Dalian Sports Center Held Professional American Indoor Football League 

for the First Time

       2016 National Professional American Indoor Football League (Dalian) was rounded off in Damai Center (Dalian Sports Center-Gym) on October 9.

       It is known that 2016 National Professional American Indoor Football Tour is the preseason of CAFL. It was kicked off in Beijing on October 1, and then toured to Dalian, Qingdao,Guangzhou and Shenzhen every weekend, and its finals would be in Shanghai on November 6, whose champion would win the “China Bowl”. This is the first time that American football league is held in China and is also the first time that the Sports Center organizes such event, enriching the varieties of competitions organized by the Sports Center. The 6 professional American football teams participating in this tour are Beijing Lions, Shanghai Skywalker, Guangzhou Power, Dalian Dragon Kings, Qingdao Clippers and Shenzhen Cobra. Each team is comprised of 22 players, half of whom are domestic players and half are foreign players, and each team is instructed by American professional coach. The tour follows the rules of AFL and employs professional referees from AFL.

       Damai Center (Dalian Sports Center-Gym) has provided first-rate facilities in China for this tour, catching the eyes of players, coaches and referees. Many audiences watched the American football game for the first time, and they were impressed by the physical intensity of players. Citizen Mr. Li said to the journalist that he had only watched American football matches on TV. Though not familiar with competition rules, the burst of power when players were intercepting or successfully touched down would ignite the passion of audiences. Rules of American indoor football are similar to those of American arena football; however, it is more of a spectator sport for its more compact competition field, faster transition between attack and defense, and higher scores.