Irish Council of American Football | Irish Flag Football Association | League Finals 1992-2000

Flag Football Gridiron Football IFFL

Irish Flag Football League Finals 1992-2000

YearWinnerRunner-Up
1991-92Dublin Tornadoes AMarlay Martyrs
1991-92Dublin Tornadoes AMarlay Martyrs
1993-94Marlay MartyrsDublin Tornadoes
1994-95Marlay MartyrsDCU Pirates
1995-96Drimnagh Cycos12Marlay Hellfire6
1996-97The Crows25Drimnagh Cycos23
1997-98Dublin Pirates18Drimnagh Cycos12
1998-99Dublin Pirates14Greystones Rebels12
1999-00Dublin Pirates18Drimnagh Cycos12
Irish Flag Football Association Finals 1991-2000 [Reference: 1-8]

Report

The Irish Flag Football League was established in 1991 by members of the Dublin Tornadoes as a way of growing the game and ran until 2000, playing games at Marlay Park, Fairview Park and Phoenix Park [1][2]. It played a 7-a-side version as opposed to the international standard 5-a-side version.[5]

The Dublin Tornadoes Flag team won the title for first two years, and then the Marlay Martyrs won in 1993-1994 and 1994-95 [3] .The Drimnagh Cycos won the fifth edition, before the Dublin Crows won in 1997. The Dublin Pirates would then win the last three titles from 1997-2000 [6][7]

1995-96 Final

Marlay Hellfire 6 Drimnagh Cycos 12 – Marlay Hellfire went into the Final as huge favourites after an undefeated 12-game season, and having only been beaten once in the Irish League over the previous two-and-a-half-years, however, the Drimnagh Cycos, after an 8-3 season, surprised them in a 12-6 victory. Every player played his part according to Drimnagh spokesman Liam Farrell. [2]

1996-97 Final

Drimnagh Cycos 23 Dublin Crows 25 – With bad weather conditions prevailing, the Dublin Crows built up a 25-0 half-time lead. With the change of ends in the second-half the Drimnagh Cycos came back into the match, however, the Crows held on for the win as time ran out, thanks to a tactical offense. [7]

1997-98 Final

Drimnagh Cycos 12 Dublin Pirates 18- Dublin Pirates won an encounter which was close the entire match. [7]

1998-99 Final

Dublin Pirates 14 Greystones Rebels 12 – The Dublin Pirates won a closely fought final.[8]

Marlay Martyrs – 1993-94 Champions

Marlay Martyrs – Flag Football Champions 1993-94 – Photo Courtesy of Ciaran Columb [Reference:10]

About

The Irish Flag Football League was set up in the Winter of 1991 by members of the Dublin Tornadoes American Football Team as a way of growing the game [3].

There was both a Winter League and Summer League, with teams based in Dublin & Wicklow.

It was administered by the Irish Council of American Football, which was the regional body for the Republic of Ireland, within the American Football Association of Ireland.

It disbanded after the 1999-2000 season, and was replaced by the Irish American Football Assovciation’s Flag Football programme, which featured Challenge games over the whole island. [see https://eirball.ie/2019/03/11/irish-american-football-association-flag-football-challenge-games-2001-02/ ]

References

Sources

[1] First Down, August 14 1993, pg. 20

[2] “Deadly Drimnagh fly the flag for Ireland”. First Down, April 20, 1996

Websites

[3] Dublin Tornadoes (1995) Flag Football [Internet] Available from: http://www.connect.ie/users/tornadoes/Flag.htm [Accessed 6 April 2016][Broken Link] [Available at the Wayback Machine Internet Archive at: https://web.archive.org/web/20000421153717/http://www.connect.ie/users/tornadoes/Flag.htm [Accessed 14 January 2020]

[4] Britball Now (2016) History of the Game in Ireland [Internet] Available from: http://www.britballnow.co.uk/history-index/ireland/history-of-the-game-in.html [Accessed 25 October 2016]

[5] Irish American Football Association (2018)Nostalgia – A look at some pictures [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/nostalgia-look-pictures-archives/ [Accessed 24 March 2018]

Internet Archive

[6] Drimnagh Cycos (2000) Irish Flag Football League 1999-2000 [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20011017195459/http://www.geocities.com:80/Colosseum/Base/6389/ [Accessed 21 April 2017]

[7] Web Archive – Drimnagh Cycos (2000) Photo Album [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20011117060516/http://www.geocities.com:80/colosseum/base/6389/photos.html [Accessed 21 April 2017]

[8] Web Archive – Dublin Rebels (2006) Dublin Rebels American Football Club – Phil & Marcus’s Dream [Internet] Available from: http://web.archive.org/web/20061205221648/http://www.dublinrebels.com:80/page.php?1 [Accessed 5 July 2017]

[9] Dublin Tornadoes | Wayback Machine (2000) Clubs [Internet] Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20000304052541/http://www.connect.ie/users/tornadoes/Clubs.htm [Accessed 14 January 2020]

Images

[10] Enda Mulcahy | Facebook (2020) Post 14 January 2020: “Just got this photo from Ciaran Columb of Marlay – A team photo of the Flag Football Champions from 1993-94 – brilliant! Thanks Ciaran!” [Internet] Available from: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2202286633412368&id=100008931583156 [Accessed 14 January 2020]

[11] Irish American Football Association (2018) Nostalgia – A look at Some pictures from the [Internet] Available from: http://www.americanfootball.ie/nostalgia-look-pictures-archives/ [Accessed 6 July 2018]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Southwest Jets, Dublin Flag Football League, 1995.

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball| Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 14 January 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 Resereved.

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