First Gameday 2022

Saturday 23.4 saw the Rheinland Lions men kick off their football season! The Cologne-based squad hosted the Zuffenhausen Giants and the Kiel Koalas, with three games being played where each team played one another for two 20-minute halves.

The first game saw the host team take on the Stuttgart-based Zuffenhausen Giants, in what was a competitive first half before the Lions ran out 38-point winners. Big man Thomas Okos starred with 5 goals, and Philip Evermann made a successful return to the side after having a year out of the game, his performance showing he’d lost nothing in the mean time.

The second game pitted the Lions against the newly-formed Kiel Koalas. Last year‘s semi-finalists gave the visitors a rough reminder that they’re the new guys in town, scoring 50 points to nothing in the first half, before handing them a 93-point defeat by game’s end. Okos once again kicked a bag of 5, but it was new-guy Aaron Krogh who stole the show. The Aussie only arrived back from the land Down Under a couple of weeks prior and managed to kick 3 goals (though it would have been more had it not been for inaccuracy), and even managed to influence the ruck contests despite giving away a significant amount of height.

The third game was again a one-sided affair, with Zuffenhausen fresh off a break and Kiel being undermanned, and unfortunately the newbies went down by 123 points. Three of the Lions — Mirko Everbeck, Simon Grätzer and Nick Gibbons — decided they weren’t tired enough and joined the Kiel for a further two halves. A credit to the Koalas, Gibbons was the only Australian to play for them that day, a good sign for the development of Australian Rules Football in Germany.

All in all a great day of football, and a special mention must be given to 10-goal Thomas Okos, who not only arrived late, but left early to pose for photos on a horse for his political campaign. He then even made it back in time for a few post-game beers!

RESULTS:

Rheinland Lions: 8.11.59

Zuffenhausen Giants: 3.3.21

Rheinland Lions: 15.11.101

Kiel Koalas: 1.2.8

Kiel Koalas: 0.0.0

Zuffenhausen Giants: 19.9.123