Two weekends of great American football “made in Italy” in Ravenna. Right on the 40th anniversary of the foundation of the Chiefs, the three finals of the 1a2a e 3a Division.
From Ohio to Ravenna
In the 2023 season these finals were held in Toledo, Ohio, a town not too far from the American Ravenna (just 230 kilometers) and compared to a year ago the common denominator is the two finalists of the top championship, the Ifl1, on one side the Panthers Parma, on the other the Guelfi Firenze who won the title in 2022 and therefore arrive at the third consecutive final. Emilians and Tuscans will compete for the title tomorrow with kick-off at 9 pm. “We are honored – underlines the sports councilor, Giacomo Costantini – of the opportunity that Fidaf has given us, in a city where the panorama of disciplines that our boys and girls practice is vast and I am sure that they will be wonderful events for our fellow citizens and tourists”.
“We hope that this will be further fuel for the engine of this movement – echoes the Coni Ravenna delegate, Marco Tosi Brandi – and a further boost over the next few years given that Flag Football (always with an oval ball but without contact, ed.) will be an Olympic sport in Los Angeles in 2028 (and the finals will be held in Marina di Ravenna tomorrow and Sunday)”. The current president of the Federation is Leoluca Orlando, known for having been mayor of Palermo. “Our discipline is the one that has the best economic availability-results ratio. This will be the occasion to remember one of the founding fathers of football here in Italy, Giovanni Colombo. “Gionni”, in fact, was his nickname and in his honor we decided to give this name to the mascot that will debut tomorrow”.
The keys to the Scudetto
An American saying says that “the attack sells tickets, the defense wins games” and curiously the best attack (Panthers) faces off against the best defense (Guelphs) with two different football philosophies: American quarterback and Italian receivers for the Emilians, Italian quarterbacks and American receivers for the Tuscans. «The key will be the compactness between the lines – underlines the head coach of the Guelphs, Jeremy Males – the attention and our ability to put our schemes into practice and read those of the opponents». «We hope to maintain the positive tradition – Emilian president Ugo Bonvicini closes with a smile – and I believe that the role of the special teams should not be underestimated».
Derby emiliano
Another curiosity will be the challenge of the Second Division that will also mean promotion to Ifl1 and they will compete for the title on Saturday 6, again at 9 pm, the Emilian derby in Romagna between Aquile Ferrara and Vipers Modena who respectively beat Bengals Brescia and Pirates Savona. Finally the challenge that crosses the whole of the Boot for the nine-man championship that the Chiefs won in 2015 between Thunders Trento and Elephants Catania.
