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Shutdown Corner

Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:20 pm EDT

It may be a while before the France's FFFA can challenge the NFL

By MJD

I know I said in the last post that American football wasn't tremendously popular anywhere outside of North America, but that might not have been completely accurate. In fact, the Junior World Championship of American Football is taking place right now in Canton, Ohio, and there are teams there from New Zealand, Sweden, France, Japan and Germany.

Of course, New Zealand lost 55-0 to Canada, Sweden lost 41-0 to Mexico, and France lost 78-0 to the United States. But they were still there, and they managed to show up on time and put on their uniforms properly. So that's something. Also in the opening round, Japan squeaked out a 10-7 victory over the Germans.

Taking a closer look at the USA vs. France game, it might not have been as close as the 78-0 final score would indicate. Total yards were 610-7 in favor of the United States. France rushed for -31 total yards. Quarterback M. Sprauel went 2-of-13 for six yards and was sacked three times. The United States ran for over 400 yards. Ten players caught passes.

The game wasn't without its moral victories for France, though. From the FFFA website, with a tip of the cap to Yahoo! Babelfish, here's their opening paragraph of the game's story:

This night the Team of France Junior fell heavily, 78 to 0, vis-a-vis the American formation directed by the coach Chuck Kyle. In front of more than 10.000 people come in Fawcett stadium to attend the first match of their national team, the young French do not have for as much not demerit. In spite of a physical and technical domination logically awaited on behalf of the American players, the French played this match until the end, without excess in their play, entering only 4 penalties for 25 yards against 11 per 110 yards for the adversaries.

Alright! High five, Frenchie, for the lack of excess in your play. You only had four penalties to our 11. Congratulations are in order.

France will be back in their own weight class on Wednesday when they take on Sweden, in what will be a fairer fight. The United States will also face a tougher test as they take on Mexico.

Gracias, Dan Steinberg at The Sporting Blog.

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33 Comments

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  1. YGM
    1. Posted by YGM Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:53 pm EDT

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    1rst baby
  2. YGM
    2. Posted by YGM Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:53 pm EDT

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    Anyways, I predict it to be 2015 before the French will actually score a touchdown.
  3. Will
    3. Posted by Will Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:00 pm EDT

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    This is awesome. I'd love to see the France versus Sweden match.
  4. Hambone
    4. Posted by Hambone Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:01 pm EDT

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    How many of those 11 were for excessive celebration?
  5. FF50
    5. Posted by FF50 Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:39 pm EDT

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    I used to be part of the american football France squad (2006). I didn't need to see the scoreboard to know we were miles away from the american level. When you know that I was starting LT and RE at 6'0, 225 pounds... you know understand.
  6. Lucy B
    6. Posted by Lucy B Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:47 pm EDT

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    I heard the French surrendered in the first 15 seconds.
  7. Dan
    7. Posted by Dan Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:54 pm EDT

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    Japan and Germany are probably the two best teams in the world outside of the USA, so that 10-7 game was probably the best one of the day.
  8. Scott H
    8. Posted by Scott H Mon Jun 29, 2009 2:54 pm EDT

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    The French are much better at smoking and scowling at outdoor cafes.
  9. Gamemaster
    9. Posted by Gamemaster Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:24 pm EDT

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    France thought they couldn't touch the ball with thier hands and kept trying to kick it under the bar. I still haven't figured out why europe still plays football(soccer) the old boring way. We improved it and made it more exciting but europeans wont get with the times.
  10. Scott E
    10. Posted by Scott E Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:52 pm EDT

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    That FFAA website reads like an OchoCinco twitter, but with better grammar.
  11. Irish Bastard
    11. Posted by Irish Bastard Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:28 pm EDT

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    This is for the story on how mj helped kraft........since there seems be no comment section yet .......
    you all so forgot they wouldnt of won without the films of other teams plays to win those playoff games and sbs..........................i guess that seemed to slip the story.
  12. Mike Honcho
    12. Posted by Mike Honcho Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:55 pm EDT

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    Everybody knows M. Sprauel is a system quarterback. Those two completions would not have happened in a pro-style offense.
  13. MasterNate
    13. Posted by MasterNate Mon Jun 29, 2009 5:35 pm EDT

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    What's the name of France's QB? Those probably made out to some amazing fantasy numbers.
  14. Bill K.
    14. Posted by Bill K. Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:00 pm EDT

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    we should be glad that an fffa even exists. spreading the game globally is a good thing, and hopefully someday teams from other countries will be able to compete at the highest level.
  15. blupit7
    15. Posted by blupit7 Mon Jun 29, 2009 10:04 pm EDT

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    i have an authentic ww2 french made machine gun for sale. never fired,only dropped once
  16. Envigado
    16. Posted by Envigado Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:10 pm EDT

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    The guy in the picture is an all-pro DT.
  17. paulhenryeche@...
    17. Posted by paulhenryeche@... Mon Jun 29, 2009 11:16 pm EDT

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    there are a lot of smart A***ses there! With a lot of new French bashing jocks! Congratulations!
    And BTW if AF have no recepcion in France its just because AF players look just as ladies in front of rugby players....
  18. Nicholas R
    18. Posted by Nicholas R Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:00 am EDT

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    i love you matthew j. darnell. amazing post.
  19. International Player
    19. Posted by International Player Tue Jun 30, 2009 5:28 am EDT

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    What an ignorant post. Instead of promoting the game globally MJD is trying to keep it from the world outside the US... o yeah, and maybe Canada. This is a great game but people like the author of this post are the ones making it tough for us to establish it in Europe. Yeah, I know many Americans don't care much for the game being player outside the sacred football fields in the US but ripping a team of kids who are passionate about football is not really classy.
    P.S.: I have played Div I college, the Pros and in Europe and believe me there are a lot of international players who can easily hang with US players on all levels... and they do. It's nowhere close to basketball but US colleges and pro teams are eying international players now too.
    Q#10
    MJD translated the original French text via an translating website and that's why the text makes little sense in some passages.
  20. brian b
    20. Posted by brian b Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:23 am EDT

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    Dude anytime a team loses 78-0 it should be 86ed out of the league. Kinda makes the FFFA or whatever league it is, look like a joke. Especially considering that number 1 in that picture is a buck twenty dripping wet.
  21. Scott E
    21. Posted by Scott E Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:28 am EDT

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    #19 - I realized that. My comment was mostly a stab at 8 5.
  22. KMS
    22. Posted by KMS Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:45 am EDT

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    The day the American rugby team can come close to the French side, and the French lord it over them (which they don't), is the day I look on this post and the majority of the comments from ignorant retards as being valid. In the meantime.....
  23. Legal Eagle
    23. Posted by Legal Eagle Tue Jun 30, 2009 12:19 pm EDT

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    its good that the FFFA is in existance, maybe a global league will take shape and be successful. The NFL for whatever reason is dragging its feet on expansion, and even retracting(NFL Europa is gone), why is anybody's guess... But with the UFL is looking at putting teams in Canada and Mexico. Hopefully that sparks the NFL into trying places because there is no excuse for one of the post popular sports in the world, with a championship game watched on every continent, not to at least fill up its own backyard.
  24. FairlyHonestBob
    24. Posted by FairlyHonestBob Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:36 pm EDT

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    They should have run a few statue of liberty plays.
  25. Razzle Dazzle
    25. Posted by Razzle Dazzle Tue Jun 30, 2009 1:57 pm EDT

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    Here's the thing, I appreciate a good French joke just as much as the next guy, and I would expect that no one out there could compete with our Football Teams (because we're the only country that cares about football, and care we do!) but this article throws a bit of a "bad sport" feel into the mix. The teams showed up, they probably gave it their all and in the process hopefully brought a little bit of awareness about the sport to their home countries. I'm happy to see others around the world embrace our culture, so why is it now that we have to rub (the insanely lopsided) victory in their face? It's a little beneath us, let's just welcome them when they show up, beat them on the field and then shake their hands after, just like our pee- wee and little league coaches taught us to.

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Shutdown Corner is an NFL blog edited by Matthew J. Darnell. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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