Playoffs

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semifinali
1977	Diavoli Milano	36	Lupi Roma	12
1977	Tori Torino	12	Veltri Bologna	8
	Finale
1977	Diavloli Milano	8	Tori Torino	13

Reference: [1]

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 Diavoli Milano (Milan Devils) beat the Lupi Roma (Rome Wolves) 36-12 in one Semi-Final and the Tori Torino beat the Veltri Bologna in the other by a score of 12-8.

Torino then beat Milano 13-8 in thde Final, to claim the first Italian National Championship.

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 1970-1975: Intercontinental Football League 1970-1975

References

Websites

[1] Enciclopedia del Football Italiano (2018) Federazione Italiano Football Americano 1977 http://www.warriorsbologna.it/public/Enciclopedia/PDF/1977_fifa.pdf[Accessed 15 October 2019]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Louise Wills (Kenny), John Wills, John Kane, John Cummins,Jean-Paul O’Flynn, John Doody & John Morahan.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 20 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.