ELFI has released their TV broadcast schedule

I just received a press release in which EFLI (Elite Football League of India) has released their broadcast schedule for Season One (these are time-delayed games). The games will be broadcast on Ten Sports. I think they'll be live-streamed as well, but I'm not sure about that. Also, even if they're streamed they may or may not be available to all regions. I'll try to check on that.

Here are the schedules (click to enlarge them):

Pune wins EFLI's Elite Bowl

Click any image to enlarge

As reported by EFLI fans, which is the go to site for EFLI (Elite Football league of India) news, the Pune Marathas defeated the Dehli Defenders 6-0 to win EFLI's first championship. 

The pictures on this page of the Elite Bowl action are from ThePapare.com's Facebook gallery There are many more at the link. I particularly liked the bottom two pictures, which show the pomp with which they brought the Elite Cup onto the field. Hehehe... take that NFL, all you have is that washed-up, has-been Madonna for your half-time show.

Looking through some of the pictures over there, it appears that there is a might bit of holding going on in EFLI games. I wonder what the differences in officiating are like?

Fortunately, we may be able to find out for ourselves because 10 Sports has finalized the broadcast rights for EFLI. they'll start broadcasting the tape delayed games from this season sometime in September, with games shown on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. They had earlier talked about streaming the games -- hopefully that is still in the works.

The next season is planned to kick-off in November. I think they'll have more teams for that season, but still no word if my beloved Chennai Swarm are going to rise from the dead.

They'll also signed an agreement with a company called Topkat Global to sell EFLI merchandise. The Store link at the EFLI site is down, so I assume they're working on it.

At any rate, congratulations to Pune for winning the Elite Bowl and congratulations as well to the rest of the EFLI players, coaches, staff, refs, front office and league officials for pulling together their first season. 

EFLI Power Rankings

Sports fans crave goofy statistical analysis, and us EFLI fans are no exception. However, with EFLI stats are a bit thin on the ground. For example, we don't even know the names the QBs much less their QB ratings, so quibbling over who the best QB in the league is out of the question. Grr...

None the less, with the league play nearly complete and after looking through EFLI Fans' Scores & Schedules page I decided I could work up a crude Power Rankings for the teams. 

In the table below PF (points for) is the total number of points a team has scored in the season, PA (points against) is the number of points they've allowed. Diff (difference) is PF-PA, with a negative number meaning they've allowed more points then they've scored. Ave Diff (average difference) is Diff/games played.

I based my Power Ranking purely on Ave Diff (although I do think you could make strong case that the Columbo Lions should occupy the number 2 or 3 spot on the list and that Bangalore should top Pune).

	Team	Record	PF	PA	Diff	Ave Diff
1	Pune Marathas	4-1	82	33	49	9.8
2	Bangalore Warhawks	4-1	72	30	42	8.4
3	Delhi Defenders	3-2	84	47	37	7.4
4	Colombo Lions	4-1	62	29	33	6.6
5	Mumbai Gladiators	2-3	37	47	-10	-2
6	Kandy Skykings	2-4	37	53	-16	-2.7
7	Pakistan Wolfpak	1-3	32	64	-32	-8
8	Kolkata Vipers	0-5	15	70	-55	-11

For the Championship game I'm predicting Pune vs Colombo, with Colombo prevailing and thereby proving the old adage that offense wins games, defense wins championships.

By the way, my sympathy to Vipers fans. Ouch, that's a rough season to sit through. Perhaps we'll see the paper bag tradition first appear in Kolkata.
 

Complete EFLI scores, standing and coverage

EFLI cheerleader cheering

I've linked to the EFLI Fans website before and recently returned to it to see how they were doing. I was pleased to see that they had all of the EFLI scores and current standing, as well as some commentary on developments in the season. 

Rather than just swiping his stuff I encourage any EFLI fans who wander through here to give the EFLI Fans website a visit. I'm adding it to my blog roll so it will be easy to see when they update.

I'll of course continue covering EFLI as well. I'm hoping more information about the cheerleaders.... er, and the players too I guess, will start surfacing soon (hint, hint, hint) and that the TV schedules will get posted. Plus, I also still have a box full of Tasty Bite sauces which I'll be making into more EFLI tailgate treats to test and report on.
 

EFLI complete first day scores

From EFLI Twitter Feed

Well, it took me a little over a week, but I've managed to track down a Sunday Times article that gives the scores for the four games that were played to launch EFLI's inaugural season. So, without further ado...

Kandy Skykings 13, Kolkata Vipers 0
Colombo Lions 12, Mumbai Gladiators 7
Bangalore Warhawks 26, Pakistan Wolfpack 6
Pune Marathas 31, Delhi Defenders 7
 

Why there are no EFLI scores yet

From EFLI Instagram pictures

The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) has been playing for a couple of weeks, but, aside from the score of the inaugural game (Columbo Lions 12, Mumbai Gladiators 6)  there are no other scores other game results that I've been able to find. From visits to the site I can tell that other people are searching for scores as well.

The games have in fact started, from an EFLI press release:

Seeing these players and coaches work through their various practice conditions, the stadium issues, three exhibition games and all the other preparation leading up to opening day, what happened on Opening Night was amazing. The games were competitive, the enthusiasm among the teams was tremendous and the opening ceremonies were outstanding. There were many places where history was made, but one which stood out to me came toward the end of the opening ceremonies. All eight teams were lined up on the field, five from India, one from Pakistan, and two from Sri Lanka. They all stood respectfully as the national anthems from each country were played, with players from the anthems' country singing along. Once all three anthems were done and fireworks started going off above the stadium, the players from all the teams came together, started jumping up and down, high-fiving and embracing. When one considers the deep-seeded hostilities between countries like India and Pakistan which date back thousands of years, and how the last time a Sri Lankan sports team was in Pakistan there was a terrorist attack (2009?) which not only killed several people but has kept any Sri Lankan team from going to Pakistan since, the way all these teams came together in this ceremony was not a small moment. To me, it was historic in many ways.

Then add the athletic plays we saw during all the football, from the diving, all-stretched out interception in one game, to the end around run with an enthusiastic TD dance in another, to the defensive lineman who hit a quarterback so hard it stood him up and knocked him out (welcome to football!) it was truly a night to remember. A look around the stadium at various times showed fans having a great time. I don't know if they were even aware of everything they were seeing, but they enjoyed what they saw.

So, why the problem getting scores? Reading the EFLI Twitter feed I discovered the following tweet, "the games are being aired on a delay on Ten Sports so we are holding back results until then." Further Tweets state that they are working on streaming at least some of the games online.

I must say the EFLI seems to be bungling it when it comes to fan relations. Instead of the above, even if you have to keep your scores double top secret, how about at least putting together a highlight video? You know -- show something.

Their main site seems to be geared towards news for investors, which is understandable I suppose, but there is precious little they've put out for fans. I'm completely puzzled as to why they've put virtually no effort into their league and team Facebook pages.

Perhaps it is just an Indian cultural thing, but I would think -- even if they wanted to keep a lid on scores until the games are on TV -- that they would still be marketing their league to fans via Facebook. At a minimum, why no coaches and players profiles, roster lists, bits and pieces of news, galleries, etc. on their pages? Worse, questions asked on the Facebook pages are virtually never dignified by an answer.

Come on EFLI -- Facebook and the lack of news makes it look like your league is dead already. How about some news about the games and players?

EFLI Season started (updated with new schedule)

Yesterday the Sri Lanka Daily News reported:

The season one of EFLI [Elite Football League of India] 2012/13 will be held for a whole month in the Sugathadasa Stadium from July 25 to August 25 with the participation of eight teams that include players from three different Countries (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka).

The tournament will go for seven weeks with the league format while the semi finals will be held on August 19 followed by the finals on 25.

Team to participate are, Bangalore Warhawks (Bangalore, Karnataka) Mumbai Gladiators (Mumbai, Maharashtra) Kandy Skykings (Kandy, Central Province) Pune Marathas (Pune ,Balewadi, Maharashtra) Kolkata Vipers (Kolkata, West Bengal) Delhi Defenders (Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi) Peshawar Wolfpack (Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ) Colombo Lions (Colombo, Western Province) Team Coaches from their respective Countries and the Coaches and Match Officials from USA have been actively engaged in training and preparations for the last few days.

The EFLI twitter feed also said the games were being played and has pictures from the final practices.

However, no word on scores from any of the games. I'll keep you posted if I track down any further information about them.

UPDATE: From The Island's article American Football fever hits Sri Lanka: 

Originally, the first season was scheduled to be hosted by India in November 2012, but Tausif Sheikh, Director-EFLI, India, said that they settled on Sri Lanka because of the cost-effective factor, since it was the first tournament of its kind. Carlton Sports Network will telecast the matches in Sri Lanka, while Ten Sports is the global provider.

Both Carleton Sports network and Ten Sports have live streams of some of their programming, but I can't make heads or tails out of it yet. who knows, maybe we will be able to see a game or two.

The article also had their new schedule:

Week 1 - July 25

Pakistan vs Bangalore
Delhi vs Pune
Kolkata vs Kandy
Colombo vs Mumbai

Week 2 - July 30

Kolkata vs Pune
Mumbai vs Pakistan
Colombo vs Bangalore
Kandy vs Delhi

Week 3 - August 2

Pune vs Bangalore
Colombo vs Kolkata
Delhi vs Pakistan
Mumbai vs Kandy

Week 4 - August 5

Mumbai vs Kolkata
Delhi vs Bangalore
Colombo vs Kandy
Pune vs Pakistan

Week 5 - August 9

Mumbai vs Pune
Kolkata vs Pakistan
Kandy vs Bangalore
Colombo vs Delhi

Week 6 - August 12

Colombo vs Pakistan
Mumbai vs Bangalore
Kandy vs Pune
Kolkata vs Delhi

Week 7 - August 15

Kolkata vs Bangalore
Colombo vs Pune
Mumbai vs Delhi
Kandy vs Pakistan

Semi-finals - August 19

Final - August 25

(Note: The time slots for the matches in the first round are 1.00 pm, 3.00 pm, 5.00 pm and 8.00 pm. The matches will start at these times in the respective order given in the schedule)

EFLI's first games -- Updated

A drought of EFLI news

I wish I could report on the Elite Football League of India's (EFLI) inaugural games this last weekend, but I can't. I don't even know if the games were played, much less who won and what the scores were. 

I searched high and low for them, visiting a number of local Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani online newspapers as well as the various EFLI sites. While I found some interesting things -- for example did you know that ex-Tamil Tiger snipers are representing Sri Lanka at the national level on their shooting team? -- alas, I couldn't find a single mention of the leagues opening games. 

I sent an email to them, but have yet to hear back. If and when I get any news I'll post it. 

UPDATE: I just received word that the July 15th games were scrimmage games, with the start of the season moved to July 25th. Also, they have a twitter account: https://twitter.com/eflifootball, where they're posting news and updates.

Well, I did wonder why they weren't playing preseason games, apparently they're playing some now.

Official EFLI schedule and further expansion news

Kurt Warner and his wife Brenda
delivered footballs to school children
throughout India.

Yea, I know I've posted numerous iterations of what the Elite football League of India's schedule was, but this time -- instead of me guessing based on conflicting newspaper accounts -- the news comes from an EFLI press release.

The July games are not preseason games, they are the league's first season. From an earlier post of mine: [t]he season has been moved up to kick-off on July 15th with 4 games. Also, the 8 teams for the inaugural season have been finalized and split into 2 divisions:

East - Dehli Defenders (India), Colombo Lions (Sri Lanka), Kandy Skykings (Sri Lanka), Kolkata Vipers (India)
West - Mumbai Gladiators (India), Bangalore (India), Pune (India), Pershawar Wolf Pak (Pakistan)

However, they are also still playing their games starting in November. They're calling that their second season and it will have an expanded number of teams, although I'm not sure which extra teams will play in in that season.

As for the expansion news, Kurt Warner has been involved with EFLI for some time and is increasing his involvement in the league. From the press release:

Earlier this year the famed football star, Kurt Warner and his wife, Brenda invested in the EFLI procuring a small piece of the league and delivering footballs to school children throughout India.

Based on the overwhelming reception throughout Southeast Asia, the EFLI has chosen to accept the request of the Nation of Bangladesh to become the next country to participate in the league. The Warner Family has decided to significantly increase their ownership stake of the EFLI and will be the first and only team owner to date of the first team of Bangladesh. Few people realize that the population of Bangladesh is the world's 7th largest. Consider that this is a population larger than that of Russia encompassing a land mass the size of the State of Illinois.

"In 2001, Brenda and I established our First Things First Foundation to impact the world around us! Yet, we have always dreamed of doing more. We believe our investment in the EFLI is a unique opportunity to see our dream realized! We believe the EFLI can impact Southeast Asia through both the introduction of the great game of football, and it's philanthropic potential. We look forward to the EFLI, and to the development of the game of football, as we hope to help many young athletes and families achieve success they have only dreamed of."

So, Kurt Warner is the owner of a new team from Bangladesh which will start playing in the November season. It's a shame, Bangladesh is a team I could pull for, but as a Packer fan I still have nightmares about the 2002 Packers/Rams playoff game where Favre threw 20 or 30 interceptions. Well OK, it was only 6, but it sure seemed like 20 or 30 at the time.

Speaking of teams I am a fan of, regular readers will know I am a huge fan of the Chennai Swarm. The only problem being -- the Swarm any or may not exist anymore. I've heard rumors that they may have been absorbed by another team. If so, I like to think they absorbed the other team and the league just got mixed up and gave the combined team the wrong name.

What can I say? I'm an eternally optimistic football fan. Just like I watched that 2002 playoff game and kept thinking to myself, "Favre can't possibly throw another boneheaded interception", I refuse to believe that my beloved Swarm are but a memory. So, as always, I'll sign off with... 

Gooooo Swarm Go!!!

Report from July 2nd EFLI exhibition game

I mentioned in my last post that I learned about the July 2nd exhibition game from an email. It was from Clyde Summers, an American who's lived in Australia for some time and is involved in officiating football there. He ended up assisting with the officiating of this game. 

He's kindly written up a report on his experience which follows. By the way, if anybody from EFLI is reading this he would like to get a hold of you to discuss some things. Drop me drop my a line via the "contact me" button at the top of the rightmost column and I'll pass on his email address.

 I arrived at Hyderabad on Saturday afternoon late via a flight from Mumbai (I was in Mumbai to get dental work done) and went straight to the stadium. There were only a few security personnel there so I left and located a room for the night. I returned around 6:30pm and found the coaches. I introduced myself and told them I was a game official from the US and living in Australia and they were very happy to see me there. I was asked what position I had officiated and I have been a referee so I could manage the game. The only other 'officials' were the coaches and 2 local team 'managers' who served as combination ball boys and sideline judges. I had no time to train them or the chain crew and managed to at least give them all a briefing for on-field safey/procedures. I was given a white hat, EFLI shirt, flag made of crepe paper (had to find my own rock :) ) and a whistle. So I was the appointed referee managing the game. We ran 15 minute quarters continuous clock (which is what we run in Australia for our Under 18s) and very liberal enforcement of minor infractions with the idea of letting them get as much play experience as possible.

One of the coaches served as a modified back judge when his team was on defense and another coach roamed the sidelines and assisted during the game. I had my hands full trying to watch for my position and try and keep an eye out for down-field calls. I did not know what rules we were using...I decided to use NCAA rules to make it easier for penalty enforcement. The fans would not know anyway. There were relatively few calls made the entire game actually. One false start call which is pretty incredible considering the teams playing time.

The teams seem to be aggressive on out of bounds situation and wanted to hit the runner after he went out of bounds. I warned the teams twice and penalized them from that point on. They learned quickly after that. They also had a tenancy to pile on after the whistle so I gave the teams a warning or two and then penalize them afterward. All up we might have had 7-8 penalties one was an off-setting penalty. So they got a lot of playing time.

From what I could find out from the coaches the League did not give much support to this game. It appears that the teams organized this game for the most part: organized the free tickets given out in the lead up to the game, made heaps of posters that were posted all over the city, did some radio promo work from what one person said and for the most part it was well attended. I estimate around 4000 spectators but it was hard to tell as people were scattered all over the place.

The players were extremely excited and enthusiastic about playing and were keen to learn. The coaching staff for both teams were also receptive of my input both during and after the game. I tried to explain the calls to the players and coaches but the atmosphere was hectic and there was not much time.

Overall, I think the event was well organized especially in light of the fact that the league did not have much input (not sure why). I surmised that the teams wanted to put on this game and they just made it happen. Good on them.

EFLI cheerleader video

Once again I've scooped those bungling slackers at ESPN by locating what might be the first video of Elite Football League of India (EFLI) cheerleaders in action. Nice looking group of cheer girls, although I'm sure the Chennai Swarm cheerleaders are prettier and more charming. 

The video is from a June 2nd exhibition match between Hyderabad Skykings (or Skyqueens as us Swarm fans call them) and the Bangalore Warhawks.

Apparently EFLI is playing a number of exhibition games before a series of preseason games starting in July. I think the regular season still kicks of in November. However, that is all conjecture on my part based on some rather confusing information I've read here and there (see My EFLI schedule confusion returns for details).

I found out about the June 2nd game from somebody who emailed me and said they were there. What he said about the game was interesting, and I'm hoping to get more details from him I can pass on in a future post.

There are a lot of shots of the cheerleaders in the short clip mixed in with some game play. The views of the stands were interesting because it seemed like they had a fair sized crowd for the game. There were even some female fans shown who had face paint on like you'll see on some American fans. That said, the majority of the fans were men. It was hard to tell from the clip if the male fans were hooting and cheering the play on the field or the cheerleaders. Probably both from the looks of it.

And as always...

Goooo Swarm Go!!!

     

My EFLI schedule confusion returns

Picture from the Post Noon

I must say, it has been an adventure trying to cover the new Elite Football League of India (EFLI) from afar. In my May 23rd EFLI post I thought I had the teams and schedule finalized. 

However, the May 29th Post Noon article American Football comes to town throws that all into question. From that article by G Aparna Sai (aparna.s@postnoon.com):

The Elite Football League of India (EFLI) happens to be the first men’s professional American Football league in India. Backed by the Sports Authority of India(SAI), the EFLI has nine teams from India alongside three foreign sides participating — a team each from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The league is set to hold its pre-season in Sri Lanka during the month of July while the inaugural season is set to kick start in November in India.

So we're back to 12 teams and the July schedule, which only features 8 teams, are preseason games? To deepen the mystery, my beloved Chennai Swarm updated a graphic on their Facebook page on June 1.

Looking further, EFLI also updated their Facebook graphic on June 1st and their About page lists 12 teams: the Bangalore Warhawks, Bengal Tigers, Chennai Swarm (Whoo-hoo!!!), Colombo Lions, Delhi Defenders, Hyderabad Skykings, Kolkata Vipers, Lahore Badshahs, Mumbai Gladiators, Peshawar Wolfpak, Pune Marathas and Punjab Warriors.

So, as near as I can tell, they're having a preseason in July played in Sri Lanka that only consists of 8 of the League's teams which oddly ends with some playoff games; and then they're having their full inaugural season which will still start in November. But I might be wrong about all that -- Lord knows I've posted about a bajillion different listings of the teams in the league so far, so there's no reason to conclude I have a handle on any of this yet.

Either way, there's plenty of time to hone our EFLI tailgating traditions and maybe, just maybe, the mighty Chennai Swarm are back!

Go Swarm Go!!!

 

EFLI tailgating recipes - Korma Puffs

Click on any image to enlarge

With the first game of the Elite Football League of India (EFLI) scheduled for July 15th our thoughts naturally turn towards appropriate tailgate snacks. As recorded in my earlier post, My EFLI tailgating quandry, as EFLI's first tailgater I took it upon myself to create Indian themed tailgate food for fans of the new league.

As I promised in my earlier post  I ordered some Tasty Bite packages and, using one of their recipes, I made some Korma Puffs.  

As you can see in the picture above the dish has simple ingredients: 1 pack of Good Korma Cooking Sauce, a package of crescent roll dough and some cheese. They suggested thin slices of cheese, I opted for shredded cheese instead.

Spread out the dough and place some Good Korma Cooking Sauce on each piece. They said to spread a very light layer, I sort of slopped it on to use most of the package on eight rolls (I think a package would have covered 16 rolls easily). I then sprinkled on the cheese and rolled the dough up.

I rolled my Korma Puffs from the pointy end first. In retrospect, I realized that crescent rolls were probably rolled from the broad end. However, since I am the very first EFLI tailgater I can pretty much set the rules and traditions. Therefore, I hereby decree that all EFLI Korma Rolls shall be rolled from the pointy end. 

Following the instructions on the crescent roll package, preheat your oven and then stick the Korma rolls in to be cooked. While waiting, I danced around the kitchen chanting "Go 2013 Swarm Go!!!" Feel free to perform whatever superstitious ritual you feel will help your team to victory.

Eat them warm. My wife, brother and myself taste tested them and they were quite good. Between the three of us we gobbled them down in one sitting. Three thumbs up from us.

The Good Korma Cooking Sauce imparted an unmistakable Indian flavor to the cheese filled rolls. The sauce was mild. If you prefer a spicier flavor you could try adding curry powder or red pepper to give it more of a kick.

I'll be doing more of the recipes in the coming days, so check back so's you can host your own EFLI tailgate party.
 

My EFLI tailgating quandry

Tasty Bite to the rescue

With the first game of the Elite Football League of India (EFLI) set to kick-off on July 15th I realized I had a problem -- what food to serve at my tailgate party?

I figure that bratwurst, Buffalo chicken wings and the usual American tailgating fare don't quite fit with the Indian league. What to do? Being an extremely early American fan of the league, I decided that I can pretty much make up whatever tailgaiting traditions I want to.

With that in mind, I decide the EFLI tailgating snacks should be Indian food, or at least a reasonable facsimile of Indian food, so I tired Googling for food served at Indian cricket matches. Well, to make a long story short, not surprisingly that search didn't yield any results.

I then tried watching YouTube Indian cooking videos to get some recipes, but, while they were interesting, they were also far more involved then I cared to get into and besides I probably wouldn't be able to find all of the ingredients I needed anyway.

It seemed I was foiled, but never let it be said that I'm a quitter. It dawned on me that I have seen packaged Indian foods in the grocery store. A quick Google search led me to the Tasty Bite website. They specialize in Indian and Pan-Asian cuisine, which is just what I was looking for.

Even better, they have a recipe section and a look through their appetizer and sandwich recipes showed them to be fairly easy to make. So, I've ordered some of their packages and plan on making a sample or two which I will talk about in further posts. 

Stay tuned, and feel free to submit your own EFLI tailgate recipes if'n you have any.
     

EFLI 2012 teams & schedules finalized, as well as a new EFLI fan site

On these pages there has been a considerable amount of confusion over the teams in the new Elite Football League of India (EFLI), which is an American style professional football league being formed in India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The first post at a new fan site, EFLIfans, deepened the mystery when he pointed out a newly posted EFLI schedule at the EFLI website that moved the start of the season from November to July, and indicated that there were now two Sri Lankan teams as well as one from Pakistan in the 8 team league.

I'm happy to report that I can now clear up the confusion. Crack internet sports journalist that I am, after much procrastination, I finally emailed EFLI and asked if they could clear up the matter. I got a prompt reply from Janice Foreman, the COS/Executive VP Business Development for the EFLI, to which she attached the 2012 EFLI brochure (which, to my embarrassment, I discovered can be can be downloaded from the EFLI website).

The season has been moved up to kick-off on July 15th with 4 games. Also, the 8 teams for the inaugural season have been finalized and split into 2 divisions:

East - Dehli Defenders (India), Colombo Lions (Sri Lanka), Kandy Skykings (Sri Lanka), Kolkata Vipers (India)

West - Mumbai Gladiators (India), Bangalore (India), Pune (India), Pershawar Wolf Pak (Pakistan) 

You'll notice that my beloved Goa/Chennai Swarm are not on the list of teams. Needless to say I was distraught, but then I remembered, "wait a second, I'm a sports fan. If there is any group as full of mindless optimism as sports fans I don't know it. I spent the 70s and 80s convincing myself on a yearly basis that the Packers were a playoff caliber team, why should I let the nonexistence of my favorite EFLI franchise discourage me from continuing to root for them?"

So, I've handled the problem by telling myself the Swarm are just in hiatus until the 2013 season, which all things considered is but a bump in the road, and by falling back on those two sports mantras: "we waz robbed" and "wait until next year!" So...

Go 2013 Swarm Go!!!

EFLI franchise question

Chennai Swarm at a March practice (click to enlarge)

I received the following question regarding EFLI (Elite Football League of India) franchises, "I was wondering if you knew why some of the teams in the new football league (Efli) are gone like the Punjab Warriors?"

As you know if you've been following my posts on EFLI, the listed EFLI franchises is a very confusing issue. At the moment the EFLI webpage is showing only eight teams logos: Bangalore Warhawks, Pershawar Wolfpack, Pune Marathas, Columbo Lions, Dehli Defenders, Kandy Skykings, Kolkata Vipers and the Mumbai Gladiators..

Neither my beloved Chennai Swarm or the Punjab Warriors are on that list, although both teams still appear in the league schedule with the Swarm slated to play Saturday, Nov 12, amd the Warriors scheduled to play the 13th. 

Also, both the teams are on Facebook: Swarm page and the Warriors page. The Swarm even have pictures of one of their practices up. However, both the Swarm's and Warrior's Facebook pages haven't been updated since March, so who knows? 

To add to the confusion, a March 31st Fox Sports article says the league has 9 teams: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Rajasthan and Punjab (which is also what IndiaTelevision reported) while the EFLI Wikipedia page lists a total of 12 teams.

My gut feeling, and this is just speculation on my part, is that the league is still in flux as they assemble it and recruit investors. I know this hasn't exactly answered the question. I'll try to get a hold of the EFLI and see if they will send me an official list of their franchises.
 

Video of the first EFLI scrimmage game

Number 11, Happy (white jersey), levels the running back

During my coverage the new Elite Football League of India (EFLI) American-style football league, which has been way more in-depth than those slackers at ESPN have managed, I've wondered if I would ever actually get to see one of their games. So, needless to say, I was delighted to get a press release linking to a video of the first EFLI scrimmage game between the Mumbai Gladiators and the Pune Marathas. 

Unfortunately I can't embed the video, but you can see it here: Mubai vs Pune scrimmage. 

The video is 45 minutes and covers most of the game. By American standards the play is sloppy, but the game is entertaining none-the-less. If you watch it pay particular attention to Pune's number 11, who goes by the nickname Happy. The guy is a brute -- he plays middle linebacker, tight end, running back, punts and returns kicks. 

EFLI stadium news

Salt Lake Stadium

The Elite football League of India (EFLI), a new league planning on starting to play American style football this fall, who had been scheduled to play all of their games in their inaugural season in Pune, has announced that they will also be playing games in Salt Lake Stadium, West Bengal. Salt Lake Stadium is the 2nd largest stadium in the world, capable of holding 120,000 spectators.  

It may seem odd that the league is only playing in two stadiums, but it is clear from their marketing material they they intend on building their fan base via television. Another move they have recently made is bringing in Sandy Grossman, the Emmy Award-winning director who has telecast several Super Bowls. Another sign of the TV-centric approach is they also plan on using 11 cameras, which is more than used at a usual American football game.

Test matches (preseason games?) will begin in June, with the season kicking off in November.

Expansion continues to be confusing, with the press release announcing the games at Salt Lake Stadium also mentioning "nine national teams from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Rajasthan and Punjab and three international teams from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh." Pakistan and Bangledesh are new teams as far as I know.

[Source][By the way, I love their use of the word frutification in the article -- I'm going to have to work that into a conversation some how.]

EFLI - cheerleader news and scrimmage pictures

Click any image to enlarge

For those that don't know, EFLI stands for the Elite Football of India, a league that will play American style football with teams so far in India and Sri Lanka, and plans to add a team from Bangladesh in the near future.

In my first post on the EFLI I jokingly mentioned cheerleading at the very end, and got a comment from Adil of the EFLI about the remark (I did email him, but never heard back). Recently I noticed that they've added an EFLI Cheerleaders Facebook page. There's no real information on it yet, just a comment that women interested in being an EFLI cheerleader should leave a comment and watch the page for updates.

It seems like they should be able to find some young ladies who would give it a try for some travel and adventure, but their approach is far too dodgy looking at the moment. They really should put more details out so it doesn't look so fly-by-night. 

As I pointed out in my follow-up post The current state of Indian cheerleading, cheerleading in India has a bit of a checkered history. Cheerleading was first brought the the Indian Premier League cricket fans by bringing in the Washington Redskins cheerleaders for an exhibition. Then many teams formed their own squads.

While cheerleading was well received by the male fans, in some cases perhaps too enthusiastically well received, among conservative members of Indian society it was frowned upon. The above pictures are of two squads that performed at the same match, the top dressed in the more risque American style, while the bottom squad has been adjusted for more conservative Indian tastes. As the LA Times article, In India, 'cheer queens' opt for saris, explains:  

Can sari-clad "cheer queens" stand up to short-skirted pom-pom girls?

That's a question Indian cricket fans are pondering after a team here introduced a cheerleading squad wrapped head to toe in traditional garb, its members eschewing high kicks and splits for complex hand waves and traditional dance steps.

"The concept of cheer queens is an extraordinary way of showcasing our national artistic heritage to the world," says Abhijit Sarkar, director of the Pune Warriors.

Others say it's a nice idea, done somewhere else.

"If you want fine arts, go to a hall," said cricket columnist Ayaz Memon.

Cheerleading arrived in India three years ago with the inception of a shorter, more TV-friendly form of cricket, a three-hour version of a game that, in its purest form, lasts five days with breaks for tea.

To attract audiences to the glitzy new Indian Premier League, organizers drew on an age-old principle — sex sells — and introduced U.S.-style cheerleaders in bikinis, miniskirts and high boots.

Many male fans welcomed the idea. But right-wing, religious and feminist groups quickly condemned it as "vulgar," "walking porn" and "frivolous eye candy" in a nation where, Kama Sutra aside, sensuality is not frequently discussed or displayed in public.

The fact that at least half the cheerleaders were foreigners, including several members of the Washington Redskins cheerleading squad with short skirts and what the Hindustan Times described as "teeny-weeny blouses," only fueled the kerfuffle.

They're "worse than bar dancers," complained Maharashtra state minister Siddharam Mhetre. "Mothers and daughters watch these matches and it does not look nice."

In other EFLI news they've released pictures from one of their scrimmages in full pads and with contact. They're looking good. You can more pictures after the jump.

Ooof. Nice hit on the ball carrier, but the defender should use his arms to wrap up the tackle.

EFLI franchise changes and more expansion news

Updates teams and logos. Click to enlarge.

I've been covering the Elite Football league of India (EFLI), an American style football league being founded in India and its environs. I have more information about some franchise moves, changes as well as expansion plans. 

First, my beloved Goa Swarm are no more. However, no need to despair -- the team hasn't been disbanded, it has just been relocated from Goa to to the city of Chennai (which most Americans would recognize by its older name of Madras). Poor Goa, even Los Angeles managed to hold onto its football franchise longer. 

In addition the Blackhawks apparently moved from Bhubaneswar to Bangalore.

Along with the addition of the Sri Lankan team the Columbo Lions, a new team from Bengal called the Tigers has also joined the league. Because their name is so close to the Pune Black Tigers, Pune has changed its name to the Marathas.

They are also saying another Indian team from Jaipur, as well as a team from Bangladesh, are slated to join the league. No word on the rumored 2nd team from Sri Lanka, the wonderfully named Kandi Tuskers.

So, at the moment they have 10 teams, with expansion planned for two more. How that will effect the season that is set to begin November 11, 2012 is unclear. They appear to have removed the schedule from the EFLI website. I'm assuming they're reworking it to account for the new teams.

EFLI is also signing agreements with Indian colleges to begin playing American style football. So far 9 colleges have signed on, with the intention to get 64 colleges to adopt football programs

One last piece of news, as you can see in the picture below the players have finally started practicing in pads. They're looking better and better as they train. 'Course, they would even look better in Chennai Swarm uniforms. As always...

Go Swarm Go!