2012 LNFA Race is On!

The 2012 Liga Nacional de Futbol Americano in Spain has a lot of excitement to preview. With two brand new teams entering what is now called the ‘Elite’ division of the league, where will they fall? Will any team rise up to stop what has been a destruction derby by the L’Hospitalet Pioners with their dominating record and 4 championship victories in 6 years? The league also boasts 3 of 6 teams in the top division competing in international play, only Austria has a higher percentage of it’s clubs competing in Europe than Spain. The answers to these questions, only time will tell, but this review will hope to shed some light into the dark.

The 2011 campaign provided a much more balanced LNFA than what we’ve seen in previous years. There were three 5 win teams in the middle of the standings, and all 6 teams were within reach of the playoffs until the final two weekends of the regular season. Despite all of this balance among the bottom 5 teams, there was little balance on the scoreboard when the L’Hospitalet Pioners played. They outscored their opponents by a whopping 448-104. With the last two teams dropping down to the 15 team second division in Spain there will be need for some replacements. They come in the form of last seasons top contenders from Divison 2 in the Sueca Ricers and the Barbera Rookies.

2011 Final Standings

Pioners L'Hospitalet 9 1 0
Valencia Firebats 5 4 0
Badalona Dracs 5 5 0
Osos Rivas 5 5 0
Las Rozas Black Demons 3 6 0
Barcelona Búfals 2 8 0

L’Hospitalet Pioners
The team of Spain in recent years offers us another year of exciting football action. With their 4 victories in the past 6 seasons in LNFA title games and back to back champs in 2010 and 2011 the Pioners bring their juggernaut back for another year in Spain. The Pioners also have a chance to catch the Badalona Dracs with the most titles by a Spanish team in history. The Dracs have held that title since winning their third title in 2002. At 9-1 last season and 2 resounding playoff victories this club showed its dominance last year. Their only blemish was a road loss to the Osos Rivas mid season 16-21 that the team bounced back from and won the regular season finale and the semi-final and final with a combined 117 points scored to 20 points allowed in that 3 game span. The Pioners will also compete in the Eurobowl competition. Their group has the French and British reigning champs in the Paris Flash and London Blitz. These two tough international competitions will prove how good this 2012 team is after their dominant team a year ago lost convincingly in Switzerland to the Calanda Broncos and lost a close battle at home to the Parma Panthers. Their lone EFL victory came back in 2008 with a walk off field goal for a 37-35 win over France’s Thonon Black Panthers. The Pioners will need to play up each week as they will definitely have the proverbial bulls-eye on their backs especially from a Badalona side that will not want to relinquish their grasp as Spain’s elite.

Badalona Dracs
The Pioners may have the most storied recent history in Spain, but the Badalona Dracs have had more success in international play than any other club from Spain and have more titles than any other for at least one more year. The Dracs exited the group stage of the Eurobowl in 2010 to face the Vienna Vikings of Austria. Last season they met their match losing to the Spartans of L’Amiens in France two separate times by large margins to keep them from advancing out of the group stage. Their plans for 2012 are to regroup and reach the next level once again. They face the Schwabisch Hall Unicorns, the current German champion, and the Parma Panthers who are back to back Italian champs in the group stage with a chance to play the Vikings of Vienna once again. In Spain the Dracs have been the top contender for a couple of years. They came as close to beating the Pioners as possible in a 28-29 regular season defeat, but did not have the same gusto in the championship game in which they lost 24-8. Another year, another shot at adding to their league best 5 titles in 10 appearances.

Valencia Firebats
The third Spanish team that will fight for the Red and Yellow in Europe is the Valencia Firebats. The Bats lost their two EFAF Cup games last season, to the Amsterdam Crusaders 27-19 at on the road and 20-0 to the eventual champion London Blitz at home. They will play this year in the EFAF Cup again and will face the runner up in France in the Grenoble Centaurs and the Swiss Blue Devils of Hohenems, Austria. The Bats had a very up and down 2011 in the Spanish league. They could not beat the champion Pioners in two chances and yet lost to the last place Bufals in the regular season finale. They beat the Badalona Dracs twice, 41-29 and 35-34, before losing to the Dracs in the playoffs 22-30. This left them one game from the championship round and sent a team they had handled twice to the title game, offering the old adage that it’s difficult to beat the same team three times in one year. Count on the Firebats from the central coast of Spain to reload in 2012 and play at a high level once again contesting for the Spanish title that they won 3 times in 4 seasons between 2006 and 2009.

Osos Rivas
The Bears from Madrid were the odd man out in 2011. Finishing at 5-5 alongside both Valencia and Badalona the three teams needed a tie breaker to decide the 2nd and 3rd places in the LNFA who would be rewarded with playoff berths. They were the only team in Spain to defeat the champion Pioners after having been handed a 56-6 beatdown by the Pios earlier in the season. They didn’t beat the Dracs, but split the season matchups with the Firebats. League rules offer the team with the best point differential to advance, which is why they were left out of the playoff round. The Bears lone title came back in 2001 in a 21-7 defeat of the Zarazoga Lions. To get back to the glory days, the Bears need to play more consistent from week to week with closer affairs in order to not be left in the same circumstance as they were last year.

Sueca Ricers and Barbera Rookies
The two newbies to the LNFA will play their first ever regular season games in the top division when the league kicks off this January. The Ricers did have a glimpse into being in the Elite division last year when they won the second division they were offered a shot to play in a playoff game against the top team from the league. The Pioners gave them little opportunity for contest by beating them 49-6 in the semi-final. The Ricers and Rookies qualified for this seasons Elite campaign by finishing atop their second division. The Ricers will test their medal in the very first weekend of the LNFA playing perennial power L’Hospitalet on the road. The Rookies celebrate their 10th anniversary this season with a chance to compete against the best teams in Spain.

You can get a more in depth look into each club by clicking the link for the Spanish league in the league website section of links to the left side of this blog. The Pioners will broadcast their games live, a link is commonly provided on their official webpage. The hunt for the Spanish title begins the weekend of January 21st, 2012. Enjoy the ride.