Rhein Fire (NFL Europe)
Professional American football team in Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Professional American football team in Germany From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rhein Fire were a professional football team in the NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1995, the franchise resurrected the name of the former Birmingham Fire team which was active during the 1991–1992 WLAF seasons.
| |
| Founded | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Closed | 2007 |
| Based in | Düsseldorf, Germany (1995–2002, 2005–2007) Gelsenkirchen, Germany (2003–2004) |
| Home field | Rheinstadion (1995–2002) Arena AufSchalke (2003–2004) LTU Arena (2005–2007) |
| League | World League of American Football (NFL Europe) |
| Colors | Maroon, Black, Gold, White[1] |
| World Bowls (2) |
|
The team was based in Düsseldorf (and early on the team was occasionally referred to in the U.S. as the Düsseldorf Fire[citation needed]), playing at the Rheinstadion until 2002. After the demolition of the Rheinstadion, the team moved to nearby Gelsenkirchen and played at Arena AufSchalke for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The team returned to Düsseldorf for the 2005 season, playing at the newly-constructed LTU Arena. The Fire would remain at the LTU Arena until NFL Europe's dissolution in 2007.
The Fire hosted the World Bowl a record five times: in 1999 and 2002 at the Rheinstadion, in 2004 at Arena AufSchalke, and in 2005 and 2006 at the LTU Arena.
The Fire were one of NFL Europe's most successful teams in terms of fan support and on-field success.[citation needed] The team itself played for five World Bowl championships throughout its history, winning in 1998 over the Frankfurt Galaxy and 2000 over the Scottish Claymores. They lost to the Barcelona Dragons in 1997, the Berlin Thunder in 2002, and the Galaxy in 2003.
| Season | League | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| 1995 | WLAF | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 5th (League) | – | – | — | — |
| 1996 | WLAF | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 6th (League) | – | – | — | — |
| 1997 | WLAF | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 1st (League) | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to Barcelona Dragons in World Bowl '97 |
| 1998 | NFLE | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 2nd (League) | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | World Bowl '98 champions |
| 1999 | NFLE | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 3rd (League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2000 | NFLE | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 1st (League) | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | World Bowl 2000 champions |
| 2001 | NFLE | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 3rd (League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2002 | NFLE | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 1st (League) | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to Berlin Thunder in World Bowl X |
| 2003 | NFLE | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 2nd (League) | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost to Frankfurt Galaxy in World Bowl XI |
| 2004 | NFLE | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 5th (League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2005 | NFLE | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 6th (League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2006 | NFLE | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | 3rd (League) | – | – | — | — |
| 2007 | NFLE | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | 4th (League) | – | – | — | — |
| Total | 68 | 62 | 0 | .523 | 2 | 3 | .400 | |||
| # | Name | Term | Regular season | Postseason | Achievements | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GC | Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | GC | Won | Lost | Win % | ||||
| 1 | Galen Hall | 1995–2000 | 60 | 34 | 26 | 0 | .567 | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 2 World Bowl championships (1998, 2000) World League Coach of the Year (1997) NFL Europe Coach of the Year (2000) |
| 2 | Pete Kuharchek | 2001–2005 | 50 | 24 | 26 | 0 | .480 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .000 | — |
| 3 | Jim Tomsula | 2006 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | .600 | – | – | – | — | — |
| 4 | Rick Lantz | 2007 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 0 | .400 | – | – | – | — | — |
Richard Adjei (2004–2007) Ingo Anderbrügge (2003–2004), former Schalke 04 soccer player, kicker during Fire's years in Gelsenkirchen
Cedric Bonner (2006–2007) Manfred Burgsmüller (1996–2002), kicker and oldest professional American football player at age 52[2] Byron Chamberlain (1996) Derrick Clark (1996–1999) Mike Croel (1998) Terry Crews (1995) Nick Ferguson (1998) Patrick Gerigk (1998) James Harrison (2004) Drew Henson (2006) Andy Kelly (1996) Jeris McIntyre (2005) Fred Jackson (2006) Michael Lewis (2001) Mike Quinn (1998) Marcus Robinson (1998) Jamal Robertson (2002) Bill Schroeder (1997) Gino Torretta (1995) Tony Wragge (2006) Danny Wuerffel (2000)
Tamon Nakamura (1998-1999) Akihito Amaya (2001-2002) John David Washington (2007)Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
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