Germany is known as one of the most successful football
countries in the world.
That means soccer.
But hidden in this soccer-crazed country
is another kind of football.
The growing interest in American football
has led to the development of a nationwide league -
GFL.
Starting with six clubs in 1979, the league
has now expanded to 16 teams as of 2012.
I'm here to discover Germany's passion for the sport
as they journey to become a top American football country.
My name is Callie Bundy, and you may recognise me
from my viral football throws.
But today, I've travelled to Germany
to find out how another country has adopted the sport I love.
I'm in the small town of Schwabisch Hall, where
the local team, the Unicorns, are based.
I want to find out what's driving these German athletes
to the sport, and what the future holds
for American football abroad.
So, from what I'm told, The Unicorns, they're not paid.
What's your full-time job?
I work in a newspaper.
How do you balance training with football?
Wednesday and Fridays when we have practice, I get off
work earlier.
I'll be there right on time, right after work.
How do you see football growing here in Germany?
Couple of years, maybe we'll have a good league,
maybe some paid players.
I will be too old, but the young generation, they
will maybe be professional football players.
So, Jordan, where are you from?
I come from Fort Worth, Texas.
Tell me what it's like to coach guys that didn't grow up
with the sport of football.
We'll get a guy who's come from soccer, or come from handball,
or something else who's extremely athletic,
but he has no basis for football.
And how do the players end up here?
We have basically our own high school team,
mixed with a foreign team that we develop.
And then because we play on such a competitive level
we have recruit outside of Schwabisch Hall.
You can only have two Americans on the field,
so they got to be big-time impact players.
How would you say the German people treat the American style
of football here?
We have something here in Schwabisch Hall
that's really unique, that we're the number one
sport in our city.
Here in Germany, you find that nowhere.
So talk us through what the training is like.
We try and be as professional as we can with our practices.
Every minute we're doing something, we're moving,
we're trying to get as good a work in as we can.
Today, for example, we have a game tomorrow and a long road
trip, so we'll just be in helmets
and it'll be closer to what is a traditional walk through.
Well, thanks, coach.
All right. Well, let's get after it.
All right.
I'm here with Nick Alfieri who's actually from where?
I'm from Portland, Oregon.
So now, I hear that there's only two spots for Americans
on these football teams.
So you must be pretty good.
I'm OK.
I like to think so. I'm all right.
So, what's the biggest difference
between playing football in America versus playing
football in Germany?
There's kind of a wide range of talent.
Me, as a linebacker, sometimes I'll
drop to one side of the field and be
going against a receiver that is, you know,
an extremely good, division one college level.
Maybe I drop to the other side of the field
and I'm playing against guys who would maybe
be comparable to an American high-school level.
So I think to get more and more kids playing football
at a younger age will help grow the sport.
First down.
Let's go now.
What was your introduction to football?
Was it The Unicorns?
My cousin played here.
And I was like too big for soccer.
And I didn't like it.
So I started to play football.
This is like, an honour to play here in Schwäbisch Hall.
We play like the biggest cities in all of Germany or Europe,
and we are kind of one of the best programmes.
And so tomorrow you are playing who?
Kirchdorf Wildcats.
And what should we expect for that?
My expectation is a good game and a W, for sure.
You've got to lock into this game.
When it's go time, it's go time.
You've got to be able to flip the switch.
So it was awesome checking out The Unicorns' practice,
and tomorrow, we're going to go see what an American football
game day looks like in Germany.
It's game day, and we are here in Kirchdorf
to watch the Wildcats play.
So in America, we would call what you
are doing right now a tailgate.
Have you guys heard of a tailgate?
Yes.
- Is this a tailgate, too? - Yeah.
But you're putting your German twist on it,
because I noticed some of you
have some pretty awesome shorts on.
- It's a "Wix". - A "Wix"?
- Yes. - A Leder-Wix.
The typical Bavarian style.
And yours even has like a cool belt.
When did you become a GFL fan?
And what do you like about it?
It feels like family and it feels like fun.
And the whole football hype is coming to Germany now,
and we're proud.
Do any of you play soccer?
Soccer is not a sport.
So I'm here with the president of The Wildcats, Hans-Peter.
Tell me, how long have you been the president of the Wildcats?
Since 1990.
Yeah, we are existing now for 30 years.
I was one of the first players.
We were some friends and we founded the Wildcats in 1986.
Talk to me about those early days of American football
in Germany. What was it like?
The early days was pretty funny because of,
we make the decision, let us try to play American football.
We have no idea what we do on the field.
But now we are with GFL.
What do you think the biggest difference
is from when it started to now?
Everything is more professional.
The coaches are at a very high professional level.
And we as the organisation, too,
because we have the experience.
Well thank you, Hans, and good luck today.
Thank you very much.
So the game is about to start.
The fans are hyped.
The environment is so, so stoked.
This is going to be my first American football
game in Germany.
I can't wait for this. Let's do it.
So we were told that The Unicorns are a lot better
than the Wildcats, but right now, this
is a really evenly played game.
The Wildcats today capitalized on that turnover,
but we'll see how they do.
A lot of game left, a lot of game left.
So one thing I've noticed is their clock management
is a little bit slower.
So they definitely let some time
come off the clock before they
get moving with their plays.
Because there's no stadium here, wind
is definitely a factor when they throw the ball.
You can see how inaccurate it makes them.
So you would think that there would
be some more running plays because of that there.
But there actually aren't.
The offensive and the defensive lines,
they don't go right at each other and hit each other.
They kind of almost go around each other.
It's definitely less aggressive.
One thing you've probably heard throughout the game
are the vuvuzelas, the noise makers, the drums.
It sounds like we're at a soccer game, right?
So that's something that the fans have definitely
taken from soccer
and brought to these American football games here.
It's a lot of fun,
it definitely creates a really energetic
environment, and it's something that we could probably
bring back to the States.
Football is not 40-point blowouts and everybody
sits down in the third quarter.
That's not football.
Football is four quarters, hard. This feels better.
So that's a great job.
Get yourselves healthy. Get ready to go.
See everybody on Wednesday. Congratulations.
So I had an amazing time here in Germany.
You can definitely see the passion
that these athletes have.
Though this sport is American football,
they're definitely putting their German spin on it.
The majority of these guys are not paid.
This is something extra that they have to do.
It's taken them a couple decades to get to this point,
but I have no doubt that the GFL
is going to continue to grow.