10th anniversary of the American Football World Championship in Austria
In 2011, the best 8 American Football countries in the world competed against each other in Austria for the title of the World Champion. At that time, it was also my first world championship that I was allowed to host as a stadium moderator. Reason enough to look back on an unbelievably great time on the occasion of the anniversary…
My first big event as a stadium announcer
Let’s take a look back at how it all began and how I came to host my very first major event in 2011. While I was already announcing regularly in our national Ice Hockey League with the Vienna Capitals since 2009, it was still my turn to see how I could turn my passion into a profession.
So of course I was looking for every opportunity to combine my passion for sports and announcing. And then in 2010 I read about the upcoming American Football World Championships, which would take place in Innsbruck, Graz and Vienna next year…
In need of football experience
I didn’t have that much to do with American football, except that I had played American football as a teenager in high school in the US. I was also a regular Super Bowl spectator – ideal conditions, or so I thought.
When I approached the AFBÖ (American Football Federation Austria) in 2010 in the person of General Secretary Fouad Lilabadi, it was clear that if I wanted to be a presenter at the World Championships next year, I would have to gain some football presenting experience beforehand. So I spent a few months on the weekends announcing football games for the new generation of the Vienna Vikings. Pro Bono, of course… but since I had a goal in mind, this unpaid effort was worth it.
Here we go
In July 2011 I finally reached my goal and hosted my very first big event. What made it even more special was that several of my friends from the sports university were also there in various positions. My task was to announce the 3 group match days in Innsbruck, together with Pietro Polidori. That was a real highlight.
To top it off, I hosted the final day in the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna together with Michi Holub and Peter L. Eppinger.
Also the sports was fantastic
To the sports: 8 teams played for the world championship. The USA, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, Germany and, of course, Austria as the host country, were among them. Of course, we would have been qualified anyway and finished the tournament in 5th place.
The final match between USA and Canada was then played in the Ernst Happel Stadium in front of more than 20,000 spectators. The USA won with an incredible 50:7 and successfully defended their world championship title. My Magic Moment in this final was when DJ Frozen Frizz played Karell Gott’s “Maya the Bee” in the last minutes of the game and the whole stadium was completely in a party mood and finished the song during the next play.
Very special memories
What remains in my memory is that the atmosphere was super exciting. First of all, high summer in the Alps – always one day match, one day off. It was a bit like vacation and a bit of work that was just fun. I look back incredibly grateful to this great time with the Grande Finale in the Happel Stadium in the Prater of Vienna.
THANK YOU!
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