Irish American Football League 1986
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | ||
| Shamrock Bowl I | ||||
| 1986 | Craigavon Cowboys | 6 | Dublin Celts | 2 |
Irish American Football League 1987
| P | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pct | |
| Tara Conference | |||||||
| *Dublin Celts | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | ||
| *Craigavon Cowboys | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | ||
| *Belfast Giants | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | ||
| Belfast Spartans | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | .450 | ||
| Bangor Buccaneers | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | ||
| Jordanstown Jaguars | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | .000 | ||
| Mourne Conference | |||||||
| *Belfast Blitzers | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0 | .900 | ||
| Carrickfergus Cougars | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | ||
| Dublin Tornadoes | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | ||
| Coleraine Chieftans | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | ||
| East Side Jets | 10 | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 |
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | ||
| Semi-Finals | ||||
| 12.09.1987 | Belfast Blitzers | 20 | Craigavon Cowboys | 28 |
| 12.09.1987 | Dublin Celts | 43 | Belfast Giants | 0 |
| Shamrock Bowl II | ||||
| 27.09.1987 | Craigavon Cowboys | 25 | Dublin Celts | 43 |
[3]
Irish American Football League 1988
| P | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pct | |
| National Conference | |||||||
| *Belfast Blitzers | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 136 | 51 | .833 |
| *Dublin Celts | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 118 | 33 | .800 |
| *Craigavon Cowboys | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 80 | 74 | .500 |
| Dublin Tornadoes | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 58 | 123 | .167 |
| Irish Conference | |||||||
| *Labatt Belfast Spartans | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 80 | 99 | .700 |
| Carrickfergus Cougars | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 67 | 58 | .250 |
| Coleraine Chieftans | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 39 | 140 | .125 |
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | ||
| Semi-Finals | ||||
| 14.08.1988 | Belfast Blitzers | 26 | Craigavon Cowboys | 12 |
| 14.08.1988 | Dublin Celts | 45 | Labatt Belfast Spartans | 6 |
| Shamrock Bowl III | ||||
| 21.08.1988 | Belfast Blitzers | 6 | Dublin Celts | 34 |
Combined Gridiron League Irish Conference 1989
| P | W | L | T | PF | PA | Pct | |
| Duke Premier Division | |||||||
| *Dublin Celts | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 242 | 43 | 1.000 |
| Belfast Spartans | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 113 | 202 | .500 |
| Craigavon Cowboys | 8 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 127 | 160 | .375 |
| East Antrim Cougars | 8 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 38 | 206 | .125 |
| Baron First Division | |||||||
| *A26 Bulldogs | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 88 | 28 | .875 |
| NI Giants | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 123 | 84 | .625 |
| Dublin Tornadoes | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | .000 |
| Date | Home Team | Away Team | ||
| Shamrock Bowl IV | ||||
| 1989 | Dublin Celts | 7 | A26 Bulldogs | 6 |
Report
In 1983 two teams played an American Football match in Banbridge Rugby Club. The Redskins and Yankees were Rugby Union players specially trained for the occasion, it was not, however until 1985 that the Irish American Football League really got started. [Reference: 10]
The first contact / kitted Irish American Football Team was the Dublin Celts, formed in 1985 in the Phoenix Park, after playing matches for the first season against English teams there were enough teams in Ireland in 1986 for an informal league at the end of which the top two were invited to play in Shamrock Bowl I, which the Craigavon Cowboys won 6-0 over the Celts. The Belfast Blitzers declined to take part in the first Shamrock Bowl as they considered themselves already Champions having won both the League and Cup. [Reference: 11-12]
The Following year, 1987, saw the first full season, 11 teams organised into two conferences, playing a 10 game season, with Semi-Finals and the Shamrock Bowl. The Celts went through the season undefeated, beating the Cowboys 43-25 in Shamrock Bowl II.
1988 saw a drop in the number of teams to seven, and again the league was divided into two conferences, with Semi-Finals and a Shamrock Bowl, which was won by the Celts again, 34-6 over the Belfast Blitzers.
In 1989 the teams played in an Irish Conference in the Combined Gridiron League, which was a league set up to unite all the various competing leagues in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At the end of the season, as well as competing in the CGL playoffs, the two division winners, the Dublin Celts and new team, the A26 Bulldogs, met in Shamrock Bowl IV, which the Celts again won by the slimmest of margins, 7-6.
It was around this time that a new organisation – the American Football association of Ireland took over the running of the sport.
References
Newspapers
[5] (1988) “Ireland” American Football News. 18 August 1988. pg.
[6] (1988) “Shamrock Bowl report” American Football News. 29 September 1988. pg. 22
Websites
[1] Britball Now (2016) Results Section [1986] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/results-section.html [Accessed 23 March 2017]
[2] Britball Now (2016) Bangor Buccaneers [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/History/Britball%20Teams/BangorBuccaneers.htm [Accessed 23 March 2018]
[3] Britball Now (2016) Results Section [1987] [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/results-section.html [Accessed 23 March 2017] [7] 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]
[8] Irish American Football Association (2018) Shamrock Bowl History [Internet] Available from: hhttp://www.americanfootball.ie/american-football/shamrock-bowl-history/ [Accessed 23 March 2018]
Images
[9] Dublin Celts American Football Team | Facebook (2017) [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213260818544676&set=gm.457477981311995&type=3&theater&ifg=1 [Accessed 21 January 2019]
Newspapers
[10] Anon. (1994) “Shoot-out at Rifle Park” Belfast Telegraph. Wednesday, August 17, 1983. pg. 34 [Internet] Available online at the Irish Newspaper Archive at: https://www.irishnewsarchive.com/ which is a subscription service.
Social Media
[11] Belfast Blitzers | Facebook (2019) Comments on Post by David Turner, August 12-17, 2019 [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/belfastblitzers/posts/2244208692356940 [Accessed 17 August 2019]
[12] Belfast Blitzers | Facebook (2019) Comments on Post by David Turner, September 7, 2019 [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/belfastblitzers/posts/2286790341432108?comment_id=2287705898007219&reply_comment_id=2292185984225877¬if_id=1568031304420635¬if_t=feed_comment [Accessed 9 September 2019]
Images
[13] Eirball Facebook (2020) Photo, 6 June 2020: “Poster of Irish American Football Teams Colours 1985-1999. Given to me by Cillian Smith (IAFL Commissioner) around 1999.” [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/2226857640959926/photos/a.2235377026774654/2492486431063711/?type=3&theater [Accessed 6 June 2020][Cropped]
Acknowledgements
Thanks to John Malone, Declan Mulvey, Gareth Quigley & John O’Reilly.
About this document
Prepared and maintained by Enda Mulcahy for the
Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive
Last Updated: 17 September 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.