Results
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | ||
| College Game | Dynamo Sports Arena, Russia | |||
| 28.03.1989 | Oklahoma Stars | Oklahoma Bummers | ||
| Friendly | West Berlin, Germany | |||
| 17.09.1989 | Berlin Adler (Ger) | 77 | Moscow Bears (URS) | 6 |
The first attempt at creating a Professional American Football League in Russia took place in 1979. It was blocked by the Communist Authorities. It was not until 1989, with the Glasnost Era, that the first matches were played, with a demonstration match by two College teams, the “Stars” and the “Bummers” from Oklahoma. [1]
The following months saw the creation of the first Russian team the Moscow Bears, who played the Berlin Adler, an experienced German team and lost 77-6.
The first Russian American Football Championship then took place in 1992, however due to insufficent numbers as well as presumably the large distances involved in a National League, it was not until 2002 that it was again played, and has been played since. [2]
References
Internet Archive
[1] American Football (Russia) (2017) History in Russia [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ru/Hist_RUS.php [Accessed 24 December 2017]
[2] American Football League (Russia) | Wayback Machine (2018) American Football League [Internet] Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20181216083344/http://laf.amfoot.ru/?r=competition/about&comp=101 [Accessed 31 December 2019]
Images
[3] American Football (Russia) (2017) History in Russia | Billboard Advertising First College Game in Russia 1989 [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ru/History/pics/billboard-1989-400×600.jpg%5BAccessed 24 December 2017]
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Robert Gorby & Enda Fahy.
About this document
Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive
Last Updated: 11 May 2020
(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020
You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.