American Revolution Trip

The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) is proud to announce that American Revolution, the USAFL National Representative team, are planning to go-ahead and participate in the five nations Atlantic Alliance Cup, to be held in London starting on October 6th. The USA will compete in the first Atlantic Alliance Cup against Denmark, Ireland, Canada and host Great Britain.

After the September 11th Tragedy to USAFL decided to take a wait-and-see approach and assess the situation, rather than rushing to cancel the trip. An Exectuitve Board decision was taken on Wednesday September 26th to go-ahead with the tour. The Board did agree that the tour management party lead by USAFL Founding President Paul OKeeffe have the Boards authority to cancel the trip right up to the point of departure if safety becomes a paramount issue.

The players positive attitude greatly impacted the decision. Matt Dainauski, USAs Full-Forward echoed the player sentiment, Now more than ever it is important to show unity and pride in this country, and while playing Aussie-Rules against another country may not mean much to the laymen it is extremely important to me. I want to play this tournament. Center-Half Forward Jason Becker summed up the attitude sweeping America after the attacks, I more afraid of not-living, than I am afraid of dieing.

Due to the closure of Reagan National airport (DCA), American Airlines has had to rebook the American Revolution traveling party. Due to the large size of the group, it was extremely difficult to find flights with suitable times and connections. The following itinerary was the result of over an hour of discussion with three different AA reservation representatives:

Friday Oct 5th 2001

Depart 0625 Dulles(IAD) AA1217, arrive 0720 Chicago O'Hare(ORD)

Depart 0850 O'Hare(ORD) AA90, arrive 2235 London Heathrow(LHR)

Thursday Oct 11th 2001

Depart 1600 London(LHR) AA131, arrive 1830 New York(JFK)

Depart 2100 New York(JFK) AA4832, arrive 2230 Balt/Wash(BWI)

- Paul O'Keeffe
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