Fictional History of SFL (AFA Universe) 1975: The SFL will return in November 2016

[Veras]

I know I'm a few hours late, but is the name on the back of the Berzerkers' black jersey also black? That would be impossible to read on any late-1960s television. I would switch it to white or gold.

[FFWally]

I know I'm a few hours late, but is the name on the back of the Berzerkers' black jersey also black? That would be impossible to read on any late-1960s television. I would switch it to white or gold.

Yes it will be white, will adjust that tonight.

[FFWally]

With the 1967 season comes a standardization of colors for Gavle.

For the first two seasons Gavle played in a pale blue helmet and Royal blue uniforms. A look that was odd, but not unappealing. Knutsson chose to put the team in royal helmets for '67, and this is the result.

Gavle, located about 2 hours drive north of Uppsalan came into the league with serious financial backing from the Swedish coffee giant Gavle Kunig Caffe. So when they stumbled to a 3-6-1 opening season record, changes were made, and it began with Knut Knutsson's trip to the USA to lure Johnny Rosenberger back onto the field.

That move was the start of what was to be a surprisingly good 1966 season. One that saw the Goats climb into the Odin's Cup, and give a respectable game to the juggernauts from Uppsala, who had chewed up the SFAF in season II and looked to walk away with another easy win.

Rosenberger and his Swedish receiving corp gelled in the second half of the season and the Goats were now a respectable team, and with the help of their American QB had recruited two more Americans during the first season, Nose Tackle #68 Garrett White, undersized former All-American at Florida Central, and #52 Kirby North, a Strongside Linebacker from Pullman State in Washington. The three Americans lived in Gavle during the off-season and ran team training camps to get the new players up to speed.

Gavle lost 4 players to the Expansion draft, including LB's starting LG Greg Minters going to Helsingborg and backup Lindborg to Malmo.

Knutsson in return picked up massive Tackles from the USA, Bubba Johnson from Alabama A&I and former Wolves player Gus Johnson (no relation). Johnson spent 6 years with the Wolves but was released after telling management he would not go into the expansion pool for 67. When Knutsson offered him not only an equal salary, but an opt out clause after a season, he took it and left for Sweden the next day to reunite with his old QB Rosenberger.

Things are looking up for Gavle... if only they can stay healthy.

[Jake3roo]

Upsalla (i probably spelled that wrong) seems way too over-powered. They go 11-0 in a total season, and 2nd place is 5-5-1. LOL!

[FFWally]

Uppsala had a major advantage strength wise going into the league, and would have been equal to a good Div II football team versus good high school teams. With the influx of American coaching and just below AFA level players... the league will balance out. AB had some help from his friends in San Francisco in setting up his team... and early in 1967 the expansion draft combined with an aging QB with a bad knee, has them at 1-5.

Uppsala (Originally Upsala) was a 7 in 65, and a 7 in 66, but goes back to a 6 for 67. While the league was loaded with 3, 4, and 5 level teams. Gavle which was a 4 going into 66 just had great luck in hitting teams on bad point weeks, while Uppsala was already a 2 point favorite over everyone else.

Balance is coming, and the two expansion teams are hitting some favorites on off weeks and taking a few games.

[FFWally]

1967 - a League in Transition

update coming shortly!

[FFWally]

1967 Season

Feb 1 1967 Expansion Draft

Rd 1

Helsingborg - QB Zak Wahlström - UPS (A)

Malmö - QB Steve French - STK (A)

Rd 2

Malmö - LB Greg Minters - GVL (A)

Helsingborg - T Johan Stenström - GTB (S)

Rd 3

Helsingborg - LB Curtis Hissam - UPS (A)

Malmö - DE Toby Watts - UPS (A)

Rd 4

Malmö - RB - Bradley Carson - LND (A)

Helsingborg - RB - Carl Hansson - ESK (S)

Rd 5

Helsingborg - LB Jack McGrory - STK (A)

Malmö - G Peter Lundberg - GTB (S)

Rd 6

Malmö - T Knut Hansson - STK (S)

Helsingborg - S Kevin Smith - ESK (A)

Rd 7

Helsingborg - DE Jack Jungblod - UPS (S/A)

Malmö - G Bengt Carlsson - LND (S)

Rd 8

Malmö - LB Greg Anderson - ESK (A)

Helsingborg - LB Anders Lindborg - GVL (S)

Rd 9

Helsingborg - T Carl Jackson - STK (A)

Malmö - C Tommy Johansson - LND (S)

Rd 10

Malmö - DL Greg Jones - ESK (A)

Helsingborg - DL Carl Carlsson - GTB (S)

Rd 11

Helsingborg - DB Craig Jackson - GVL (A)

Malmö - G Gunnar Lindström - LND (S)

Rd 12

Malmö - S Steve Jeffries - GVL (A)

Helsingborg - G Bob Evans - GTB (A)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Post Draft Report

Stockholm - Helsingborg went speed for the majority of the draft, picking up undersized, but fast defensive players that fit their aggressive defensive style. Their opening pick however was for little used Uppsala QB Zak Wahlström, a strong armed giant who set passing records at FWU during his college career. Wahlström is a pass first QB and did not fit Uppsala's run first system, but should be a good fit in Hanson's Wide open passing offense.

Malmo went with Uppsala's formula of building a run first team, and a gap control defense, relying on size versus speed. Surprisingly Stockholm's Steve French was available. French led the Vikings for the better part of the second season, and looked to be their QB of the future, but was left unprotected. Stockholm GM felt he needed to protect his starters, and did not use one of his locks on the rangy French.

Other surprising players left unprotected were Uppsala's Jungblod (12 sacks in 1.5 seasons), Gavle LB Greg Minters (106 tackles, 16 TFL, 4 Sack), and Uppsala LB Curtis HIssam, who was injured in week 2 and missed the majority of 1966, but came back and had a 12 Tackle, 3 Sack game in the Odin's Bowl and just missed out on being MVP.

Two very different draft styles here, it will be interesting to see how the players come together in their first season.

Asked after the draft about moving from Uppsala and a championship caliber team, to an expansion squad, Helsingborg QB Zak Wahlström made a bold prediction. "I can see this core of players in the championship this season"

A bold prediction indeed!

- SFAF Reporter Lars Bergström (no relation)

[mamiller99]

I love the whole history of a sports league in a non-traditional region. Will we see other Scandanavian nations, or only in Sweden?

[FFWally]

1967 Season

Expansion Changes Everything

Eastern Division

After two seasons of domination by Uppsala including a 17 game winning streak heading into the 1967 season, things could not have gone worse for the Hammers. A decision to leave their young AFA veteran QB Zak Wahlström unprotected would prove to be a huge error for the two time defending champions. After starting left tackle #72 Carl Carlsson was lost to a knee injury in camp, undrafted rookie #73 Göran Mattsson took over at left tackle, and on the third play of the game Malmö's Toby Watts (another Uppsala started left unprotected) an easy route to the QB, ending his season with a crushing sack that dislocated #10 Billy Johnson's ® shoulder, effectively ending his career, and leaving the Hammers with highly touted, but raw Swedish rookie #9 Gustaf "Gus" Torstonsson to lead the Hammers.

With the loss of team leader Johnson, and a week later SFAF all time leading rusher #26 Bjornsson to a knee injury, the Hammers would manage only one win on the season, losing 5 games by 2 points or less. The news was not all bad as Gus overcame his lack of experience and showed flashes of brilliance down the stretch, and the young inexperienced Hammers had a battle tested QB going into the 1968 season.

Gavle continues its upward trajectory as they storm to an 8 - 1 - 1 record and see QB #10 Johnnie Rosenberger set league records with 2458 yards passing and only 2 Int's. The wide open offensive style kept an average defense off the field, and at the top of the league in points allowed. The only team close was expansion Helsingborg and their aggressive blitzing attack.

Malmö in their only season in the East would set the tone for their season with a dominating 28 - 9 thrashing of the defending champs in the league opener, and manage a 4 - 5 - 1 record, including a 9 - 6 defeat of Western Division Champion Helsingborg. The west looks to be the stronger top to bottom division in 1968, with Eskilstuna returning to the East and Malmö moving to the West.

Stockholm after an Odin's Bowl birth in 65, continues its regression in 67 with a third place finish, and no sense of direction at the helm.

Western Division

Shocking results in the West, as Expansion Helsingborg, with their uptempo offense, and smothering defense set the tone for an amazing year. GM Hanson's expansion draft proved to be the difference in the division, with Defensive MVP #85 Jack Jungblod leading the league in Sacks (15) TFL (46) and forced fumbles (9) including two returned for TD's. QB Zak Wahlström's bold prediction of a championship game berth was proven to be prophecy, versus bravado, and rookie Head Coach and Defensive Coordinators made it look easy.

Lund fell one game short of the championship, and went 1 - 1 against Helsingborg and losing 3 games by less than a field goal and look to challenge Helsingborg for the division in 68. Offseason hiring of Uppsala LB coach Carl Brown as Defensive coordinator gave the defense a different look and one of the leagues best LB corps.

Göteburg was very average again and looks to make major changes in the offseason, and will send some of its Swedish players to the US for additional training in South Florida.

Eskilstuna rebounds from an abysmal season to win 4 games in 67, after hiring Uppsala Asst Offensive Coordinator Charlie Brown, and seeing offensive numbers improve 40% over the 66 season.

[FFWally]

I love the whole history of a sports league in a non-traditional region. Will we see other Scandanavian nations, or only in Sweden?

Sweden only has about 10 cities capable of supporting a major franchise, and to get to 16 teams, Stockholm and Göteburg will both get second teams. (Stockholm has 3 or 4 teams in the top division of soccer)

Copenhagen Denmark is literally a bridge away from Malmö, and Helsinki, Finland is a 4 hour ferry ride form Stockholm. That ride is notorious for drunken parties... something that could affect league games! Oslo is only a few hours from Göteburg, so expect those countries to bid on expansion teams, as well as two countries that have been part of the Danish and Swedish empires in the past, England and Germany.

you can see American Football on TV in Sweden.

[FFWally]

[Slajd]

Fun that you used "Lindqvist" thats my lastname

[Veras]

I would make a few changes:

There's something wrong with the helmet on the left, like there is a white helmet showing underneath it.

On the logo, I would make sure that the V is entirely within the green circle. And what is the grey circle behind the letters.

I'm also kind of surprised that there aren't TV numbers on the sleeves, but the horn looks good there, so I'm not sure that I would change it.

[FFWally]

So thank you, I didn't get rid of the other helmet. And the circle is a Viking Shield. The center is the metal that the handle is attacked to.

AS for TV numbers. Shockingly, Stockholm the largest urban center in Scandinavia went with the horn on sleeves versus TV numbers. For 1968 all teams will be required to either have TV numbers on sleeves or on the helmet as part of an agreement with SVT1 who will begin broadcasting one game a week on Monday evening in 1968.

[FFWally]

Major announcement in Eskilstuna today

Eskilstuna Steelmen (Stålmän)

[FFWally]

SFAF Founder and Uppsala Hammers owner Anders Bergström has scheduled meetings with St Louis QB coach Sammy Myers, and SF Whales Receivers Coach and close friend Gerald Rice about the Offensive Coordinator's job in Uppsala. After losing their two time championship winning OC to the expansion, Uppsala saw a huge dropoff in offensive production, partly due to injuries, but with a new more mobile throwing QB Bergström is looking for a more progressive coordinator.

This is the beginning of the Swedish search for that coach, or overlooked player that can be the difference in 1968 and beyond for every SFAF team. With expansion coming again in '69, teams are frantically searching for more talent, specifically at the coaching positions.

Note: The Swedish league is creating academies within their Clubs. Most are attached to a major Soccer club, at least in spirit, and are seeing the larger youth players move over to American football as their chances of making the much more speed driven Soccer teams diminish as they grow. This is giving the Coaches a built in talent pool of young players who are growing up on the American game. The American College coaches coming over are spending off seasons in Sweden working to train new Swedish coaches, to bring Swedes up to speed.

[FFWally]

1969 Expansion Candidates

Orebro - Swedens 6th largest city, and a natural rival for Eskilstuna.

Oslo - Capitol of Norway.

Copenhagen - Capitol of Denmark, and would give the Malmö/Copenhagen metro area 4 teams

Västerås - The largest city in Sweden without a SFAF team, and along with örebro and Eskilstuna would make for a lake region rivalry.

[Darknes]

Are there more Option than those four or are we picking out personal favorite from the bunch?

[the_grateful_ted]

I think Copenhagen would be cool you could prolly get a really good identity out of it

[FFWally]

Norrköping - Another city close to Stockholm. I pared it down from 5 to the lake region cities.

Linköping - Would make half of the league in southern Sweden (Stockholm being considered central) they will likely get a team in the early 70's.

Umeå - Far north. This would be in the 1960's financially challenging, and travel would be overwhelming for Umeå team with at least two trips a year to the south of Sweden. Reindeer or Moose would be the Mascot.

going forward, as the suburbs around Stockholm grow with Arlanda airport corridor, look for another team between Uppsala and Stockholm, and 2 or 3 of the köping cities getting franchises.

Bergström is already looking at demographics, and how to grow the rivalries associated with American football. So Stockholm will have regional rivalries, as well as Göteburg. Uppsala came on as the bully, and will be generally hated, as they are perceived to be he golden child of the league, and last seasons collapse has actually built excitement within the league, as Uppsala has been dethroned.

Once the first international city is granted a franchise, look for there to be at least 4 - 6 international teams by the mid 1980's.

There are really about 10 cities in Sweden who can support a professional football team, but with lower tier leagues forming now... there could be some relegation system in the future.