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Meanwhile, having only recently recovered from a split between IFAF-Europe and EFAF that would have been damaging to the game's reputation if it had had a reputation to damage, IFAF has now split again into the Judean People's Front and the People's Front of Judea: http://www.americanfootballinternational.com/ifaf-elects-new-president-in-canton-congress-or-did-they/quote:...There was nothing elegant about this year’s International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Congress in Canton, Ohio as the fractured leadership mechanism seems to have continued to splinter. Following what was a turbulent day of gridiron politics, IFAF’s press office and Facebook page announced a motion had passed to elect Roope Noronen as the new President of the International Federation of American Football. Noronen is the President of Finland’s Suomen Amerikkalaisen Jalkapallon Liittro (SAJL) and would remain at the helm until the 2016 IFAF Congress, which will elect a President for a four-year term. Noronen has served as the federation’s Vice President for the past 12 years, and was unanimously elected by the delegates in attendance; attendance being the operative word. Hilariously for the five of us who follow such things, having been sworn enemies four years ago, Tommy Wiking and Robert Huber are now apparently on the same side. (It is of course necessary to first get behind someone before you can stab them in the back.) The practical upshot of this is that there are now two competing IFAF boards of directors, one of which may or may not be run by a crook. Oh, the hilarity!
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Jul 19, 2015 22:59
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To be fair if they wanted to be taken seriously as comparable to FIFA this is a good first step
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Jul 20, 2015 02:39
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How fast can Qatar throw up a football stadium for, eh, let's say 50 spectators?
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Jul 20, 2015 20:26
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Pretty great story on why this World Championship was so pathetic (spoiler: embezzlement) and the players who, despite all odds, still want to play there. http://www.sbnation.com/2015/7/30/9050561/football-world-championship
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Jul 31, 2015 06:17
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I wish I had noticed this thread sooner. Once upon a time (2013-14), I used to actually help IFAF with news releases and promote their World Team Development Camp. World Team Development was a system they had to get players from at least 20 of their 64 member nations at the time to come to the U.S. at IMG here in Florida to compete for a spot on the actual World Team. The old system consisted of them just fielding the World Team to take on Team USA and it was all U19 (seniors/college freshmen). As of 2014, there were definitely a lot of fractures starting to happen. Participation in the World Team Camp dropped, and there was a lot of confusion on what they were doing. Plus, the U19 World Championship game vs. the USA went on hiatus and wasn't played last year. I'm really glad to see they got it back together for this tournament format. That said, their absolute best talent seems to consistently come from Brazil and France from what I've seen. Germany, Denmark and Sweden have some good players, too, and a superior development system in those nations, but for some reason Brazil and France are the two most impressive on an individual basis. Although in Japan, there is a significant presence of the game played at a club level within their high schools. They've been playing the game in Japan since 1936. In terms of players to really emerge from the system, Bjoern Werner (Florida State/Indianapolis Colts) and Jesse Williams (Alabama/Seattle Seahawks) are the best players I can recall off hand without doing research. I think Brad Wing (LSU/Philadelphia) might have done IFAF, too. I'm sure there are some players I'm forgetting. I *think* current Arkansas freshman Hjlate Froholdt might have done IFAF at some point as well. He's a loving beast, so keep an eye on him. I'm willing to bet he is a full-time starter for the Hogs this year by the end of September, if not sooner.
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Jul 31, 2015 12:48
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It's so frustrating to me that Goodell has the NFL chasing the chimera of a London team, which would be nothing but a white elephant, while ignoring the greater impact on fanbase building that supporting the IFAF (or more likely starting their own organization) would have. Football requires more infrastructural investment than the sports it competes with on the global stage so the NFL really needs to help build native leagues and teams if they ever hope to expand beyond the American borders.
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Aug 3, 2015 00:04
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I don't think the NFL wants other countries to develop their own independent football organizations. That would be potential competition. They just want foreigners to pay to watch American teams.
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Aug 3, 2015 00:34
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Yeah realistically the actual IFAF is the NFL
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Aug 3, 2015 00:54
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Achernar posted:It's so frustrating to me that Goodell has the NFL chasing the chimera of a London team, which would be nothing but a white elephant, while ignoring the greater impact on fanbase building that supporting the IFAF (or more likely starting their own organization) would have. Football requires more infrastructural investment than the sports it competes with on the global stage so the NFL really needs to help build native leagues and teams if they ever hope to expand beyond the American borders. I really think trying to lay down roots in London is a horrible idea on so many levels that it amazes me it is even still be talking about. Travel would be nightmare. When I was at Tampa, we did the math on how it could be feasible to transport all the team's equipment for the 10 road games you have to do. We figured out that it would be more cost effective to rent or own a full-time warehouse facility as a U.S. equipment base that the team could dispatch a truck from to various U.S. games, as opposed to loading a plane and flying all equipment over from place to place. It requires 2-3 planes to transport a single team and its gear. Not to mention the infrastructure issues you bring up. NC-17 posted:I don't think the NFL wants other countries to develop their own independent football organizations. That would be potential competition. They just want foreigners to pay to watch American teams. Mel Mudkiper posted:Yeah realistically the actual IFAF is the NFL Also this. If the NFL isn't the one actually administrating said league(s), they probably aren't overly interested in fostering its development. They would rather found another NFL Euro League and fail at it than let someone else take the reins. They founded USA Football (based in Indianapolis), but do not sanction anything to do with Team USA as you saw in the IFAF championships. USA Football's primary mission is to promote the game at the youth levels and help educate younger players on safety. In other words, to reduce the number of kids that might have NFL talent that are totally used up by the time they're college aged.
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Aug 3, 2015 12:47
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