AMERICAN FOOTBALL: Galaxy take the glory while Monachs worry

AMERICAN FOOTBALL was the talk of Frankfurt last night, the home town Galaxy entertaining their local rivals from Dusseldorf, the Rhein Fire in the World Bowl. A sell-out crowd of 54,000 packed into the Waldstadion as, for the first time ever, ticket touts made a killing on a gridiron game on the continent.

There is no doubt that the NFL's European league is a major success in Germany. Both the Fire and Galaxy comfortably out-performed their soccer counterparts at the turnstiles.

The announcement of a third German franchise to be based in Berlin next season left the question of whether the six-team league will expand to seven, or whether an existing team will be closed. Those under threat are the Barcelona Dragons, Scottish Claymores, and England Monarchs.

None of the politics bothered the players in last night's Championship game. The Rhein Fire lost their quarterback, Mike Quinn, who failed a late fitness test, but his replacement, Jim Arellanes, was a revelation.

Despite throwing just one pass during the regular season, the man allocated to the Fire by the Seattle Seahawks, threw three touchdown passes in the Fire's 34-10 defeat of the Frankfurt Galaxy.

Arellanes was rightly named the game's most valuable player, but the Fire also received assistance from the running back Jon Vaughan, who gained solid yardage on the ground. For head coach Galen Hall, the victory was his first in his third World Bowl appearance.