The Plattling Black Hawks are an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team from

Plattling Plattling is a town in the district of Deggendorf, Bavaria, Germany, on the river Isar, 9 km southwest of Deggendorf, just before it enters the Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roma ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The club was, until 2004, known as the Deggendorf Black Hawks. The club's greatest success was earning a promotion to the

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''Ameri ...

in 2008 and qualifying for play-offs for the first time in 2010.

History

The ''Black Hawks'' entered league football in 1987, when they joined the southern division of the ''

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern, ( en, Regional league Bavaria), is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tie ...

''. The following 19 seasons, the club remained in local

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n and Southern German leagues, becoming a fixture in the tier-three ''Regionalliga Süd'' from 2001 onwards. In 2004, the Deggendorf Black Hawks moved nine kilometres southwest, becoming the Plattling Black Hawks instead. Under the new name, the club quickly experienced unprecedented success, winning its league and defeating the Obertshausen Blizzards to earn a promotion to the southern division of the ''2nd Bundesliga''. Plattling spent the next three seasons at this level, successfully competing with the top teams and eventually winning the league in 2008. The team defeated the Darmstadt Diamonds in the following two promotion games and earned a spot in the

(GFL) for 2009. In the GFL in 2009, the ''Black Hawks'' managed to finish in fifth place, one above the relegation rank and Bavarian rival, the

Munich Cowboys The Munich Cowboys are an American football team based in Munich, Germany. The club, together with the Düsseldorf Panther and the Ansbach Grizzlies, is one of the oldest in Germany.

. The following season saw the team come third despite a losing record and qualifying for the play-offs. In the quarter-finals, the

Berlin Adler The Berlin Adler ( en, Berlin Eagles) is an American football club based in Berlin, Germany. The club is one of the most successful clubs in the sport in Germany, having won six German Bowls as well as a ten ''Ladies Bowls'' and five ''Junior Bow ...

were, however, too strong and the club was knocked out courtesy to a 3–17 defeat. Plattling was unable to fulfil all its fixtures in the 2011 season, suffering from a large number of injuries, losing all games except for the last three, which it cancelled. The club decided on 1 September 2011 not to apply for a GFL2 licence for the following season but instead to compete in the third tier Regionalliga. In the Regionalliga the club's troubles continued in 2012, finishing last and losing all ten season games, dropping down another level, now to the Bayernliga. The 2013 season saw the club recover and win seven out of eight regular season games but then lose 2–0 to Königsbrunn Ants in the Bayernliga play-offs. In the 2014 season the club did not win a game in its Bayernliga division and finished last. It came last once more in 2015 but this time recorded one win and seven losses.

Honours

* GFL ** Play-off qualification : 2010 ** League membership : (3) 2009–2011 *

GFL 2 The German Football League 2 (GFL2) is the second tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based ...

** Southern Division champions: 2008

Recent seasons

Recent seasons of the club:Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 19 January 2010GFL 2010
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 2 January 2011GFL 2011
www.football-aktuell.de, accessed: 18 September 2011 * RR = Relegation round * PR = Promotion round * QF = Quarter finals * SF = Semi finals * GB = German Bowl * Final three games of the 2011 season not played.

References

External links

*
Official website
*
German Football League official website
*
Football History
Historic American football tables from Germany {{Former German Football League clubs American football teams in Germany German Football League teams American football teams established in 1986 American football in Bavaria 1986 establishments in West Germany Deggendorf (district)