Black Widows

First American Football Club for Women in Graz

„You are only successful if you all pull together and can rely on each other completely.“

The founding of the Black Widows – Graz’s first women’s football club – is largely thanks to Eva Schantl’s assertiveness and initiative. Determined to gain a foothold in American football, a sport traditionally considered to be for men, she began persuading her friends to form a women’s team after a brief interlude with the men’s counterpart, the Graz Giants. A joint barbecue party in the spring of 1997 marked the birth of the Black Widows, and they soon began training in Graz’s Augarten park. The club was officially founded on 8 October 1998, and in spring 1999, the long-awaited first professional match was played – a friendly against the Vienna Vikings Ladies. Although the latter had been playing for much longer, the Graz women performed excellently and managed to maintain their lead until half-time despite two injuries. In the end, they suffered defeat, but their enthusiasm for American football was all the greater.

The founding of an Austrian league for women’s American football not only professionalised the sport but also laid the foundation for the establishment of further clubs within Austria. The Black Widows found the increase in the number of opposing teams extremely motivating. After all, from now on, there would no longer be just their own training sessions and occasional friendly matches, but regular and specific match dates. This enabled the Black Widows, with the support of their coaches, to continuously improve their skills and experience on the field and win the Ladies Bowl three times in a row (2000, 2001, 2002). In addition, several matches against clubs from abroad were also organised.

But training and competitions were by no means all that the Black Widows had to cope with: In addition, it was always necessary to raise funds to equip the players and secure participation in the league, run the fan shop, ensure continuous press and public relations work, and organise a supporting programme for their home games – including male cheerleaders and music.

After the founding members gradually completed their professional training or studies and some of them moved to other places, the structure of the team changed, and it merged with the Graz Giants. Nevertheless, the former founders still fondly remember their time with the Black Widows and their shared experiences.