Former Pinto tackles professional football overseas

Dylan Albertson scored eight touchdowns in eight games in his first season playing American football for the Ancona Dolphins in Italy. Albertson recently finished the season, during which he played four positions and served as the team's defensive coordinator. (Photo courtesy of Janie Gray)
Dylan Albertson scored eight touchdowns in eight games in his first season playing American football for the Ancona Dolphins in Italy. Albertson recently finished the season, during which he played four positions and served as the team's defensive coordinator. (Photo courtesy of Janie Gray)

It's a long way from Missouri to Italy, but Dylan Albertson made the trip count.

Albertson, a former California Pinto, recently finished his first season of playing American football for the Ancona Dolphins, a team competing in the Italian Football League.

Albertson said his teammate at The University of Central Missouri Warrensburg, Quarterback Brook Bolles, suggested Albertson put his highlight reel on a website called europlayers.com.

"I did that, and originally I was hit up by a lot of German teams, so I looked at the price range, and I kind of thought it wasn't going to be for me," Albertson said. "Then around Christmas this last year, I remember I got my sixth offer to go play overseas, and it just happened to be this team in Italy. The price was right and it kind of lined up with what I was doing, so I accepted and went over there and played for four months."

At first, communication with those around him in Italy was difficult for Albertson. However, he said thanks to a background in Spanish, it helped him pick up Italian pretty quickly because of the similarities in the languages. It wasn't long before he wasn't having any trouble at all.

"By the end of it, I would consider myself fluent," Albertson said. "I could understand everything, and I could have conversations with the coaches' wives, so they all loved me. That was one of the coolest parts - getting to learn Italian, and not just the language but the culture, was very cool."

Albertson recieved plenty of attention from his new teammates during his time there, in large part because of his background in the sport.

"They consider you like a celebrity, really," Albertson said. "Everyone was always asking me questions, like 'How did you get so good?' They really don't have the same kind of training programs that we have, and they don't have the same knowledge for the game."

Albertson played free safety, punter, wide receiver and was a punt returner during the season. At the end of the season, he had averaged 36.8 yards per punt which was good for second in the league, and he had 95 all-purpose yards, good for sixth in the league. He also scored eight touchdowns and was awarded a spot on the First Team Offense for all of Italy. Albertson said he also helped with coaching as the Dolphins' defensive coordinator.

"I called every single play the whole season for defense," Albertson said. "Then of course, I played offense also, and I had a big say on the offensive play book."

Albertson said the coaching side of his experience was crazy.

"All the coaches and everything, they just kind of looked towards the Americans because we have been (playing football) since we were 5 years old," Albertson said. "Basically we were player coaches. That is what I would consider myself."

The game itself is pretty much the same as it is stateside, Albertson said. But the referees in Italy are different than the ones in the U.S., due in part to their level of game knowledge and communication barriers.

"The refs are definitely not as educated as American refs," Albertson said. "They call stuff that shouldn't be called, and they are keeping track of time on a stop watch, so sometimes the time is not well known. Not only that, there is of course the language barrier. Some of them could not speak English. I always made it a point before the game to see who could speak in English and see what refs I could talk to."

Albertson said in the league, every team could have three American players. Despite the differences in knowledge of the sport and the early age some Italian pros begin their American football careers, Albertson said the teams in Italy were still competitive.

"So it is not like they're are bad players," Albertson said. "Teams are still very good. It is not like high school teams would whoop us or anything. We are beating all the high school teams in America, but we would have trouble competing with colleges. Just because (the Italian teams) have 18-year-olds playing that don't even know the game of football yet."

There was a bit of a learning curve when it came to playing overseas, he said. Because they are so highly-regarded, he said Italian teams try to involve their American players in every play.

In Albertson's coaching duties, this led to him having to be especially aware where any American opponents might be lining up on the other side of the ball.

"Let's say they had an American running back - you want to know when he is on the field because he is probably going to get the ball," Albertson said, "because he is their best player. The competition was still great, don't get me wrong - we had great players. We had better players than I played against in college sometimes, but then you had high school players, essentially, so it was a weird mix. But it was a lot of fun."

Albertson said the success he had in his first season meant a lot to him, despite what people might say about playing in Italy. He said much of that feeling of success came from getting to play in positions he'd been away from for a while and being treated as a threat worthy of double coverage during any given game.

"I think that lot of people don't understand that I was being doubled-teamed the whole entire season," Albertson said. "People can say whatever they want, but (Italian teams) still had a Division 1 American covering me at all times, and they still had double-teams on me the whole time which was hard to deal with. But I was really satisfied. I got to play some receiver again, and that was something that had always been in my heart, playing receiver is kind of my favorite position. To get out there and to get eight touchdowns receiving in eight games was really cool."

Albertson said he does have the desire to keep playing, but he is unsure if he will go back to play in Italy - he just graduated with a master's degree and said he has a lot to think about in line with that.

Albertson said the Dolphins have already approached him about returning, but he has yet to make a decision. He did say, however, he would recommend playing in Italy to anyone who was thinking of doing so.

"Not only do you get to learn the culture, but you get to play football and travel," Albertson said. "I got to see Florence, Rome, and Ancona was where I stayed right on the beach. So I got to see a lot of the big cities which possibly I would never get to do again without that opportunity."