NIFL 1976

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Blue Knights Vicenza
Eagles Aviano
Geronimos Vicenza
Rangers Tirennia
Red Machine Aviano

Reference: [1]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Geronimos	W

Reference: [1]

NIFL 1977

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Red Machine Aviano	9	7	2	0			.778
*Geronimos Vicenza	9	6	2	1			.722
Eagles Aviano	9	5	4	0			.556
Blue Knights Vicenza	9	4	4	1			.500
Rangers Tirennia	9	4	5	0			.444
Bosco Rocks Verona	9	0	9	0			.000

Reference: [1]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Geronimos	W

Reference: [2]

NIFL 1978

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
*Geronimos Vicenza	10	9	1	0			.900
*Red Machine Aviano	10	8	2	0			.800
Blue Knights Vicenza	10	5	5	0			.500
Rangers Tirrenia	10	5	5	0			.500
Eagles Aviano	10	2	8	0			.200
Rhinos Milano	10	1	9	0			.100

Reference: [1]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Geronimos Vicenza	L	Red Machine Aviano	W

Reference: [3]

NIFL 1979

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
*Geronimos Vicenza	10	10	0	0			1.000
Blue Knights Vicenza	10	6	2	2			.700
Eagles Aviano	10	6	2	2			.700
Rangers Tirrenia	10	4	6	0			.400
Bosco Rocks Verona	10	2	8	0			.200
Rhinos Milano	10	0	0	10			.000

Reference: [4]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Geronimos Vicenza	W

Reference: [4]

NIFL 1980

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
*Blue Knights Vicenza	8	7	1	0			.875
Geronimos Vicenza	8	6	2	0			.750
Eagles Aviano	8	5	3	0			.625
Rangers Tirrenia	8	5	3	0			.625
Rhinos Milano	8	4	4	0			.500
Frogs Gallarate	8	1	7	0			.125
Rams Milano	8	0	8	0			.000

Reference: [5]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Blue Knights Vicenza	W

Reference: [5]

NIFL 1981

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Blue Knights Vicenza
Eagles Aviano
*Geronimos Vicenza
Rangers Tirrenia
Rhinos Milano

Reference: [6]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Geronimos Vicenza	W

Reference: [6]

NIFL 1982

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
*Geronimos Vicenza	7	7	0	0	308	13	1.000
*Blue Knights Vicenza	7	6	1	0	278	28	.857
*Rangers Tirrenia	7	5	2	0	104	80	.714
*Rhinos Milano	7	4	3	0	83	174	.571
Giaguari Torino	7	3	4	0	66	161	.429
Warriors Bologna	7	1	6	0	40	195	.143
Frogs Gallarate	7	0	7	0			.000
Crusaders Brindisi / Eagles Aviano (&)

Reference: [7] (&) Eagles Aviano excluded from the Championship and replaced by Crusaders Brindisi – Other information unavailable [7]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semifinale
	Blue Knights Vicenza	27	Rangers Tirrenia	14
	Geronimos Vicenza	35	Rhinos Milano	0
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Blue Knights Vicenza	6	Geronimos Vicenza	32

Reference: [7]

NIFL 1983

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
*Geronimos Vicenza	6	6	0	0	297	28	1.000
*Blue Knights Vicenza	6	5	1	0	169	91	.833
Frogs Busto Arsizio	6	4	2	0	111	83	.667
Rangers Tirrenia	6	3	3	0	95	87	.500
Warriors Bologna	6	2	4	0	55	168	.333
Giaguari Torino	6	1	5	0	91	151	.167
Seamen Milano	6	0	6	0	0	210	.000

Reference: [8]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semifinale
	Geronimos Vicenza	20	Rangers Tirrenia	0
	Frogs Busto Arsizio	20	Blue Knights Vicenza	36
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Blue Knights Vicenza	26	Geronimos Vicenza	21

Reference: [8]

NIFL 1984

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
*Blue Knights Vicenza	5	4	1	0	129	27	.800
*Geronimos Vicenza	5	4	1	0	77	23	.800
*Rangers Tirrenia	5	2	3	0	57	41	.400
*Eagles Aviano	5	2	3	0	13	52	.400
Wildcats Napoli	5	2	3	0	22	119	.400
Crusaders Brindisi	5	1	4	0	34	70	.200

Reference: [9]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semifinale
	Blue Knights Vicenza	36	Rangers Tirrenia	0
	Geronimos Vicenza	8	Eagles Aviano	0 ot
	Finale
	Blue Knights Vicenza	7	Geronimos Vicenza	14

Reference: [9]

NIFL 1985

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
*Geronimos Vicenza	4	4	0	0			1.000
*Rangers Tirrenia	4	3	1	0			.750
*Blue Knights Vicenza	4	2	2	0			.500
Red Raiders Aviano	4	1	3	0			.250
Mustangs Napoli	4	0	4	0			.000

Reference: [10]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semifinale
	Geronimos Vicenza	14	Red Raiders Aviano	7
	Rangers Tirrenia	19	Blue Knights Vicenza	12
	Spaghetti Bowl
	Geronimos Vicenza	30	Rangers Tirrenia	14

Reference: [10]

NIFL 1986

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Black Knights Vicenza
Blue Falcons Vicenza
Eagles Aviano
Mustangs Napoli
Rangers Tirrenia
Warriors Bologna	5	0	5	0	25	163	.000

Reference: [11]

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semifinale
	??		??
	??		??
	Gold Bowl
	??		??

Reference: [11]

Report

The first domestic Italian American Football League was the Northern Italian Football League , started in 1976, following the first unsuccessful attempts at introducing Pro American Football to Europe in 1973-1975, with the Intercontinental Football League, which was to feature NFL players, and six teams in Europe, including the Rome Gladiators in Italy.

The FIFA (Federazione Italiano Football Americano) association was set up the following year, in 1977, with a four-team National Playoff.

The Northern Italian Football League was started in 1976, with Vicenza teams Geronimos & Blue Knights dominating play, winning all the Spaghetti Bowls between them and finishing in the top two spots in the Regular Season most years.

The NIFL was merged into the Associazione Italiana Football Americano after the 1986 season.

The Italian League was the first domestic American Football League in Europe, with the game being restricted to US Army men playing at Air Force bases in Europe prior to that. The film M*A*S*H had popularised American Football in Europe in 1970, the first time the game had been seen on screen in Europe in a Major Film. See the Intercontinental Football League 1972-1975: Intercontinental Football League 1970-1975

References

Websites

[1] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1976 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1976_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[2] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1977 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1977_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[3] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1978 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1978_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[4] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1979 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1979_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[5] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1980 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1980_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[6] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1981 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1981_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[7] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1982 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1982_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[8] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1983 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1983_nifl.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

[9] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1984 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1984_nifl.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2019]

[10] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1985 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1985_nifl.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2019]

[11] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Northern Italian Football League 1986 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1986_nifl.pdfAccessed 24 October 2019]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Santina Farrinella.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 24 October 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 Resereved.