Raiders top European ranking (EFAF)

European club competitions for 2012 have just started, so EFAF's new Top 20 of European clubs has been released. Reigning Eurobowl champion Swarco Raiders Tirol tops the list, which is of no surprise, as the Raiders have not only won Austrian Bowl 2011 a few days after their Eurobowl triumph back in the summer, but also fielded an easy win in their 2012 AFL opener against newly-promoted Kornmesser Rangers. So as long as the team does not lose - it will be hard to find a reason to put someone else ahead.

Certainly the Raiders will see some bigger challenges in the near future. On the first weekend of April they travel to Prague, where they meet a Panthers team, which for a surprisingly long time held the lead over the Danube Dragons last week, three weeks later the Tyroleans have to face the Vikings at Vienna. Speaking of Vienna, Danube or Prague: All of the AFL teams in the European competition this year are listed in the top 12 of the list. And at Vienna there might be a notion that the third rank needs to be argued about. Last year's runner-up in the Eurobowl final game, the Berlin Adler, currently still ranked ahead of the Vikings, did not do that well in the national competition in fall - so there is just one more reason for the Vikings to prove their point in their home game against the Raiders.

Berlin is one of three German clubs in the Top 20 - national champion Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns might be quite content with its sixth rank at this time of the year, but two-time Eurobowl champion Braunschweig who returns to EFAF Cup this year finds itself ranked #19 and certainly will be well motivated to move up the list during the season. Same goes for the Milano Seamen from Italy, one of Braunschweig's opponents in the EFAF Cup: The team is managed by Mario Rende who wrote some Eurobowl and Italian football history with his former club from Bergamo. So when the Seamen and Braunschweig meet on Easter Saturday at Milan there will be a little more on stake than just a battle for rank #19 in the EFAF Top 20 - the winner surely should move up quite a few ranks.

The top non-Austrian and non-German team in the Top 20 comes from - Switzerland! The Calanda Broncos are rewarded for their thrilling performance on the road at Vienna in last year's EFL quarterfinals (not to speak of their multi-year unbeaten streak at home in the national league) and occupy the fifth rank. No Swiss team has ever been ranked higher, but Calanda is another one of these teams that might see themselves as slightly underrated, even at this high level. Perfect make-up: If the Broncos are able to hold off Helsinki (#10) in the preliminaries they will meet #4 Graz in the EFL quarterfinals.

The EFAF Top 20 may be viewed in full here: http://www.efaf.info/text.php?Inhalt=top20

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Qualification for EJC 2013 to start in 2012 (EFAF)

Qualification for EJC 2013 to start in 2012

The qualification rounds for the European Junior Championships 2013 have been scheduled and the quest for Europe’s championship for 16- to 19-year olds will start with a first round qualification game between the Netherlands and Switzerland to be played in the Netherlands in the first half of 2012. In total 13 nations have entered their junior national teams into the competition. Three nations earn automatic berths for the final tournament, leaving three of the six starting spots at stake in the qualifying process.

Reigning European Junior Champion Austria and last year’s runner-up France will not have to take the burden of qualifying and are rewarded for their appearance in the final game at Seville 2011 with an automatic berth for the final tournament. As well is Russia, which is preparing to host the final tournament in the summer of 2013.

The winner of the Netherlands-Switzerland game will qualify for qualification round 2, which again will be held as a tournament, this time gathering four teams in Italy. The tournament has already tentatively scheduled for September 7-9 and will feature two semifinal games. Serbia will face Great Britain and Italy will square off with either the Netherlands or Switzerland. The winners of these two games will play the final game of the qualification tournament to advance to the last qualification stage. Qualification round 3 will feature three games, each with one of the three remaining spots in the final tournament at stake. As the third-placed team of EJC 2011 Sweden will host the winner of the round 2 tournament. Accordingly the fourth- and fifth-placed teams of Seville 2011 host the other two games of round 3: Germany will take on Spain and Denmark will battle Finland.

European Junior Championships are held every two years. Teams are formed by the best junior players of each country within the bracket of 16 to 19 years of age. The tradition of European Junior Championships dates back to 1992. The tournament in 2013 will be the 11th European Junior Championship. Starting this year EJC final tournaments have been switched to odd years to better accommodate a broadened global junior american football schedule. By winning three times in 1998, 2000 and 2008 Germany and Finland (1992, 1994, 1996) currently are holding the record for most EJC wins in tournament history. France won two titles 2004 and 2006), Russia one tilte (2002) and in the summer of 2011 Austria became the fifth nation to capture an European Junior Championships trophy.

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Reorganization of EFAF Administration (EFAF)

Dear friends of American Football in Europe!

In the ongoing process to evaluate our working structure and to improve our service for our members and clubs the EFAF Administration is going through an reorganization. The basic idea is to use the resources of more member federations and not just to focus the whole work on that German Federation office at Frankfurt. First steps had already been done. EFAF was able to recruit new volunteers for the technical level which had been gone through our training program at the last big tournaments. EFAF also created the position of an EFAF Technical Director. The next step is to move the international player transfer system to the Finish Federation office at Helsinki. SAJL has an office with four persons working there. Therefore it will be possible for SAJL to maintain a daily service to everybody. EFAF will compensate SAJL for the additional workload by a service contract.

SAJL contacts are:
phone: +358-9-43683211
fax: +358-9-43683210

We have created a special e-mail account for all question related to transfers:

transfers@efaf.info and itc@efaf.info

It might take some days until the new system is running smoothly. In the transition time you may still contact EFAF Administrative Secretary Mr. Thomas Meyer.

On behalf of EFAF Board of Directors we have to thank Mr. Meyer for this intense work on the transfer system in the last three years!

To SAJL our best wishes with the new tasks.

Best regards

Robert Huber
EFAF President

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Reminder on EFAF Membership Fee 2012 Payement (EFAF)

Dear EFAF Members,
dear ladies and gentlemen,

we like to remind everybody that the EFAF Financial Department has send the invoices for the 2012 EFAF Membership fee to all members.

The due day is January 31, 2012.

Federations not having paid their membership fee could lose their voting right at the next General Assembly.

Therefore we kindly ask everybody to take care of the payment.

If somebody has not recieved the membership fee invoice please contact EFAF office.

Best Regards

EFAF Office

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Jerome Simpson Suspension: 3-Game Ban Hurts Free Agent WR's Quest for New Team

Jerome Simpson has yet to sign with an NFL team this offseason, and it may take even longer to do so now that the league has slapped him with a suspension. 

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Simpson received a three-game suspension for this upcoming season.

Bengals free-agent WR Jerome Simpson is being suspended three games under the substance abuse policy, per NFL source.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 24, 2012

The NFL made the right call here, but it's quite unfortunate for Simpson. Per the Associated Press, Simpson had visits with the Minnesota Vikings and St. Louis Rams. And of course you can't count out his former team, the Cincinnati Bengals, re-signing him.

Now that he'll be out for the first three games, it could force some or all of these teams to rethink their stance on Simpson.

Then again, they had to know Simpson was going to get some type of punishment given the circumstances. 

Last fall, Simpson had roughly two pounds of marijuana shipped to his house, which resulted in his arrest. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail, a three-year probation, forced to do 200 hours of community service and pay a $7,500 fine plus court fees. 

It's uncertain where Simpson will play in the upcoming season, but we do know that we won't see him on the field for the first three games, which is a better punishment that it could have been considering it appeared as though he was selling illegal drugs in addition to playing in the NFL. 

Stay tuned with Bleacher Report and our NFL coverage for up-to-date information on Simpson's future and all things NFL. 

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Madden NFL 13 Cover: EA Sports Can't Lose in Cam Newton vs. Calvin Johnson Vote

The Madden NFL game specializes in the ridiculous.

As lifelike as the creators work to make the game, there is always going to be that "wow" element of things that only happen on high-school fields when elite players match up with inferior talent. 

In the NFL, both Cam Newton and Calvin Johnson bring that "wow" element to the field; they are two of only a handful that do it.

Newton plays the quarterback position like a running back with a cannon for an arm. He's one of the most popular rising stars in the league and has the advantage (or disadvantage) of having to carry his offense.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

He put up video game-like number in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2011 and he's likely to continue doing so for the duration of his career.

Newton is a Madden player playing in the NFL.

Johnson isn't far off in terms of unique talent, and he's more deserving of winning the award than Newton based solely on body of work.

The former No. 2 overall pick helped the Lions make the postseason in 2011 for only the third time in the past 15 years and he's consistently performed despite inconsistent quarterback play.

Now he has a star quarterback—assuming Matt Stafford stays healthy—and he's putting up Madden-like numbers as well.

In terms of playing style, EA Sports cannot ask for much more in their final vote for the 2013 cover.

Off the field, they both have huge appeal, too. Newton has a national following dating back to his college days, while Johnson continues to give a city deprived of football glory reason to hope every time he takes the field.

That type of appeal, combined with on-field skill, make Newton and Johnson ideal choices for the cover. One of the two has to lose in the vote, but EA Sports loses nothing.

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NL Worst of the Night: Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Kendrick Is Crushed

Highlighting a bad performance from the previous night in baseball might seem like a harsh way to start the morning. But look at it this way: If you had a rough night or bad day, here's someone who may have had it worse.

After losing four of the first seven games on their West Coast road trip, the Philadelphia Phillies have spiraled down to last place in the NL East, five games behind the Washington Nationals. The Fightin's have been anything but, and need a good week to right the ship.

That week didn't get off to a good start Monday night, thanks to Kyle Kendrick. Starting his first game of the season in relief of the injured Cliff Lee, the Arizona Diamondbacks pounded Kendrick right out of the box.

The D-Backs led off their first inning with two consecutive doubles to take a 1-0 lead. To be fair, Juan Pierre just missed catching Gerardo Parra's liner to left field, but Aaron Hill just missed hitting a home run. His drive down the left-field line was initially ruled a homer, but was overturned when replay showed the ball hit approximately a foot under the top of the wall.

Kendrick allowed three additional hits after that, along with hitting a batter and walking another. When the smoke cleared, the Phillies were down, 4-0. Had Lyle Overbay not been thrown out (by a mile) at home plate, the D-Backs would've put up a five-spot.

You can view the carnage here.

Kendrick lasted two more innings, giving up another three runs, one of which was Justin Upton's first homer of the season. But a three-inning outing in which he was rocked for seven runs and 11 hits is most certainly not what the Phillies needed from a replacement starting pitcher. Especially when their offense is having trouble producing runs. 

Get well soon, Lee. The Phillies might not be able to afford starting Kendrick many more times.

-- Follow @iancass on Twitter and subscribe on Facebook.

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