New Yorker Lions

New Yorker Lions
Founded	1987
League	German Football League
Team history	Braunschweig Lions (1987-2010) Hygia Lions (2010-2011) NewYorker Lions (2011 - Present)
Stadium	Eintracht-Stadion
Based in	Braunschweig, Germany
Team colors	White and Red
President	Claus Holtz
Head coach	Phil Hickey
Manager	Phil Hickey
Championships	Eurobowl: 1999, 2003 German Bowl: 1997–1999, 2005–2008
Division titles	GFL North: 1998, 1999, 2002–2007
Website	www.newyorker-lions.de/

Logo used from 1987 until 2011.

The New Yorker Lions are an American Football team from Braunschweig, Germany. Until late 2010, the team was known as the Braunschweig Lions.^[1]

Under this name, the Lions became the most successful American football club in Germany, winning seven German Bowls as well as two Eurobowls. From 1997 to 2008, the team played in twelve consecutive German Bowls.^[2]

History

The Braunschweig Lions were formed in 1987 and the new team entered the tier-three Regionalliga Nord for that season, where it came third. The Lions were nevertheless promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga, now the German Football League 2, for the following season and spent the next six years at this level. The team was never outstanding at this level for the first five years, only finishing once with a percentage above 0.500 in this era.^[3]

In 1993, the Lions finally managed to win their division and earn promotion to the American Football Bundesliga, now the German Football League. The team performed well at this level in its first season there, finishing fourth and qualifying for the play-offs, where they were knocked-out in the quarter finals. The following season, 1995, saw the club miss the play-offs but in 1996 they returned and reached the semi-finals, losing to the Hamburg Blue Devils and beginning what was to become a strong football rivalry in the following decade.^[3]

The year 1997 saw the beginning of the golden era of the Braunschweig Lions and the most successful era of any American football club in Germany to date. The Lions were to play in every one of the next twelve German Bowls.^[3]

The club won the first three of those, the first one against the Cologne Crocodiles and title number two and three against the Hamburg Blue Devils, the latest in front of a record crowd of over 30,000 in Hamburg. That year, the Lions also took out the Eurobowl, once more playing a final against the Blue Devils there, too. The next five seasons, the Lions were to lose five German Bowls in a row. The 2000 edition saw revenge for the Cologne Crocodiles, the following three were all lost to the Blue Devils. The fifth and final loss came to the Berlin Adler.^[3] In this era, the only title the club did manage to win was another Eurobowl in 2003.

The Lions then once more turned fortunes around and managed to set a new record by winning the next four German Bowls in a row. In the four finals, they faced four different opponents. In 2005, the Blue Devils were their Bowl opponent for a sixth time, in 2006 and 2007, it had to face opposition from the southern division, the Marburg Mercenaries and the Stuttgart Scorpions, while the final victory came against the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes in 2008.^[3]

After winning those four consecutive titles, they faced drastic restructuring in 2009 and did therefore not qualify for the play-offs at all, but returned in 2010, when they lost to the Marburg Mercenaries in the quarter finals.^[3]

In November 2010, the club announced that the team would carry a new name for the 2011 season. Their name is shared with the NewYorker, a sponsor of the team.^[1] The Lions had an average 2011 season, in which they won only four season games and finished well clear of the play off ranks.^[4]

Teams

Apart from the first team, the club also fields a reserve side, two youth teams, the Junior Lions and the Red Cubs 94, a Flag Football team and a women's team, the Lady Lions. All six teams are part of the mother club 1. FFC Braunschweig.^[5]

Honours

• Eurobowl
  • Champions: 1999, 2003
  • Runners-up: 2002

• German Bowl
  • Champions: (7) 1997–1999, 2005–2008
  • Runners-up: (5) 2000–2004

• EFL
  • Participations: (7) 1998–2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009

• GFL
  • Northern Division champions: (8) 1998, 1999, 2002–2007
  • Play-off qualification : (15) 1994, 1996–2008, 2010
  • League membership : (18) 1994–present

• GFL 2
  • Northern Division champions: 1993

German Bowl appearances

The clubs appearances in the German Bowl:^[2]

Bowl	Date	Champions	Runners-Up	Score	Location	Attendance
XIX	October 4, 1997	Braunschweig Lions	Cologne Crocodiles	26-23	Hamburg	14,800
XX	October 3, 1998	Braunschweig Lions	Hamburg Blue Devils	20-14	Hamburg	22,100
XXI	October 9, 1999	Braunschweig Lions	Hamburg Blue Devils	25-24	Hamburg	30,400
XXII	October 7, 2000	Cologne Crocodiles	Braunschweig Lions	31-29	Braunschweig	20,312
XXIII	October 6, 2001	Hamburg Blue Devils	Braunschweig Lions	31-13	Hanover	23,193
XXIV	October 12, 2002	Hamburg Blue Devils	Braunschweig Lions	16-13	Braunschweig	21,097
XXV	October 11, 2003	Hamburg Blue Devils	Braunschweig Lions	37-36	Wolfsburg	20,517
XXVI	October 9, 2004	Berlin Adler	Braunschweig Lions	10-7	Braunschweig	17,200
XXVII	October 8, 2005	Braunschweig Lions	Hamburg Blue Devils	31-28	Hanover	19,512
XXVIII	October 7, 2006	Braunschweig Lions	Marburg Mercenaries	31-13	Braunschweig	15,897
XXIX	October 6, 2007	Braunschweig Lions	Stuttgart Scorpions	27-6	Stuttgart	8,152
XXX	September 29, 2008	Braunschweig Lions	Kiel Baltic Hurricanes	20-14	Frankfurt	16,177

• Champions in bold.

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the Lions:^{[3][6][7][8][4]}

Year	Division	Finish	Points	Pct.	Games	W	D	L	PF	PA	Postseason
2005	GFL (North)	1st	18–6	0.750	12	9	0	3	410	177	Won QF: Saarland Hurricanes (32–17) Won SF: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (33–8) Won GB: Hamburg Blue Devils (31–28)
2006		1st	22–2	0.917	12	11	0	1	483	165	Won QF: Darmstadt Diamonds (79–0) Won SF: Stuttgart Scorpions (36–17) Won GB: Marburg Mercenaries (31–13)
2007		1st	23–1	0.958	12	11	1	0	354	166	Won QF: Weinheim Longhorns (55–26) Won SF: Marburg Mercenaries (26–21) Won GB: Stuttgart Scorpions (27–6)
2008		2nd	17–7	0.708	12	8	1	3	328	214	Won QF: Munich Cowboys (32–13) Won SF: Marburg Mercenaries (49–21) Won GB: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (20–14)
2009		5th	6–14	0.300	10	3	0	7	168	212	—
2010		4th	10–14	0.417	12	4	2	6	258	247	Lost QF: Marburg Mercenaries (21–31)
2011		6th	8–20	0.286	14	4	0	10	222	311	—

• RR = Relegation round.
• QF = Quarter finals.
• SF = Semi finals.
• GB = German Bowl

References

1. ^ ^{a b} NEW YORKER wird neuer Namensgeber der Braunschweiger Footballer (German) GFL website, published: 20 March 2011, accessed: 31 March 2011
2. ^ ^{a b} Bowls GFL website, accessed: 1 January 2011
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Football History (German) Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 2 January 2010
4. ^ ^{a b} GFL 2011 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 18 September 2011
5. ^ 1. FFC Braunschweig website (German) accessed: 8 January 2011
6. ^ GFL 2008 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011
7. ^ GFL 2009 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011
8. ^ GFL 2010 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011

External links

• (German) Official web site
• (German) German Football League official website
• (German) Football History Historic American football tables from Germany