Bucharest Warriors

It was 2006 when people started getting together to talk about football. And it was the American Football, not the European one (soccer). These people would not meet in a bar, club or a bench in the park. It was a virtual place. A Romanian online forum dedicated to all sports, and that was the time that the American Football became a member.Day after day, more and more posts would show up on the forum, thus more and more discussions about Football, about NFL, about NCAA. Naturally, at some point, the talk about Football in Romania flamed. The end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007 managed to raise a significant number of football fans.One day, Cristian Rizu suggested all of them to meet up offline, in the real world and share the passion for American Football. The meeting was held in Bucharest, Park Izvor. It was the 18th of February, 2007. That certain chilly day has gathered 25 people from the virtual space of American Football, and brought them onto the real world. The guys finally met each other live. After a warm-up and some talking, they started playing, improvising, having fun with the egg-shaped football.So the 18th of February, 2007 is considered the non-official birth of Football in Bucharest.The next weekend came, and the guys met again at the same spot. After a while, they started to organize regular practice sessions. More and more new people joined in, not only from the online forum, but also people that had simply walked by the practice site. In spring, a former rugby player joined this small group of people, helping to organize the practices while giving them a small spark. Leaders started to surface and build their authority.At the end of the spring season, the name for the newly born and growing team was chosen: The Warriors. A name that grants the members pride and satisfaction when pronounced.Summer came around and a new member joined the new team. He was a slightly different from the rest, in that he had experience. The rich background of football was rendered to him by playing football in the US for the Meeker Bulldogs (High School Division AA) and in the Republic of Moldova for the Kishinev Barbarians.Along with two other members, Florin Cojanu and Bogdan Preda, Roman Seremet started working on the organization of practices, preparing the paperwork for becoming a legal entity and on purchasing equipment. These were the three main targets for 2007. Another target was to have a game or a scrimmage in 2007.The practices began to shape up. Two hours practices with drills and warm-up were established. During the summer, the guys worked hard to prepare themselves for the future scrimmages and games. In September 2007, two members of the team, Florin Cojanu and Roman Seremet took a trip to Germany to buy the first round of equipment. Most of the money for the equipment came from the players, since the Bucharest Warriors had no sponsors at that time.Starting September, the Warriors practiced full gear, thus practices became even more interesting and the guys kept thinking of their first game.A first contact with another team took place the same year, in December. Right after the two coaches of the Warriors (Cojanu and Seremet) came back from the Netherlands, where they played in the SuperFlag BOWL Tournament for the Kishinev Barbarians, the Warriors went off to Constanta; they were supposed to have a common practice with the Sharks and also their first scrimmage there. So, on December the 2nd, the Bucharest Warriors met the Constanta Sharks in a scrimmage that set the start of American Football in Romania.By that time, the Bucharest Warriors were a legally set up team. With that, the first Sponsor ever came to help the Warriors. Reebok offered one pair of shoes for every player in the team.

2008

The year 2008 came, and after a long break, the team stepped back up on the field. The new year brought new challenges and set up new targets. This time there were much bigger, more experienced and older teams to meet on the gridiron. The Kishinev Barbarians met the Warriors on their field in Kishinev, Moldova in April 2009. That was the first international game the Warriors played. Only 6 days later, the Barbarians paid a visit to Bucharest for a game. That game was the first international game of American Football played in Romania. The two games brought a lot of experience to the Warriors and set the bar higher than before. They were now aware of what they needed to do and learned how hard they had to work.In March 2009, the Bucharest Warriors went to France to participate in the Essone Annual Flag Event in Paris. Due to transportation problems, only five players were able to make it to Paris. This was the first Flag Tournament the Warriors attended.In July 2008, the Warriors invited the Constanta Sharks to Bucharest for a first official game of two Romanian teams. The Warriors won the friendly game. One month later they paid another visit to Constanta, with two goals: to allow the team to bond together and to repeat the victory they had in Bucharest. Both goals were achieved, and the game result was 24:12 for the Warriors.The summer came and on-went fast. Practices continued and the next friendly game came upon the Warriors. On September 21st, the 10 year-old Minsk Zubrs traveled to Bucharest for a friendly game. The Zubrs team was founded in 1990. With an 18 years experience, they dominated the field, but the Warriors were still able to score two touchdowns. The final score was 40:12 for the Minsk team.In September, due to several disputes, the Warriors divided, and some of the members left. A new team was created. Also, during 2008, Claudius Kisfaludy started to be noticed and arose as a new team leader. Claudius brought heart to the defense, both as a player and as the defense coach.By the end of the year, The Warriors had one more challenge to overcome. They were invited to Sofia, Bulgaria to play against a developing team, Team Sofia. The year was heading to an end, while all international games were lost. The Warriors needed a new hope, a victory that would send them into winter break with a feeling of satisfaction and the perception that 2008 was not in vain. This thought set a new goal for the team - a win no matter what, NO EXCUSES.The day The Warriors arrived to Sofia, it was snowing heavily. Both teams showed up to the field to find it covered in 10 cm of snow. Even though the Warriors were outnumbered by the Sofia Team, they played their hearts out and struggled to show what they are capable of. With only 17 players available, they proved that American Football is played with heart... lots of heart. That day, the Warriors went home with a win... 6:2. The win that they waited for, during the entire year, came in the last game of the season.

2009

The 2009 year came with The SuperFlag BOWL tournament in the Netherlands. The Warriors participated in February, with a Flag team which ranked 7th in the Tournament. This time they succeeded to overcome the Kishinev Barbarians, which also participated and took 10th place.Also, for the second time the Warriors went to Paris to play in the Essone Annual Flag Event Tournament. This year the warriors went to Paris with one Senior and one Junior team. While the Senior team struggled to get the podium, the Juniors came home with a 3rd place award, which put them on the European Flag map as a team to be considered.May 10th, 2009 brought Team Sofia to Bucharest for the next friendly game. At home, the Warriors lost with a score of 12:20. From this game to November, the Warriors had no other games.Meanwhile, they participated in the Flag tournament organized in Bucharest with two teams. White Warriors and Red Warriors took the 1st  and 3rd place and Constanta Sharks managed to hop on the 2nd place. A North vs. South tackle game was held the same weekend, which was a combination of teams from South of Romania and teams from North of Romania. So, the South team was made up of the Bucharest Warriors and Constanta Sharks. The North team was comprising Bucharest Predators, Iasi Se7ens and Cluj Crimson Dragons. The result of the game was 26:0 for the South team (Warriors and Sharks).On November 14th, 2009, the Warriors hosted another game against Team Sofia. It was a very difficult game, but the Warriors came out with a 12:8 win.

2010

With the new 2010 year, The Warriors embarked on to a new adventure. Their long time dream - to participate in an official championship - finally came true. Not only that, but they got invited to two European championships: EFAF Challenge Cup and CEFL Wildcard.Practices started again in full strength. There were new goals to achieve and new challenges to overcome. The first two games were played at home, against two Turkish teams. First, the Istanbul Cavaliers came to Bucharest to beat the Warriors with the final score of 38-10. With this game, the Cavaliers went on to the CEFL Championship to play the Blue Devils.The next game was for the EFAF Challenge Cup against the Bogazici Sultans. The Sultans showed no mercy to the already injured and worn off by the Cavaliers, Warriors team. The final score was 46-0 for the Sultans. Turkey surely showed superiority in American Football. Their level of American Football is one step higher than it is in Romania.After the EFAF Challenge Cup, another friendly game against Team Sofia came; the latter had changed their club name to Sofia Bears. The unprepared Warriors lost the game with a shameful result of 26-6.The second game of the EFAF Challenge Cup that the Warriors had to play was in Serbia, against the Cacak Angel Warriors. After a long and terrible night on the road, the Warriors arrived and stepped on the gridiron tired and worn off. But they managed to finish the game and earn the respect of the Serbians.After the game in Serbia, the Warriors took a summer break to rest for a while and prepare for the second part of the season, which was due to start at the end of August.During the summer, more teams in Romania started talking and came to the conclusion that an internal championship was needed. 

 So they took action. For as fast as they could, they organized the National Flag and Tackle Championship 2010 (CNFA 2010 - Campionatul National de Fotbal American si Flag 2010). The newly set Championship started in July 27-28th. The first round was played in Timisoara.

 Therefore, the following took part in the Championship:

Tackle: Bucharest Warriors, Bucharest Predators, Cluj Crusaders, Timisoara Lions.

Flag: Bucharest White Warriors, Bucharest Red Warriors, Cluj Crusaders, Bucharest Predators, Timisoara Lions, Scaieni Jaguars.

 Bucharest Warriors finished the 2010 season as Champions of the CNFA.

2011

Here we come...