The Black Panthers of Thonon, commonly referred to as Thonon Black Panthers, is a French

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

club based in

Thonon-les-Bains Thonon-les-Bains (; ), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is part of a ...

(

Haute-Savoie Haute-Savoie () is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region of Southeastern France, bordering both Switzerland and Italy. Its Prefectures in France, prefecture is Annecy. To the north is Lake Gene ...

) and founded in 1987 by Benoît Sirouet, Nicolas Schpoliansky and Frederic Mériguet. Jérôme Garnier quickly joined the three founding members and became the first President of the Club. The first Head Coach of the team was called Jolly Bruno, former player of Blue Angels of Joinville le Pont. Now chaired by Benoît Sirouet, the club has led since 2017 by Fabien Ducousso also known as Coach Hippo.

Teams

The club has four different teams of

and three

flag football Flag football is a variant of gridiron football (American football or Canadian football depending on location) where, instead of Tackle (football move)#Gridiron football, tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or ...

. * The elite team in the first French division, the Diamond Helmet since 2005. * The reserve is playing in the Romande League of American Football, the NSFL since 2011. * Juniors, champions of France in 2011. * Cadets since 2010. * As three teams

(-15 years, -18 years, and +18 years).

Awards

Seniors

* France's Championship Elite ( Diamond Helmet) ** Champion (5): 2013, 2014, 2019, 2023, 2024 ** Vice Champion (7):

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022 * France's Second Division League ( Golden Helmet) ** Champion (1):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

* CEFL Bowl ** Champion (1): 2025 ** Finalist (1): 2023 * EFL Bowl ** Champions (1): 2017 * EFAF Cup ** Champions (1): 2013 ** Finalist (1): 2009

Juniors

* Junior Championship of France Champion ** (3): 2004, 2011, 2012 Vice Champion ** (3): 2006, 2007 and 2008

Flag

* Championship of France 16 ** Champion (1): 2002 ** Vice Champion (2): 2008, 2009 * France Championship -16 ** Champion (2): 2005, 2006 ** Vice Champion (1): 2008 * Regional Championship 16 ** Champion (2): 2008, 2009 ** Vice Champion (1): 2011 * Regional Championship -16 ** Champion (5): 1998, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006 ** Vice Champion (1): 2009, 2011

Season by season

Personalities linked to the club

Staff

* Benoit Sirouet Founder, former player and current president * Nicolas Schpoliansky Founder * Frederic Mériguet Founder * Jérôme Garnier Former President * Jolly Bruno (player) Former Head Coach * Larry Legault Head Coach, Team HC

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, former HC of

Gaiters Gaiters are garments worn over the shoe and bottom of the pant or trouser leg and used primarily as personal protective equipment, in particular against snakebite. They are also commonly used to keep the bottom of the pant-leg dry when hiking ...

of Bishop's

Notable players

* Damon Thomas Former player, WR Wayne State Wildcats,

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

* Dimitri Kiernan player, former coach ( Carabins CIS ) * Tory Cooper RB, Citadel Athletics NCAA D-1 AA * Jason Jackson (player) * Patrick Hall (player) RB * Stephan Neville RB (

Stonehill College Stonehill College is a private Catholic college in Easton, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1948 by the Congregation of Holy Cross and is located on the original estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames Jr., with 29 buildings that compl ...

NCAA DII) * Baylen Laury RB * Maxime Sprauel Player (ex Carabins, CIS, ) * Alex Sy Former player (ex Carabins, CIS, ) * Bastien Pereira Player (future Carabins, CIS, ) * Fred Wells Jr Former player, RB / WR (

Northern Michigan University Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designa ...

, NCAA D1-AA) * Jimmie Russell Former player, QB ( Bethune-Cookman University NCAA D1-AA) * Brandon Minch Former player, DE / FB (

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, NCAA DIII) * Chris Dolan, United States Former Player, OL/DL

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

NCAA- D1, * John Allanach, Canada Head Coach, former player LB ( Mount Allison Mounties, CIS, ) * Sundee Jones, Canada Head Coach, former player RB ( Mount Allison Mounties, CIS, )

Media

The Black Panthers of Thonon-les-Bains were the first in France to broadcast all of their regular season games live on the Internet. The BPWEBTV created in 2010 was well-received, and broadened for the 2011 season.

References

{{Reflist

External links

club's official website in french

Web TV
American football teams in France 1987 establishments in France American football teams established in 1987 Sport in Haute-Savoie