Korea American Football Association

Korea American Football Association
Korea American Football Association's logo
Formation	1945
Type	Non-profit
Headquarters	Seoul
Official languages	Korean (KR)
Chairman	Park Kyung-Kyu
Website	KAFA.org

Korea American Football Association's Badge

The Korea American Football Association (KAFA, Korean: 대한미식축구협회, Hanja: 大韓美式蹴球協會) has existed in South Korea for more than 20 years. The popularity of American football in Korea has been historically low, but with the visit of Hines Ward (a Korean born NFL football star with the Pittsburgh Steelers) in 2006, the sport received a modest level of increased appeal. Within Korea KAFA is a governing body over both traditional football with pads and also flag football.

Traditional football leagues within Korea are divided between college and professional (KNFL) teams. There are three championship bowl games of special note that occur at the end of the season. The Tiger Bowl determines the champions of the college league, the Gwangaeto Bowl determines the champions of the professional league, and finally the Kimchi Bowl, the Korean equivalent of the Super Bowl in USA, pits the college team champion against the professional team champion.

KNFL

At the start of the 2010 season there were six teams playing in the professional league.

Seoul Vikings
ADT Caps Golden Eagles
Seoul Warriors
Daegu Phoenix
Samsung Blue Storm
Busan Gryphons

Gwangaeto Bowl Champions

	Date	Champion	2nd Place	Score	Stadium
1	1996.1.7	Seven Six	Leos	20 - 6	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
2	1997.1.19	Bluegons	Blue Friends	18 - 6	Busan Sagick Stadium
3	1998.1.11	Seven Six	Bluegons	6 - 0	Kyungsung Univ. Stadium
4	1999.1.10	Blue Friends	Caps	12 - 6	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
5	2000.1.9	Red Stars	Caps	32 - 22	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
6	2001.1.14	Red Stars	Scholars	20 - 6	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
7	2002.1.13	Seven Six	Red Stars	18 - 12	Daegu Dooryu Stadium
8	2003.1.12	Scholars	Caps	18 - 12	Busan National Univ. Stadium
9	2004.1.18	Caps	Bluegons	17 - 6	Busan National Univ. Stadium
10	2005.1.16	Halraes	Seven Six	14 - 7	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
11	2005.12.18	Vikings	Caps	33 - 21	Yongin Univ. Stadium
12	2006.12.10	Gryphons	Vikings	19 - 10	Seoul Univ. Stadium
13	2007.12.2	Gryphons	Caps	23 - 13	Yongin Univ. Stadium
14	2008.12.7	Vikings	Caps	28 - 3	Namyangju Stadium
15	2009.12.6	Caps	Vikings	13 - 0	Namyangju Stadium
16	2010.12.12	Phoenix	Caps	14 - 7	Namyangju Stadium

Kimchi Bowl

The Kimchi Bowl is the final championship game of KAFA. The game is considered by players, fans, and organizers to be the Super Bowl of Korea. At its conclusion a trophy is awarded to the winning team's coach and passed amongst the players. There is also a game MVP trophy awarded to the game's most valuable player. This honor is decided by the organizers of the game. The Kimchi Bowl is traditionally held in January of the year after the football season.

	Date	Champion	2nd Place	Score	Stadium
1	1996.1.14	Dong-A Univ.	Seven Six	12 - 7	Busan Sagick Stadium
2	1997.1.26	Bluegons	Keimyung Univ	28 - 18	Busan Sagick Stadium
3	1998.1.18	Kyungpook N. Univ.	Seven Six	47 - 6	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
4	1999.1.17	Dong-A Univ.	Blue Friends	35 - 22	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
5	2000.1.16	Dong-A Univ.	Red Stars	19 - 14	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
6	2001.1.21	Red Stars	Kyungsung Univ	13 - 0	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
7	2002.1.27	Seven Six	Kyungsung Univ	27 - 14	Daegu Dooryu Stadium
8	2003.1.19	Gumoh N. Univ	Scholars	7 - 6	Busan National Univ. Stadium
9	2004.1.1	Caps	Dong-A Univ.	23 - 17	Busan National Univ. Stadium
10	2005.1.30	Halraes	Gumoh N. Univ	27 - 12	Seoul Hyochang Stadium
11	2006.1.8	Dong-A Univ.	Vikings	7 - 6	Keimyung Univ.
12	2007.1.14	Gryphons	Dong-Eui Univ	37 - 0	Busan National Univ. Stadium
13	2008.1.6	Gryphons	Dong-Eui Univ	21 - 12	Namyangju Stadium
14	2009.1.	Vikings	Dong-Eui Univ	20 - 14	Namyangju Stadium
15	2010.1.	Busan Univ	Caps	34 - 13	Namyangju Stadium
16	2011.1.9	Phoenix	Busan Univ	40 - 24	Kyungpook N. Univ.

Foreign Players of Note

There have been a few foreign players to really step up and show their value to their respective teams. Here are some of them.

Reid Cockburn

Since its formation, the league has consisted almost entirely of Korean players, but in recent years there have been more foreign players in the league. Since 2005, player of note, Reid Cockburn from London, Ontario, Canada has been the main ambassador of the sport for foreign players.

Justin Kirby

A wiley (actually spelled w-i-l-y) veteran of the KNFL, wide receiver Justin Kirby began his career in Regina Saskatchewan, Canada. The tall rangy receiver has displayed top knotch skills in snatching balls thrown in his direction. Through two games in the 2009 season he has 5 touchdowns and 4 punts with an average of 30 yards per punt. An MVP award is in his sights as the ADT Caps battle for league supremacy. The final will be played in Seoul on December 5, 2009. All the dreams and aspirations of the team are in the golden hands of this phenom. He didn't catch any passes in 2010.

Games of Note

Gwangaeto Bowl - 2010

Daegu Phoenix with the ball

Also known as "The Rematch Bowl" this particular bowl game saw the rematch of two teams destined to meet in the finals since week 1, the Daegu Phoenix and ADT Caps Golden Eagles. On October 3rd, 2010 the Phoenix and Caps initially squared off to open the start of the 2010 KNFL season. It was a hard fought battle with both defenses playing strongly throughout the game. Finally in the last 4 minutes of the game the Caps running back broke a 25yd run into the end zone to score the only points of the game. A disappointed, but unshaken, Phoenix team resolved to never lose again. This would be a courageous feeling from a team that had not won a single game the previous season, but months later in the championship game these two teams would meet on the same field, to have one more battle.

A cold, sunny day set the scene of what was to be a great game. Initially it seemed like it would turn out to be a defensive game again. But in the 1st quarter the Caps offense was able to capitalize off of a mistake by Phoenix CB, Tim Sander, was burned on a "Hitch and Go" route because the Phoenix defense was unable to tame the Air Assault of the Caps, this mental mistake resulted in a 67yd touchdown pass to Caps rookie receiver, "Charlie" 찰리. Frustrated but unshaken Tim was overheard saying, "He'll never catch a pass against me for the rest of the game." However, The ADT receivers caught many more passes in the game. While he did stop "Charlie" from getting into the end zone again, and kept Charlie from catching any more passes against him, "Charlie" went on to catch 3 more deep passes throughout the game. This only served to confirm the Phoenix' pregame concern for his post route ability. The Caps offense tried again and again to score, then in the 2nd quarter the Phoenix were able to tie the game with a touchdown sending the game to halftime. The tone of the game would change in the 3rd and 4th quarters with both defenses clamping down, causing turnovers and 3-and-outs. With neither team able to score again the game would go into overtime.

In Overtime, Phoenix won the coin toss and opted to start with the ball first. Showing an efficient offense, they scored a touchdown in 4 plays. With all the pressure riding on the plays to follow, the Caps had to get into the end zone. Yet three plays in a row, and a fumble for a loss of 7 yards on third down found them at 4th and 11. In a desperate situation, the Caps attempted a bold reverse-play to their speedster, #89 Charlie (찰리). The crowd held its breath to await the outcome, as the reverse was wide open and caught the Phoenix defense on their heels. But the crowd wouldn't have to wait long as the Caps fumbled on the hand off. The ball was then recovered by the Phoenix to end the game. It was a truly storybook and fitting ending to a season for a team that everyone counted out, and had not won a single game the previous year. It was assumed the Phoenix could not run the ball, yet ran the ball with amazing effectiveness...

See also

• Korea national American football team

External links

• (Korean) KAFA Official website