THE American dream of transporting an alien sport to Scotland came crashing down yesterday when it was announced that, after nine years, the Scottish Claymores American football team had been closed down by NFL Europe League executives.
The Scottish team had boasted the biggest following outside the Old Firm during their 10 seasons at Murrayfield and Hampden, with an average attendance of 10,799.
But it was not enough to sustain ''the economics of our league'' said Jim Connelly, the NFL Europe managing director. The Claymores will be replaced next season by a new franchise in Germany where games can attract up to 30,000 people.
Steve Livingstone, general manager of the Claymores, said he believed crowd numbers, similar to those in Germany, could have been achieved if the team had been given a longer timescale.
''Given the very successful grassroots work we have been doing in schools in Scotland to promote the sport, I am convinced we could have achieved crowd figures of 20,000-30,000 in the next five years. Unfortunately, NFL Europe required this return within a much shorter time,'' he said.
Although disappointed at yesterday's news, Mr Livingstone insisted the Claymores team and staff could hold their heads high.
''Everyone associated with the Claymores is proud of the considerable successes we have achieved during the past 10 seasons. We will continue to keep the Claymores spirit alive in our future endeavours and leave with our heads held high,'' he said.
But he added: ''I am desperately disappointed that the league has taken the decision to suspend our operations. I am devastated for all our fans and staff who have worked so hard during the last 10 seasons to make the Claymores the success we have been. We do not believe the Claymores have failed.
''Despite indifferent seasons on the field, during the last four seasons we have grown our business off the field, increasing our season ticket-holders, support and sponsorship for the club, while, at the same time, developing strong partnerships in the community and with the city of Glasgow.
''We recently hosted a very successful World Bowl and our schools development in local authorities across Scotland had been a model programme and has been growing at a phenomenal rate.
''It is ironic that the successes of the Claymores in Scotland are now being used as a blueprint across the league.''
Mr Connelly said the decision had been the ''toughest ever made'' by the league.
He added: ''The Claymores have achieved considerable success over the past decade and for any sports team to average close to 11,000 fans per game in this market is commendable.
''But the economics of our league and the interest shown by other cities have forced us to look at whether there are other markets that give us a greater opportunity of improving our business. We believe at this time that such an opportunity exists.''
Mark Woods, a sports analyst and American football fan, called the decision shortsighted. He said: ''To get crowds of more than 10,000 at any sporting event in Scotland is an impressive feat, even more so for a sport that does not have the traditions of football and rugby. To have expected similar attendances to that of Germany was unrealistic.
''It looks like a shortsighted decision now that the league will be concentrated around Germany leaving fans here high and dry.''
The NFL will retain a football development team in Scotland to continue the grassroots programmes and will continue to develop young Scottish talent as part of NFL Europe's player development programme.
The Claymores began life at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. They won the World Bowl in June 1996 under head coach Jim Criner, beating Frankfurt Galaxy. The team returned to the World Bowl in 2000, but lost out to Rhein Fire.
The club moved to Hampden in 2001 where it hosted the World Bowl two years later.
GAME HISTORY
l American football has its roots in football and rugby.
l The first game under Harvard Rules was in 1874 when Harvard University played McGill University of Montreal.
l The first professional match was played in Pennsylvania on August 31, 1895 between Latrobe and Jeanette.
l The American Professional Football Association (APFA) was formed in 1920. In 1922, the APFA became the National Football League.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article