This may seem unbelievable to many of you. But yes, on Saturday I was for the first time in my life at American Football game. Football in Poland has just started to develop and it’s not so popular as soccer, basketball or other sports. I will tell you about my impressions after the game, about our team, which is Krakow Kings, how it was formed and why football wasn’t so popular in Poland. I wrote wasn’t because I hope it will change in the future and below you can read why.
How it happened that I attended this match?
My boyfriend likes to watch NFL or to play American Football games on Xbox. He found out that there will be a match in our city, Kraków, in which Kraków team - Kings will play against Przemysl Bears. He asked me If I would like to go with him and thanks to Scorum I said yes, why not. I read on Scorum some posts. I saw that there is a huge interests in it, so I decided to go and see what the big deal is and what’s all this.
I have to say that I had no idea about the rules but Kings on their Facebook profile announced that they invite everyone and that rules will be given out during the match. And so it was, commentator did a great job. He was commenting and explaining everything in pleasant and understandable way. I enjoyed it very much.
How the Krakow Kings team was created?
The team was formed in 2012 after the merger of two clubs founded in 2006: Kraków Tigers and Krakow Knights joining the games under the license of the latter. The goal of the merger was to create one strong Krakow club that could compete for the highest goals. The success was almost annual participation in the semi-finals of the competition, as well as winning the vice and PLFA championships 1. In 2017, the club was promoted to the Top league, the highest-class competition.
The break-up of Polish American Football League (PLFA).
From 2018 Krakow Kings appear in the American Football League (LFA), which was created after the break-up of PLFA (Polish American Football League). Almost all major clubs in Poland decided to leave PLFA because league authorities didn't promote club enough. Clubs accuse PLFA that it lacked the idea for further development of American football in Poland, as well as poor organizational and marketing support from it for the newly emerging clubs. Not once or twice, teams in Poland have been formed, which have fallen after the season or two, not being able to function in difficult economic conditions, as football is not one of the cheapest disciplines. In addition, there was a permanent lack of the title sponsor of the games. And I have to say that I didn't hear about American Football in Poland earlier, so think it proves that PLFA wasn't promoting it enough. I think it was a good decision to create new American Football League.
“Clubs decided to undertake such step primarily for organizational reasons of PLFA. We were really just payers for the organization of the league, and we did not receive too much from the organization outside the schedule. These 12 clubs (creating the LFA 1 - MF note) unanimously stated that they want to influence what is happening in the league. They want to decide what is good and bad for them, what to do and what not to do” - says Osman Sulkiewicz, secretary of the League of American Football.
Kraków Kings - about the team
Kraków kings consist of 3 teams: Team A, Team B and Junior Team.
Team A is the main team which was established in 2012. During its existence, the team achieved the following sports results:
2013 - promotion to the semi-finals of PLFA1
2014 - promotion to the semi-finals of PLFA1
2015 - PLFA1 league championship
2017 - runner-up in the PLFA1 league and promotion to the Topliga
Group B was established in 2017. The team plays currently in the LFA9 - a 9-player version of American football.
Junior Team - Created in 2012
In 2013-2017, the team played in the PLFA junior games, both eight and eleven-person, and from 2018 appear together with the other Kings teams in the League of American Football.
Throughout its existence, the team achieved the following sports results:
2015 - third place in the eight-person PLFAJ junior games
2016 - promotion to the semi-final tournament in the eight-player junior competition PLFAJ
Why Krakow Kings? - the name
I like the name of this club which is Krakow Kings. Krakow is one of the oldest cities in Poland and second largest. On the hill in the center of Krakow there is a beautiful Wawel Castle which was built in 13th and 14th century. The castle is surrounded by defensive walls and was the seat of the kings of Poland.
So why Kings? Well, Krakow is also often called the City of Kings. I like the name Krakow Kings due to its connection to the past and history.
How was the game?
It was the first match of the Kings B team in their home place. As soon as the game has started as fast Krakow Kings received a lot of support from their fans, including me. There was so much noise on the stadion produced by the football fan trumpets that I thought I will be deaf by the end of the match. The weather was very sunny and it was very hot, over 30 degrees of Celsius (90 degrees fahrenheit). The players didn’t have an easy task as they had to play in the full Sun at noon for almost three hours. Sitting on tribunes I thought I will die and I can’t even imagine how hot it was for the football players in their costumes.
Cheerleading - Beside being supported by their fans Kings are also supported by cheerleaders -Next Cheer Generation, which is the most known cheerleading team in Poland. Team was formed in 2013 and became the official cheerleading team of Kraków Football Kings.
The first six points belonged to the Kings. After it the game was very even, there were differences of one or two points. After the first half, it was Przemysl Bears who lead. However, when the third quarter started Kings started to win. In the fourth quarter Przemysl Bears didn’t manage to gain points for touchdown as Kings’ defence was too strong. Additionally, Kings gained 2 points thanks to the safety touch.
As the name obliges and as is befits kings, Kraków Kings won.
The result of the match was Kraków Kings 34:27 Przemyśl Bears.
👑MVP Match - # 17 Szymon Lorenc
👑MVP Defense - # 55 Tomek Wełna
👑MVP Attack - # 18 Mateusz Mati Wiecheć
This is an example that hard work, motivation and commitment are the most important components of success. Bravo Kings! I’m really happy that I attended this game. Now I understand what this is all about and I have to admit that American Football is amazing game. I will keep going on games to support Krakow Kings and I hope I will also have a chance to attend some NFL games in United States. I’m also glad that major teams decided to create LFA and thanks to this I believe American football will become more popular in Poland. So far we can see that changes are good because this league promotes American football and the best example is that even I attended this game. Even though we do not have so well developed infrastructure as it is in the United States I think it was very well organized. The only thing that could be changed is that in Poland we do not have stadium vendors. You can eat or drink something when you will go to the food point on your own.
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