Army Blues	0	Army Greens	0
05.12.1943	White City Stadium	Central Base Pirates	8	8th Air Force Commandos	0
12.12.1943	St. Helen’s Stadium, Swansea	101st Screaming Eagles	6	Invaders	6

Reference: [11]

ETO Championship Winter 1944

Date	Venue	Team 1		Team 2
		Arab Bowl
	Oran, Algeria	Army	10	Navy	7
		Northern Ireland Championship
01.01.1944	Lone Star Field, Newry	Navy Galloping Gaels	0	Army Wolverines	0
		Bowl
06.02.1944	Eastville Stadium, Bristol	4th Infantry Blues	28	Invaders	7
		Tea Bowl
13.02.1944	White City Stadium	Canadian Mustangs	16	US Pirates	6
		Fog Bowl		US Air Force Title
19.02.1944	US Air Force Title	Photo Lighnting	14	Ordnance Mustangs	0
		ETO Semi-Final
27.02.1944	“SW Town”	4th Infantry Blues	32	US Navy Seabees	0
		ETO Championship
12.03.1944	“SW Town”	4th Infantry Blues	20	8th Air Force Lignting	0
		Coffee Bowl
19.03.1944	White City Stadium	US Blues	18	Canadian Mustangs	0
		Bowl
26.03.1944	“SW Town”	4th Infantry Blues	27	Invaders	0

References: [1-5, 11]

ETO Championship Autumn 1944

Date	Venue	Winners		Runners-Up
		Army-Navy Grid Classic
12.11.1944	White City Stadium	1st Air Depot Shuttle-Raders	20	Navy Sea Lions	0
		Thanksgiving Bowls
23.11.1944	Norwich	348th Bomb Group Kiwis	0	445th Bomb Group	0
23.11.1944	Nottingham	Berger’s Bouncers	6	Henley’s Hurricanes	0
23.11.1944		Moore’s Maulers	6	Bearcats	0
23.11.1944		78th Fighter Group Greyhounds	6	434th Troop Carrier Command Greyhounds	0
26.11.1944		Shuttle-Raders	33	398th Bomb Group Blue Blazers	0
26.11.1944		Helton’s Hellcats	14	356th Fighter Group Tukey’s Terrors	6
26.11.1944		Air Force Command Warriors	28	Photo Lightnings	0
		Bowls
03.12.1944		Air Force Command Warriors	23	Cowboys	0
03.12.1944		Shuttle-Raders	25	Ramblers	0
		Championship		3rd Bombardment Division
03.12.1944		94th Bomb Group Fighting Eagles	3	Helton’s Hellcats	0
		“Turkey” Bowl
10.12.1944		Air Force Command	40	Berger’s Bouncers	0
		Championship		8th Air Force Command
10.12.1944		Shuttle-Raders	18	3rd Air Depot Liberators	0
		“Turkey” Bowl
10.12.1944		Moore’s Maulers	0	Doughter’s Fighting Eagles	0
		Army-Navy Grid Classic II
17.12.1944		Navy Green Waves	13	Army Red Raiders	7
		Tea Bowl II
31.12.1944	White City stadium	Air Force Command Warriors	13	8th Air Force Shuttle-Raders	0

References: [11]

Note: Only Major “Turkey Bowl” Style games played in Stadiums in front of the British & Irish Public in aid of the Red Cross are shown above. From Autumn 1943-Autumn 1944 there were Championships organised in various Divisions, with teams playing as many as 10 games before the playoffs.

Report

From 1942-1943 the US Army played a series of American Football matches in Northern Ireland, Wales & England in aid of the Red Cross. Teams were named Tech (Engineering), Hale (Infantry) and Yarvard (Artillery).

Irish and British newspaper readers would have been familiar with reports in the papers of US College Football, and the team names reflect this (Yarvard and Hale are not mis-spellings, but the names reflect the Ivy League Colleges of Harvard and Yale, similarly Tech is a nod to the big American Tech Colleges.

Starting in Northern Ireland in 1942, matches were played at the home of Ulster Rugby, Ravenhill (Hale winning 9-7) and Larne (Yarvard getting a 14-0 win over Tech). 8, 000 turned up to see the Ravenhill game, and a full capacity 2,000 for the Larne match.

The next year, the European Theater of Operations Championship was organised in England & Wales, with the teams given the nicknames Fighting Irish (Tech – a nod to Notre Dame), Blue Devils (Hale – after Duke University) and Crimson Tide (Yarvard – in honour of Alabama University).

The Crimson Tide won all three matches played in front of the public, attracting crowds of 25,000 (London), 7, 000 (Cardiff), and 6, 000 (Bristol).

Autumn 1943 is notable for the appearance of the Bulldozers, an African-American Engineering team.

In 1944 Army & Navy (not the US Colleges, but Army & Navy Personnel stationed in Europe), played a 0-0 Tie in Newry, dubbed the Northern Ireland Championship. Navy were nicknamed the Galloping Gaels for the day.

There were also numerous Championships for various Divisions as well as two Army-Navy Grid Classics and Two Tea Bowls and a Coffee Bowl in 1944 as the tide turned on the war and opportunities for playing in large stadiums for the benefit of both the Red Cross and the citizens of Britain increased.

An interesting footnote to this era is the very first American Football game played in Africa, the Arab Bowl, played in Oran, Algeria, which Army won 10-7 over Navy.

References

_________________________________________________________

Websites

[1] Irish American Football Association (2016) Journey to Thirty [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/journeyto-thirty/ [Accessed 08 August 2016]

[2] Irish American Football Association (2016) History of US Teams playing in Ireland [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/history-of-us-teams-playing-in-ireland/ [Accessed 22 November 2016]

[3] Irish American Football Association (2016) History [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/iafl/history.htm [Accessed 26 October 2016]

[4] Lucky Show (2016) American Football in Ireland [Internet] Available from: http://www.luckyshow.org/football/Shamrock%20Bowl.htm [Accessed 5 June 2017]

[5] Dublin Town – Article by Gerry Farrell (2016) College Football Classic Ireland’s Relationship with American Football [Internet] Available from: http://www.dublintown.ie/irelands-relationship-with-american-football/ [Accessed 7 May 2018]

Sources.

[6] Anon. (1942) . “Photo caption: American Football att Ravenhill”. Belfast News-Letter. 16 November 1942. pg. 6.

[10] Magee, Damian. “English Beer and American Football: Exporting American Football as a Cultural Commodity to the British Isles.” Irish Journal of American Studies, vol. 7, 1998, pp. 121–148. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30002410.

[11] Foglio, Massimo & Ford, Mark L. (2017) Touchdown in Europe – How American Football Came to the Old Continent. pg. 47-82. Published by the author.

Social Media

[12] Belfast Blitzers | Faacebook (2019) Post 22 August 2019: “ So this is the last of the photos in the archive, it’s of the Yarvard team at Sandy Bay, Larne Harbour on the 21st November 1942. “ [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/belfastblitzers/photos/pcb.2260513057393170/2260507127393763/?type=3&theater [Accessed 23 August 2019]

[13] Belfast Blitzers | Faacebook (2019) Post 22 August 2019: “So this is the last of the photos in the archive, it’s of the Yarvard team at Sandy Bay, Larne Harbour on the 21st November 1942. “ [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/belfastblitzers/photos/rpp.454643317980162/2260507354060407/?type=3&theater[Accessed 23 August 2019]

Images

[14] Belfast Blitzers | Facebook (2019) Photo 22 August 2019 [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/belfastblitzers/photos/pcb.2260513057393170/2260507127393763/?type=3&theater [Accessed 23 August 2019]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Todd Zboyan & Tim Leadingham.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 2 November 2019

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2019

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