History of Italian American Football
Who would have thought that over 100 years ago the United States left a sports phenome after the darkest days in the world. Thanksgiving Day 1913 found the teams of the crews of the USS Connecticut and the USS Kansas, belonging to the Atlantic fleet of the US Navy, facing each other in a game in Genoa, Italy. And on November 23, 1944, another match called Bambino Bowl was held in an allied military camp set up in Puglia: it was just a game of after-work fun, without the organization, coverage of newspapers, stadium facilities, sports content, or spectators.
On January 1, 1945, a day of celebration despite the breakdowns of the war, in the stadium of Florence (Toscana) two teams of American soldiers, the 5th Army and the 12th Air Force, faced each other in the first and only edition of Spaghetti Bowl. The correspondent of the Armed Forces newspaper, the Sunday edition of Stars & Stripes Magazine, tells us about 25,000 spectators, the referee, two bands playing 56 instruments and the cheerleaders.
In the early fifties other games were organized by the US Armed Forces in the Trieste (Friuli Venezia Giulia) area. In 1969 the NIFL (Northern Italian Football League) was founded in the NATO base, which would organize an annual tournament between the teams of military corps stationed in Italy.
On January 29, 1972, a table of sportsmen decided to found the first Italian Federation of American Football (FIFA), with the desire and the hope of being able to introduce in the peninsula the fascinating competitive image of this sport.
In the 70’s the president of the Intercontinental Football League hoped to spread American Football in Europe. The IFL developed some teams in major European cities. The teams would be manned with prospects from colleges and loans from the NFL. Several high-profile football stars were pressed into the Italian American pro league. Unfortunately, the experiment failed and the IFL temporarily pulled the plug.
In the 1970’s teams formed and played in Italy. In 1980 the first official American football league in Italy was established and crowned a champion. The Italian league (Series A) in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, was one of the first leagues in Europe to sign professional import players and coaches from the USA.
The league had good popularity in the early years especially the late 1980’s and early 1990’s with reported attendance of nearly 30,000 fans for a Series A league final championship game in that period. American Football in Italy has had ups and downs since that time but has always had a competitive league with different lower levels playing below the Italian Football League (IFL). Italian Football League (IFL) is the top-level American football league in Italy established in 1980. The top tier teams’ final game to determine the league champion is called the Italian Bowl.
The new IFL was founded in 2008, taking over previous league called the National Football League Italy. The league was born because of the departure of several of the best clubs of the old championship organized by the Italian federation, such as Milano Rhinos, Parma Panthers, Bologna Doves, and Bolzano Giants.
In the following years a lot of teams moved to the Federazione Italiana di American Football (the federation the IFL belongs to) and most of the biggest teams are now again part of the IFL that is the First Division or in the other two divisions.
The Bergamo Lions have won the most Italian Bowl league championships winning 12 finals.
Nick Eyde, a former Italian football player met with FIDAF officials in 2022 to lay the groundwork for an Italian football game on American soil. It was thought that Toledo would be the perfect place. Ohio was the site of the birth of football and Jeeps which were used extensively during the war years in Italy are produced in Toledo – a symbolic gesture.
A partnership was formed with the University of Toledo and BCSN, the local cable affiliate to host and produce the game. On Saturday, July 1, 2023, Italian Bowl XLII the first Italian Bowl was played at the Glass Bowl Stadium on the campus of The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA. This marked the first Italian Football League Championship held outside of Europe. Almost 10,000 people attended the event while a considerable number watched on Cable both in the USA and Italy.
On June 28, 2025 the second Italian Bowl will again take place at the Glass Bowl Stadium.
Sources
- Batella, Fausto – Italian sport: Gladiatori Roma, 45 years of American Football in Italy (WTI MAGAZINE #107 SEP 15, 2018)
- Italian American football league / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
