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New Yorker Lions

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New Yorker Lions
Founded1987; 37 years ago (1987)
LeagueGerman Football League
Team historyBraunschweig Lions (1987–2010)
Hygia Lions (2010–2011)
New Yorker Lions (2011 – Present)
Based inBraunschweig, Germany
StadiumEintracht-Stadion
ColorsWhite and Red
   
OwnerAaron Jackson
PresidentAndreas Rübeling
Head coachTroy Tomlin
ChampionshipsEurobowl: 1999, 2003, 2015–2018
German Bowl: 1997–1999, 2005–2008, 2013–2016, 2019
Division titlesGFL North: 1998, 1999, 2002–2007, 2013–2019
GFL2 North: 1993
Websitenewyorker-lions.de
Logo used from 1987 until 2011, derived from the Brunswick Lion.

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] After a number of less successful years the club won four more German titles from 2013 to 2016 as well as four more Eurobowls from 2015 to 2018.

History

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BIG6 game between the Vikings Vienna and the New Yorker Lions, 24 April 2016.

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 March 2011, the club announced that the team would carry a new name for the 2011 season. Their name is shared with the fashion label New Yorker, 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] In 2012, the club came sixth in the northern division of the GFL and failed to qualify for the play-offs.

In 2013, the Lions returned to their old dominance, winning 13 of their 14 regular season games as well as the GFL Northern Division title. After play-off wins against the Rhein-Neckar Bandits and the Kiel Baltic Hurricanes the team reached its first German Bowl since 2008, which they won by a point against the Dresden Monarchs.[5]

In 2014, the club took part in a new European competition, the BIG6 European Football League, which consisted of three teams from Germany, two from Austria and one from Switzerland, the clubs being Berlin Adler, New Yorker Lions, Dresden Monarchs, Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna, Swarco Raiders Tirol and the Calanda Broncos. The two best teams of this competition advanced to the Eurobowl XXVIII,[6] where the Lions lost 20–17 to the Berlin Adler. In the GFL the Lions won the northern division once more in 2014 and defeated the Munich Cowboys 69–28 in the quarter-finals and the Cologne Falcons 52–3 in the semi-finals of the play-offs to reach the 2014 German Bowl. The Lions won the championship game against the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 47–9 and took out their ninth national title, staying undefeated in the GFL that season.

In 2015, the Lions won their third Eurobowl, again defeating the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. The team also won the northern division of the GFL once more and defeated the Saarland Hurricanes in the quarter-finals and the Allgäu Comets in the semi-finals of the play-offs, facing the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns next in the German Bowl once more, which the Lions won 41–31.

Teams

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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.[7]

Honours

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  • Eurobowl
    • Champions: (6) 1999, 2003, 2015–2018
    • Runners-up: (2) 2002, 2014
  • German Bowl
    • Champions: (12) 1997–1999, 2005–2008, 2013–2016, 2019
    • Runners-up: (6) 2000–2004, 2017
  • EFL
    • Participations: (7) 1998–2000, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009
  • BIG6 European Football League
    • Participations: (4) 2014–2018
  • GFL
    • Northern Division champions: (15) 1998, 1999, 2002–2007, 2013–2019
    • Play-off qualification: (26) 1994, 1996–2008, 2010, 2013–2019, 2021–2024
    • League membership: (30) 1994–present
  • GFL2
    • Northern Division champions: 1993

German Bowl appearances

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German Bowl XXX in 2008, Braunschweig Lions vs Kiel Baltic Hurricanes.

The club's 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
XXXV October 12, 2013 New Yorker Lions Dresden Monarchs 35–34 Berlin 12,157
XXXVI October 11, 2014 New Yorker Lions Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 47–9 Berlin 12,531
XXXVII October 10, 2015 New Yorker Lions Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 41–31 Berlin 12,051
XXXVIII October 8, 2016 New Yorker Lions Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 31–20 Berlin 13,047
XXXIX October 7, 2017 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns New Yorker Lions 14–13 Berlin 13,502
XLI October 12, 2019 New Yorker Lions Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 10–7 Frankfurt 20,382

Eurobowl appearances

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The club's appearances in the Eurobowl:

Bowl Date Champions Runners-Up Score Location Attendance
XIII June 26, 1999 Braunschweig Lions Hamburg Blue Devils 27–23 Hamburg 20,900
XVI July 6, 2002 Bergamo Lions Braunschweig Lions 27–20 Braunschweig 8,741
XVII July 5, 2003 Braunschweig Lions Chrysler Vienna Vikings 21–14 Braunschweig 7,878
XXVIII July 19, 2014 Berlin Adler New Yorker Lions 20–17 Berlin 2,368
XXIX July 20, 2015 New Yorker Lions Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns 24–14 Braunschweig 5,068
XXX June 11, 2016 New Yorker Lions Swarco Raiders Tirol 35–21 Innsbruck 4,853
XXXI June 10, 2017 New Yorker Lions Frankfurt Universe 55–14 Frankfurt 7,693
XXXII June 9, 2018 New Yorker Lions Frankfurt Universe 20–19 Frankfurt 3,122

Recent seasons

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Recent seasons of the Lions:[3][4][5][8][9][10][11]

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 —
2012 6th 8–20 0.286 14 4 0 10 374 497 —
2013 1st 26–2 0.929 14 13 0 1 493 177 Won QF: Rhein-Neckar Bandits (28–21)
Won SF: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (34–29)
Won GB: Dresden Monarchs (35–34)
2014 1st 24–0 1.000 12 12 0 0 547 126 Won QF: Munich Cowboys (69–28)
Won SF: Cologne Falcons (52–3)
Won GB: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (47–9)
2015 1st 22–2 0.917 12 11 0 1 483 148 Won QF: Saarland Hurricanes (57–14)
Won SF: Allgäu Comets (42–21)
Won GB: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (41–31)
2016 1st 24–4 0.857 14 11 2 1 547 171 Won QF: Allgäu Comets (30–6)
Won SF: Kiel Baltic Hurricanes (38–21)
Won GB: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (31–20)
2017 1st 28–0 1.000 14 14 0 0 609 132 Won QF: Ingolstadt Dukes (47–6)
Won SF: Frankfurt Universe (23–21)
Lost GB: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (13–14)
2018 1st 23–5 0.821 14 11 1 2 526 178 Won QF: Munich Cowboys (59–14)
Lost SF: Frankfurt Universe (17–20)
2019 1st 28–0 1.000 14 14 0 0 586 179 Won QF: Stuttgart Scorpions (70–3)
Won SF: Frankfurt Universe (36–18)
Won GB: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (10–7)
2020 No season played because of the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 4th 10–10 0.500 10 5 0 5 288 260 Lost QF: Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns (13–38)
2022 2nd 14–6 0.700 10 6 2 2 337 225 Lost QF: Allgäu Comets (10–14)
2023 3rd 20–4 0.833 12 10 0 2 356 175 Won QF: Allgäu Comets (36–34 OT)
Lost SF: Potsdam Royals (28–41)
2024 3rd 14–10 0.583 12 7 — 5 252 215 Won QF @ Ravensburg Razorbacks (45–14)
Lost SF @ Potsdam Royals (6–25)
  • QF = Quarter finals.
  • SF = Semi finals.
  • GB = German Bowl

Hall of Fame

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The following players and coaches have been inducted into the club's hall of fame:[12][13]

  • 1997: Germany Gerald Meier
  • 1999: Germany Olaf Müller
  • 2001: United States Jerry Claiborne
  • 2003: Germany Jörg Ottkowitz
  • 2005: Germany Joachim Diederichs
  • 2008: Germany Rico Trute
  • 2010: Canada Adrian Rainbow
  • 2012: United States Jon Horton
  • 2014: Germany Steffen Dölger
  • 2016: United States Matt Riazzi
  • 2017: Germany Bastian Kypke

References

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  1. ^ a b NEW YORKER wird neuer Namensgeber der Lions Archived 2015-06-21 at the Wayback Machine (in German) www.newyorker-lions.de, published: 20 March 2011, accessed: 31 March 2011
  2. ^ a b Bowls Archived 2015-09-29 at the Wayback Machine GFL website, accessed: 1 January 2011
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Football History (in 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. ^ a b GFL 2013 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 30 September 2013
  6. ^ BIG6 European Football League starts 2014 www.eurobowl.com, published: 20 November 2013, accessed: 5 December 2013
  7. ^ 1. FFC Braunschweig website (in German) accessed: 8 January 2011
  8. ^ GFL 2008 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011
  9. ^ GFL 2009 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011
  10. ^ GFL 2010 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011
  11. ^ GFL 2012 www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 30 September 2013
  12. ^ Hall of Fame Archived 2015-11-01 at the Wayback Machine (in German), accessed: 25 October 2015
  13. ^ Bastian Kypke wird 11. Mitglied der Lions “Hall of Fame“ (in German), accessed: 7 June 2017
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