Clark, Beaulieu, Toonga lead the Storm into a new era of European Football

By Peter Mann

The European game has been shaken a number of times in recent memory and, no matter where you go, someone will have a story to tell; this is especially the case at the Gladsaxe Stadium, Denmark, home of a still fledgling, yet already powerhouse franchise, Nordic Storm. 

The Storm were only established in late 2024, and took to the field for the first time in the 2025 European league of Football, North Division; with an American Head Coach in John Shoop, and a plethora of big-name signings which included the league’s previous two MVPs in quarterback Jadrian Clark (2025) and running back Glen Toonga (2024), expectant eyes were cast.

They took the league, literally, by Storm, Clark and Toonga having already had an instinctive rapport from their time in Germany with Rhein Fire, that carried on into last season, until Toonga picked up a season-ending injury.

That occurred in the opening day, 56-12 success over Helvetic Mercenaries, Toonga rupturing his Achilles Tendon after having already rushed for 114yds, 1TD; it was a tough loss to take for the Storm with the previous seasons’ MVP rushing for 1,576yds, 30TDs (2024).

But they regrouped, Clark, and his wide receiver, Brendan Beaulieu, putting up week-on-week highlight reels as the Storm blitzed the division, finishing the regular season 10-2, before dismissing Rhein Fire 28-23 in the Wild Card game, the season finally coming to an end against Vienna Vikings, 28-20, in the ELF semi-finals.

The Storm’s, Michael Planeta summed up the loss of Toonga perfectly, watching on as they epitomised his words back in May 2025 that; “Overcoming the loss is a part of football, whether it be an injury or a game.

“We rarely go through life or football without experiencing loss, how you adapt, bend, overcome and rise up is what defines character.

“I have no doubt that all of his teammates and coaches will do their absolute best to come together and do everything in their power to make him proud and if possible, bring him a trophy.

“Glen won’t be the league MVP this year, but we as a team can be his MVP for 2025 by showing him what we can and will do to make him proud.”

They didn’t quite get to the bringing him a trophy part, but they will have made him proud – the trophy, if the opening day win of the 2026 season is anything to go by, could come this season instead.

The main part of the injury sustained by Toonga was the mental barriers he’d have to overcome; the physical, medical side, are treatable and can heal in their own time, mentally however, and how you as a person deals with things, is a completely different kettle of fish altogether.

Two months on from his season-ending injury, Toonga was quoted in an interview with the ELF that; “There’s definitely been many times I’ve had to look myself in the mirror and I’ve definitely broken down and asked myself why.

“I got ChatGPT to make me a bunch of questions that I can ask myself every day, and they’ve been quite reflective.

“It allowed me to not have to keep things inside.

“The aim isn’t to play this season (2025), but the plan is to play next season (2026).

“Just having a plan puts my mind at ease and puts me in a better place to stay patient and just wait for my time to come again.”

And play this season he is, seemingly picking up right where he left off twelve months ago, smashing in rushing scores against opponents who, well, should know better.

Toonga’s has been a career that began on the English south coast, at the University of Southampton, playing in the BUCS (British Universities & Colleges Sport) league, before turning out for the London Blitz.

Germany came calling in 2018 and Toonga spent two seasons with the Dresden Monarchs in the German Football League, reaching successive semi-finals; a brief sojourn into Poland came in 2019 with Lowlanders Bialystock, before returning to Germany the following season with the Allgau Comets.

Toonga then burst onto a more global stage in 2022 when he moved to ELF franchise, Hamburg Sea Devils, his stock rising season-upon-season, going on to become a two-time ELF champion with Rhein Fire in 2023 and 2024, claiming the MVP award in the latter.

Over three successive seasons Toonga was named the ELFs All-Star Team of the Year, in 2022 and 2024 the First Team, and 2023 the Second Team, he and Clark posting statistics galore at the Fire.

His quarterback meanwhile, Florida-native, Jadrian Clark, began his career at Utah’s Weber State Wildcats, heading for a career in Europe, and primarily Germany, in 2017’ six different programs in six years followed for Clark between 2017 and 2022, but he’s been pretty much a success in most places his gunslinging has been on show.

In 2018 he was named MVP and led the New York Lions to a 20-19 Eurobowl success over Frankfurt Universe’ 2019 saw him lead the Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns to the German Bowl final; 2020 won the Austrian Championship with Vienna Vikings, before moving to Rhein Fire in 2022.

Back-to-back ELF Championships came his way in 2023 (53-34 vs. Stuttgart Surge) and 2024 (51-20 vs, Vienna Vikings), whilst being named MVP in the former; he also led the UWE Bullets (University of West England) to the BUCS title whilst studying in Bristol.

The numbers Clark puts up is, at times, astonishing, with last season in the ELF, finishing the campaign with 3,708yds, 47TDs, in 11 games (only Reid Sinnett, Madrid Bravos, posted better, and he played a game more), and he’s helped no ends by the likes of Brendan Beaulieu and Simon Føns, Glen Toonga and Alexander Chaanhing, with Beaulieu the second best receiver (Aron Cruickshank, Madrid Bravos, topped the chart) with 1,392yds, 17TDs to his name.

And now, after an off-season that has seen a seismic shift in the European game, competitive football having been split into two leagues, and with some newcomers, the Nordic Storm have taken their place in what is named the European Football Alliance (EFA).

Competing against Frankfurt Galaxy, Munich Ravens, Paris Musketeers, Raiders Tirol, and Prague Lions, the Storm easing to a 47-13 opening day victory this past weekend, at the Gladsaxe….. and yes, Clark, Beaulieu, and Toonga, were at their devastating best.

Clark posted 385yds, 5TDs (passing) as the Lions were literally blown away in Copenhagen, Beaulieu in receipt of three of those passing scores to finish with 130yds, 3TDs (passing), alongside one apiece from both Jakob Green 35yds 1TD (receiving) and Lucas Mortensen 13yds, 1TD (receiving).

As for Toonga, he returned to the fray picking upo exactly where he left things twelve months ago, adding a pair of rushing scores to the Storm’s game-tally and posting figures of 105yds, 2TDs (rushing).

Next up is the visit of Raiders Tirol, on Saturday (23 May) night, they having lost their opener, 58-30, at Munich Ravens, before a bye week in week three; the Storm then face Prague Lions (7 June), Frankfurt Galaxy (14 June), and Paris Musketeers (21 June).

Week seven is the turn of the Munich Ravens (28 June), before a second bye week in week eight, then closing out the regular season with fixtures against Raiders Tirol (11 July), Paris Musketeers (18 July), Frankfurt Galaxy (2 August), and finishing against Munich Ravens (9 August) – note there is also a league-wide bye week on week eleven.

The semi-finals, or ‘Big4 Weekend’ takes place on 15-16 August at the PSD Bank Arena, Frankfurt, with details of the EFA Championship Game still to be announced.

Shoop, Clark, Beaulieu, Toonga et al will, without question, be hoping that they’re still in with a shout come the closing throes of the ‘Big4,’ and battling for the inaugural EFA Championship itself…

PETER MANN

NFL ANALYST

PETER IS A LIFELONG SPORTS FAN, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR BASED IN COUNTY DURHAM. HE HAS FOLLOWED THE NFL AND THE RAIDERS SINCE THE 1980s, AND LOVES BOTH SPORTS AND FAMILY HISTORY. PETER HAS A DEGREE IN SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY, AND CAN BE FOUND ON TWITTER @petermannwriter

 
Rated 5 out of 5