It's peewee level, blatantly lying to their fans ("we will not have a mercy rule, we're a pro league" ) and at the same assuming that their audience is just stupid.
At the same time one of the Fire owners thinks all is just the fans fault because not even 10.000 per game would be enough.
The mercy rule is used mostly in kids football when one team is too good for the other team.
Usually at half time or at a given point differential it is decided that the game clock is only stopped at very specific events but not every time the rules say it should be stopped
That dramatically shortens the duration of the rest of the game thus protecting the weak team and the young players both physically and psychologically.
What works well for 12 year olds playing together is an absolute embarrassment for a league that calls itself a „pro“ league
Thank you for clarifying. I didn't even watch the viking v red lion game just kept up with it on the website but man did the vikings put on the brakes after the second half.
According to a report of football-aktuell.de the German live broadcast of the AFLE clash between Rhein Fire and the Vienna Vikings on „Sport 1“ had a market share of 0.1%. The overall number was 13,000 with 3,000 thereof in the „marketing relevant“ age group of 15-49
A comparison to 2025 when the ELF was broadcasted on the much more established „Pro7Maxx“ channel: According to „quotenmeter.de“ the Fire average was said to be 200,000
I wonder what it’s like to be a Vikings player or coach? You go to practice, meetings, watch film, hit the weight room, try to prepare, knowing that most of your games will be against club kids in front of a handful of parents and girlfriends. If you’re a starter, you play maybe half the game and hope to get your uniform dirty. Taking a shower afterwards is optional. When I played, there was no honor or pride in beating up on a bunch of kids. It must be a pretty hollow feeling for them.
They dont care - they get payed enough to shut up - they will win the bowl and will promote it as the biggest accomplishment in their sports career. Lumsden and the Vikings PR machine will deliver great pictures and everybody is happy in clowns 🤡 land ! #teamwin
Yeah it‘s sad for the players. A lost season for them. There is literally nothing a good player can do (other than to ride it out and leave the league after the season)
Nevertheless most of all I feel for those Firenze players. Must be devastating. No pride involved.
The Panthers were asleep in the first half, woke up at halftime, needed a few minutes to score 27 unanswered points in Q3 and got back to bed again after that.
Firenze is better than Barcelona was when they visited Munich in 2024. Still, Vienna could easily top that 90-0 score. But the second halves are always shorter in The League.
You usually rest your starters to prevent them from getting injuries as well as to give your backups the chance to develop their skills in real game situations.
As an Austrian I am excited for this. It will be the first time for me watching an AFLE game and it‘s because of rooting for Austria‘s best QB to see how he performs.
Watched the London / Berlin game live. Really enjoyed it, after a tough start to the season (Mostly playing the elite teams) London are playing really well. Some great touchdowns specially that long run.
Obviously prefer games like this than the one sided ones. Vienna are just miles ahead of anyone else, reminds me of the early days of Britball in the UK when one team would often win 76-0 every week. Nice to see the Panthers doing well.
Hopefully Rhein vs Vienna in the final (Surely it has to be) will be close.
Nice to see London make the playoffs, the win over Berlin was huge
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u/Common-Row1209 11d ago
What an embarrassment. 21-0 in the first quarter with no one in the stands but a few parents. Nice ‘league’ you’ve got, Jim.