13 teams, split into two divisions, will fight it out for championship bragging rights and the chance to play in PLFA I in 2012.
Here is a quick look at each of the two PLFA II divisions.
PLFA II North Division
Despite having the fewer number of teams, six, the North Division looks to be the more competitive of the two divisions, and by a long margin. The Warsaw Werewolves are the only new entrants into the fray, and, despite a roster that includes many players with prior PLFA experience, they may struggle to gain a foothold against five well-established rivals. The wild-card in that quintet is Husaria Szczecin, a team that looked like it might not exist much longer just a season ago. We’ll find out a lot about the former PLFA I power when they take on the Warsaw Spartans in the season’s opening weekend. The Mustangs, Fireballs and Torpedy will join the three teams already mentioned in what is sure to be a compelling race for the number one playoff seed.
PLFA II South Division
The 7-team South Division is a different story altogether. The Krakow Knights have to be considered the preseason favorites, with more official wins (10) than the other six teams put together (7). Of course, two of those six teams, the Tychy Falcons and the Częstochowa Saints, are new to PLFA this season. That doesn’t mean they won’t stand a chance of being competitive, and one or both may even manage to make the playoffs if the other four teams in the division, the Lions, Warriors, Rocks and Scyzory, can’t improve their standing from the last two seasons. All four teams are entering their third years, and none has managed more than two wins in a single season. For that reason, 2011 can be looked upon as a season of opportunity in the South.
PLFA 8
PLFA 8?! What’s that you say? What happened to PLFA 3 through 7? Well, it’s simple really: the 8 represents the number of players each team will have on the field at a time, not the division of the league. PLFA 8 is new to Poland in 2011, and the advantages to American football in the country are huge. Of the nine teams that will compete in PLFA 8, six are located in cities that have not seen football before, two will give PLFA I teams with a lot of inexperienced players the chance to get in some action, and one will give new life to a team that had disappeared in 2010 due to the rigors of the PLFA II schedule. The ‘season’ will consist of six one-day mini-tournaments, two in each group. The three group winners and one wild card will meet in Warsaw on October 8 for a final mini-tournament that will determine the champion. However, the champion will not necessarily qualify for PLFA II in 2012.
Here is a quick look at each of the groups.
North Group
The North Group features the only team with official PLFA experience, the Słupsk Griffons, and two new teams, the Bydgoszcz Archers and the Olsztyn Lakers. The Griffons, who had trouble fielding a team last year after an anemic 2009 campaign, have been reincarnated in PLFA 8. They will be on the road for both North Group mini-tournaments, August 27 in Bydgoszcz and September 24 in Olsztyn.
East Group
The Warsaw Eagles have fielded a “B” team for the 2011 season, and they will play in PLFA 8’s East Group. The BEagles, as they are known, will play their first official games on August 28, when they travel to Rzeszów for a mini-tournament hosted by that city’s new team, the AZS Ravens. The group’s second mini-tournament will be hosted by the other new team in the East, Lublin Tytani (Titans), on September 25.
South Group
PLFA 8’s third group, the South Group, will also feature three teams making their PLFA debuts. This time it will be the Wrocław Devils “B” team that will take to the road twice. Their opponents in the 2011 regular season will be the Sucha Beskidzka Broncos, hosting their mini-tournament on August 27, and the Zielona Góra Dragons, who will host theirs on September 24.
Alexander Zarganis
[email protected]
PLFA Press Bureau
PLFA – Part I