Austrian Bowl...

[hollodero]

(07-29-2017, 03:53 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I do have a question.  Is American rules football played in schools where you live, or is it only a club sport?

Only a club sport. And don't get the wrong idea, most players do not even get paid, it actually costs them to play (travel costs and such). Pure amateur level with the exception of I think two players, that mostly come from the US to play here for little money.

There are no academies for football, as far as I know. Some schools might offer a little something, but I'm not sure, and even if it's most certainly not a pure football training. It's a fringe sport here, like pretty much everywhere in Europe.

That being said, Austria is amongst the top football nations in Europe, these guys have quite the enthusiasm for the sport. But no way they could ever get to the NFL out of an European league. Then again, there's a German guy named Moritz Böhringer who I guess got drafted last year, but that's the story of a century. If an Austrian wants to make it, he would have to go to the US at an early age (I think there is a lineman somewhere who might have a chance). Maybe a kicker could make it, but the times of Toni Fritsch are long gone, too.