Final Standings

	P	W	L	T	PF	PA	Pct
Continental Conference
Hamburg Blue Devils	3	3	0	0	89	62	1.000
Cologne Crocodiles	1	0	1	0	21	31	.000
Munich Cowboys	1	–	–	–	–	–	–
Manchester Euro Spartans	3	0	2	0	41	58	.000
UK Conference
EuroSteelers	2	2	0	0	46	20	1.000
EuroRaiders	2	1	1	0	36	36	.500
EuroMonarchs	2	1	1	0	46	52	.500
EuroBears	2	0	2	0	36	56	.000

Note: + One fixture between the Cologne Crocodiles and Hamburg Blue Devils was an exhibition match. The Cologne Crocodiles and Munich Cowboys played in the German Football League in 1993 – they met in the German Bowl, the other Continental Conference Semi-Final. Manchester Spartans and Hamburg Blue Devils left their respective leagues to play in the European League with an ad-hoc schedule apart from two games against each other. Manchester Spartans played as Euro Spartans to signify they were now a European League team.

Continental Conference Final Four Tournament

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
26.09.1993	Hamburg Blue Devils	41	Euro Spartans	0
26.09.1993	Cologne Crocodiles	36	Munich Cowboys	42 (2ot)
	3rd Place		Venue: Hamburg
02.10.1993	Cologne Crocodiles		Euro Spartans
	Final		Venue: Hamburg
02.10.1993	Hamburg Blue Devils	53	Munich Cowboys	30

UK Conference Final Four Tournament

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Semi-Finals
24.10.1993	EuroSteelers	L	EuroBears	W
24.10.1993	EuroRaiders	W	EuroMonarchs	L
	Final
31.10.1993	EuroBears	14	EuroRaiders	12

Continental Conference Regular Season Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Week 1
09.05.1993	Manchester Euro Spartans	20	Hamburg Blue Devils	35
	Week 3
14.08.1993	Hamburg Blue Devils	31	Cologne Crocodiles	21
14.08.1993	Munich Cowboys		Manchester Euro Spartans
	Week 2
22.08.1993	Hamburg Blue Devils	23	Manchester Euro Spartans	21

UK Conference Regular Season Results

Date	Home Team		Away Team
	Week 1
10.10.1993	EuroMonarchs	14	EuroRaiders	22
10.10.1993	EuroSteelers	24	EuroBears	6
	Week 2
17.10.1993	EuroBears	30	EuroMonarchs	32
17.10.1993	EuroRaiders	14	EuroSteelers	22

Report

Terry Smith’s Manchester Spartans entered the European League – Continental Conference in 1993, losing two games to Hamburg Blue Devils. They changed their name to the Euro Spartans to reflect that they were not only playing in a European League now, rather than the BAFA member league the NDMA, but also that they were playing their home games at Saffron Lane in Leicester.

They lost the Semi-Final 0-41 to the Hamburg Blue Devils, who went on to meet the winners of the German Bowl, Munich cowboys, who had defeated Cologne Crocodiles to take the German title. The Hamburg Blue Devils won the Continental Conference Final 31-21. The Hamburg Blue Devils had not played in the German Football League in 1993, only playing an exhibition schedule and Continental Conference matches.

As well as playing in the European League – Continental Conference in 1993 as the Euro Spartans, Terry Smith’s Manchester Spartans organised the European League – UK Conference. Teams were named after NFL teams, but the prefix Euro- added to avoid confusion. All matches were played at Leicester’s Saffron Lane Stadium.

While the Spartans themselves didn’t play in the League, there were four teams: EuroSteelers, EuroRaiders, EuroBears and EuroMonarchs, the last one named after the London Monarchs, who had played in the World League of American Football – a AAA Development League of the NFL – from 1991 to 1992 (and would again play in 1995 when the League returned as a Europe-only league.

The UK Conference had a unusual format – the four teams played a two-game schedule with all four teams qualifying for the playoffs, rather than a 3-game schedule followed by a Final. The EuroSteelers had finished top of the Standings with two wins from two, but lost to the EuroBears (who had lost both matches in the regular season) in the Semi-Finals. The EuroBears then went on to claim the Championship with a 14-12 victory over the EuroRaiders in the Final.

References

Newspapers

[1] Berry, Lee (1993) “Spartans Humbled in Hamburg” First Down. May 15, 1993. pg. 17

[2] (1993) “Happy Campers” First Down. August 14, 1993. pg. 20

[3] Berry, Lee (1993) “Germans Get Away with Blue Murder” First Down. August 28, 1993. pg. 18.

[4] Berry, Lee (1993) “Spartans humble” First Down. October 2, 1993. pg. ??.

Internet Archive

[5] Hamburg Blue Devils Fansite| Wayback Machine (2000) Die Hamburg Blue Devils 1992-2000 {internet] Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/19991012165353/http://devils.de/ [Accessed 13 June 2020]

[6] Cologne Crocodiles (2020) Seniors Saison 1993 [Internet] Available from: https://cologne-crocodiles.de/seniors-saison-1993/ [Accessed 13 June 2020]

Newspapers

[7] Berry, Lee (1993) “They said it couldn’t be done” First Down. October 16, 1993. pg. 20

[8] Berry, Lee (1993) “Nuttall mints it with Raiders” First Down. October 16, 1993. pg. 20.

[9] Berry, Lee (1993) “Semi-Conscience” First Down. October 23, 1993. pg. 20.

[10] Berry, Lee (1993) “Near-Miss!” First Down. November 6, 1993. pg. 21.

Internet Archive

[11] Hamburg Blue Devils | Wayback Machine (1999) Devils History 1993 [Internet] Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/19991012165353/http://devils.de/ +[Accessed 13 June 2020]

[12] Cologne Crocodiles (2020) Seniors Saison 1993 [Internet] Available from: https://cologne-crocodiles.de/seniors-saison-1993/ [Accessed 14 June 2020]

[13] Football-History (2020) GFL 1993 [Internet] Available from: http://www.football-history.de/?fbclid=IwAR2E2J86wMTRYljCjLjwKPjOJOzZHRXsNAo8sSrwuvh5UtckiLU_QLSTQGU [Accessed 14 June 2020]

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Shane Mulcahy and Ciaran Simms

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 14 June 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Reserved.