ETO Championship Playoffs Winter 1944

Date	Team 1		Team 2
	Fog Bowl (ETO Semi-Final)		US Air Force Title
19.02.1944	Photo Lighnting	14	Ordnance Mustangs	0
	ETO Semi-Final		“SW Town”
27.02.1944	4th Infantry Blues	32	US Navy Seabees	0
	ETO Championship		“SW Town”
12.03.1944	4th Infantry Blues	20	8th Air Force Lightning	0

Army v Navy Winter 1944

Date	Team 1		Team 2
	Arab Bowl		Oran, Algeria
	Army	10	Navy	7
	Northern Ireland Championship		Lone Star Field, Newry
01.01.1944	Navy Galloping Gaels	0	Army Wolverines	0

Canada v USA Winter 1944

Date	Team 1		Team 2
	Tea Bowl		White City Stadium
13.02.1944	Canadian Mustangs	16	US Pirates	6
	Coffee Bowl		White City Stadium
19.03.1944	US Blues	18	Canadian Mustangs	0

Blues v Invaders Winter 1944

Date	Team 1		Team 2
	Bowl		Eastville Stadium, Bristol
06.02.1944	4th Infantry Blues	28	Invaders	7
	Bowl		“SW Town”
26.03.1944	4th Infantry Blues	27	Invaders	0

Report

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. 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.

There were also “Turkey Bowl” style games played between Canada and USA (finishing one game apiece), and the 4th Infantry Blues versus the Invaders, with the Blues winning both games.

The highlight, however, was the European Theater of Operations (ETO) Football Championship. After a series of Qualification games, 8th Air Force Lightning and 4th Infantry Blues met in the Final, which was won by the Blues 20-0.

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]

Bibliography

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

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: 18 July 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2019-2020

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