WITH the NFL season drawing to a close following Sunday's Super Bowl, the American football calendar closer to home really kicks off.Dates for the Ipswich Cardinals 2006 season have been announced and despite dropping down a division, it looks like being a tremendously difficult summer once again for the Suffolk side.

WITH the NFL season drawing to a close following Sunday's Super Bowl, the American football calendar closer to home really kicks off.

Dates for the Ipswich Cardinals 2006 season have been announced and despite dropping down a division, it looks like being a tremendously difficult summer once again for the Suffolk side.

The opening league fixture in the BAFA (British American Football Association) Division 1A on May 14, has the Northgate Sports Centre-based Cardinals travelling all the way to Bristol to face the Aztecs, a team unfortunate to miss out on promotion to the top flight at the play-off stage last year.

Full story in tonight's Star