In 1986 the Netherlands organised Eurobowl I - the final of the European championship for national champions. The Amsterdam Rams achieved a respectable 3rd place in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, with the Finnish Taft Vantaa claiming 1st place.  1987 saw the NAFF run a full Dutch competition with no less than 3 divisions. This season also saw the debut of Dutch officiating crews, supported by officials from the US airbase in Soesterberg. The early 1990s saw the growth of American Football in the Netherlands settle down. The obvious next step was to look to the future. Youth teams and a youth competition were formed, and flag teams for the youngest participants. The top division of senior competition saw an enormous increase of quality, aided by the import of US players and coaches. By this time the Dutch competition was considered one of the strongest in the whole of Europe. In 1993, two Dutch teams made it to the semi-finals of the Eurobowl: The Amsterdam Crusaders and The Hague Raiders. The Amsterdam Crusaders (who had dominated the NAFF competition between 1987 and 1991) showed their class at European level by reaching 5 Eurobowl finals and winning the European championship in 1991 and 1992, sparking talk of a "Dutch dynasty". The Dutch National team, the Dutch Lions, won the bronze medal in the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland, in 1991. Head coach at the time was coach John Ralston. The mid-nineties saw the growth of the sport stagnate in the Netherlands, bringing about the demise of several clubs. The novelty of the sport wore off and it was evident in the diminishing interest of sponsors. Television exposure was no longer to be taken for granted and the growth of the youth competition was suffering. Conversely the sport was undergoing a renaissance in the rest of Europe, with media interest and crowds growing. This situation forced the decision by the Amsterdam Crusaders to pull out of the Dutch competition and instead compete in the ill-fated Football League of Europe in 1994 and 1995  While the sport was struggling in the Netherlands, bigger thing were afoot for American Football on a global scale. 1991 saw the birth of the World League of American Football (WLAF). This precursor to NFL Europa was a professional competition founded and funded by the US league: the NFL. The intentions of the WLAF were two-fold: to increase the popularity of the sport in Europe and to act as a feeder league to the NFL, testing out young players who were on the brink of breaking into the NFL.