1 July 2010 - Inside American Football

July 2010 - Inside American Football 

1

London BLitz -v- SuSSex thunder 

Photo © Garry neeSam 

2 Inside American Football - July 2010

v1.0 

Welcome to issue two of Inside American Football! 

Well, what a reception we had to the first issue. Two thousand 

downloads of our Issue One PDF files from the website & 

850 downloads of the online version. That must represent a 

significant part of the British American Football Community. 

Lots of really supportive comments for our efforts. “Just what 

the sport needs,” “The standard is very high,” “Everyone 

in the game should be reading this & supporting you”- just 

some of the comments we’ve received. 

We’ve had some further offers of help since Issue One went 

out. Some have been taken up, some haven’t been taken 

up, yet. If I haven’t contacted you back it’s not because I’m 

ignoring you, just that I have been so busy this month that 

Issue Two has gone out two weeks later than I anticipated 

& I’ve literally been rushed off my feet with this & ‘normal 

life’. 

That said, if anyone is interested in assisting us or suggesting 

an item for a future issue, please get in touch, there are 

several ways to contact us. 

Please join our online forum at the Inside American Football 

website & post your thoughts, comments & suggestions 

there. Don’t forget to join our Facebook Group or follow us 

on Twitter, either. 

This month’s issue sees a bit of a Youth thing going on; we 

have items on the Lancashire Academy of American Football, 

and the Farnham Knights & London Blitz Youth Teams. 

Budding photographers get a chance to sit pitch-side at the 

forthcoming NFL game which sees San Francisco hosting 

Denver in London later this year. Check out page 62 to see 

how you can win the opportunity to shoot the game. 

If you’re missing the weekly dose of TV action until the NFL 

starts again, take a look at Dean Rasmussen’s guide to some 

hot European football streaming opportuwwnities. 

Enjoy this issue, and please give us some feedback, we do 

this in our own time & feedback gives us a warm glow & 

makes us feel like the effort is all worthwhile! 

...Garry Neesam 

INSIDE 

AMERICAN 

FOOTBALL 

Inside American Football 

Issue Two Contributors 

Garry Neesam: Editor & Publisher 

Mike Revell: Staff Writer & Graphics 

Luke Hill: Staff Writer 

Nathan Sharrocks: Staff Writer 

Pete Barker: Staff Writer 

Stuart Holland: Staff Writer 

Contribitors 

Dan Aitch 

Amanda McDonald 

Dean Rasmussen 

Steve Tonkinson 

Photographers 

Dan Aitch 

Leigh Morris 

Kevin Gedny 

John Singer 

Neil Biggs 

Chris Evers 

Tony Walsh 

Nick Dunning 

Mike Dean 

Issue Two 

IAF Website: www.insideamericanfootball.com 

IAF Facebook: www.facebook.com/group. 

php?gid=129743753708576 

IAF Twitter Page: twitter.com/insideamfootbal 


3

4 Inside American Football - July 2010 

London oLymPianS -v- eSSex SPartanS 

Photo © dan aitch

6 Team News 

from around the league 

10 Herts Hurricanes 

recruiting information 

12 Match Reports 

16 pages of game info from the last few weeks 

28 Photographers on the Sidelines 

some more candid shots of the shooters 

30 NFL Corner 

news, draft updates & a season primer 

32 Airborne 

photos of players in action 

36 Beginner’s Guide to Defence 

with the help of Lancashire Academy coach, 

Simon Purcell 

40 EFAF - A Photographer’s Tale 

Dan Aitch reveals what it’s like to be a 

photographer on the road 

46 Inside Refereeing 

we interview Stuart Young, a ref in his first 

year 

49 Becoming an Official 

info for anyone interested in officiating 

51 Lions Road Towards Frankfurt 

the GB Lions are heading for European 

competition 

52 Guide to Euro Streaming 

how you can watch live games from across 

Europe 

Issue Two 

Contents 

56 Doing it for the kids 

the Lancashire Academy of American Football 

58 Ask the Ref 

all you want to know about downing punts 

60 Friday Night Lights 

reviewing the American High School football 

phenomenon 

62 Photo Competition 

how you can get to shoot the next UK NFL 

game 

64 We are the Champions 

Farnham Knights Youth Squad 

66 Aiming for the Top 

the London Blitz Youth team 

72 Photographers in Focus 

American Football photographer Neil Biggs 

80 BAFA Directory 

contact details for all UK teams 

84 League Results 


5

NEWS 

Hornets Announce New Head Coach 

Appointment 

Hornets former Head Coach, Ben 

Grant, recently announced his 

decision to step down as Head Coach, 

he commented: 

“Having recently increased my work 

commitments and with family life 

becoming more and more busy, it is 

with a heavy heart and sadness that I 

announce my decision to step down 

as Head Coach of the Hull Hornets 

American Football Club, this is with 

immediate effect. As you will imagine 

this is not a decision taken lightly, but 

as most of you will have become aware 

my family and work commitments 

are making it increasingly difficult to 

attend training on a regular basis. This 

is therefore not allowing me to give 

of my best to the Hornets or to my 

family.” 

He continued: “In the meantime, I 

am very pleased to announce that 

Coach Graham McCoid is stepping 

up and taking over the guiding reins. 

I shall still be around and available 

as a player, so am not giving up my 

involvement with Gridiron. 

Consequently I expect everyone to 

show our new Head Coach Graham 

McCoid the same respect you gave 

me and which made it easier to do the 

thankless task that is Head Coach.” 

The Hull Hornets Committee wish to 

former huLL hornetS head coach Ben Grant (Left) handS over the reinS to Graham mccoid (riGht) 

PhotoS © chriS everS 


take this opportunity to wish Ben a 

massive vote of thanks for the work 

and time he has put into the Hornets 

during his years as a player and as a 

coach. Ben was one of the first players 

to join the club and we know this 

decision has been a tough one to make. 

We are very happy he has decided to 

stay on as a player and as such his 

inspiration and commitment will still 

be a part of the Hornets ‘never say die’ 

attitude. 

We are also pleased to announce the 

appointment of new Head Coach 

Graham McCoid, who recently said: 

“I wish to publicly thank Coach 

Grant, for his long involvement 

with the Hornets and for his input as 

Head Coach. Ben stepped up after 

the departure of former Head Coach 

Peter Scorah who moved on to other 

avenues. Ben’s input was instrumental 

in continuing the Hornets’ traditions 

and for that we are grateful. We 

understand his commitment to his 

family and are pleased to learn of his 

continued involvement as a player 

within the squad.” 

McCoid played for the Hull Kingston 

Liberators and the Scarborough 

Warlords in the 1980s as well as being 

a former Doncaster Mustang. He 

formed the Hornets with Chris Evers. 

Pirates move to new 

home 

The East Kilbride Pirates have 

moved home for the 2010 season. 

Despite enjoying a great relationship 

with Hamilton Rugby Club, the team’s 

venue for 2009, the Pirates had to 

seek a new ground as a result of pitch 

improvement works, which wouldn’t 

be completed in time to host all of this 

season’s home games. A hunt then 

ensued to find a suitable replacement 

base, resulting in a relocation to 

Whitecraigs Rugby Club, in Newton 

Mearns. 

“This is the team’s 25th anniversary 

year, so it was hugely important 

for us to find the right venue for 

this season,” said team Chairman 

Matthew Davies. “While we’re sad to 

be moving on from Hamilton Rugby 

Club, I’m sure our new partnership 

with Whitecraigs will be every bit as 

successful, providing the Pirates with 

an excellent level of facilities for both 

fans and visiting teams alike. I’d also 

like to thank committee member Neale 

McMaster, whose hard work to find a 

new home ground was key to securing 

PirateS’ chairman matthew da 

with whitecraiGS cLuB Secr 

Photo courteSy ea

the deal.” 

Although the East Kilbride Pirates are 

Scotland’s oldest American Football 

team, Whitecraigs has an even longer 

history. Formed in 1928, the Rugby 

Union team has a strong focus on 

youth development, and its senior 

squad has recently been promoted to 

Premier 3. 

Facilities on offer include three 

pitches, two the same size as 

Murrayfield, as well as a club house 

with a players bar, lounge bar, squash 

courts and gym. 

“We’re very pleased to welcome 

American Football to Whitecraigs 

this year” said Club Secretary 

Graeme Scott. “I think this will be 

a great arrangement for both us and 

the Pirates, who share the same 

commitment and passion to their sport 

as we do. I’m looking forward to 

seeing the guys in action on the pitch, 

and wish them a very successful series 

of home games.” 

The Pirates first home game of the 

year put the seal of success on the new 

venue, with a 26-6 victory against the 

Doncaster Mustangs. 

vieS (Left) ShakeS on the deaL 

etary Graeme Scott (riGht) 

St kiLBride PirateS 

BUAFL sets its sights on Northampton 

The British American Universities 

Football League are looking to next 

season’s finals after the success of their 

first ever visit to Northampton Town 

Football Club’s Sixfields Stadium. 

BUAFL were very happy with their 

first ever visit to the stadium on the 

9th of May this year, which saw the 

culmination of the university season in 

two finals. 

The Challenge Trophy saw the 

Greenwich Mariners beat the Stirling 

Clansmen 12 - 0. The Birmingham 

Lions beat the Loughborough Aces 

27 – 16 in the National Championship 

game. Entry to the game was a very 

reasonable £3 for adults for both 

games. 

Andy Fuller, BAFA Director for 

Student Football Development, 

said: “The League was delighted 

with facilities at Northampton Town 

Football Club and the support they 

offered us in the build up to our trophy 

games. 

“When the League was reviewing 


NEWS 

where the finals should be held for 

the 2009-2010 season we looked at a 

variety of venues around the country. 

Northampton offered us not only a 

tremendous venue but crucially, they 

were keen to explore to what extent 

both parties could build a relationship 

which could see the event return there 

year on year and get progressively 

better in terms of the offer to those 

fans who travel to the game and to 

those players and coaches who had 

fought so hard to reach the pinnacle of 

the student game.” 

The League are now looking to the 

2010/2011 season finals but use of the 

stadium will depend on how the season 

fits in with the Cobblers’ fixtures. 

“We are now awaiting the 

announcement of the Football League 

fixtures to ascertain whether it is 

feasible to take the Championship 

Game back there next season. If it 

proves possible I anticipate the 2011 

Championship Game to provide 

the basis for the best finals event in 

Student football history,” said Fuller. 

BirminGham LionS (in BLue) try a fieLd GoaL durinG the firSt ever BuafL nationaL 

chamPionShiP Game to Be heLd at SixfieLdS Stadium, northamPton 


7

NEWS 

Can football come back to Cambridge? 

IAF reader & 4-year Britball veteran 

Thomas Piachaud is looking to 

get American Football back onto 

the playing fields of Cambridge 

University. 

The now defunct Pythons had a 

playing record of 38-16-2 in their 

9-year existence before folding in 

1997. 

IAF is happy to reproduce Thomas’s 

request for help from the British 

American Football community: 

“I have been a part of the Britball 

community for 4 years now. I have 

had 4 seasons at the Southampton 

Stags (BUAFL 06-10)) , a season with 

the Southern Sundevils (Div1 08), a 

season with the London Blitz (Prem 

09) and currently half way through a 

season with the London Cobras (Prem 

10). 

thomaS Piachaud iS hoPinG that the camBridGe catS won’t Be 

the onLy american footBaLL team in camBridGe 

Photo © tony waLSh 

Football in North Wales? 

IAF Reader Michael Evans is hoping 

to start a team in North Wales. He 

is looking for motivated people and 

players to help him in his quest to 

bring a team to North Wales. 

Michael said, “I am looking at maybe 

starting a team, and basing it either 

on Anglesey, or in Bangor, depending 

on how things work out. It’s looking 

likely that we will base it on Anglesey, 

as there is a university team in Bangor 

already. 


“I have been lucky enough to secure a 

place to study a PhD at Cambridge and 

wish to put out a call to any players, 

coaches or teams in the area for help. 

“I am interested in reviving the old 

Cambridge Pythons as a new team 

for competition in BUAFL, and am 

looking for any assistance anyone can 

offer in helping my achieve this goal. 

Currently I have only had preliminary 

discussions with members previously 

associated with the Pythons, who 

have prepared me for a possible uphill 

battle. 

“If anyone is willing to lend assistance 

in any way they can, could you please 

contact me on: 

thomas.piachaud@gmail.com” 

There are a few players already 

training, but as the numbers are not 

sufficient for one scrimmage, things 

have not progressed in the way I would 

have liked. 

Anyone interested should contact 

Michael through the Facebook page he 

has set up for the project at: 

www.facebook.com/group. 

php?gid=134950209859758&ref=ts 

Leicester Falcons make 

historic signing 

The 2010 season for the Falcons 

has been full of frustrations and 

learning that playing in Division One 

is very different to Division Two. A 

series of close defeats have highlighted 

this and left the team 1-3-1 at the 

midpoint of the season. Realising 

that they had to play smarter as well 

as harder, GM Guy Kersey set about 

trying to improve the team. The 

Falcons are now incredibly proud to 

have signed the biggest name to play 

in British Football in a great many 

years - former Denver Broncos and 

Colorado State Quarter Back, Bradlee 

Van Pelt. 

At Colorado Bradlee set impressive 

figures, passing for 3,000 yards and 

rushing for just under 1,000 yards in 

the same season. This saw him drafted 

to the Denver Broncos in 2004 where 

he stayed for 3 seasons as the back up 

to Jake Plummer. He then had a season 

at the Houston Texans before he retired 

from the NFL to build his own wine 

merchant business. 

Falcons GM Guy Kersey and Bradlee 

met in Bergamo where he was playing 

for the Lions and revealed he was 

planning to come to the UK as part of 

his research into the wine industries 

of Europe. Seeing this fantastic 

opportunity, the Falcons pounced on 

this and have secured his help until 

the end of the season and, if all things 

work out, into 2011 too. In that time 

he will be helping to improve how the 

Falcons develop and in particular he

will be working with the two young 

British Quarter Backs the Falcons have 

in their squad. 

The Falcons also are looking to 2011 

already and to maximise the time 

Bradlee is with them. To continue the 

work he is now doing and to carry it on 

to 2011 they have also signed Former 

Blitz , Olympians, Jets and Valencia 

Firebats Quarter Back Stuart Franklin 

as their Offensive Coordinator for the 

remainder of this season and hopefully 

into 2011. Stuart has an impressive 

record of appearing in 14 consecutive 

championship games and is renowned 

for being one of the best coaches in 

this country. 

Stuart has been looking to work with 

a young organisation and build them 

up and the Falcons are delighted that 

he has chosen them. He too is looking 

forward to working alongside Bradlee 

Van Pelt. 

...Guy Kersey 

PhotoS thiS item © nick dunninG 

courteSy LeiceSter faLconS 

YOUR MAGZINE 

NEEDS YOU 

Inside American Football has been put together by a small 

team who have a passion for British American Football. 

We need your help to make this the best publication it can 

be. There are a number of ways in which members of the 

British American Fooball community can assist: 

Spread the word 

Please tell your team mates about us, mention us in your forums & post 

a link to us on your websites: www.InsideAmericanFootball.com 

Join our Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/group. 

php?gid=129743753708576. 

Send in your Match Reports: 

We started issue 1 with 5 game reports, we can use lots more, send 

them in with or without a photograph or two. 

Send in your Team News 

Let the whole community know what’s going on with your team.Put 

Inside American Football on your club’s news distribution list - 

editor@insideamericanfootball.com. 

Photographers! 

High quality photography is key to the success of the magazine, we 

want to highlight the best in American football photography. Whether 

you want to feature in our ‘Photographers in Focus’ section, provide 

shots of games you’ve covered, or just want to show a photo your 

particularly proud of, get in touch. Whilst we’d love to be able to 

browse your websites & choose some great shots, we really don’t have 

time to do this, please send us a few low-res shots in the first instance. 

Ideas can be forwarded to the Editor. 

Suggest a Feature 

You can see the kind of articles we’re doing, why not help us with some 

suggestions for new features. You don’t need to write it, our staff can 

do that, but if you want to provide a full article yourself, get in touch 

with your ideas. 

Join the Team 

Are you a budding journalist, a keen photographer or just passionate 

about the game? We can use your help. We’re interested in: 

• writers 

• photographers 

• designers 

• web designers 

Please contact the editor for more information. 

editor@insideamericanfootball.com 


NEWS 

9

BUAFL 

Hurricanes on the look-out 

after making it to the semi-finals last season the ‘Canes are looking to build the squad for an 

attempt at their 5th national championship 

The University of Hertfordshire 

Hurricanes American Football 

Team has a strong tradition at the 

University of Hertfordshire, and they 

are preparing to uphold that tradition 

already. 

Do you feel ready to be a part of that 

tradition? 

The Hurricanes compete in BUAFL 

(British Universities American 

Football League) and last season were 

crowned South East Champions, then 

narrowly lost to eventual National 

Champions Birmingham Lions in the 

National Semi finals. The Hurricanes 

are looking to do better this season 

and adding to the record breaking 4 

National Championships. 

The “TEAM” is far more than players. 

The Cheerleading squad is a very 

successful team in its own right. We 

have a dedicated team of helpers to 

provide support on game day from 

photographers, and film crew to 

chain crew, and medical staff who 

keep everyone healthy. Anyone who 

adrian John: PLayerS’ PLayer of the year 

runS with the footBaLL 


wishes to join these parts of the team is 

always welcome. And the experience 

gained can be invaluable for future job 

prospects. 

Most 1st year players have never 

even seen the game before, but with 

a large team of coaches (including 

GB international coaches & players), 

dedicated players can soon be taught 

the techniques and tactics required for 

the sport. 

The coaches are responsible for 

selecting the squad, and the squad 

consists of a large number of players, 

with unlimited substitutions, meaning 

that everyone in the squad can be 

involved in games. 

Many players from the Hurricanes 

team have gone onto great success 

in American football. From recent & 

current teams: 

Fred Boyle, Fabrizio Gargiulo, Leslie 

Wilson, Stephen Gregory, Ronnie 

Twumasi & Issam Affoury all feature 

in the GB international team. 

Fabrizio Gargiulo & Leslie Wilson 

were selected for the NFL International 

trials. 

Michael Wayans managed an 

unprecedented walk-on spot with 

the Oklahoma Sooners NCAA div 1 

team for the 08/09 season. Michael 

was on a year exchange program 

with Oklahoma University, one of the 

University of Hertfordshire’s partners 

in the USA. After being turned away 4 

times Michael finally managed to get 

a try out for the team, and managed to 

secure a coveted walk-on spot. 

There are many skills required to play 

American football, and because of the 

unlimited substitutions, specialists are 

welcome. The list of skills includes 

running, passing, catching, tackling, 

kicking, punting, man marking & 

blocking. 

Of course all this success does not 

come easy, it requires dedication and 

commitment. But with the University’s 

state of the art facilities, and the strong 

family bond within the team, it is a 

great experience and not a chore. 

head coach Jim 

meSSenGer aLSo 

coacheS the 

QuarterBackS 

“I have no doubt in the friendships made on the 

Hurricane - they shall last forever. Thank you ve 

pushed me onto great things within this sport, bu 

unity I get playing alongside my fellow Hurrican 

- Fabrizio Gargiulo - GB International, He 

year, London Blitz, NFL International Tria 

“What I have learned from being on this team w 

and I thank you all. It has been the best 5 years 

you.” 

- Issam Affoury - GB International, Hertfo 

year 3 times, London Olympian. 

“I never really understood the whole team sport 

but I thought I’d give it a go, after recommendat 

to give it a shot and I have loved every minute o 

- Luke Hill 1st year player. 

“What a Ride! Honestly at the start of the year w 

know what to expect, whether it would be a wor 

me from my studies so that I would fail my final 

the season like we did, I would just to say THAN 

Hurricanes for an amazing year. I now firmly ha 

- Scott Hillcoat 1st year player joined us in 

email: hc@hurricanes.org.u

aLL PhotoS thiS item © Garry neeSam 

team throughout my time as a 

ry much to all the coaches who have 

t none compare to the feelings of 

es.” 

rtfordshire Hurricane Player of the 

list 

ill be with me for the rest of my life 

of my life. I will never forget any of 

rdshire Hurricane Player of the 

thing, I’ve always played solo sports 

ions from previous players I decided 

f it” 

hen I joined the Hurricanes, I didn’t 

thwhile experience or just distract 

year. However after coming through 

KS to everyone involved with the 

ve the American football bug.” 

final year 

k for information 

StronG 

tackLerS are a 

vaLuaBLe aSSet 

to the team 

BUAFL 


11

MATCH REPORTS 

Shutout Scorches Sharks 

Berkshire Renegades 20 - Cornish Sharks 0 

22nd May 2010 

Berkshire Renegades continued 

their winning start to the 2010 

season with a dominant 20-0 victory 

over the visiting Cornish Sharks at 

Bulmershe Field on Saturday. 

The match marked several landmarks 

for the Renegades: their best start to 

a season, their first ever shutout, and 

their first win over the Sharks. 

Sharks received the opening kickoff, 

and immediately threatened to score, 

moving the ball 52 yards in 11 plays, 

just failing to score when a pass was 

dropped in the back of the Renegades’ 

endzone on fourth down. Berkshire 

stumbled on their first possession, 

going three and out. The Renegades 

defence then stole the momentum 

when, following some intelligent 

defensive plays from Ben Flanagan to 

help stifle the Sharks’ running game, 

defensive back Neal Kent intercepted 

on his own goalline and returned the 

ball for 29 yards. A penalty tacked 

on to the end of the play gave the 

Renegades excellent field position, 

and as the second quarter started they 

made the most of it, moving the ball 

well on the ground thanks to backs 

Paul Cook and Scott Goddard. From 

the Sharks’ 11-yard line, quarterback 

Paul Waddington rolled out looking 

to pass, but saw a gap, tucked the ball 

and darted untouched into the endzone 

for the opening touchdown. James 

Treherne’s point-after kick was good, 

and it was 7-0 to the home team. 

Cornish struggled to move the ball 

on their next drive, thanks to some 

ferocious gang-tackling from the 


Berkshire defence. The Renegades 

stretched their lead on their next drive, 

with Scott Goddard cutting outside a 

superb block by receiver Sam Marshall 

to break for a 50 yard touchdown run. 

Treherne’s leg was good again, and 

it was 14-0 to the Renegades. The 

Berkshire defence rounded out the first 

half in style as Rory Buckley recorded 

his second interception in as many 

games. 

The tide appeared to be turning in the 

third quarter, with the Sharks putting 

the Renegades on their heels with 

some powerful rushing teamed with 

some crisply-executed misdirection 

plays. However, the Berkshire defence 

bent, but refused to break, and the third 

quarter went scoreless. 

Midway through the fourth, Berkshire 

extended their lead and gave 

themselves some room to relax, as 

Grant Barber crossed the line from 

9 yards out for his first Renegades 

touchdown. Treherne’s kick was 

blocked, but the score was set at 

20-0. The Renegades tried to put an 

exclamation point on the victory in the 

dying seconds, but Treherne’s 17-yard 

field goal attempt sailed wide left, 

leaving the scoreboard reading 20-0 as 

time expired. 

Renegades Head Coach Paul Gordon 

commented: “This result is a just 

reward for off season preparation by 

the Coaches, Players & Management 

team. The Cornish Sharks are one of 

Division 2’s strongest teams and we 

will continue to work hard to maintain 

the standards set so far.” 

London BLitz Portrait Shot taken durinG the Ju

ne cLaSh with SuSSex thunder © Garry neeSam 

Gateshead & Manchester Youth 

Gateshead Senators Youth 28 - Manchester Titans Youth 14 

23rd May 2010 

The extremely warm weather 

was great for the good crowd 

of spectators at Broughton Park on 

Sunday for the rematch between 

Gateshead & Manchester, but a little 

more difficult for the players and very 

tough for the officials who had already 

performed in one game in Blackburn 

that day. 

The Titans were looking to bounce 

back from their disappointing loss to 

Leeds whilst Gateshead were seeking 

revenge for their opening season-loss 

to the Titans. 

Manchester kicked off and on the first 

play from scrimmage Gateshead’s 

RB broke loose down their sideline 

heading for the endzone – only a last 

ditch tackle by LB Tom Hargreaves 

saved the score. However 2 plays 

later the Senators punched the ball in 

for a TD. A strong tackle by LB Ste 

McGrath prevented the 2 PAT attempt. 

The Titans received the ball but were 

unable to make a first down and were 

forced to punt back to Gateshead. 

The Senator’s powerful running game 

again drove the ball down the field for 

another rushing touchdown which they 

converted to make the score 14-0. 

Manchester’s offense again went 3 & 

out but the Titans Defence forced the 

Senators to punt to conclude the 1st 

Quarter. 

Behind the strong running of RB Tom 

Higham the Titans moved the ball 60 

yards down the field – the key play 

being a 23 yard catch and run by WR 

George Warren which set up Tom 

Higham’s 2-yard TD run. The PAT was 

blocked leaving the score at 14-6. 

However through a combination of 

good running and missed tackles 

Gateshead drove the ball 53 yards 

down the field cumulating with a 35 

yard TD run. But DL Luke Kershaw 

stopped the 2 PAT attempt. 

Neither team could move the ball and 

the half finished with the score 20-6 in 

favour of Gateshead. 

Despite Manchester driving the ball to 

the Gateshead 25 yard on the opening 

drive of the 3rd quarter on the running 

of Higham , 3 straight incomplete 

MATCH REPORTS 

passes from QB Matt Blinkhorn 

turned the ball over on downs. The 

Titans Defence was now starting to 

get to grips with the Senators Double 

Wing Offence and forced them to 

punt twice. Although the 3rd Quarter 

was scoreless, the Titans were again 

moving the ball to start the 4th. 

With Blinkhorn completing passes 

to WR Warren, TEs Matt Nelan & 

Shane Mageean plus Higham out of 

the backfield, the Titans moved the 

ball to the Gateshead 24 yard line 

when a Blinkhorn pass bounced off the 

fingertips of Nelan into the hands of 

the Senators safety. 

Gateshead made the Titans pay with a 

50 yard TD run and 2 PAT to extend 

the lead to 28-6. However Manchester 

weren’t finished and again the Offense 

marched down the field with passes 

to Mageean, Higham, Nelan before 

Blinkhorn hit Warren with an 8 yard 

TD pass. Nelan kicked the conversion 

to bring the scoreline to 28-14. 

Manchester attempted an onside 

kick and although Nelan’s kick 

took a wicked bounce and despite a 

phenomenal effort by DL Alex Reilly 

to recover the Senators held onto the 

ball and ran out the clock to even their 

record to 1-1. 

The Titans drop to 1-2 but they’ve had 

a shot to win in every game so far so 

the next victory will not be far away. 

Team Manager Verity Brawn said after 

the game “I’m really proud of my boys 

– they never gave up.” Head Coach 

Alan Mead commented “Disappointed 

with the loss. We were missing some 

players with injuries and exams but 

Gateshead have a good team and they 

punished our mistakes.” The Titans 

next match is on June 13th, again at 

home at Broughton Park, against local 

rivals Lancashire Wolverines. 

MVPs 

Offence: Tom Higham 11 rushes for 36 

& 1 TD plus 4 catches for 26 yards 

Defence: Luke Kershaw 5 tackles and 

great hustle all over the field. 

Special Teams: George Warren 3 kickoffs 

for 55 yards plus 5 catches for 52 

yards & 1 TD. 


13

MATCH REPORTS 

Errors Prove Costly for Revolution 

Manchester Titans 36 - Shropshire Revolution 20 

30th May 2010 

Two interceptions returned for 

touchdowns proved the undoing 

of Shropshire Revolution as they 

went down 36-20 away to division 

favourites Manchester Titans on 

Sunday, 30 May. 

In a tight game, the ball was turned 

over six times by the teams but 

Manchester made more effective use 

of the three interceptions thrown their 

way, scoring twice. Offensively, the 

story of the game was the hat tricks 

of touchdowns by a player from each 

team – Shropshire Running Back Russ 

Lingwood and Titans Wide Receiver 

Adam Simms. 

Manchester started the game in fine 

style, scoring on their second drive 

of the game – a 15-yd throw from 

Quarterback Alan Mead to star receiver 

Simms. Revolution were unable to 

find their offensive rhythm throughout 

the first half and constantly put 

themselves under pressure as penalties 

stopped their momentum as they drove 

into Manchester territory. On the 

other side of the ball, the Titans were 

first to capitalise on an errant throw 

as Safety Jonathan Homer returned a 

Rob McLean pass 70-yards for a score. 

The point after attempts for both scores 

were good and with a further field goal 

late in the half, Titans lead 17-0 at the 

break. 

Photo © mike dean 


Any thoughts that Shropshire were 

going to collapse in the second half 

proved groundless as they started in 

the best possible way, scoring on their 

first two possessions. Andy Flint 

returned the opening kick-off deep into 

Titans territory and with a spectacular 

one-handed catch from rookie Wide 

Receiver Ben Langford, Shropshire 

were camped out near the Manchester 

goal line. Solid blocking then allowed 

Lingwood to go into the end zone 

untouched from 4 yards out. 

History repeated itself on Shropshire’s 

next drive as Lingwood, again working 

behind good blocking punched the 

ball into the end zone, this time from 

five yards out. With the two point 

conversion to Receiver Rich Mantle 

successful, Shropshire were back in 

the game trailing by only three points; 

17-14. 

Unfortunately for Revolution, once 

again they gifted points to Manchester 

as another great catch from a rookie 

receiver, this time Adam Harris, took 

Revolution deep into Manchester’s 

half. However, looking to take the 

lead another wayward McLean pass 

was gratefully gobbled up by Titans 

Linebacker Michael Smith who 

rumbled 75-yards to score. With the 

point after successful, Manchester 

extended their lead to 24-14. 

Into the fourth quarter and faced with 

a fourth down conversion, 

Titans effectively sealed 

the win when Mead, 

facing an aggressive 

Shropshire pass rush, 

scrambled out of the 

pocket and found Simms 

from 20-yards out. The 

kick was missed and the 

score line stood at 30-14. 

With Shropshire needing 

to score three times with 

only 10 minutes on the 

clock, the game was 

effectively over as a 

contest. 

Each side used the 

remaining minutes to 

blood rookie players and 

each team added points. 

Firstly Shropshire’s hard 


running Lingwood added his third 

score of the day with a 5-yard run and 

then Simms completed his own hat 

trick with a 20-yard catch. The score 

line ended 36-20. 

Impressing for Shropshire was 

Lingwood, rediscovering the form that 

made him Revolution’s Rookie of Year 

the previous season and a powerhouse 

performance from veteran Steve 

Ward. Ward, who plays Quarterback, 

Fullback and Tight End, took over at 

Middle Linebacker and recorded an 

incredible 19 tackles on the day. 

Commenting on the match Revolution 

Head Coach Dave Reid said: “For any 

neutrals watching it must have been a 

really entertaining game. Despite the 

score line the teams were very evenly 

matched and there were some really 

impressive individual performances 

from players in both teams. 

Ultimately what lost us the game 

was the mistakes we made – we were 

punished badly for the interceptions 

we threw and, with the teams so 

close, it was the errors that made the 

difference. 

“With a game this weekend, I’m glad 

we’ve a chance to put things right 

straight away – I know my players 

want to really put up a good show at 

our home ground against Sheffield this 

Sunday.” 

...Mike Dalton

Renegades’ Airborne Assault 

Berkshire Renegades 40 - Watford Cheetahs 3 

30th May 2010 

Berkshire Renegades continued their 

winning start to the 2010 season 

with a comprehensive 40-3 victory 

over the visiting Watford Cheetahs at 

Bulmershe Field on Sunday. 

Quarterback Paul Waddington was 

the standout player for the Renegades, 

completing 11 passes from 21 attempts 

for 168 yards, 1 interception and 5 

touchdowns. 

Berkshire jumped out to an early lead 

on their first possession, following a 

3-and-out from the visitors. Strong 

running from backs Paul Cook and 

Scott Goddard, along with a great onehanded 

catch by Simon Pearse, moved 

the Renegades deep into Watford 

territory, and Waddington rounded 

the drive off with a 5 yard pass to 

Jim White for the touchdown. James 

Treherne’s point-after kick was good, 

and it was 7-0 to Berkshire. 

The lead extended on the Renegades’ 

next drive, Waddington connecting 

with Sam Marshall, who was wide 

open behind the Watford defence, for 

a 41 yard score. Treherne’s kick sailed 

just wide of the posts, and it was 13-0. 


Watford put together a good drive 

to round out the first quarter, but 

the Renegades kept the scoreboard 

rolling early in the second quarter, 

Waddington and Marshall combining 

again, this time for a 49 yard 

touchdown. Treherne’s leg was good 

this time, and it was 20-0. Both 

defenses dug in for a while, and 

Watford capitalised on a Cook fumble 

inside the Berkshire 10-yard line by 

kicking a 27 yard field goal to set the 

score at 20-3. Berkshire looked a little 

shaky as the half wound down, with 

Goddard fumbling and Waddington 

throwing an interception, but the 

Renegades defence held out. 

The second half started disastrously for 

the Renegades, as Jim White fumbled 

the opening kickoff following a big 

hit. The defence refused to allow the 

Cheetahs to capitalise. The Renegades 

offense then crafted a 14-play, 74yard 

drive based on great running 

from Cook, Goddard and Ian Lakin. 

Pearse looked to have scored from 35 

yards out following another highlightreel 

one handed catch, but he just 

stepped out of bounds on his way to 

MATCH REPORTS 

the endzone. Berkshire was not to be 

denied the score though, and a few 

plays later Waddington and Marshall 

worked together again for a 13-yard 

touchdown pass. Treherne’s kick was 

again just off target, but Berkshire was 

looking more comfortable now with a 

26-3 lead. 

Berkshire widened the gap at the start 

of the fourth quarter, Pearse getting his 

name on the score sheet with a 9-yard 

touchdown catch from Waddington. 

Treherne’s kick was good, and it was 

33-3. 

Watford was refusing to give in 

though, and lined up a 54-yard field 

goal that landed short. 

The Berkshire defence would round 

out the game in style, first with Simon 

Bruckshaw returning an interception 

for 40 yards for a touchdown, with 

Treherne converting to set the score 

at 40-3, and then the Renegades 

defensive line swarming all over the 

Watford offense, with Martin McGuire 

forcing a sack to end the Cheetah’s last 

drive. Berkshire was then able to run 

the clock out to seal the victory. 


15

MATCH REPORTS 

Pirates continue winning streak 

East Kilbride Pirates 26 - Doncaster Mustangs 6 

6th June 2010 

After three successes on the road, 

the East Kilbride Pirates were 

expected to add a fourth win as they 

made their home debut for the season 

at Whitecraigs Rugby Club against the 

Doncaster Mustangs. However, they 

didn’t get things all their own way 

and were forced to dig deep before 

securing the victory. 

In the first period, East Kilbride kicked 

off, and despite Doncaster making 

some progress, they were soon forced 

to punt. Likewise, the Pirates stuttered 

on their first possession and also had 

to punt the ball away. This pattern 

continued as the Mustangs went 3-andout 

before the Pirates finally broke 

the stalemate. On the fifth play of 

the drive, a Pass Interference penalty 

against the defence gave East Kilbride 

the ball on the Doncaster 2-yard line. 

Running back Iain Dick forced his way 

into the endzone to score and Mark 

Murphy added the conversion to give 

the Pirates a 7-0 lead. 

Doncaster’s next drive took the game 

into the second period where an 11yard 

quarterback sack by linebacker 

Lee Collins meant the Mustangs had 


to kick the ball away again. Neither 

side could produce any sustained 

momentum on offense and the interval 

arrived with still just a single score 

between the teams. 

The Pirates received the kick-off at 

the start of the second half and soon 

doubled their lead. With quarterback 

Andy Mackintosh injured, and his 

usual replacement Darren Brownlie 

playing at wide receiver, Coach Darryn 

Trainor found himself having to ‘suit 

up’ and take control of the Offense. 

He threw three incomplete passes as 

he worked off his rustiness, but still 

handed the ball off for Iain Dick to 

add his second score of the day. Dick 

sprinted home from 40 yards and 

Murphy again converted to make it 

14-0. That lead was stretched before 

the quarter was out. Trainor, starting to 

find his range, completed to tight-end 

Kenny Muir who broke free to take the 

ball home from 54 yards. Murphy’s 

conversion attempt was blocked, 

but East Kilbride still took a 20-0 

advantage into the fourth quarter. 

Doncaster, who had been stubborn 

opponents all day, then put together 

PhotoS thiS item courteSy eaSt kiLBride PirateS 

their best drive of the afternoon, 

taking the ball from their own half to 

the Pirates’ 2-yard line. They looked 

to have scored when quarterback 

Henry Geen passed to Paul Oates 

only for the receiver to be ruled as 

having not caught the ball cleanly. 

Their disappointment didn’t last long 

however as running back Jeremiah 

Jordan rumbled in for the touchdown 

two plays later. Dayne Robinson’s 

attempt at the extra point was 

unsuccessful, as was the Mustangs’ 

subsequent attempt at an onside-kick. 

East Kilbride recovered the ball inside 

Doncaster territory and took just two 

plays to re-establish control. Trainor 

again connected with Muir, this time 

from 23 yards for the score. Murphy’s 

conversion attempt was wide right 

leaving the score at 26-6 in the Pirates’ 

favour. 

To find more about the team or to get 

involved visit www.piratesfootball. 

co.uk or email info@piratesfootball. 

co.uk You can also find the team on 

Facebook at www.facebook.com/ 

piratesfootball. 

Report by Bill Campbell

Revolution back on track 

Shropshire Revolution 48 - Sheffield Predators 12 


Shropshire Revolution got their 

season back on track with an 

emphatic 48-12 win over league 

newcomers Sheffield Predators at 

Oakengates Athletics Stadium on 

Sunday, 6 June. 

Shropshire started the game in the best 

possible fashion. On the first play after 

the kick-off, rookie Defensive End 

Dale Robinson picked up a fumbled 

Predator ball and raced 45 yards for the 

first score of the game. With regular 

kicker Lee Kazeem absent, back-up 

Matt Pearce added the extras to take 

Revolution 7-0 up only a minute into 

the game. The scoring pace continued 

with Revolution scoring two further 

touchdowns in the first quarter alone 

– both passes from Quarterback Rob 

McLean and both first time scores for 

rookie receivers Ben ‘Lips’ Langford 

and Andrew Morgan. With Pearce 

adding both point afters, Revolution 

had a commanding 21-0 lead. 

In the second quarter, Shropshire 

showed that they could score on the 

ground as well as through the air 

with punishing Running Back Russ 

Lingwood bulldozing in for two 

further touchdowns, one from three 

yards out and the other from a yard. 

Pearce ended the half with a perfect 

kicking record, taking Shropshire to 

35-0. However, before the close of the 

half, Sheffield showed that they were 

not going to roll over as Quarterback 

Dean Whittingslow took advantage 

of some sloppy defending, avoiding 

several tacklers on a 10yd scramble 

into the endzone. Although the point 

after attempt failed Sheffield had a 

glimmer of hope at the break, 35-6. 

Early in the second half an injury to 

Predators Running Back Ryan Blake 

caused the game to be suspended 

for an hour – fortunately the injury 

was not serious and, when the game 

restarted, Sheffield seemed to have 

coped better with the break in play. 

On their first possession, Whittingslow 

was flushed out of the pocket by an 

aggressive Shropshire pass rush only 

to throw the ball above the head of 

a Revolution defender and into the 

waiting arms of Tight End Jeremy May 

who galloped 47yds to score. The 

extra point attempt failed but Predators 

were back in the game 35-12. 

Shropshire were however quick to 

snuff out any signs of a Sheffield fight 

back as first live-wire rookie Running 

Back, Clive ‘CJ’ McFarlane, scored 

his first ever touchdown, slicing in 

from 10 yards out. Then Quarterback 

Warren Thomas, making his first 

appearance after breaking his ribs in 



MATCH REPORTS 

Revolution’s season opener, set up a 

superb run fake and then scrambled 

10yds untouched into the endzone. 

With one of the two extra point 

attempts good, the game ended 48-12 

in Shropshire’s favour. 

Commenting on the win, Revolution 

Head Coach Dave Reid said: “We 

started really well – in contrast to 

the last couple of games and the 

offense was effective on the ground 

and through the air. Defensively we 

created turnovers although it was 

disappointing to concede the two 

scores. I am however satisfied to get 

back to winning ways and we’re now 

going to focus on our forthcoming two 

games against a tough and unbeaten 

Staffordshire Surge.” 

...Mike Dalton 


17

MATCH REPORTS 

Bombers Grounded 

Bedfordshire Blue Raiders - Lincolnshire Bombers 


Bedfordshire Blue Raiders returned 

to BAFACL Division 2 action 

on Sunday 13th June at Bedford 

International Athletic Stadium 

when they entertained the win-less 

Lincolnshire Bombers. 

As has been their habit recently the 

Blue Raiders offence started the 

game slowly whilst their defensive 

colleagues were far quicker out of 

the blocks, this resulted in the first 

series from both sides ending in punts. 

This battle of field position continued 

until late in the first quarter when the 

Bombers QB under pressure from #96 

Matt Field and #50 Tish Pullen threw 

an errant pass which was intercepted 

by cornerback #17 Michael Cox deep 

in Bomber territory. 

The opportunity was not turned 

downed by the offence as the ground 

game smoothly moved to the one yard 

line from where #27 Josh Cerri sped 

into the endzone untouched for the 

opening score, moments later Cerri 

repeated the trick for a two-point 

conversion and an 8-0 Blue Raider 

lead. 

With the pattern now established the 

Blue Raiders moved up a notch in the 


second quarter behind the running 

of Cerri, #32 Eric Cullipher and #40 

Enrique Alonso. The multi-faceted 

backfield recorded the next score 

as Cullipher easily ran around the 

Bomber defence from seven yards out 

and despite failing on the two point 

conversion the Blue Raider lead now 

stood at 14-0. 

There was still time before the half for 

the Blue Raider special teams to get on 

the scoresheet as Cox drove a 33 yard 

field goal through the posts for a 17-0 

lead at half-time. 

It should also be noted that the dying 

seconds of the quarter saw a play 

on which Lincolnshire attempted a 

long 52 yard FG that fell just short, 

but more importantly for the Blue 

Raiders saw the return from injury of 

their 2009 defensive MVP #52 John 

Murphy who announced himself with 

a pair of immense blocks as players 

scrambled for the loose ball. 

The third and fourth quarters became 

even more torrid for the Bombers 

as the Blue Raider defence harried 

both starter and replacement QBs 

resulting in fumbles recovered by #34 

Walter Bates and #4 Jim Plagmann. 

PhotoS thiS rePort © kevin Gedny 

The third quarter was further lit up 

by Blue Raider QB #11 Alan Shea 

turning on the after burners with two 

touchdown passes; a 9 yarder to #88 

Pete Coppenhall and a 55 yard bomb 

to debutante #85 John Mathewson 

with Mathewson padding his score 

with a short reception for the two-point 

conversion and a 31-0 lead heading 

into the fourth quarter. 

The Blue Raider defence had clearly 

decided that they were not going to 

give up their shut out and tackled with 

continued ferocity in the final quarter, 

and at no time did the Bombers look 

like scoring, unlike the Blue Raider 

offence who extended their lead further 

with Alonso jogging in from 4 yards 

and #30 Andi Peat bulldozing in for 

the two point conversion and a final 

score of 39-0. 

The only blemish on the day was an 

injury to Blue Raider #21 Clinton 

Harper which required lengthy medical 

treatment in the final moments of the 

game during which time the officials 

made the sensible decision to call time 

early. 

... Kevin Gedny

Unlucky 13th for Titans Youth 

Manchester Titans Youth 3 - Lancashire Wolverines Youth 26 


Sunday proved unlucky 13th for the 

Titans Youth as they dropped their 

3rd straight game – this time to local 

rivals Lancashire Wolverines Colts. 

Both teams failed to pick up a first 

down on their first possession and with 

the Wolverines failing on a 4th and 5, 

the Titans took over the ball in good 

field position on their own 43 yard 

line. FB Ste McGrath picked up a first 

down when he was face-masked and 

TE Matt Nelan’s 13 yard reception 

moved the ball to the Wolverine’s 18 

yard line. However a fumbled snap 

and 2 consecutive sacks of QB Matt 

Blinkhorn pushed the Titans out of 

field goal range and they were forced 

to punt. 

The Titan’s defence stepped up on 

the next possession and forced a 

Lancashire fumble which DT Alex 

Riley recovered on the Wolverine 20 

yard line. Nelan’s 7 yard catch on 3rd 

and 6 set Manchester up with a 1st 

and goal but 3 straight rushes by Tom 

Higham failed to produce any points. 

So Nelan stepped up and kicked a 21 

yard FG to give the Titans a 3-0 lead at 

the beginning of the 2nd quarter. 

The Wolverines got a fantastic return 

on the ensuing kick-off with the 

returner finally tackled by TE Shane 

Mageean on the Titans 22. But again 

the Titans defence held firm, forcing 

the Wolverines to turn the ball over 

on 4th down. The Titans offence 

also failed to move the ball and were 

forced to punt. The next Lancashire 

possession became the “Alex Riley 

Show” with the DT making 3 tackles 

and a sack to snuff out the Lancashire 

offense. A pass deflection by DB 

Ainsley Battel on 4th down preserved 

Manchester’s lead. 

Disaster struck on the Titans’ 

next possession when Blinkhorn, 

scrambling to avoid pressure, was hit 

and fumbled the ball for Lancashire 

to recover on the Manchester 27 yard 

line. A 15 yard late hit penalty moved 

the ball back to the Manchester 42 

but a 22 yard pass on 3rd & 11 set the 

Wolverine’s up with a 1st & 10 at the 

Titans 21 yard line. From here they 

scored on a 21 yard pass over the head 

of DB Ben Howarth just before the 

end of the 1st half. The XP was missed 

leaving the half-time score at 6-3. 

The Wolverines received the 2nd 

half kick-off and marched the ball 69 

yards down the field, scoring on a 3 

yard QB Sneak – the XP was blocked 

making the score 12-3 in favour of the 

Wolverines. 

A fumbled snap and a sack forced 

the Titans to punt again but on 

Lancashire’s next possession DB Sam 

Nisbett made his 1st interception of the 

season. 

Manchester’s offense took over on 

their 41 yard line but the Wolverine’s 

pass rush forced another sack and 2 

incompletions from Blinkhorn, leading 

to another punt. Good tackles from 

Battel, Riley and LB Gordon Cheung 

forced the Wolverines into a 3rd 

and 12 situation but a well-executed 

reverse lead to a 58 yard TD run to 

increase the Wolverine’s lead to 18-3 

as the 3rd quarter ended. 

MATCH REPORTS 

The Titans started moving the ball 

with catches by Riley, playing FB 

and WR George Warren (with a 15 

yard late hit penalty tacked on) but a 

dropped pass by WR Dan Powell on 

3rd down forced another punt. This 

time the Titans’ D held firm and forced 

a Lancashire punt, but again pressure 

by the Wolverine’s pass rush and a 

dropped pass by Warren on 3rd Down 

led to yet another punting situation. 

An excellent return brought the ball all 

the way back to the Titans 3 yard line 

where Nisbett made the touchdownsaving 

tackle. However it only delayed 

the inevitable with the Wolverines 

scoring on a play-action pass into 

the endzone with only a few minutes 

remaining in the game. Again the XP 

was no good making the score 24-3. 

The Titans’ final possession was more 

of the same – ineffective running 

combined with Blinkhorn’s 6th sack of 

the day forcing what would have been 

the Titans 8th punt of the day. But an 

injury to regular Centre Adam Barnett 

led to replacement Adam Carter 

snapping the ball high over Punter 

Nelan’s head for a safety as time 

expired making the final score 26-3. 

The Titans must now regroup for the 

trip to Leeds on Saturday 26th June 

to salvage the season – another loss 

will put the Titans out of playoff 

contention. 

MVPs 

Offence: Matt Nelan – 2 catches for 20 

yards & 2 First Downs plus the Titans 

only points of the day. 

Defence: Alex Reilly - 10 tackles 

including a sack, Fumble Recovery 

plus one catch for 7 yards. 


19

MATCH REPORTS 

The Cats dismantle the Mavericks 

Cambridgeshire Cats 44 - East Kent Mavericks 6 


The Cambridgeshire Cats broke look easy. 

an initially resilient East Kent 

Mavericks side with a second-half 

The Mavericks came out swinging 

barrage, dismantling them 44-6 in their 

in the first half: they enjoyed some 

BAFA Division 1 South East match at 

success through the air, and held the 

Folkestone Rugby Club, Kent. 

table-topping Cats to a narrow 13-6 

lead at the interval. 

Joe Slaughter connected with Alex 

Smith and Josh Gilreath on two long 

But the Cats’ defence was unforgiving 

strikes, and the combination of Casey 

after the break, intercepting passes and 

Campbell and the rampaging Gilreath 

obliterating the rushing attack. The 

helped the away side amass 31 

Mavericks managed just 17 yards on 

unanswered points and advance to 5-1. 

40 carries; every run met by an army 

of red shirts, spearheaded by Matt 

Gilreath cut through the defence on Henderson and Paul “Zippy” Donaghy. 

two zig-zagging touchdown runs, 

while the tenacious Campbell – always 

Kinder Mann snatched a hat-trick 

smashing and spinning and forging 

of interceptions, and the Mavericks’ 

yards for himself after first contact – 

quarterback was sacked six times – 

dragged a defender into the endzone 

including a Mark Finbow spear in the 

with him for another score, and Steve 

endzone, forcing a fumble that ARU 

Bright made kicking into the wind 

Phantom Casey Burgess scooped up 

PhotoS thiS rePort © tony waLSh 


for a touchdown. 

The win sees the Cats maintain their 

grip on the top spot in the South East 

conference, edging the 4-1 Ipswich 

Cardinals, who have a game in hand.

Renegades’ Airborne Assault 

Watford Cheetahs 6 - Berkshire Renegades 21 


Berkshire Renegades recorded their 

fifth win of the 2010 season with a 

21-6 victory away at Watford Cheetahs 

on Sunday. 

Berkshire took the early initiative as 

Chris Mantell pounced on a Watford 

fumble deep in the Cheetahs’ half. The 

Renegades wasted little time getting 

on the scoreboard, as quarterback Paul 

Waddington hooked up with tight end 

Simon Pearse for a 1-yard touchdown 

pass. James Treherne’s point-after 

kick was good, and it was 7-0 to the 

Renegades. 

The game bogged down somewhat 

after that as defence took control. 

The Cheetahs looked to have made a 

breakthrough when they recovered a 

fumble, but were unable to do anything 

with the ball. The Renegades put 

together 16-play, 58-yard drive early 

in the second quarter, but were unable 

to punch the ball into the endzone and 

turned the ball over on downs. The 

teams traded punts for a few drives, 

until late in the half Watford’s Ladi 

Lampejo picked off a Waddington pass 

on the 1-yard line as the Renegades 

threatened to score. The half ended 

with just the one score on the board, 

7-0 to Berkshire. 

The Renegades started the second half 


as they had the first as Nick Church 

dived onto a fumble forced by Steve 

Boughton just inside the Watford half. 

Running back Paul Cook broke out 

some dazzling runs, and got his just 

desserts as he went in from two yards 

out for the touchdown. Treherne’s kick 

was good, and it was 14-0 Berkshire. 

Watford were not about to give up 

though, and put together a well-crafted 

14-play, 65-yard drive on the back of 

some excellent running by Ramesh 

Pari, who finished the drive with a oneyard 

plunge for the touchdown. The 

point-after kick sailed just wide left, 

and it was 14-6 to the Renegades as the 

third quarter ended. 

Berkshire would seal the hard-earned 

win following another impressive 

drive, going 68 yards in 13 plays, 

ended with running back Scott 

Goddard going over the line from 

two yards out. Treherne’s leg was 

again accurate, and the score was set 

at 21-6. Lampejo picked off back-up 

quarterback Andy Holland’s pass late 

in the game, but Watford was unable to 

capitalise and the clock ran out. 

Renegades’ Head Coach Paul Gordon 

commented: I’ve been really impressed 

with team this year. Playing 5 games 

in a row has been a tough but we have 


MATCH REPORTS 

risen to the challenge. Watford are a 

solid outfit and the game was in the 

balance until the very last quarter. We 

will take the next few weeks off to rest 

and prepare for the final part of our 

season. 

Berkshire now has a few weeks off 

before their next match, at home on 

25/07/2010. 

Report by Andrew Marsh 


21

MATCH REPORTS 

Revolution win double-header part 1 

Shropshire Revolution 25 - Staffordshire Surge 9 


Shropshire Revolution won the first 

of their back-to-back games against 

county neighbours Staffordshire Surge 

on Sunday, 20 June with a hard fought 

25-9 victory. 

Staffordshire arrived at Oakengates 

Athletics Stadium unbeaten in all 

three matches this season. Despite 

travelling with a small squad, with 

tough veteran players including 

Richard Large, Chris Ward and hard 

hitting Lee Trethaway, they were going 

to be a tough proposition. 

The game started in sloppy fashion 

for both teams with five turnovers in 

the first quarter alone. Staffordshire 

were first to take advantage of an 

error as Defensive End Ward picked 

off a wayward Rob McLean pass and 

rumbled a full 80 yards to score. With 

the extra point attempt no good, Surge 

led 6-0. Revolution responded in 

the second quarter as McLean made 

up for his error by scrambling away 

from trouble and tossing a 12 yard 

touchdown to Rich ‘Noodles’ Mantle. 

The point after attempt failed leaving 

the teams all square at 6-6. 

aLL PhotoS thiS rePort © mike dean 


Late in the first half the teams traded 

field goals; a 24 yard effort by 

Shropshire’s Matt Pearce and, with 

Shropshire’s Defence conceding 

needless penalties, an 18 yard kick 

from the Surge’s Jonathan Wood to 

leave the game tied 9-9 at half time. 

Into the second half Shropshire’s larger 

squad and the afternoon heat combined 

to limit Staffordshire’s momentum. 

First Pearce slotted over a second field 

goal – this time from 26 yards and then 

Running Back Russ Lingwood scored 

on a 29 yard screen pass with Pearce 

adding the extras to give Shropshire a 

19-9 lead going into the fourth quarter. 

Lingwood’s backfield partner Lee 

Kazeem completed the scoring with a 

four yard run and with Pearce missing 

the point after, Shropshire wrapped up 

the game 25-9. 

Commenting on the game, Revolution 

Head Coach Dave Reid said: “It was 

a disappointing and scrappy start to 

the game from our Offense and the 

Defence gave away far too many 

penalties. However, despite going 

behind early, I always thought that we 

controlled the game and was pleased 

with the final result, but we need to 

learn to play for the full 60 minutes. 

Despite their squad size, Staffordshire 

always turn up ready to play – they 

have a hard core of tough, quality 

footballers. I’ve no doubt they will be 

looking for revenge in the return match 

and we won’t be underestimating 

them.” 

...Mike Dalton

Revolution do double on Surge 

Staffordshire Surge 6 - Shropshire Revolution 43 


Shropshire Revolution completed 

a double in the second of their 

back-to-back games against county 

neighbours Staffordshire Surge with an 

emphatic 43-6 victory on Sunday, 27 

June. 

After a hard fought 25-9 win at home, 

Shropshire travelled to Longton RUFC 

in a buoyant mood but mindful of the 

quality of their opponents. 

As with the first meeting, an error 

gifted the visiting team the first 

score. This time however it was 

Shropshire who capitalised as Middle 

Linebacker Mark Lingwood scooped 

up a fumbled Surge ball on only the 

second play of the game and raced 

24 yards to score. With the point 

after successful Shropshire were 7-0 

up. Tough Staffordshire defending 

limited Shropshire’s offence for the 

remainder of the quarter, but an injury 

to Surge defensive lynchpin, and 

former Revolution player, Linebacker 

Lee Trethaway blunted the home 

side’s chances. Revolution were quick 

to capitalise with Mark Lingwood’s 

brother, Russ rushing into the endzone 

from 18 yards out. Once again the 

point after was successful and with a 

23 yard field goal added by Shropshire 

kicker Matt Pearce, the half ended with 

Shropshire 17-0 up. 

Staffordshire were thrown a lifeline 

early in the second half as poor 

coverage on a punt allowed Moses 


Ogundeji to jink 62 yards to score. 

Although the point after failed, Surge 

were back in the game 17-6. On 

the ensuing kick-off however, Russ 

Lingwood delivered a quick retort, 

with a blistering 71 yard touchdown 

run. The point after attempt by Pearce 

failed but the game was slipping away 

from Staffordshire 23-6. 

As the second half wore on, 

Shropshire’s superior squad size, 

and the searing heat took its toll on 

the home side and Revolution added 

a further three touchdowns. First 

Quarterback Rob McLean threw a five 

yard touchdown to Joe Wollaston and 

then new signing Josh Vines scored 

his first touchdown for Shropshire, 

a 14 yard toss from Warren Thomas. 

Completing the scoring was Running 

Back Lee Kazeem barging in from the 

one yard line. Pearce landed two of 

the three point after attempts to leave 

the scoreboard at 43-6. 

Defensively, Shropshire had a great 

afternoon sacking Surge Quarterback 

Richard Large five times and 

constantly containing Staffordshire’s 

ground game. Leading the way was 

Linebacker Lingwood, who registered 

a monumental 17 tackles as well as his 

touchdown and returning Defensive 

End Andy ‘Barney’ Barnett, playing 

his first full game after injury and 

chipping in with two sacks. 


MATCH REPORTS 

Head Coach Dave Reid said: “After 

an indifferent start on offence, we 

finally got rolling, but our defence 

really stepped up and continually gave 

us good field position. Eventually we 

were able to establish some tempo and 

the quantity and quality of our squad 

really told. 

“We now turn our attention to 

Sheffield, they gave us a good 

fight last time and with home field 

advantage and a big, physical squad 

we won’t be underestimating them.” 

Shropshire are now second to 

Manchester Titans in their division 

and will look to continue their winning 

ways as they travel to Yorkshire to 

play Sheffield Predators on Sunday, 4 

July. 

...Mike Dalton 


23

MATCH REPORTS 

Four in a row for Revolution 

Shropshire Revolution 28 - 0 Sheffield Predators 

4th July 2010 

Shropshire Revolution won their 

fourth game in a row on Sunday, 

4 July with a 28-0 victory on the road 

over league newcomers Sheffield 

Predators. 

Shropshire started the game in great 

style, scoring on their first three 

possessions; a 25 yard field goal 

by Matt Pearce, a one yard run by 

Quarterback Rob McLean and the best, 

a terrific 34 yard throw from McLean 

to standout receiver Rich Mantle. 

In the second quarter McLean added 

a second score on the ground, again 

from a yard out and with Pearce 

kicking one of the two point afters on 

offer, Revolution had a 23-0 half time 

lead. 

Any thoughts that the points avalanche 

would continue proved groundless 

as Shropshire’s offence inexplicably 

stuttered in the second half. Sheffield’s 

defence regrouped and limited 

Revolution to just a three point 35 yard 

field goal from Pearce. Fortunately 

for the men from Shropshire, their 

defence, missing several key players 

showed they were more than up to the 

task by stifling the Predator attack. 

Their dominance was rewarded in the 

third quarter with hulking Defensive 

End Andy Barnett registering a two 

point safety by sacking the Sheffield 



Quarterback in his own endzone. 

These were the last points of the game 

leaving the scoreboard at 28-0 to the 

visitors. 


Head Coach Dave Reid said: “I was 

pleased with the good start we had on 

offence – a much better performance 

than in previous matches. However, 

we took our foot off the pedal 

offensively in the second half and did 

not put the game away as emphatically 

as we should have. Credit though 

should also go to Sheffield’s defence 

who performed impressively in the 

second half. 

“Fortunately, our own defence were 

in commanding form and dominated 

Sheffield’s attempt to move the ball – 

that was the difference on the day. 

“We’re standing at five and two now, 

having won four in a row for the first 

time in this club’s history. However, 

we’re not going to get carried away, 

but plan to use the two week gap in our 

fixtures to prepare for the remainder of 

the season.” 

Revolution now have a two week 

break in their league fixtures before 

returning to action at home on Sunday, 

25 July against Chester Romans. 

...Mike Dalton

Blue Raiders “win ugly” 

Lincolnshire Bombers 0 - 18 Bedfordshire Blue Raiders 


Type “NFL & win ugly” into Google 

and you get 5,700 results in 0.22 

seconds. Travel with the Blue Raiders 

to a ferociously windy RAF Cranwell 

to play the Lincolnshire Bombers and 

you get 1 result in 216,000 seconds. 

Sunday was never about pretty, it 

was never about margin of victory, it 

was all about the W. The Blue Raider 

roster shows 50 registered players, 

on Sunday due to illness, injury and 

other vagaries half this number were 

kitted up on the sideline and they were 

led into battle by #13 QB Phil Cutts 

starting for the first time in his career. 

The early exchanges were reflective of 

this lack of experience and familiarity 

between players as Cutts took his time 

to find his feet. However, the defence 

immediately dominated the Bombers 

and gave notice that they were here to 

play and support their young offence. 

It also became clear early on that the 

gusting wind would hamper both sides 

as passes and punts were re-directed 

by the elements with one Bomber punt 

apparently travelling further upwards 

than forwards. 

None of this phased the Blue Raiders 

and they kept pounding away until 

late in the second quarter, with Cutts 

dropping back to pass at the Bomber 

13 yard line, #80 Martyn Foster made 

a break to end zone before beating 

two Bomber defenders to the ball for 

the day’s opening score. The wind 

precluded any attempt to kick the 

conversion and the Bomber defence 

stiffened to stop the two point try. 

The half finished with the Blue Raiders 

leading 6-0. 

Following ‘motivational’ speeches 

from coaches and senior players the 

Blue Raider defence flew out of the 

blocks in the third quarter even harder 

and by the time the quarter was done 

#50 Gareth Pullen had collected his 

third fumble recovery of the day. 

The battle of field position was clearly 

being won by the Blue Raiders and 

so was the game as the fourth quarter 

started with #27 Josh Cerri powering 

into the end zone from five yards out 

PhotoS thiS rePort © kevin Gedny 

MATCH REPORTS 

with such force he managed to injure 

himself in the process. 

Tough days like these are when 

experience counts and the fourth 

quarter was dominated on the ground 

by veteran running back #44 Mike 

Wilson who iced the cake for the Blue 

Raiders with a 22 yard jaunt for the 

final score of the day. 

There was still time for the defence 

to underline their fine performance 

as #96 Dan Field collected a pair 

of fumble recoveries and #25 Don 

Palmacci delivered the tackle of 

the day to dislodge the ball from a 

Bomber receiver in the end zone to 

preserve the shut out. 

On the face of it an 18-0 victory over 

the win-less Bombers may be a bit of 

a disappointment, however, to quote 

legendary Chicago Bears coach Mike 

Ditka “It was an ugly ball game, but 

you’ve got to win ugly sometimes” 

The Blue Raiders now enter the most 

important stretch of the season with 

their final four games over the next six 

weeks, starting on Sunday at home to 

the much storied London Olympians, 

winners of multiple British and 

European trophies. 

...Kevin Gedny 


25

MATCH REPORTS 

Exiles face tough day at the office 

Kent Exiles 7-13 Peterborough Saxons 


The Kent Exiles had a tough and 

disappointing day at the office as 

they fell to their sixth defeat of the 

season to the Peterborough Saxons. 


In a game which was close throughout, 

the Saxons struck first taking a 7-0 

lead in the first half, as the Exiles tried 

to strike back. Mistakes haunted their 

game as Rob Lewis, Sean Starwind 

and Jon Miller all dropped costly 

passes, and the refereeing crew called 

a crucial 4th down play short of the 

first down. 

The Saxons saw the threat from 

the Exiles and put together a time 

consuming drive in the fourth quarter 

which ended with a score to take a 

13-0 lead, but more importantly left 

the Exiles with only 2 minutes left on 

the clock. 

This seemed to finally spur the Exiles 

offence into action as Quarterback Zac 

Ritchie hit Miller with a quick pass, 

before then hitting Starwind in stride 

for the score to make it 13-7. 

But this left only 1 minute on the 

clock, and when the onside kick was 

recovered by the Saxons, it left them 

to run out the clock and secure the 

victory. 

Following the defeat Coach Dave 

Pester was disappointed, “we had 

chances to take control of the game 

today, but mistakes haunted our 

offence. Defensively we were strong, 

but need to make improvements also. 

We now know what we need to do next 

week against the Mavericks, and what 

is likely to happen if we don’t win”. 

The Exiles now face a relegation 

deciding match against the East Kent 

Mavericks at Crockenhill next week, 

with both teams looking to secure 

bragging rights in the county as well as 

avoiding relegation. Full details to be 

found on www.kentexiles.co.uk 

kent exiLeS’ Sean Starwind on hiS 

way for the touchdown 

Photo © kent exiLeS 

... Kent Exiles

Titans march on 

Chester Romans 6 - 42 Manchester Titans 


The undefeated Manchester Titans 

visited Chester for the rematch 

against the Romans. Despite a 34-6 

win, the Titans felt they had underperformed 

and Chester, who had been 

missing several players, felt they could 

still pull off the upset of the Division 

Leaders. 

Once again, the Titans won the toss 

and elected to receive. A 33 yard 

kick return by WR Will Kinghorn put 

the ball on the Titans 44 yard line. 

From there the Titans moved the ball 

behind some good running from RB 

Nick Copley all the way down to the 

Romans 3 yard line. On 2nd & Goal 

QB Alan Mead’s pass was tipped 

by Romans LB Dave Goodall and 

intercepted. 

Chester’s first offensive possession 

picked up a first down on a 16 yard run 

but then the Titans Defence stiffened 

with a DB Martin Fitzpatrick and LB 

Rob Bainbridge combining to tackle 

the Romans RB for a 3 yard loss on 

4th & 3. 

The Titans took over the ball on their 

26 yard line and drove the ball down 

to the Chester 30 yard line where they 

faced their own 4th & 3. With some 

excellent pass protection, Mead had 

plenty of time to find TE Chris Heap 

from 30 yards out for the go-ahead 

Touchdown. A bad snap on the PAT 

left the score at 6-0. 

The two teams then exchanged punts 

to bring the 1st Quarter to an end. 

On the Romans next possession 

Bainbridge again made the key stop 

on 4th down turning the ball over 

to Manchester. The Titans wasted 

no time, with Mead throwing long 

to Kinghorn for a 56 yard TD pass 

on their first play of the drive. Mead 

then hit WR Adam Simms who made 

a great individual effort to score the 

2PAT making the score 14-0. 

The Chester Offense produced their 

best drive of the game next with a 60 

yard drive culminating in a 27 yard TD 

reception by WR Michael Banks. The 

2PAT attempt was stopped leaving the 

score 14-6. 

The Romans forced the Titans to punt 

on the next possession but Kinghorn’s 

42 yard punt rolled out of bounds at 

the Chester 6 yard line. Despite the 

field position, the Romans drove to 

their own 39 yard line when DE Matt 

McCormack recovered a Romans 

fumble. 

Manchester drove the ball down to the 

Romans 5 yard line where RB Tim 

Barton ran the ball in for what would 

have been his first TD of the season 

but the score was over-turned due to a 

penalty. 

Another penalty pushed the Titans 

back to the Chester 25 yard line where 

Mead hit Simms on a post pattern for 

6 points with just 20 seconds to play in 

the 1st half. Dave Barnett kicked the 

extra point for a 21-6 half-time scoreline. 

Manchester kicked off the 2nd half and 

immediately forced a Romans punt, 

thanks to a 3rd down pass deflection 

by DB Stewart Hay. The Titans drove 

59 yards to score their fourth TD of the 

game with a 2 yard run by RB Nick 

Copley. Copley had set up his score 

with a 34 yard pass reception. Another 

bad snap left the score at 27-6. 

On the Romans second possession 

of the half, they moved the ball more 

effectively, picking up 2 first downs 

before LB Hugh English picked off 

a Romans pass for the 2nd game 

running and returned it 25 yards. An 

unnecessary roughness penalty on 

Chester gave the Titans great field 

position on the Chester 30 yard line. 

However the Titans found themselves 

with a 4th & 14 but Mead found WR 

James Dean who broke 2 tackles and 

picked up a first down with a 19 yard 

reception. 4 plays later Mead hit Heap 

with his 2nd TD of the day from 3 

yards out. Copley added the 2PAT 

making the score 35-6. 

Chester’s offense put together a 16 

play drive moving from their own 28 

yard line down to the Titans 4 yard 

line. But a touchdown was called back 

due to an illegal block and a sack by 

LB John Flynn pushed the Romans 

back until once again Bainbridge 

and Fitzpatrick tackled the Romans 

receiver short of the endzone on 4th 

down. 

Manchester produced a 75 yard drive, 

started by a 36 yard Profit run which 

was eventually finished by Mead’s 5th 

TD pass of the game and Simms’ 2nd 

TD reception, this time from 13 yards 

out. Barnett’s kick made the score 42-6 

to Manchester. 

The Romans next possession ended in 

a fumble forced by DB Jeremy Walker 

and recovered by LB Sandy Kyriacou. 

The enabled the Titans to run out the 

clock and finish the game worthy 

winners by the final score of 42-6. 

The Manchester Titans improve their 

record to 5 & 0 and their next game is 

away to the Sheffield Predators on July 

18th. 

...Alan Mead 


27

PHOTOGRAPHY 

IAF takes another look at who’s 

been out on the sidelines since 

the last issue 


PHOTOGRAPHY 

July 2010 - Inside American Football 29

NFL 

NFL Corner - Season Primer 

Stuart Holland looks forward to the next NFL season 

Two months before the start of the 

regular season it is time to have a 

look at the schedule and see where the 

‘on paper’ spectacular games should 

appear. 

Week 1 

The first game of the season is a 

rematch between the Minnesota 

Vikings and New Orleans Saints at 

The Louisiana Superdome. This is a 

familiar match-up as last season these 

two teams fought out for the NFC title 

game with the Saints winning 31-28 in 

overtime with a 40 yard field goal. 

Another good match-up is between 

one of the teams visiting London 

in October, the Redskins facing the 

Cowboys in Washington. This game 

sees the debut of Donovan McNabb for 

the Washington Redskins. 

One of the less interesting games 

which could see a low score is between 

the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay 

Buccaneers at the Raymond James 

Stadium. With both teams finishing last 

season propping up their division with 

the Browns winning only 5 games and 

the disappointing Bucs winning only 2. 

Week 2 

sees 6 inter-conference matchups with 

the main focus being on the Manning 

brothers where Eli takes the high 

flying New York Giants 641 miles to 

Indianapolis to face Peyton and the 

Colts. Last the last time the Mannings 

played against each other in 2006 saw 

the Colts beat the Giants in New York, 

can the Colts repeat the win at home? 

The least interesting - on paper - game 

sees two middle of the road NFC 

teams as the Arizona Cardinals host by 

the Atlanta Falcons. 

Week 3’s 

Monday night game between Green 

Bay Packers and Chicago Bears is the 

oldest rivalry in the entire NFL. This 

should be an interesting game as the 

Bears being the most active team in 

the offseason with the golden prize 

of signing of Defensive End Julius 

Peppers as a Free-agent. 


Week 4 

sees McNabb in the spotlight again 

when he return to Philadelphia to 

face the Eagles who were the team 

that surprisingly traded him to the 

Redskins! Miami Dolphins play the 

Patriots in Miami on Monday night, 

the Dolphins will be able to show 

off their new addition Wide Receiver 

Brandon Marshall in the Week 4 

divisional game. 

Old timer Julius Peppers returns with 

the Bears to play his old team the 

Carolina Panthers, who he spent 8 

seasons with, in this week 5 match-up 

in Carolina. The Detroit Lions and St. 

Louis Rams won 3 times collectively 

with the Rams winning once and Lions 

twice. These two teams may take this 

opportunity to net a win with the top 2 

Quarterbacks picked up by each team 

from the draft. 

Week 6 

sees the Patriots wanting to payback 

the Baltimore Ravens and the Dallas 

Cowboys looking to beat the Vikings, 

for ending their playoff run last year. 

Elsewhere McNabb hosts Peyton 

Manning on Sunday night. 

Week 7 

Nearly halfway through the season 

now and week 7 and Green Bay 

hope to change the outcome of their 

season this year to the better against 

the Vikings, as last the Vikings 

ended the Packers shot at winning 

the NFC North. Other matches that 

are of interest are Cowboys hosting 

the Giants on Monday and Seattle 

Seahawks face the Cardinals. 

Week 8 

sees the franchise travel across the 

pond over to the UK for the fourth 

International Series where the San 

Francisco 49ers adopt London as the 

home for the weekend hosting the 

Broncos. The 84,254 crowd saw the 

Patriots beat a disappointing Tampa 

bay 35-7. Back over the pond the 

Buffalo Bills with a new coach, Chan 

Gailey leads his team out against the 

Kansas City Chiefs. 

Week 9 

Now into the second half of the season, 

the Pittsburgh Steelers having the 

focus of reaching the playoffs through 

the season on their minds however 

the main focus for this week will be 

beating current AFC North champs 

Cincinnati Bengals. 

The Cowboys have the unfortunate 

journey to a cold Green Bay and 

the Bears lineup against the Bills in 

Toronto. 

Week 10 

sees the first Thursday night game of 

the season with Ravens vs. Falcons, 

this game will be the first of 8 

Thursday night games. In 2008 both 

teams made the playoffs with rookie 

QB’s, however Baltimore will enter the 

match favourites as they appeared in 

the postseason whereas Atlanta slipped 

up in regular season. The weeks last 

game gives McNabb a second game 

against his old team on Monday night. 

Week 11 

This week could turn out to be another 

classic, the week 11 game between the 

Patriots and Colts, Brady vs Manning 

both eyeing up to be kings of AFC 

and add another ring to their fingers! 

San Diego Chargers, a team that hide 

behind all the spotlights of the bigger 

teams, won the AFC West the last 4 

years. Can they make it a fifth as they 

take on the Broncos. 

Thanksgiving week 

the annual event this year is graced 

with games involving 5 out of the 6 

teams that featured in the postseason 

last year. The first game feature the 

Pats and the Lions, then the Saints 

face the Cowboys who ended the 

Saints 13-0 streak last year and the 

Thanksgiving meals will end with 

Bengals and New York Jets in a wildcard 

rematch to close the annual 

tradition.

Week 13 

With the end of the season looming 

the stars come out to play in week 13 

with the Cowboys and Colts trying 

to progress to the Playoffs. Also two 

possible divisional titles could be 

won or lost when the Ravens host the 

Steelers and the Pats host the Jets. 

Monday night sees the first wining 

season in franchise history last year 

for the Houston Texans play the 

Ravens at home, a tough match for the 

Texans as the Ravens hope to reach 

the postseason two straight years. The 

Eagles travel to Dallas where new 

Offensive Co-ordinator Kevin Kolb 

hopes to lead his offensive to victory. 

Three weeks left 

in the season and this is where the 

final push for the playoffs happen. 

Eight divisional matchups fill the 

evenings schedule. Bengals host the 

Browns, 49ers at Chargers, Pats going 

to potentially play in the snow in 

Green bay and the Saints travelling to 

Baltimore. 

Christmas weekend 

Giants play the Packers, whoever wins, 

this could be a crucial victory for the 

postseason. NFC West championship 

could be decided between Saints at 

Atlanta and it will decide who needs to 

win the final game of the season. 

Week 17 

the final week, the final push for the 

last postseason positions. 16 divisional 

clashes play host to many implications. 

NFC East and AFC North are the 

division to watch with Cowboys and 

Eagles in the East and Bengals and 

Ravens in the North. 

...Stuart Holland 

MATCH REPORTS 

NFL Corner - Newsround 

Mike Revell reports on some recent off-season news 

2-year-old son of quarterback 

legend dies 

The 2-year-old son of legendary exquarterback 

Randall Cunningham died 

last month in what appears to be a hot 

tub accident at his Las Vegas home. 

Police were called to the scene on 

Tuesday afternoon, on the 29th of June 

– but the child was pronounced dead 

an hour later. 

The boy was identified as Christian 

Cunningham, the youngest of 

Randall’s four children, by the Clark 

County coroner’s office. 

Randall Cunningham was an elusive 

quarterback for the Eagles, and 

later the Minnesota Vikings, Dallas 

Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens in 

a career that spanned 16 years. He 

retired in 2002 as the NFL’s all-time 

leading rusher among quarterbacks. 

Saints bid to help oil spill 

victims 

Reigning champions New Orleans 

Saints have raised over $500,000 in a 

Super Bowl ring raffle to help those 

affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of 

Mexico. 

The winner will be announced 

before the season opener against the 

Minnesota Vikings, and will get their 

hands on a ring identical to those given 

to the team that won the Lombardi 

Trophy in February. 

The oil rig exploded on the 20th of 

April, killing 11 people and causing 

millions of gallons of oil to pour into 

the ocean. 

Saints players, coaches and owner Tom 

Benson visited an area of Louisiana 

hit by the spill and were quick to 

announce the raffle, which will run 

until the 9th of September. 

Steelers woes continue to 

grow 

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting right 

tackle will miss the entire 2010 season 

with an Achilles tendon injury. 

Medical tests on Tuesday the 29th 

of June revealed that Willie Colon’s 

tendon is torn and will require surgery 

and a nine-month rehab period. 

It has been a turbulent few months for 

the six-time Super Bowl champions, 

with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s 

suspension and star wide receiver 

Santonio Holmes being traded to the 

Jets. 

But the loss of Colon, who has not 

missed a game for the last three years, 

will damage the running game that the 

team will look to depend upon in the 

absence of their Pro Bowl passer. 

The Steelers kicked off the search for 

a veteran replacement by bringing 

in former Cowboys lineman Flozell 

Adams for a visit, but so far there is no 

deal in place. 

NFL launches new cartoon 

show 

The NFL is teaming up with 

Nickelodeon to launch a 22-episode 

cartoon series featuring a number of 

the league’s players and coaches. 

Rush Zone: Guardians of the Core, 

about a 10-year old boy whose super 

powers include dazzling football skills, 

will air in September and continue 

throughout the 2010-2011 NFL season. 

Super Bowl-winning quarterback Eli 

Manning and Saints head coach Sean 

Payton have been named among those 

scheduled to do voice overs, with 

episodes expected to run from two to 

five minutes. 

...Mike Revell 


31

NFL 

NFL Corner - 2010 Draft 

Pete Barker discovers who hired who in the pre-season draft 

The 2010 NFL Draft received special 

attention as the milestone 75th Annual 

Draft in American Football history. 

Ostensibly because of this ‘special’ 

billing, the draft’s seven rounds were 

conducted over a three day period, 

with rounds 1 – 3 being shown on 

prime-time television in the USA. The 

experiment proved a success, with 

7.29 million viewers taking in the 

first round on Thursday 22nd of April, 

which was broadcast live from the 

Radio City Music Hall, in New York 

City. 

There were several characters worthy 

of such attention in this year’s draft. 

Not least of all Quarterback Tim 

Tebow, who’s stellar college record 

– albeit via unconventional style – 

divided opinion on his eligibility for 

the pro-game. Sure, many QBs earn 

the Heisman Trophy off the back of 32 

passing touchdowns; but not so many 

of them pick up 23 running scores 

along the way. Tebow’s slow, looping 

passing technique does go against 

the Brady/Manning model of the 

NFL pocket QB, but it seems highly 

backward to consider a new style, 

which was so successful at college 

level, to be a certain failure waiting to 

happen. Despite his doubters, Tebow 

was picked much higher than expected, 

at 25, by the young Broncos coach 

Josh McDaniels. 

There were, however, two quarterbacks 

who seemed to lose out so that 

Tebow could go so early – Jimmy 

Clausen and Colt McCoy. Clausen, 

picked 48th overall by the Carolina 

Panthers, was touted as a top-10 

pick pre-draft; but despite excellent 

records, technique, measurables and 

talent, his cocky, ‘preppy’ attitude was 

seen to have undone him in critical 

meetings with various agents, scouts 

and coaches within the NFL. He is 

still, however, seen as competition 

for Carolina’s Mathew Moore, who, 

despite an acceptable season in 2009, 

punctuated with enough flair to surpass 

a disappointing Jake Delhomme as 

Panthers starter, is never-the-less 

unproven as a franchise quarterback. 


Fittingly, for this article at least, 

Delhomme is now QB at the Cleveland 

Browns, who picked up Colt McCoy 

with the 85th overall pick. This pick 

was again far below expectations, as 

despite distinctly non-outstanding 

measurables, McCoy holds the 

record for most career wins in the 

NCAA Division, with 45. Questions 

over his arm strength, release point, 

and experience at taking a snap 

(having played nearly only out of the 

shotgun with the University of Texas 

Longhorns) persist, though, and with 

three other quarterbacks at the Browns, 

president Mike Holmgren has already 

stated that McCoy will likely not 

feature in the 2010 season. 

Mr. Irrelevant (the final pick of the 

draft) of 2010 is wide receiver Tim 

Toone, out of Weber State, picked at 

255 by the Detroit Lions. The former 

Wildcat, from Peoria, Arizona is 

entirely unremarkable aside from his 

new title. 

The first overall pick of 2010 went to 

St. Louis, who selected quarterback 

Sam Bradford. The Rams new-boy is 

something of a quintessential, all- 

American athlete, born and raised in 

Oklahoma, starring as a quarterback 

and double-double (double digits in 

points and rebounds in a single game) 

season-average basketball player. 

Progressing to the excellent Oklahoma 

Sooners, Bradford threw for 36 passes 

in his Freshman year, an NCAA 

record. At 6ft 4 and 236lb, he fits the 

NFL model of a franchise quarterback, 

and despite spending most of his final 

season at Oklahoma on the sidelines, 

he has the pedigree to match. 

Pick No.2 went to the Detroit Lions, 

who had to choose between taking 

a much needed offensive tackle to 

protect quarterback Matthew Stafford 

or taking the highest rated player in the 

draft, DT Ndamukong Suh. They went 

with Suh, whose exceptional college 

record with Nebraska (earning MVP 

in 2009’s Big 12 Championship Game 

against Colt McCoy’s Longhorns), 

marks him out as one of the potential 

super-stars among the NFL’s younger 

players. 

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with the 

third pick, took Gerald McCoy out 

of Bradford’s Sooners team. Scoring 

25 solo tackles and a monstrous 15½ 

tackles-for-loss in his senior year, 

McCoy’s exploits were somewhat 

over-shadowed by fellow defensive 

tackle Suh. Over-shadowed, but not 

forgotten, of course, the Bucs are 

thought to have acquired a great fit for 

their 3-4 defence. 

...Pete Barker

Photo © LeiGh morriS 


33

1 

PHOTOGRAPHY 



InsIde AmerIcAn FootbAll 

FeAtures photos oF 

plAyers In the uK 

tAKIng the gAme AIrborne 

2 

Photo © kevin Gedny 

13 3 

Photo © kevin Gedny 

4 

4 

1. A Birmingham Lion tries to evade a tackling Hertfordshire 

Hurricane 

2. Bedfordshire Blue Raiders missing a pass 

3. A tongue in cheek entry from Kevin Gedny (technically they 

all airborne!) 

4. A Berkshire Renegade leaps for a missed pass against Watfo 

5. More BUAFL action 

6. A Southampton Stag gets taken out 

7. A Kent Exile fails to avoid being tackled by two Peterboroug 

Saxons

are 

rd. 

h 

5 



6 


7 


PHOTOGRAPHY 


COACHING 

A Beginner’s Guide: Defence 

With Simon Purcell, Defensive Coordinator of the Lancashire Wolverine Colts 

Football is a game of two sides; a fact far too often forgotten by the glory boys on offense. 

Missing the intricate passing patterns and block schemes of an intelligent attack, the defence is often looked 

upon as a group of hard-heads, whose major interests include hitting and grunting. But behind every great 

D, there is a thoughtful, instinctive coach, and IAF caught up with Lancashire Colts Defensive Coordinator 

and GB Youth defensive-backs coach Simon Purcell. He kindly agreed to let us probe his mind in an effort 

to discover what is fundamental to a shut-out D... 


How did you get into coaching? 

I’ve played Football since the age of 

14, winning a National Championship 

in my first season with the Lancashire 

Wolverine Colts. I played 5 seasons at 

Lancashire before moving to Cardiff 

to study. There, I played for the Cobras 

University side and the South Wales 

Warriors senior side, before graduating 

and moving back to the North-West. 

I then returned to the now Lancashire 

Academy of American Football (one of 

few programmes in the country to offer 

football from the age of 7 upwards – 

www.wolverineden.com). It was in 

Cardiff that I first took on an official 

coaching role – helping with the South 

Wales Rebellion Flag team under 

Coach Marcus Price, who sadly passed 

away last year. 

I never really intended to coach full 

time until I’d retired from playing but 

I tore my ACL in 2008 and started 

coaching full-time while I got fit 

enough to play again. I’m fortunate in 

that I managed to fit 13 seasons into 10 

years playing. I do definitely intend to 

play again at some stage (though don’t 

tell my wife) but for now I’m loving 

coaching and seeing the guys I coach 

developing on and off the field. 

Why youth Football? 

I love youth football for many 

reasons. We regularly get 30 guys to 

practice for both Sunday and midweek 

sessions, which is something 

many senior teams with bigger 

squads struggle to do. Players at that 

age are also so keen to learn and are 

enthusiastic about the game, which 

makes my job hugely rewarding. 

I am very lucky that the coaches 

running the junior teams of the 

Lancashire Academy are great coaches 

(Ian Nicolson and Greg Adam) so at 

the Youth team we get players who 

already have sound fundamentals 

and we are able to continue their 

development. The Lancashire 

Wolverines senior team is packed 

full of Colts graduates and it’s only a 

matter of time before that team gains 

promotion from Division 2! 

4-3 or 3-4? 

Neither! I currently run the 3-3 (3-5). I 

initially chose to run the 3-5 as it was 

the D I knew how best to coach – I 

think that should be one of the two 

key factors in choosing which D to 

run. The other factor being the players 

you have. At youth level we tend to 

be over-run with DB/OLB types but 

struggle to find guys who can play 

DL effectively. The 3-5 allows me 

to get my best athletes on the field, 

whilst being flexible enough to have a 

solution for most offences. 

The key to any defence isn’t what 

front you run as much as it’s having 

guys that can block, tackle and run 

aggressively to the football. Whichever 

front you run, if you have 11 guys who 

know their individual responsibilities 

and can do those 3 things you will 

have a solid D. 

So it’s first and ten – what are your 

options? 

There are a huge number of 

considerations: current score, stage of 

the game, and personnel... You also 

have to consider why are you on the 

field? Have your offense just scored or 

have they fumbled or been intercepted? 

Field position is very important, 

especially in the danger zones. What 

do the opposition ‘usually’ run on 1st 

and 10 is an obvious key question. You 

also get a feel for the game and may 

choose to take a risk or play it safe, I 

usually have a call sheet of 3-4 plays 

for 1st and 10 but come 2nd quarter I 

tend to call plays based more on my 

gut feeling and how aggressive I’m

feeling – I’m not sure if this is a good 

or bad thing though! 

What is it that makes an effective 

blitz? 

I think the key is to look at the offense 

and see where they are weak, either 

through system or personnel. Mixing 

up blitzes is important so that an 

offense is never certain which area 

you are going to attack. I also like my 

backers to show blitzes and then drop 

to coverage. I think it’s also important 

to teach linebackers that blitzing isn’t 

just about sacking the QB and to be 

aware that I may be sending my OLB 

as I’m anticipating an outside run for 

example. 

Should a rookie D mix up their zonal 

coverages, or would it be best to 

simply stick to one you know? 

I have conflicting views on this. 

Unfortunately youth Offenses rarely 

force you to come out of a single 

coverage so it’s possible to sit in the 

same coverage all game. However, 

I believe in trying to develop wellrounded 

football players who can 

progress to either university or 

senior football with sound football 

knowledge. With this in mind I do 

run different coverages and I try to 

teach my players the strengths and 

weaknesses of each of those coverages. 

With the shorter arms in the UK 

league, is Cover 1 Man a better pass 

defence than pure cover 3? 

For me, it’s not about the shorter arms, 

it’s about the fact that we play in a run 

heavy league. I want my DBs to be 

involved in run support quickly and so 

I prefer to play zone to enable them to 

read both the play and the receiving 

threats to their zone. 

I also prefer zone from a coverage 

point of view due to the lack of quality 

we see at QB. Far too often I see DBs 

in poor man coverage come away 

with interceptions because of poor 

throws. Conversely, DBs with great 

man coverage often can’t get to poorly 

thrown balls because they are in great 

position on the WR but the ball is 

nowhere near! Zone gives DBs a better 

chance to break on the ball, in my 

opinion. 

What are the main steps to a solid 

gap-defence? 

I think ensuring everybody knows their 

responsibility and is aware of their role 

within the scheme as a whole. Players 

need to understand that there are 11 

guys on the defence. If they ignore 

their responsibility on 1 play they 

may make a great tackle for a loss but 

the next play the offense will score a 

TD. Probably the hardest to teach at 

youth level is BCR (bootleg, cutback, 

reverse) for the backside players. 

On one hand I tell my players to run 

aggressively to the football but on the 

other hand I want my backside guys to 

be aware of any reverses or cutbacks 

and tell them not to over-pursue. I 

think this is where film helps a lot as 

they are able to see how important 

their role is and what can happen if 

they are not disciplined. 

Who should be signal caller? 

The defensive play caller should be the 

leader of the defence, on and off the 

field. They need be a leader and know 

the playbook inside out in order to be 

able to make adjustments to formations 

etc. For that reason it should ideally 

be your middle linebacker or safety 

as they are well positioned to see 

the whole offense and communicate 

effectively to the entire D. If those 

guys aren’t leaders though and don’t 

know the playbook I have no concerns 

about giving the responsibility to 

another position. My current play 

caller is a CB and does a great job – in 

fact he knows my playbook better than 

me! 

What is most difficult to coach? 

By far, it’s the mental aspect of the 

game. Football is a tough game and 

to play D you have to have some 

nastiness inside you. Some guys have 

it automatically but to develop it 

takes time and a number of different 

approaches. Especially at youth level, 

players often need to overcome their 

fear of contact first by building up the 

level of contact in a safe manner. 

A big part of coaching DBs is getting 

them to understand that they are often 

on an island and WILL get beat. They 

need to learn that it isn’t getting beat 

that’s important, it’s having the mental 

strength to forget the previous play and 

continue with the belief that they won’t 

make another completion. 

COACHING 

aLL PhotoS thiS item courteSy Simon PurceLL 


37

COACHING 

How do you prepare your D for 

fumbles and interceptions? 

We practice interceptions and fumbles 

at every practice. But it’s not the act 

of intercepting or recovering a fumble 

that I focus on. It’s what to do once 

the football is in their hands. I see so 

many DBs in practice either catch the 

football and think the drill is over, or 

run the ball back to the QB – in a game 

situation that’s going to get you hurt 

as you’ll be running straight into the 

O-Line! I teach my guys to ‘finish the 

play’ every drill which means catching 

the football, securing the football in 

their outside arm, shouting ‘BINGO’ 

and returning the football down the 

nearest sideline past the LOS. If you 

have two or more players in the drill, 

the second guy should always look to 

block the WR the ball was intended for 

while the others lead block. 

In your first season as a defensive 

coordinator, what was your 

proudest or most memorable 

moment? 

Probably the most memorable aspect 

of last year was conceding zero 

points throughout the regular season, 

including a shutout against a very 

tough Gateshead team. I tried not to 

concentrate on it throughout the season 

as I don’t like to focus on winning or 

shutouts as individual players can’t 

always affect those. Looking back 


though, it’s an achievement I’m proud 

of and probably won’t ever be lucky 

(every defence needs luck and we were 

no exception) to repeat it. 

It’s also great to see the young guys 

develop on and off the field. I’m proud 

of all the guys who have represented 

GB Youth recently but it’s also great 

to see guys develop off the field. So 

many lessons from football can be 

transferred to everyday life. 

Do you set goals for your defence? 

I never understand DCs who set 

targets such as 3 interceptions per 

game – what happens if the offense 

doesn’t throw the football 3 times? 

I prefer to set my players 3 simple 

goals on every single play: The 3 A’s. 

ALLIGNMENT, ASSIGNMENT, 

AGGRESSION. If they line up in the 

correct place on every play, fulfil their 

responsibility and run aggressively to 

the football they have fulfilled their 

goals. They are easy to assess and 

they don’t depend on anything that has 

happened before or after so they can 

focus fully on the current play. 

Who have been the most influential 

coaches on you? 

I have been very fortunate to play 

under a number of great defensive 

coaches such as Jake Box, Tim Macy 

and Wayne Hill. Playing for GB Youth 

under guys like Riq Ayub, Tony Allen, 

Gerry Anderson, and Simon Newnham 

etc was also a great experience and 

I learnt so much about football from 

them. I now coach alongside two of 

my first ever coaches in Paul Day and 

Geoff Leigh. These guys had a massive 

influence on my attitude toward the 

game and I think that is why we make 

such a great team at the Wolverine 

Colts. Coaching the GB Lions Youth 

programme is also a great opportunity 

to learn from more experienced 

coaches such as Damien Anderson and 

Scott Rowe. A final mention has to go 

to Paul ‘BJ’ Mather who taught me to 

be the ‘best you can be’. He is rightly 

seen as a legend by almost all who 

have played under or alongside him. 

What would you say to potential 

coaches? 

Get involved!! Coaching grass-roots 

football is the most rewarding role 

within football and I’d recommend 

it to anyone with a passion for the 

game and developing the superstars of 

tomorrow. 

Also, make sure you attend the 

BAFCA Convention (see www.bafca. 

com), as it’s a fantastic resource and 

a great opportunity learn from some 

fantastic British and overseas coaches. 

...Peter Barker

Simon’s CV 

Current Role: Defensive Coordinator – Lancashire Wolverine Colts 

Philosophy: “Coaching is Teaching. Players don’t care how much you know until 

they know how much you care.” 

I believe my aim as a Coach of Youth American Football is to help my players to 

reach their potential – to be the best that they can be; both in Football and in life, 

and of course to have fun doing it! 

Football can be a complex game but it is up to us as coaches to make it easily 

understood by our players. I am a strong believer of teaching sound fundamentals. 

As a defensive coach I believe the 3 keys to a successful defence are: sound 

tackling, aggressive block shedding and relentless pursuit. 

Coaching History 

2008-Present: Defensive Coordinator: Lancashire Wolverine Colts 

Defensive Backs Coach: Lancashire Wolverines Youth & Senior 

2007-2008: Asst. Defensive Coordinator: Lancashire Wolverine Colts 

Defensive Backs Coach: Lancashire Wolverines Youth & Senior 

2003-2005 Assistant Coach: South Wales Rebellion (Youth Flag) 

Playing Achievements: 

11 Great Britain caps 

2003: Southern University All-stars (Wildcats) (Defensive Captain) 

GB Bulldogs (BCAFL) Tour of Italy 

2002: GB Lions Youth – EFAF European Junior Championships 

Southern University All-stars (Wildcats) 

2000: GB Lions Youth – EFAF European Junior Championships 

1999: GB Crusaders Youth - Transatlantic Challenge 

Lancashire Wolverine Colts – BYAFA National Champions 

aLL PhotoS thiS articLe 

courteSy Simon PurceLL 

COACHING 


39

PHOTOGRAPHY 

EFAF Cup - A Photographer’s Tale 

Dan Aitch, resident photographer with the London Blitz, talks about his recent travels with the 

Premier League team 

Seeing the Blitz compete in 

European competition was a great 

experience and an absolute pleasure 

– especially as I’ve been with the 

team since 2006, their first trip to 


BritBowl. Once I was aware of the 

draw and realised we’d be facing the 

Amsterdam Crusaders, I couldn’t wait. 

I’ve met Steve Sheppard, Defensive 

Co-ordinator with the Crusaders, a 

few times and was looking forward 

to meeting him again, this time under 

different circumstances. 

That said, and whatever my excitement 

about going into Europe with the team, 

I was very apprehensive about a few 

things – 

1. What transport we’d be using to 

get to and from games – while 

I accept there are difficulties in 

moving playing kit around, I don’t 

think it comes close to the stress 

and strain of moving 30kgs+ 

of camera kit and cases around 

Europe – not to mention my need 

to take my laptop so as to be able 

to process photos and get them 

emailed off to various editors in 

good time. If we were travelling by 

bus or train I’d be OK. Any other 

method of transport would cause 

me severe headaches (although at 

this time I had no idea just how 

many). 

2. Who would I be sharing a room 

with? I normally share with Gerald 

Williamson who does such a great 

job with the team’s written match 

reports. Gerald’s a great room mate 

because he doesn’t snore. Neither 

does he call plays in his sleep but 

then I only know one person who 

does that and decorum prevents me 

supplying his name. 

3. How would I sneak a few cheeky 

pre-game beers in, the night before 

any away games? The team operate 

a very sensible and well-adhered 

to policy regarding drinking 

before games and I’d need to find 

someone to sit at the bar with me (I 

was sure the Blitz physios might be 

a good option). 

Off to Holland 

Our first trip to Amsterdam was a 

long and tiring trip and the thought of 

a few beers after a 12-hour journey 

seemed a bad idea. I think I showed 

some resolve though and managed to 

squeeze a few down before passing 

out (sharing a room with one of the 

defensive coaches who, thankfully 

didn’t snore… much!).

PHOTOGRAPHY 


41

PHOTOGRAPHY 

Sunday morning, as promised, dawned 

overcast and with heavy rain forecast 

for the whole day. Despite nearly 

taking the top of the bus off trying to 

get under a low bridge, we arrived at 

the Crusaders stadium in good time, 

and in good spirits. 

Shooting in the rain is absolutely 

horrible. Pro-spec camera kit has 

an element of weather-sealing and 


water proofing but, unlike many 

professionals, my kit wasn’t signed out 

of a central equipment store and so I 

had to use all of my waterproof covers 

to ensure nothing got damaged. While 

my rain covers are extremely good, 

they make swapping between cameras 

in a hurry virtually impossible. This 

might not sound like much of a 

problem but when you’re shooting 

with a 400mm lens and a long play 

breaks open, you need to switch to a 

shorter lens to try and get anything 

other than a player’s eyeballs in the 

frame. With all my kit covered in 

polyurethane and waterproof PVC, 

it’s nigh on impossible to change over 

in under 5 seconds… and by then the 

play is over. I did my best. 

As for me, I had as much waterproof 

clothing as I needed but, as ever, 

I forgot to take a change of shoes 

with me so after the game was over 

(a resounding victory) my clean dry 

socks were rather wasted inside sodden 

shoes. 

Work not yet done 

Once back at the hotel (about 7pm) 

the players and most of the coaches 

planned to go into central Amsterdam. 

For me, I had photos to upload, 

process and email to various people. I 

shan’t go into detail but suffice to say 

that by the time the first few players 

were returning to the hotel, I was still 

working on my photos – six hours 

down and only another one to go. I 

had a few beers in the bar while I was 

working, but was careful to make 

sure that no well-meaning member of 

the Blitz family sat with me to keep 

me company and accidentally tipped

his or her pint all over my laptop. I 

finished about 2am, put my laptop 

away and concentrated on some heavy 

celebrating. I lasted an hour and 

collapsed, exhausted, into bed. If my 

room mate snored that night, I was in 

no fit state to notice. 

The trip back was uneventful (apart 

from the storm force winds and waves 

that lashed our ferry for an hour and 

a half) and I got home in fine fettle, 

processing done and photos ready to 

upload to my gallery. 

Bring on the French 

Our next game was hosting French 

team the Cougars. I helped the team 

out by acting as one of the escorts 

to get the Cougars from St. Pancras 

Eurostar station to Finsbury Park. 

Unfortunately, an alarm in the tunnel 

delayed their train and the kick-off 

was delayed for a couple of hours. 

Thankfully, with another victory in 

the bag, this time in fine, problem-free 

weather, it was time to hit the pub for 

a couple of post-game beers but, as 

ever, discretion led me to leave pretty 

quickly to get my photos processed. I 

got home about 8pm, and finished my 

processing about 3am. Another long 

night, but worth it. We had a European 

semi-final to get to, and a chance to 

host the game at Finsbury Park. 

And so to Sweden 

As it turned out EFAF awarded the 

semi-final to Carlstad and we knew we 

were off to Sweden. THAT’s when my 

problems started. 

How would I get approximately 35kgs 

of photo kit to Sweden, with Ryanair? 

I’m allowed 10kgs of carry-on baggage 

and 15kgs of checked-in baggage. All 

the players have to get their playing 

kit with them and on top of that, we 

need to get some sideline equipment 

with us, too. Another concern is that 

the last thing I want to do is check 

anything expensive or fragile into the 

hold, certainly on the way to the game 

where loss or damage would mean that 

I wouldn’t be able to shoot the game 

and would have wasted my time and 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

money in going. 

To cut a long story short, my nonessential 

(everything but camera 

bodies, lenses and laptop, but minus a 

lot of the equipment that I’d normally 

have with me at a game) went into the 

hold, at 14.7kgs. I carried on a nonpadded 

rucksack with a camera body 

and two lenses, at 9.8kgs. Hero of the 

trip (to me) Team Captain Rod Bradley 

sacrificed his entire carry-on allowance 

to take another non-padded rucksack 

with a camera body, a lens and my 

laptop, at 9.7kgs. 

Did I add that Rod was carrying 

approximately £8000-worth of kit 

for me, in a bag not designed to 

protect electronic kit from bumps and 

bruises, and that my bag had about 

£9000-worth? I can’t describe the 

stress of knowing that a bad bump 

could negate the point of my entire 


PHOTOGRAPHY 

trip and that Rod would feel pretty bad if the bag he was 

looking after was the one that gave way. Thankfully, 

Rod’s comment that he usually loses or drops carry-on 

bags proved not to be an accurate prediction. Mind you, 

once again, on arrival at our hotel I was so tired that the 

thought of spending time in the bar left me cold and I 

headed to bed by 11pm. Some good it did me… my room 

mate was a ‘tad’ noisy in the snoring department and kept 

me awake for the entire time I should have been asleep. 

Disappointment at Carlstad 

Despite the stresses and hassles, the achievement of 

reaching the EFAF Cup semi-final took my mind off the 

subsequent loss to Carlstad. The team had performed 

admirably throughout the campaign and had done 

themselves proud in their first European excursion. 

Our second night in Sweden didn’t afford us the luxury of 

a hotel due to the late game finish, a 6-hour coach journey 

back to the airport and a very early flight departure. As a 

result, I found myself with a complete absence of sleep 

for the entire trip and I simply didn’t have the mental 


concentration required to process my photos during the 

long bus journey, or in the early hours of the morning 

at the airport. As a result I didn’t get my photos 

processed until the day after we returned (I had tickets 

for Rage Against The Machine at Finsbury Park, three 

hours after we landed back in England). I felt bad at 

having been so lazy but I have to admit, sometimes I 

just need a rest. It’s lucky the rest of the team are a bit 

more disciplined. 

I’d recommend a trip into Europe for any photographer 

who has the opportunity, even if you find yourself with 

logistical and practical nightmares in your planning. 

You won’t regret it. I didn’t. 

I hope I’ll get another chance in the future. 

...Dan Aitch


45

BAFRA 

Inside Refereeing 

Last issue we spoke with one of the country’s most experience American football officials, Steve 

Tonkinson, who has some 25-years’ worth of experience. 

This month we talk to one of the country’s newest recruits to the officiating ranks. 

Stuart Young is 27 & works in IT for 

a pharmaceutical supplier. He’s based 

in the north in the Lancashire town of 

Preston. 

He first became involved in American 

football 15 years ago when his uncle, 

who emigrated to the States, sent him 

some Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise 

for Christmas. He says: “(the present) 

along with sport-induced childhood 

insomnia got me into it on TV and my 

passion for it grew over the years to 

include college football and obviously 

now UK games.” 

Stuart is a self-confessed sports-junkie. 

“I am a total sports junkie, there’s 

very little that I don’t or won’t watch, 

from Aussie Rules to Pro-Bull Riding, 

but AF and Rugby union would be 

my top two – although I’ve played 

neither competitively for quite a few 

years. I thought I’d stick to playing 

sports where I wasn’t worried about an 

aggressive 20+ stone man wanting to 

kill me. And then I started refereeing.” 

Other than AF, Stuart plays soccer & 

squash & enjoys reading and walking. 

I asked whether he had ever played, or 

considered playing, American football. 

“Not seriously, I played rugby until 

I was 18 when I suffered a bad knee 

injury which stopped me playing rugby 

in my first year at university and, while 

Glasgow had two decent university AF 

programmes running, I decided that it 

wouldn’t be a good idea to take it up 

at the time and really never seriously 

considered playing after that. It wasn’t 

for a lack of love for the game though 

and it was a plug on NFL on Channel 

5 one night when they advertised 

the “get into American football” 

campaign.” This prompted Stuart to 

visit the website and make an enquiry. 

“It’s just snowballed from there really. 

I did consider looking into coaching 

but I was worried about whether I 

could give up the time required to 

commit fully to a team, I may still 

consider it though some day.” 

aLL PhotoS thiS item 

courteSy of Stuart younG 


Joining BAFRA 

Stuart’s officiating career began in 

2009 with an exchange of emails 

between him & BAFRA Director of 

Training, Ben Griffiths. 

He was invited by Ben to come down 

to a game in Merseyside where he was 

given the opportunity to shadow him at 

the Head Linesman position. “I got the 

chance to run the chains and get a feel 

for whether it was something I’d enjoy 

doing. It helped that it was a decent 

game and I enjoyed it thoroughly.” 

The next stage was for BAFRA to 

assign Stuart a mentor. Experienced 

official, Paul Sutton, got the job of 

guiding Stuart through his initiation 

into the life as a football ref. “He gave 

me a great insight into not only the 

rules and mechanics of the game but 

most importantly, how to officiate with 

a bit of common sense.” 

Once the mentoring was complete, 

rookie officials sit a competency exam 

which must be passed before venturing 

onto the actual field of battle. Stuart 

reckons it was about 12 weeks between 

his initial email enquiry & first pulling 

the zebra kit on. Though his first 

experience was a somewhat mish-mash 

of ill-fitting garb borrowed from other 

officials while he waited for his new 

kit to arrive in the post. 

Officials are responsible for obtaining 

their own kit, though Stuart says 

anyone lucky enough to be on the 

same games as Ben Griffiths can take 

advantage of an Aladdin’s Cave of 

various bits & pieces of kit which he 

brings to each game, curiously, in a 

body-bag. 

The first game 

Steve says of his baptism into the 

world of officiating: “My first game 

was up at Lancaster University, I think 

it was against Merseyside. I don’t 

remember the score, I don’t remember 

who won, but I remember wondering 

what I was doing there. I was at Head 

Linesman which basically is one of 

Stuart younG - firSt-year officiaL 

the two sideline (or wing) officials 

on the line of scrimmage, the main 

responsibility of that position other 

than the general play on the field was 

to manage the chain crew and I think 

it was this that I was most nervous 

about as you can really mess up the 

rhythm of a game if the chain crew are 

slow or keep making mistakes and I 

was worried that this would impact the 

main job which was watching the field 

of play.” 

Overall, he was quite pleased with his 

first performance. “it all went quite 

well, I only threw my flag twice, once 

on an obvious false start by the left 

tackle and the other on a blatant fair 

catch interference where the “gunner” 

smashed the receiver about 2 seconds 

after he caught the ball and clearly 

waved fair catch. It was only after 

the game that the other guys told me 

I shouldn’t have been anywhere near 

that penalty and should have been 

watching something totally different.” 

In his first year of officiating, Stuart 

has stood at all three positions barring 

referee on four-man games with the 

occasional deep official positions on 

5,6 and 7-man crews. His favourite, 

though, is Head Linesman. “I’m not 

sure why, I think it’s because you’re 

always busy with something between

plays, it’s easy to become mentally 

tired especially on a double-headers 

so having the chains there and making 

sure they’re correct keeps your head 

in it… and you don’t have to leg it 

around on punts and field goals!” 

Stuart’s games are based around the 

North West & Scotland where there is 

a general shortage of officials (anyone 

interested should see the BAFRA 

adverts elsewhere in IAF!) So getting 

a game isn’t a problem all year round, 

though a recent knee injury has so far 

kept him out of the summer season. 

He says: “I’ve done university, senior 

and youth and all present slightly 

different challenges but ultimately 

it’s the same game and you have 

a responsibility to the players and 

coaches to be fair and professional 

so my preparation and focus doesn’t 

differ a great deal. Sometimes when 

you know you’ve got a player or a 

coach you know can be a handful you 

have to mentally prepare yourself but 

the level of play shouldn’t influence 

that too much.” 

What about the training? 

I asked about the level of ongoing 

training & the opportunities to keep up 

to speed with officiating developments. 

BAFRA holds an annual conference 

which gives officials the chance 

to meet up, network, & pass on 

information & current trends. “I have 

to say that the feedback from the last 

two years of these has been superb 

but criminally I haven’t been able to 

attend either one as I have had other 

commitments those weekends.” 

The conference usually includes a 

keynote speaker, often an experience 

NFL or NCAA official from America. 

Jim Jackson attended this year. There 

are also break-out sessions which are 

set up & run by senior officials and 

can focus on certain mechanics or rule 

interpretations. 

Some regions in the UK game, which 

have more officials than others, have 

monthly meetings to discuss BAFRA 

topics. Stuart reports that while they 

have talked about a system of more 

frequent meetings in the North-west, 

they haven’t started, yet. He says: “I 

keep in touch with Paul, my mentor, 

and pop up to him every now and 

again but the most important place to 

learn is on the field, it must be backed 

up by a thorough understanding of 

the rules and mechanics but there 

really is no substitute for game-time 

and the time spent in the company of 

experienced officials pre and postgame.” 

I wondered how his confidence was 

now he was a year into officiating 

Stuart in action in a 2009 BuafL Game 

BAFRA 

compared to when he started. “Good 

question, you’ve highlighted I think 

the most important attribute to any 

new official and that is confidence, if 

you show that you are confident, the 

players and coaches react to that, if 

you show nerves and indecision, the 

players and the coaches pick up on 

that too. Any good official needs to 


47

BAFRA 

know the rules but it is not enough, 

having the confidence to throw a flag 

and go and discuss it with another 

official and being prepared to learn on 

the field while also explaining things 

to and being respectful to the players 

and coaches are essential attributes 

to being a good official and enjoying 

being there. 

“This confidence obviously grows 

(from almost zero in my case) as you 

do more and more games but you can 

never be a perfect official, we see 

mistakes made at the very highest 

level so all of us continue to learn and 

improve but I’m still on the steep bit of 

the curve, it’s the guys on the flatter bit 

at the top who give you the confidence 

to improve.” 

Stuart is yet to don the white cap of 

the game referee. It doesn’t sound like 

he’s in a hurry to take charge, just yet. 

“I would certainly give it a go but I’m 

happy at the moment getting better 

at what I’m doing for now. I’d like to 

think that I’ll be able to manage the 

white hat someday, if nothing else 

to help Pete Johnson who has the 


unenviable task of scheduling all the 

crews for each game which are in short 

supply.” 

I asked what the interaction was like 

between him & the players he is 

officiating. “In my limited experience 

I’ve found that you get what you give, 

if you have a bit of banter and show 

them respect, you get it back. Some 

coaches are a bit of a pain and they 

regularly feel hard done to but that’s 

just sport and it’s better that way as it 

means they care about what’s going on 

and for the a growth sport like AF in 

the UK it needs passionate people to 

drive it forwards.” 

What does Stuart enjoy about his 

role? “I enjoy the guys I ‘work’ with 

(although it’s not really work), the 

banter between us and the players 

and just being involved with a sport I 

love.” 

What about the less enjoyable 

stuff? “Sometimes the travel is a bit 

tiresome. My only real frustration is 

when teams don’t supply the correct 

people, equipment etc. to get the game 

Stuart (riGht) hoB-noBBinG with the StarS aS he PoSeS with actor 

ryan moLoney, who PLayS toadfiSh reBecchi in ‘neiGhBourS’ 

started, we need chain-crew, ball boys, 

post protectors, balls, lines, etc. to 

officiate effectively and efficiently 

and sometimes teams do not see how 

important these things are.” 

Join up! 

It’s clear from talking to Stuart that he 

enjoys what he does, even though he’s 

currently on the ‘injured reserve’. He’s 

keen to promote the sport. The last 

word goes to him. 

“Please get involved! We’re really 

desperate for new officials to join in, 

there are loads of people who have 

played the game and now can’t for 

time or age or injury reasons – give 

reffing a go. There are even more 

people than ever watching the game on 

telly and if you want to have a totally 

new AF experience then how better? If 

you’re not interested in refereeing, but 

want to get involved, find your local 

team and get involved that way, it’s a 

small community at the moment which 

means you can be a big part of it.” 

...Garry Neesam

So, you want to be involved but… 

Did you ever notice that during a 

game of American Football, there are 

actually three teams on the field? If 

you enjoy this fantastic sport, then 

officiating could be for you! 

Who can be an official? 

Just about anyone at least 18 years 

old can join the ranks of the men & 

women in black & white. Whether 

you’re passionate about the game but 

not keen on kitting up, someone who’s 

going to be on the sidelines anyway, 

a retired player or coach, or a college 

league player who’d like to stay 

involved during the summer leagues, 

involvement is a lot more accessible 

and more rewarding than you might 

think. A great way of keeping you 

active and of engaging those grey cells 

just a bit, officiating keeps you active 

and looks brilliant on the CV! 

How do you become an official? 

We really won’t let you go onto the 

field unprepared. Training consists of 

a step-by-step induction to enable you 

to officiate: we help you understand 

where to stand and 

what to look for. 

We allocate new 

officials to a game 

where an experienced 

official will 'buddy' 

you, giving you the 

necessary tips on how 

things are done. The 

first ten games are 

monitored closely by 

your crewmates on 

the field, enabling 

you to develop and 

to gain confidence 

in officiating this 

fascinating sport. 

Since officials work 

together as a crew 

(usually of 4 or 

more), you are never 

alone. 

“But how can I learn all those rules?” 

we hear you cry! Even though the 

Rule Book is a lengthy document, 

it can be digested in easy chapters, 

and as you gain game-experience in 

officiating, you not only learn it but 

also understand it! 

BAFRA meets the cost of training, 

including Rule Book, Mechanics 

Manual, necessary paperwork and 

insurance; your first game fee earned is 

paid directly to BAFRA to help offset 

this. 

What is BAFRA? 

The British American Football 

Referees' Association was founded 

in 1984 to provide officials for the 

then fledgling sport. Each year, we 

train and schedule officials to cover 

several hundred games at all levels 

nationally, including senior (over 18), 

college and youth games. Through 

the European Federation of American 

Football (EFAF), BAFRA also 

provides officials for tournaments 

on the continent. BAFRA's Elite 

Programme meets the need for ongoing 

development and training, should you 

wish to take it to a higher level. 

What happens next? 

One of BAFRA's Training Support 

Officers will get in touch with you 

to plan your training. Usually an 

experienced official will be appointed 

to guide you through it. This can 

be through one-on-one face-to-face 

BAFRA 

contact, or through a group training 

session, according to demand. 

We operate two seasons a year: the 

BAFL and youth leagues run from 

April to September; the college 

league runs from October to March. 

While most officials work in both, it 

is possible to tailor your officiating 

to your availability and level of 

commitment. We also need officials to 

cover flag football tournaments during 

the summer. 

You can decide your own level of 

involvement in the Association as you 

go along – the Director of Operations 

will assign you to games as and 

when you are happy to work them. 

Furthermore, membership covers you 

for insurance on the field. You will 

normally be paid £25 for each of your 

first 10 games (after the first), and, 

once qualified, will receive £40 per 

game. BAFRA pays travel expenses 

for longer journeys. 

For more information: 

• Talk to the officials at a game 

• Go to www.bafra.org 

aLL PhotoS thiS item © Garry neeSam 


49

Could you take 

Control? 

Become an American 

Football Official 

Visit www.bafra.org 

or email recruitment@bafra.org 

50 Inside American Football - July 2010 May 2010 - Inside American Football 50

Lions roar towards Frankfurt 

The countdown is on as the GB 

Lions Senior Team get ready to head 

to Frankfurt for the 2010 American 

Football European Championships at 

the end of July. 

Head Coach Riq Ayub and his team 

have now selected the players who 

will represent Great Britain at the 

Championships and are now in the 

final stages of preparation for the 

challenge ahead. 

Playing with Lions isn’t for the faint 

hearted, requiring huge dedication 

and hard work, as well as attendance 

at regular training and development 

events across Britain. But what does 

Coach Ayub think it takes to make a 

Lion? “From day one they have been 

GB LionS in Some 2009 action aGainSt Sweden 

Photo © John SinGer 

asked to show, passion, desire, high 

energy, spirit and a relentless pursuit to 

find the winning edge - which all Lions 

should have.” 

Players have been selected for the final 

squad from nearly twenty different 

British Senior teams, many of whom 

graduated up from the ranks of the 

British University team system – a 

major pipeline of talent for the sport 

in the UK. For Coach Ayub, the most 

difficult stage of this process has been 

breaking the news that not everyone 

will make the journey to Germany in 

July. “It’s been hard telling players 

that they’re not part of the final squad 

or will be reserves for the travelling 

squad. The Lions’ spirit is so great that 

I know every member of the team felt 

for the guys who won’t be with us in 

body,” he revealed. 

The road to Frankfurt has taken a great 

deal of hard work and commitment 

from everyone involved in the GB 

Lions Senior Team. According to 

Coach Ayub, the key milestone on this 

journey was the team’s participation 

in last year’s tri-nation tournament in 

Loughborough against the Australian 

and Swedish National Senior Teams. 

“This gave players and staff the 

experience of being involved in a 

physically and emotionally charged 

GB LIONS 

head coach of the GB LionS, riQ ayuB 

Photo © dan aitch 

atmosphere for a sustained amount 

of time. Going in, it was all about 

accepting the errors we would make 

and learning from them for the future. 

Today we can say we took a great deal 

from that experience, which will put us 

in good stead for the Championships.” 

In the first rounds of the 

Championships the Lions will take on 

France on 27 July at Stadion Wetzlar, 

followed by Sweden at the Brita 

Arena in Wiesbaden on 29 July. How 

does Coach Ayub think the team will 

fare? “We’re honest enough to know 

we’ll have to bring our A-plus game 

to be successful but we don’t fear 

this. We have a very honest and hard 

working squad who’ve grabbed every 

opportunity to improve. As long as we 

remember our core belief to play and 

live every moment- every single breath 

- then the best is still to come.” 

The GB Lions Senior team is just one 

the elements that makes up the BAFA 

national programme, providing athletes 

with the opportunity to represent Great 

Britain in international competitive 

American Football across different 

disciplines and age ranges. 

Find out more about the 2010 

American Football European 

Championships at www.efaf.info and 

you can follow the progress of all of 

the teams in the national programme, 

including the GB Lions Senior Team, 

on Twitter by signing up to www. 

twitter.com/GBLions. 

...Amanda McDonald 


51

EUROPE 

A beginners guide to Streaming American 

Football (& how to watch it) 

with Dean Rasmussen 

Hello, esteemed British American 

football fan. I am Dean Rasmussen 

and I am kind of a freak. But not so 

much of a freak when you hear me out. 

Let me tell you a little about myself 

and my plight and why I search for 

streaming football games from teams 

all through Europe. 

It all begins in the United States 

during a horrendously dull and spiritcrushing 

period of time called “the off 

season”. This time actually begins the 

week before the Pro Bowl (because 

the Pro Bowl is like Arena Football 

- no real replacement for an actual 

football game) and extends, for the 

true football freak, until the last week 

of June/first week of July when our 

brethren to the True North crank up the 

white hot CFL action. So that leaves 

four months of nothing. 

Or so I used to think! I have always 

had a love for Spring football. It 

broke my heart when the USFL folded, 

and it gave the true football fan yet 

another reason to despise the soulless 

jackal, Donald Trump. Crappy 

casinos and architectural blights I can 

stomach. Driving a perfectly viable 

football league into financial ruin is 

unforgivable. 


So Trump drove the beloved Michigan 

Panthers and Memphis Showboats and 

Boston/Portland/Somewhere Breakers 

into oblivion, leaving us nothing. 

These were the hard years between 

1985 and 1990. I drank them away 

and found comfort in the arms of loose 

women, as most folks in their early 

twenties will do. Still, there was an 

emptiness. 

I like baseball enough I guess, but 

c’mon, it’s just not football. I’m 

a Dallas Cowboys fan. I have no 

room for any other sport. There was 

emptiness and all was bleak. All hope 

was gone. I started pretending to 

like the Milwaukee Brewers and then 

maybe the Texas Rangers. “BAH!” 

I said to myself. “Who can watch 

this?!” Well, millions of Americans. 

But I’m not millions of Americans. I 

don’t find solace in the changing of the 

sport with the changing of the season. 

I WANTED FOOTBALL. 

Then, and I will never forget because 

it started the same weekend that my 

girlfriend of 4 years broke up with me, 

the WLAF started! I was stoked about 

the Montreal Machine and London 

Monarchs and the Sacremento Surge. 

Hell, I was excited because guys were 

wearing helmets and hitting each other 

and they were televising it. So it was 

great. There was a slight blip when 

they took two years off and went to 

the hugely unsuccessful all European 

league (unsuccessful in the sense of 

how it was killing the burgeoning 

grass-roots growth in Germany, I 

found out later. Monetarily, I assume 

the NFL could have taken much larger 

financial hit since the NFL randomly 

pays folks like Albert Haynesworth 21 

million to not know how to play a 3-4 

defence.) But anyway, I was perfectly 

fine with 6 weeks of no football. It 

was manageable. 

Then the rumours started. Then they

stopped mentioning NFL-E on the 

NFL Network ads. I figured it was 

over. It was depressing watching the 

final games knowing that the horror 

of the Off Season was returning. 

But THEN... during one of the 

final games, Fox announcer Brian 

Baldinger was talking about one of 

the assistant coaches for one of the 

German teams and said that he would 

be going straight from the final game 

to coaching the Rome Gladiators in 

the Italian Football League. I said to 

myself, “WAIT! There’s an ITALIAN 

FOOTBALL LEAGUE?” I went to 

the internet and VOILA! The whole 

new world of European American 

football was there for the discovery. 

That was three years ago and it went 

from finding ways to follow teams 

through highlights and YouTube to 

now finding whole games. If you 

follow enough, you can figure how 

far along each country is. Austria and 

Germany are the probably the farthest 

along. I would say comparable to 

higher end Division 3 NCAA inching 

into Division 2, in that Appalachian 

State wouldn’t completely beat the best 

team in Germany to death. 

France, UK and Finland are close 

to Germany and Austria. Spain and 

Italy seem to vary each year of the 

four years I’ve been trying to follow 

them. Eastern Europe and Russia 

will overtake everyone in ten years 

if their rate of growth isn’t impaired 

by things that tend to impair these 

type of things. So after you get a 

handle on how the leagues work, you 

can gauge which league plays at a 

level high enough that you feel is AT 

LEAST the lowest level of competence 

that you will tolerate. I have a giant 

tolerance. During the beloved football 

season, I will watch 40 college games 

a week. I will watch 20 division 

III games a week. Division 3 is my 

dividing line. If it doesn’t reach the 

level of at least a Colorado School of 

Mines vs Nebraska-Kearney tilt, then 

I don’t considerate it worth watching. 

I don’t watch high school and I don’t 

watch Arena. Luckily, higher end 

European games can truly reach 

levels comparable to a good Uconn vs 

University of Richmond Division 2 

playoff game. Most streamed games 

I’ve watched this year fall pretty much 

in the middle. So yeah, watching a 

steady diet of European streaming 

football is like watching a steady 

stream of great NCAA Division 3 

games with the occasional mid-range 

Division 2 games. So you can sign me 

up. My off season is set! 

EUROPE 

The most streaming games are French. 

RadioSSA.com is a radio station in 

France that does sports talk radio about 

American football (and makes me 

think that the American idea of France 

is COMPLETELY warped. How could 

we not love a country that also has 

idiot Eagles fans calling in to whine 

about Andy Reid?) They have most 

of their games live over their internet 

radio site (http://www.radiossa.com/) 

and then they upload the video version 

to their dailymotion site (http://www. 

dailymotion.com/TeamRadiOSSA) a 

few days later. The commentary is in 

French and is very spirited and lively, 

thus you get the fun of listening to 

guys enjoying a game with you but not 

having to actually understand whatever 

idiocy they are blathering on about, 

like when are trying to make it through 

a Troy Aikman/Joe Buck broadcast. 

Plus, they use 3 cameras and have 

instant replay and it’s shot better than 

most games on Comcast Sports Net 

local football games. 

The games are all archived so you 


53

EUROPE 

can spend time that would be wasted 

at work by working by, instead, 

watching Bethune Cookman legend 

Jimmy Russell lead the Thonons Black 

Panthers against the mighty Flash 

Courneuve (or however they spell it.) 

Unfortunately, the greatest name ever 

gifted to a football team - the Cannes 

Ironmask - are the worst team in the 

FFFA. Not only does RadioSSA.com 

cover the FFFA overall, the Black 

Panthers stream their home games on 

USTREAM (http://www.ustream.tv/ 

user/BlackPanthers) and they are one 

of the better franchises in Europe. 

They use two cameras and no replay, 

but there are announcers to help you 

along. Sometimes the RadioSSA.com 

guys team up with BP and it is the best 

of both worlds. 

There is also a giant bank of archived 

games for the Nimes Centurions at 


http://centurions-nimes.com/centstv. 

php though they only post what seems 

like every other home game. The 

erratic posting is a shame because 

they are one of the more fascinating 

teams in France, being in the middle of 

the pack of the FFA without actually 

having imports at the skill positions. 

But watch for yourself. It’s quality 

stuff. 

The BEST streaming productions 

in Europe is the Swarco Raiders in 

Austria (http://www.raiderstv.at/). 

Four cameras, replay, an announcer 

that can switch to English announcing 

if they get an American guest in the 

booth (which they did for a quarter 

a few weeks back and it was really, 

really good). Not only is it the slickest 

production in Europe (the backing of 

the Oakland Raiders is a big help), 

but it is one fourth of the four headed 

monster of Austria, as the Vienna 

Vikings, the Danube Dragons, the Graz 

Giants and the Raiders really do make 

a good Austrian impression of the NFC 

East, thus making it a really interesting 

team in a really interesting league 

to follow. Plus they are in the EFL 

Bowl League thing so you can watch 

them stomp on teams from Spain and 

Hungary. Or have the European Game 

of the Year against the GFL’s Berlin 

Adler. 

The odd thing about Austria and 

Germany is that this is the only 

consistent streaming for any team. The 

Danube Dragons and Vienna Vikings 

get extensive video coverage at Vienna 

Online (http://www.vienna.at/sport/ 

football) and the GFL has a good video 

site (http://www.gfl-tv.de/) and a really 

comprehensive weekly highlight show, 

but there really is no excuse for France 

smoking both countries so completely 

in weekly live games. But yeah, 

the template for all future streaming 

ventures should be the Raiders. 

Or you could use the SAJL (Finnish 

League) Maple League Game of 

the Week. Four cameras, replays, 

a fabulously melancholy Finnish 

announcer who does get worked up 

for big plays. They are played live 

(usually Friday) here: http://www.sajl. 

fi/media/netti-tv/ and then archived a 

few days later on Vimeo here: http:// 

vimeo.com/noitamedia. Maple League 

is really great football. I’d put it right 

up there with Austria and Germany 

(though the Adler/Butchers game 

archived on the Vimeo site would say 

that things may be otherwise.) Maple 

League has some of the best imports 

and the most freakishly huge lineman

ANYWHERE. And they pull and 

block and everything. It’s great stuff. 

Italy is going through transitions. The 

Warriors Balogna were one of the first 

teams to stream games three or four 

years ago. They scrapped that and 

started an impenetrable video page. 

The Hogs Reggio stream most of their 

home games but it is one camera and 

tends to be one long shot from the top 

of the stands, as I’m assuming it’s the 

game-film camera. But it is the whole 

game and Italian football can be really 

good sometimes so check out their 

archives here: http://www.ustream.tv/ 

user/hogsre. 

Last year, Italy divided up into a 

batch of smaller leagues, mostly over 

imports and non-imports rules. The 

bigger non-import teams stream a few 

games a month on LiveStream but 

you usually have to find out when by 

following this site: http://www.aftv.eu/ 

en (which has the button to translate 

it to English but then opts to stay in 

Italian.) This is pretty much the level 

that gets close to my dividing line as 

this looks more like non-Texas/non- 

Florida/non-Ohio/non-Pennsylvania/ 

non-Virginia high school football. 

Spain’s top team L’hopital Pioners 

streams their home games, though I 

have not actually watched one yet to 

see the quality. http://www.ustream.tv/ 

user/PionersLH. 

In the UK, the Sussex Thunder has 

started streaming games and I’ve 

only watched a few minutes (Sunday 

mornings are for slee... uh... church). 

They archive for a week, so check 

them out here: http://www.ustream.tv/ 

user/SussexThunder. 

So there is a quick overview. One 

hopes that next year, there will be even 

more. Serbian football is making it 

onto basic cable in Eastern Europe 

so that should be a harbinger of good 

things to come from there. As it is 

now the beginning of July and the end 

of the dreaded off season, join me in 

adding this to the list of football to 

watch on the internet: http://watch.tsn. 

ca/cfl-games-on-demand/. 

Thank you, Europe. You got me 

through. 

...Dean Rasmussen 

EUROPE 

So where can you catch streaming football? 

France Radio SSA 

www.radiossa.com 

www.dailymotion.com/TeamRadiOSSA 

Black Panthers 

www.ustream.tv/user/BlackPanthers 

Nimes Centurions 

centurions-nimes.com/centstv.php 

austria Swarco Raiders 

www.raiderstv.at 

Danube Dragons 

www.vienna.at/sport/football 

Vienna Vikings 

www.viewnna.at/sport/football 

Germany German League 

www.gfl-tv.de 

Finland Finnish Maple League 

www.sajl.fi/media/netti-tv 

vimeo.com/noitamedia 

italy Hogs Rhinos 

www.ustream.tv/user/hogsre 

Italian League 

www.aftv.eu/en 

spain L’hopital Pioners 

www.ustream.tv/user/PionersLH 

uK Sussex Thunder 

www.ustream.tv/user/SussexThunder 

canada CFL 

watch.tsn.ca/cfl-games-on-demand 


YOUTH 

Doing it for the Kids 

How the Lancashire Academy of American Football is leading 

the way in the development of the sport in the UK 

PauL horSBurGh 

head coach LancaShire woLverineS 

aLL PhotoS thiS articLe are 

courteSy of the LancaShire 

academy of american footBaLL 

StandiSh raiderS 


The Lancashire Wolverines are a 

competitive and capable group of players 

but many of their fans are unaware that 

the next crop of stars are already being 

moulded and readied to take to the field. 

The Lancashire Academy of American 

Football now includes three independent 

junior clubs, the Chorley Buccaneers, 

the Standish Raiders and the Burnley 

Tornados as well as Lancashire’s own 

youth team, the Wolverine Colts, and 

the Wolverines themselves. All of these 

squads are either competing in league 

competition or looking to compete. 

Greg Adam, team manager and assistant 

coach for the Wolverines and also 

offensive coordinator for the Buccaneers 

kitted team, is in the best place to witness 

the rise in interest in the academy. 

“All three [junior clubs in the academy] 

have seen an influx in players. We’ve also 

seen growth at the youth and senior level, 

with a significant proportion of each team 

made up of players either in their first or 

second years,” said Adam. 

To see the development structure at the 

academy you have to look no further than 

to the Lancashire Wolverines’ starting 

quarterback, David Mead. “He started his 

football career at age 13 with the Chorley 

Buccaneers and is now an established and 

successful senior player,” muses Adam. 

The Wolverine Colts’ starting 

quarterback, Lawrence Quinn, also came 

through the ranks, starting his career 

playing Cadet Flag football with the 

Buccaneers. Last year the academy sent 

ten players from the Buccaneers junior 

LancaShire 

woLverineS BurnLey tornadoS LancaShire coLtS 

LancaShire woLverineS 

kitted team to the Colts’ squad. 

Players making the step up from 

junior flag football then replaced 

these in the junior kitted team. 

Adam believes that American 

football is finally starting to come 

of age in the UK, stating that, 

“Investment in the grass-roots 

certainly takes its time but I’m 

convinced we’re starting to see 

real rewards at all levels from the 

time and effort put in.” 

The Lancashire Academy is also 

leading the way in aiding players 

make the transition from the 

university leagues into club football 

by creating links to several local 

universities. Several academy 

members, including coaches at 

the youth level and players at the 

senior level, still play university 

football and the long-term aim is 

chorLey 

BuccaneerS

chorLey BuccaneerS 

that Lancashire will be able to 

offer a smooth transfer for players 

wanting to take up the challenge 

of club football. 

But the academy’s work doesn’t 

just stop on the field. They have 

brought out several initiatives 

that have developed a spike 

in interest, particularly from a 

younger group of prospective 

players. Their annual family fun 

day has seen a rising attendance 

each year and all of the academy teams 

see an influx of interest around this 

time. 

This year the team will be holding a 

double header with the Colts playing 

the Gateshead Senators followed 

by the Wolverines playing the 

Staffordshire Surge. People from the 

local area are invited to attend and 

a range of football related activities 

will be on offer, run by the junior 

teams. This has been a success for the 

academy in recent years on several 

fronts and also helps to promote 

interest in the sport. 

On top of this the academy also runs 

taster sessions for the local councils 

with whom they have close links with 

and for local schools. The latter has 

seen a definite growth in interest with 

many local schools seeing American 

football as an alternative sport to get 

involved with. 

The hard work on and off the field 

is paying dividends for the academy 

with players from Lancashire now 

representing Great Britain at junior 

flag, youth flag and youth kitted levels 

in the last year. This is in no small 

part due to the level of coaching at 

the academy, which has also been 

recognised on the national stage with 

junior flag, youth kitted and senior 

kitted coaches from the academy now 

on the Great Britain team. 

Greg Adam is well placed then to share 

his tips on anyone wanting a first taste 

of playing the sport. “I’d certainly 

recommend that anyone who wants to 

try out the game should get in touch 

with their local team. 

“In my opinion American football is 

the greatest team sport in the world, 

and there is a place for everyone. If 

you don’t want to get involved in 

kitted football there is flag football 

played at all ages too. This can either 

LancaShire coLtS in action 

YOUTH 

LancaShire coLtS in action 

be a good place to start or also a very 

rewarding variant of the sport on its 

own.” 

...Nathan Sharrocks 


57

BAFRA 

ASK THE REF - Downing Punts 

with senior BAFRA Official Steve Tonkinson 

watford Punt the BaLL to BerkShire 

in their June 2010 match 



To start with I’ll point out that the rules about punts and F.G. 

attempts are pretty much the same and to avoid duplication, 

the Rule Book uses the term “Scrimmage kick” to mean a 

punt or a F.G attempt. 

Downing punts is an area of the kicking game that is often 

misunderstood. Let’s look at some example plays – we’ll keep 

it simple and have:- 

1) No fouls occurring that might change who ends up with 

the ball. 

2) No possession by the receivers and subsequent fumble 

on a return. 

3) No-one is pushed into the ball to make them touch it, 

or the ball deliberately knocked into them. 

EXAMPLE 1 

The ball is punted a reasonable distance, has a good hang 

time and the kicking team are quick to get downfield. The 

receiving team decide they want no part of it and all back off 

and let it roll to a stop. 

4-1-3 says A live ball becomes dead... 

f. When a free kick, scrimmage kick or any other loose ball 

comes to rest and no player attempts to secure it. 

So if everyone backs off the punt and clearly no-one attempts 

to get it, the officials will blow it dead. Whose 1st and 10 is 

it? 

6-3-7 says 

If a scrimmage kick goes out of bound between the goal 

lines or comes to rest and inbounds and no player attempts to 

secure it, the ball becomes dead and belongs to the receiving 

team at the dead ball spot. 

So it goes to the receiving team. 

EXAMPLE 2 

The ball is punted a reasonable distance, has a good hang time 

and kickers are quick to get downfield. The receiving team 

decide they want no part of it and all back off. The ball is still 

rolling and a kicking team player reaches down and picks it 

up. 

6-3-6-a begins by saying 

If a player of the kicking team catches or recovers a 

scrimmage kick that has crossed the N.Z. the ball becomes 

dead. 

So the ball is dead, but whose 1st and 10 is it? 

6-3-6-a goes on to say that

The ball belongs to the receiving team at the dead ball spot unless the 

kicking team is in legal possession. 

So the question is are they in legal possession? 

6-3-2-a says 

No inbounds player of the kicking team shall touch a scrimmage kick 

that has crossed the N.Z. before it touches an opponent. 

The kicking team picked the ball up so they have definitely touched it 

and the ball had not firstly touched an opponent(i.e. the receivers). So 

the answer is No the kicking team are not in legal possession, so it goes 

to the receiving team. 

EXAMPLE 3 

The ball is punted a reasonable distance, has a good hang time and 

kickers are quick to get downfield. The receiving team all appear to 

initially back off. The ball is still rolling and a kicking team player 

reaches down and briefly touches the ball and then walks away. A 

receiver then quickly picks up the ball and starts a return. 

6-3-2-a says 

No inbounds player of the kicking team shall touch a scrimmage 

kick that has crossed the N.Z. before it touches an opponent. Such 

illegal touching is a violation that, when the ball becomes dead, gives 

the receiving team the privilege of taking the ball at the spot of the 

violation. 

Lets read that more carefully... 

Notice that it says that the touching gives the receivers the option of 

taking the ball at that spot when the ball becomes dead. So the kickers 

simply touching the ball does not make it dead. 

If they want to, the receivers can pick it up and run with it. 

Final thoughts. 

The Ref’s tip to kicking team players? Don’t just touch it, get possession 

of the ball! That kills the play dead for sure. 

SuSSex thunder Punt aGainSt the London BLitz 


BAFRA 


REVIEWS 

Friday Night Lights: A To 

Friday Night Lights has seen media 

attention in many forms, from the 

book by H.G. Bassinger based on the 

real Permian Panthers in their 1988 

season in Odessa, Texas to the 2004 

movie starring Billy Bob Thornton. 

The book followed the controversial 

Panthers up to their Semi final 

defeat to the Dallas Carter Cowboys 

who went on to win the 1988 State 

championship (and were subsequently 

stripped for grade tampering). 

In 2006 Friday Night Lights was 

released as a TV show airing during 

primetime on NBC, following much 

the same over arching story as the 

book and film. The show follows The 

Dillon Panthers and the trials and 

tribulations following the loss of their 

team’s star QB to irrecoverable injury. 

The first season focuses greatly on the 

ascension of Eric Taylor to head coach 

and the strain that brings on his work 

and home life. Running parallel, after 

the paralysis of Jason Street (former 

QB); the challenges of a young Matt 

Saracen who has played back up QB 


his whole life and the pressure that his 

new starting spot puts on him and his 

relationships. 

H.G. Bassinger’s Friday Night 

Lights looks a lot at the relationships 

between team mates, families and the 

community in Odessa. Bassinger is 

critical of the emphasis put on football 

and this is an underlying theme of the 

show. Players for the Dillon Panthers 

are elevated to the highest position 

in high school society and regarded 

as local heroes. This pressure and 

admiration at such a young age is 

shown to have a negative effect on 

the players, producing arrogance and 

disregard. New coach Eric Taylor 

must balance his desire to win with 

the expectations of the town and the 

development of the children under his 

ward, forcing him to make difficult 

decisions, sometimes to the dismay of 

his wife and family. 

In 2007 the show received a Peabody 

award for TV excellence and an 

Emmy for Outstanding Directing For 

Friday Night Lights: Movie 

Friday Night Lights: Season 1 

Friday Night Lights: Season 2 

Friday Night Lights: Book

wn, a Team, and a Dream 

£4.99 @ Play.com 

£12.99 @ Play.com 

£15.65 @ Play.com 

£6.99 @ Play.com 

A Drama Series (for the pilot episode). 

It has also been nominated every year 

since its launch for a Writers Guild 

of America award for best dramatic 

series. 

Season 1 looks at the team during 

the playoffs leading up to the state 

championship, something held in very 

high regard in US high school football, 

more so than any school based sports 

we have in the UK. New star QB Matt 

Saracen, HC Eric Taylor, hard hitting 

and heavy drinking FB Tim Riggins 

and talented HB Smash Williams 

feel the pressure of being in a team 

formerly tipped for the top, which has 

had upheaval and uncertainty thrust 

upon them. 

In season 2, football is overshadowed 

by bad decisions and moral choices. 

The season focuses on Taylor’s 

coaching choices, relationship choices 

for Saracen and big decisions for 

Riggins and Street regarding the 

implications of the latter’s paralysing 

REVIEWS 

back injury. 

After 2 seasons of trials and 

tribulations a new star QB joins Dillon 

in season 3. J.D. McCoy and his 

father Joe begin a plot to take out the 

diamond duo of Taylor and Saracen, 

in order to begin a new legacy at 

Dillon High. The ins and outs of the 

seasons are better watched than told. 

Unfortunately for UK viewers Friday 

Night Lights aired in the in 2007 on 

ITV4 and tanked with viewers. With 

its timetabled slot amidst shows such 

as Police! Lights! Action! there is no 

wonder why it didn’t really pick up 

a lot of steam. Season 2 was due to 

air this May but it was nowhere to be 

seen. 

There is good news for UK viewers 

though. Season 1 can be bought online 

for Region 2, Seasons 2 and 3 are 

available for region 1 from most good 

online retailers. If you haven’t watched 

it yet, it is highly recommended. 

...Luke Hill 


NFL COMPETITION 

Photo Competition 

Fancy the opportunity to capture great NFL shots like these? 

The NFL has teamed up with the British American Football 

Community Leagues & the British American Football Imagery 

Association to offer the chance for you to go to Wembley to 

shoot the next overseas NFL game 

The National Football League (NFL), British American 

Football Community Leagues (BAFACL) and the British 

American Football Imagery Association (BAFIA) are 

delighted to announce a joint initiative that will see one lucky 

person shoot an NFL game from the sidelines at Wembley on 

Sunday October 31st. 

From Tuesday June 2nd anyone can upload their favourite 

photo of a 2010 BAFACL Senior game to be in with a chance 

of winning. The competition will be hosted as a Facebook 

group and there is no limit to the amount of times you 

can enter. Uploaded photographs may contain a copyright 

marking, if required by the photographer, but this must not 

be placed so as to obstruct or detract from the image. All 

photographs submitted must name the BAFACL team(s) 

featured, the date the photo was taken and, wherever possible, 

the photographer should describe the action or event that is 

displayed. Photographers may only upload photographs they 

have taken themselves and will need to able to supply proof 

of this, if requested. 

This year, judges will include NFLUK.com, renowned British 

NFL photographer Sean Ryan, Dave Shopland from ‘The 

Mail On Sunday’ - 2007’s Sports Photographer of the Year - 

and BAFIA’s Dan Aitch. 

The competition will close a week after the inaugural 

BAFACL season culminates in its National Championship, 

and the photo judged to be the best will earn the photographer 

who created it a sideline photography pass when the Denver 

Broncos play the San Francisco 49ers, at Wembley, in 

October. Sean Ryan will be on hand on the day to provide 

advice and guidance to the winner. 

A full fixture list for the 2010 BAFACL season is available at 

www.bafacl.com and photographers must be aware that it is 

only the Senior Teams from this league that may be featured 

in the 2010 competition, based on rules surrounding Child 

Protection within Youth and Junior leagues. 

The competition winner will be responsible for their own 

transportation and accommodation costs relating to their 

attendance at the game. 

The URL for the Group is http://www.facebook.com/group. 

php?gid=132564880087761 


aLL PhotoS thiS PaGe 

© dan aitch

NFL COMPETITION 


BAFA YOUTH 

farnham kniGhtS take on the London BLitz, Summer 2009 

Photo © dan aitch 


We are the Champions 

an intro to the Farnham Knights Youth Team 

The Farnham Knights Youth Team are 

the current British Youth Champions, 

winning their second Championship 

in 2009 when they beat the Lancashire 

Wolverines 16 - 0. They’re pretty 

good; appearing in the national 

championship finals for the last 3 years 

in a row & are currently ranked second 

in the BAFA Youth South Division 

with a record of 4 and 1. They are 

hoping that 2010 will see their seventh 

appearance in the Championships. 

The team are based in Farnborough 

with their fellow Farnham Knights 

senior team who play in the BAFA 

Premier League. Currently, the squad 

is made up of around 30 16 to 18-yearolds 

drawn from the local area. 

Many of the members will graduate 

into the senior team which means 

recruitment is an on-going process. 

Richard Scott, Assistant Coach at 

Knights Youth, said: “Every year is 

a rebuilding year in youth football, 

more than 10 players will graduate 

each season to the senior team.” 

Recruitment seems to be reasonably 

low-key. “We encourage our players to 

bring along friends, we put up posters 

and hand out cards to people we think 

might be interested. We currently don’t 

go into schools but it’s always been 

something we want to do.” 

Knights Staff 

The Youth Team currently has four 

coaches. Richard Scott, who helped 

with the information for this article, 

is an ex Knight Youth player & was 

selected for the GB team. He is in his 

third year on the Knights coaching 

staff. 

Head Coach, Simon Srour, is currently 

in his fifth season at the helm. Simon’s 

roots are in the game having been a 

youth & senior player. He was a Youth 

National Champion & selected to 

represent England & GB. 

Nic Budd is an Offence assistant coach 

& has 3 year’s service. Nic is an ex 

senior player with 10 years’ playing 

experience. 

The latest recruit to the coaching team 

is ex-youth player Alex Thompson, 

who only graduated from the youth 

squad last season and is taking a year 

out from playing. He was also a GB 

Lions selectee.

The Knights are managed by Andy 

Davies who is in his second year in 

charge. Andy does a good line in 

recruitment, having provided his 

eldest son to the franchise who 

graduated from the Youth to the seniors 

& won the Most Valuable Player 

Award at the 2009 Britbowl. Andy’s 

second son is currently enjoying his 

second season in the youth squad 

and the third is currently lining up 

alongside dad on the sidelines waiting 

for the clock to tick so he’s old enough 

to join the squad. 

The current manager has been able to 

bring a number of financial donations 

which assists with the required 

expenses to run the club. All kit is 

supplied by the team though players do 

pay a subscription which the Knights 

think is among the lowest in the 

league. 

How it works 

The current league setup at BAFA 

Youth involves 4 divisions: BAFA 

Youth Central, east, North and South. 

The Knights play in BAFA Youth 

South together with the Bristol Aztecs, 

London Blitz, London Warriors, 

Reading Rebels and Hampshire 

Thrashers. 

The regular season schedule is a 

season of 8 games against other teams 

in the regional division. The top two 

progress to the play-offs to play in 

the quarter-final, semi-final & then 

championship game. 

I asked Richard Scott what the team’s 

ambitions were. “The target is always 

play-offs, we have been fortunate 

enough to achieve that for the last 

three years and hope to do so again. 

Once we make the play-offs, we aim 

for the championship.” 

The Knights train at Wavell-Cody 

Community Campus, Lynchford Road, 

Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 6BH 

from 12pm to 3pm every Sunday. 

New players are always welcome and 

further information can be obtained 

either via their website at www. 

farnhamknights.com/youthteam.asp, or 

via email to info@paknights.co.uk 


farnham kniGhtS youth take the 2009 youth chamPionShiP 

Photo courteSy of farnham kniGhtS youth team 

BAFA YOUTH 

2010 Farnham Knights Youth Season 

Date Home Score Away 

23/05/2010 Farnham Knights 19 - 8 Reading Rebels 

13/06/2010 Bristol Aztecs 14 - 6 Farnham Knights 

20/06/2010 London Warriors 0 - 22 Farnham Knights 

04/07/2010 Farnham Knights 46 - 14 Hampshire Thrashers 

11/07/2010 Hampshire Thrashers 0 - 48 Farnham Knights 

18/07/2010 Farnham Knights London Blitz 

08/08/2010 Farnham Knights Bristol Aztecs 

22/08/2010 London Blitz Farnham Knights 


65

BAFA YOUTH 

Aiming for the top 

IAF takes a look at the London Blitz Youth Programme 

Jason Henry, Head Coach of the 

London Blitz Youth Team, describes 

the evolution of the Blitz as like a 

family tree with many roots. The team 

was born out of several teams who 

developed & amalgamated out of the 


early days of UK American Football. 

The Ealing Eagles & Hayes Generals 

have their DNA within the modern 

club. 

In the winter of 1994 a meeting 

was held at Northolt Rugby Club 

during which names for the newly 

merged club were discussed. Had it 

not been for a player & committee 

member having what Henry describes 

as ‘a unique moment sitting in the 

bathroom’ the Blitz might have 

been known as the London Flame or 

London Blues. 

The clubs ‘LB’ logo derives from 

ex Blitz Head Coach, Damon Kirby, 

who was, with Henry, a 49ers fan, so 

inspiration was taken from them. 

The first two or three seasons of the 

Blitz Youth were played in Watford 

but the club struggled to attract players 

& coaches, so the decision was taken 

to move to Cranford. Damon Kirby 

& Adrian Klemens came on board, 

however, recruitment problems were 

still apparent & the pair was also 

involved in the senior team. 

Jason Henry kind of strolled into the 

team as an often-injured senior player. 

Around ‘98/99 he found himself at 

training where a handful of youth 

players had turned up. He had some 

experience with Ealing Eagles youth 

programme & strolled over to the 

younger guys to offer some help. It 

was around this time that they had a 

stroke of luck when one of the new 

players contacted the NFL office 

in London. As a result, they found 

themselves the lucky recipients of 

20 sets of kit, game shirts, pants & 

training equipment, everything a 

fledgling team needed to get off the 

ground. The London Blitz Youth Team 

was born. 

Fast forward to today where Henry is 

Head Coach & the Blitz Programme 

supports a senior team with over 100 

registered players & 10 senior coaches, 

a youth team of around 35 players, a 

junior squad nearing 20 & a recently 

formed junior flag team of 12. There 

are currently 12 dedicated coaches 

& sidelines assistants to support the 

under 19s football programme. 

The Youth squad covers an age range 

of 16 – 19. 

aLL PhotoS thiS articLe © dan aitch

Accreditation 

The London Blitz & Colchester 

Gladiators are the only current teams 

which have been awarded ‘Clubmark’ 

status. Clubmark is the only national 

cross sports quality accreditation 

scheme for clubs with junior sections. 

It is built around a set of core criteria 

which ensure that accredited clubs 

operate to a set of consistent, accepted 

and adopted minimum operating 

standards. 

Henry explains, “When the youth 

reformed back in 2007, I put together 

a 3 and 5 year plan of what the under 

19s programme would look like. The 

current head coach and chairman both 

agreed the massive importance that an 

under-19 program would have on the 

future of the club and the 2006 season 

highlighted this with many of that 

year’s crop of players being former 

Blitz Youth members. 

“Achieving Clubmark took us around 

5 months which is good going, many 

clubs have questioned what immediate 

impact this would have and what 

financial benefits we would receive 

from being Clubmarked, but trying 

to explain that any structure which 

may support you tapping into local 

and national funding and also being a 

club which does things the ‘right’ way 

should be the aim of ALL clubs in the 

UK, is difficult. 

“We do sometimes have slow channels 

of communication between our NGB 

and our management team but now 

with the additional help sort by BAFA 

I believe this will improve.” 

Going the Clubmark route does place 

some burdens on the club. Henry 

describes some big financial demands. 

They currently ask their coaches to 

support the club by paying all or part 

of their registration fee. There are costs 

involved in CRB (Criminal Records 

Bureau) checks, attending first aid 

courses & doing the child protection 

course. A first or second year coach 

can cost the club around £150 each. 

However, this can be offset s one of the 

benefits of being Clubmarked is that it 

opens avenues to funding support. The 

Blitz has been able to get some level of 

funding towards coaching costs for all 

their staff over the past 3 years. 

Building & growing 

Each year the Blitz tries to secure 

some kind of local funding in order to 

carry out advertising for their under 19 

programme in order to help with the 

ever-present problem of recruitment. 

Henry describes the most successful 

was back in 2006 when they had 70 

potential recruits turn up to their first 

ever ‘rookie session’. They also rely 

on Facebook, NFLUK & their own 

website. 

Their flag team started just this year & 

already has a membership of 12 whilst 

the junior squad is 75% made up of 

new guys. 

This year the club has produced A5 

flyers & several hundred A2 posters 

BAFA YOUTH 

and have sent out packs to 100 local 

schools, feedback suggests that these 

are now being displayed on school 

notice boards. Henry says he receives 

around 5 calls a week about football. 

Coaching setup 

As mentioned, the Blitz has a 

very solid coaching setup. Adrian 

Klemens says they have an extremely 

dedicated group of coaching staff. It 

has taken time to build but with good 

communication and development 

processes for coaches to learn and 

develop, they retain their coaching 

staff year on year. 

The Blitz Youth have a fairly fluid 

system in regards coaching since they 

have multiple staff coaching the same 


67

BAFA YOUTH 

positions as a few of the staff struggle 

to make all the sessions. A hard-core 

set of 6 coaches usually make every 

practice with a further 6 dropping in 

when work & family commitments 

allow. 

Klemens says: “We’ve found that this 

works extremely well, as you keep 

some coaches involved in the sport 

when they couldn’t fully commit to 

every session, and often you will find 

over time their commitments will 

change and they will one season be 

part time and the next full time, and 

vice versa. The key in this situation is 

communication. Making sure we know 

what staff are at which sessions, and 

planning what drills/techniques will be 

covered in every session.” 

At the start of every season the staff 

get together for their own in-house 

coaching clinic. This is where they 

discuss the techniques and skills they 

will be teaching that year, so they are 

all teaching the same thing. They also 

use this as an opportunity to develop 

their own personal skills, maybe 


looking at another coaching position 

an individual might not have any 

knowledge of. 

Because the Youth Programme has 

been running so long they also get a 

number of ex-youth players coming 

back to coach & give something back 

to the club. 

The Blitz also run a system, on a rota 

basis, where senior team coaches 

attend youth sessions. This helps build 

a relationship between the youth & 

senior programmes & aids consistency 

throughout the club. Because the teams 

train separately (they’re just too big 

to combine practice times), it’s also a 

great way to form links between the 

programmes. 

The only thing they seem to be lacking 

is a dedicated youth administrator; the 

role is currently performed by one of 

the coaches. This is one of the things 

on their ‘to-do’ list.

Financing 

The team is mainly self-financed with 

members expecting to pay registration 

fees & game-day fees. Grants & 

funds have been available & the team 

continue to explore possible avenues to 

offset their expenses. Equipment grants 

have allowed them to build up a stock 

so that all players are provided with 

helmet & shoulder pads. Blitz Youth 

have been able to take advantage of 

grants from such organisations as 

Sports Relief and Help a London 

Child, etc. 

The budget for the squad is kept 

separate from the senior team. The 

youth team can take advantage of 

training equipment purchased by the 

senior squad but must look after their 

own travel expenses, officials’ fees, 

training ground, ambulance cover etc. 

Coach Henry explores other avenues 

for funding too. “I’ve also done what 

every coach should do, tap up your 

work place for whatever you can get. 

We needed new shelves’ for some new 

helmets (Lottery funded) and I asked 

work and they gave me and delivered 

some old racking, desks and draws for 

nothing. The trick is to ask them for 

small things first and then build. Only 

last year we got £500 in vouchers from 

them.” 

Henry says that he is also keen to 

manage what they do have well. “I 

think if you ask any player they will 

tell you how much every belt, chin 

strap or buckle costs. Working for a 

large company it has rubbed off on 

how much you can reduce cost by 

managing your wastage and losses.” 

The ultimate aim is to offer football 

for free but until then Henry has to 

be satisfied that this years’ costs are 

cheaper, for the players, than last 

years’. 

Results 

The Blitz Youth programme has come 

a long way in the last few years with 

year-on-year improvements. In 2007 

the record was 1 – 6. In 2008 4 – 4. 

2009 was 6 – 2, which still didn’t get 

them into the playoffs. 

Klemens says the Southern Division of 

what is now the BAFA Youth League, 

is probably the toughest division to 

be in, having provided the National 

Champions for at least 6 years. “With 

teams such as the Warriors, Knights 

and Bristol in our division, you get 

challenged every week, however we 

like that as we feel this has been a 

factor in helping us make our program 

better by playing the best teams every 

week.” 

The Blitz train all year round, other 

than three weeks at Christmas. “The 

best way for our athletes to get better 

is to play football, so we try and give 

them as much opportunity to do so,” 

says Klemens. This means that they 

can integrate new players at any time 

rather than have them call the team to 

be told, ‘come back in x-months’ time 

when we start training’. 

BAFA YOUTH 

For Further Information about 

London Blitz Youth contact: 

www.londonblitz.com 

coachklemens@londonblitz.com 

Coach Klemens: 07710 853051 


69

BAFA YOUTH 


Team 

Like any team, the Blitz want to 

improve every season they play. 

Klemens says that success is measured 

not by tallying up the win and loss 

sheets, but by seeing how players have 

improved as individuals. “We are we 

helping develop respectable young 

people for our community, and they 

are learning not only athletic, but life 

skills to help them grow and become 

better in every aspect of their lives 

and not just sport. Teamwork, respect, 

communication, hard work, discipline 

are all keys to our program and we run 

workshops on these very topics with 

our team on a regular basis. We’re 

using sport as a vehicle to develop 

young people, and hopefully these 

things translate into success on the 

field.” 

Pride 

The Blitz have a great talent-base to 

draw on, so much so that the stats on 

offence show how evenly the players 

are matched. 

When pressed on the standout players, 

Klemens seems – naturally given his 

position & love of the team - to want 

to give a mention to everyone. 

“Our GB Youth players, Franklin 

Nwokeji, Charlie Joseph, Clinton 

Richie play both sides of the ball 

and are great leaders in our program 

and work extremely hard. Our 

QB is in his second year and has 

come an extremely long way in his 

development. 

“We have two GB Offensive lineman 

in Jade David and James Connolly 

who both started in GB Youth’s recent 

European win, with the rest of our line 

very strong also. 

“On Defence we have a very strong 

linebacking core containing Jaiah 

Turay-Benson, Jacob Price, Anthony 

Eiliazadeh & Ibrahim Almazwagi. Our 

defensive backs are one of our team’s 

strengths with Kwame Olu-Wilson, 

Enoch Hankombo, Abdul Bundu, 

David Protheroe, Cameron Fraser, Ben 

Locker, & Luke Hancock all featuring 

heavily and we’re lucky that we have a 

lot of quality depth this season. 

“We have a young defensive line lead 

by final year player Jerome Jarrett.” 

The Blitz have many success stories

in their ranks, past and present. Most 

notable would be Jason Brisbane & 

Lorn Mayers, who went on to play for 

the San Diego Chargers & Oakland 

Raiders respectively. Both were 

products of the youth programme who 

excelled. 

“We’re proud of all of our past 

players however. Many have gone 

on to play senior football and now 

coaching for the London Blitz or other 

organizations, and gone on to set up 

their own American Football teams, 

which is great for the sport. 

Most importantly our players continue 

to stay in touch with the club and each 

other and have gone on to further 

education or entered the work force 

and we’re proud of their achievements. 

2009 saw the inaugural Youth Alumni 

match, where we played the Farnham 

Knights Youth Alumni team, and that 

was a fantastic vehicle for getting 

players to return to the club.” 

With thanks to Jason Henry & Adrian 

Klemens of the London Blitz. 

... Garry Neesam 

BAFA YOUTH 

Charlie Joseph is a 17-year-old wide receiver at the Blitz who found 

the team via a friend. 

“I started playing football for the Blitz three years ago because I liked 

watching the sport and wanted to try it out. Here I am three years later 

and still loving it.” 

Charlie says that playing American Football at the Blitz has helped him 

out in other areas too. “I think it’s important to notice that the sport has 

helped me with leadership & teamwork skills, as well as learning how to 

be committed, responsible and accountable.” 

Charlie wants to take the game further, his aim is to get an American 

college scholarship. He’s well on his way. He is currently part of the GB 

Lions Youth squad & travelled to Holland to play their national squad. 

He has also received a scholarship to Tabor Academy, a prep school 

in Massachusetts. “Hopefully, I can impress over there and then who 

knows what might happen?” 

Ivan Mills-Lamptey plays QB for the London Blitz Youth 

team. He went straight to youth level American Football at 

the age of 16, playing his first season in 2008. He started as a 

running back but made the switch to QB. 

“When I was in year 11 one of my schoolmates told me that 

there was an American football team that he played for 

named London Blitz. So I joined the team. Before then I had 

no idea that American football existed in this country. 

Ivan led a 4 – 4 team to a 6 – 2 season with the highest 

scoring offence of the year. He won a gold medal for most 

improved player in his rookie year and a play of the day’ 

award in his second. 

“My favourite award is the most improved player as it was 

my first ever award won as an athlete and as part of a team. 

It always reminds me that no matter how great you are 

there’s always room for improvement. Yeah my coaches 

always tell me that too.” 

Ivan loves the adrenalin rush before the first few plays of 

the game, “the taste of success when you know that you’ve 

done your job...you won the game and most importantly the 

team spirit. Knowing that your team mates got your back 

throughout all four quarters and your coaches have faith 

in your decision making makes it enough for you to go out 

there, have fun and have a great game.” 

His goal is to lead the Blitz to their first ever Championship. 

“For three years Blitz Youth has had the speed, strength, skill, 

determination and all the other attributes needed to be a 

successful team . This year we got that extra team spirit to 

take us all the way. 

“Team. Pride. Blitz.” 


71

PHOTOGRAPHY 

PHOTOGRAPHERS 

IN FOCUS 


NEIL BIGGS 

Neil Biggs is one of a new breed of 

photographers covering British American 

football. His work is based around the 

south of the UK & Neil does a lot of work 

at the London Cobras home & away 

games. 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

Neil Biggs is one of a new breed of photographers 

covering British American football. His work is based 

around the south of the UK & Neil does a lot of work at 

the London Cobras home & away games. 

Neil describes himself as a ‘self-taught advanced 

amateur’. Of his taking up of the hobby he says: 

“There’s a photo that used to sit on top of my piano. It 

was taken by my dad at a Jean-Michel Jarre concert, 

and as he took it, all the screens went red which left the 

image almost monochrome and the crowds silhouetted 

beneath it. It was pretty much that set of photos of my 

dad’s that made me interested in photography.” It wasn’t 

until the prices of a Digital SLR camera fell below 

£1,000 that h felt he could afford to take up the hobby. 


73

PHOTOGRAPHY 

He bought his first camera, a Canon 

300D in 2004 & began by shooting 

folk at parties and occasional events, 

such as the Isle of Man TT races in 

2005. Then, a non-related injury to his 

leg kept him away from photography 

until 2007 when he started to follow 

the London Olympians. 

Some photographers specialise in 

particular genres while others are 

happy to try out whatever opportunities 

they can find. I asked Neil to tell us 

what it was about photography that 

interested him. 

“The parts of photography I love 

are the areas where it tells stories. I 

realised I had no chance of going down 

the portrait/studio route when I picked 

up books by Rankin and Mario Testino 

and thought “Is that it?”. They are 

considered masters of the genre, but 

their work left me cold. I had a fairly 

similar reaction to abstract work, in 

that although I could appreciate the 

composition, it had no response within 

me. 

“It was when I saw Tom Stoddart’s 

iWitness exhibition on the banks of the 

Thames that I knew what I wanted to 

achieve in my photos – that moment 


of telling a story, a ‘violent silence’ 

where the picture moves you without 

moving itself. Simon Annand’s “The 

Half” is another fine exhibition of 

that style which traces back to Henri 

Cartier-Bresson. At the moment, I 

still shoot pretty much anything that 

I find visually interesting. In the last 

year I’ve done jousting, several bands, 

a late evening parade and fireworks 

by the Thames, a kite festival, a 

balloon festival – all with the notion of 

working on my composition. This year 

I want to experiment with panoramic 

shots, and maybe do a few storybased 

projects if I can get the time and 

opportunity – for example I’d love 

to shoot a fair from setting up, to the 

general public going on the rides, until 

the morning after the final night and 

the rides are driven away.” 

The Gear 

Neil currently uses a Canon 40D with 

Sigma lenses - mostly a 28-70 f2.8 for 

indoors/low-light, and a 70-300mmm 

f4:5.6 zoom for sport. It’s not ideal, but 

it does what I need it to on a budget. 

My dream kit would probably consist 

of f2.8 Canon lenses, a mixture of 

zooms and a few long range primes, 

and a Canon body with a faster frame 

rate (although the 40Ds 6.5fps is fast 

enough, I’d like that little bit more!).” 

Unlike Leigh Morris, who we featured 

in Issue One, Neil had no involvement 

in American football prior to shooting 

it. He says that he became bored of 

soccer, mainly due to working in a 

betting shop at the time. He says: “I 

was up one night, flicked over on to 

Channel 5 and saw Daunte Culpepper 

throwing the ball when he had two 

defensive linemen trying to tackle him. 

I started to follow the sport (and the 

Vikings in particular) from then. Fast 

forward a few years and I was chatting 

with some friends about applying for 

tickets for the first Wembley game. 

I can’t remember which one of us 

actually talked about watching a local 

team first, but between us, we quickly 

decided to follow the Olympians, and 

since it was one of our birthday’s that 

weekend we decided to go to Coventry 

to watch the Jets vs O’s at the Ricoh 

Arena. I think I’ve forgiven the guy 

who decided that MegaBus would 

be a good way to get there! Anyway, 

it was a good game (27-20 with the 

O’s dropping the equalising TD in the 

endzone) and we followed them for the 

rest of the season.” 

He then began shooting games from 

the Olympians’ sideline and at the 

end of the season was just about to 

offer to work with them on a more 

official basis when the club folded. Not 

wishing to give up on the game, he 

went looking for another team & found 

details of the London Warriors on a 

fixtures list at Crystal Palace. 

Emails between Neil & the team 

followed and Neil was made to feel 

very welcome by the club. As a result, 

he has shot every Cobras game (The 

Cobras being the adult wing of the 

London Warriors franchise) since 

their first league match against the 

Gladiators in 2008. 

He currently shoots matches & other 

events that the club are involved in 

and has been helping with producing 

the ID photos this season. He hopes 

to be able to help with other publicity 

material in terms of photography, but 

this will dependent on the time he 

has available & his ability to learn 

the required software, for producing

PHOTOGRAPHY 


PHOTOGRAPHY 

posters etc. 

“I love the mixture of detailed tactics, 

and the severe brutality of the hits. It’s 

like chess played with ogres instead of 

pawns!,” says Neil, whose preparations 

for each game begin the night before 

the match. “I clean my lenses, check 

the memory cards are clear, charge 

the camera batteries and then double 

check everything is in the backpack. 

I’ll also prepare a snack for half-time, 

or for between games if I’m shooting a 

double-header.” 

Preparations 

When it comes down to gameday, Neil 

says American football has its own 

challenges. “The biggest challenge 

is being in the right spot. With some 

sports you can settle down comfortably 

and know that most of the action 

will happen in certain areas, but with 

AF it’s so easy to have a shot ruined 

by being on the wrong side of the 

offensive line to see it, or it happening 

on the other side of the field, or with a 

ref in the way. 

“I tend to shoot like ‘a machinegunner’ 

which was a phrase an 

American pro-photographer used when 

he was talking to me. I shoot loads to 

try and capture everything and edit 

down in post-processing. I typically 

get about 1,400 shots per game, and try 

to edit down to a set of about 60. 

“Albums should be punchy with a 

good sense of movement from one 

photo to the next. I look for the shots 

where the ball is visible along with at 

least one player’s face (preferably the 

ball-carrier) and where there is a good 

amount of movement in the picture. I 

also try to get photos of conversations 

between coaches and players and other 

human moments which can sometimes 

get lost in the action. 

“I preference the more dramatic/ 

important shots (celebrations, TDs, 

catches) in my final set, and once I 

know what ones I’m going to use, I 

crop and adjust the colours slightly. 

Very rarely I’ll combine shots together, 

either for illustration (like putting 

positional coaches photos combined in 

to one image) or for humour as I did 

with game at the Cats last year where 

a Cobra player intercepted it, only to 

have another player collide with him 

and knock it loose. My post process 


can take several hours including 

moving all my photos to my harddrive 

from the memory card, but once 

they’re done I upload them to Flickr 

and to FaceBook.” 

Neil says he is more concerned about 

the Warriors or Cobras winning the 

game than he is about the photos 

he takes, though he does wish he 

could capture more interceptions but 

describes the frustration of the kit not 

living up to expectations, especially 

in regards to the Sigma lenses he uses 

not being able to autofocus as fast as 

he would like. His prize shot would 

a photo of the Cobras’ QB lifting the 

European Trophy. 

Details & Settings 

Non-photographers can look away 

now - Neil prefers aperture priority 

mode on his camera & will adjust 

ISO settings accordingly to enable 

shutter speeds of 1/500 or a second. 

“The only essential thing I’d say you 

have to carry beyond the camera is 

waterproofing so you can shoot in less

PHOTOGRAPHY 


PHOTOGRAPHY 

than pleasant conditions. There is no 

finer example of the British sense of 

humour than to invent a sport which 

needs five clear days of sunshine in the 

summer... Though Jade Johnson, the 

long-jumper who is allergic to sand 

gives Cricket a run for its money in 

that regard!” 

I asked Neil what he would say to 

a photographer new to the sport or 

thinking of taking it up. “If I was to 

give one piece, it would be ‘Your 

lenses are made of glass. The players 

are covered in armour. They ask you to 

keep your distance from the pitch for a 

reason...’ 

Helping the community 

Neil is hoping to work on a project 

with other members of the British 

American Football Imagery 

Association (BAFIA) to deliver a 

downloadable guide that’ll cover 

everything a beginning photographer 

could want to know – from what to 

look for in terms of kit, to positioning 

around a field, to what software is 

available and what it can do. “After 

the guide is done, I’d love to be at a 

match to simply talk to people who are 

trying to learn and advise them whilst 

a game was going on. It’s hard to 

commit to doing that during a Cobras/ 

Warriors game so it might have to wait 

for the BUAFL season, or weeks when 

we’re not playing and I’m not needed 

to cover anything at training/promoevents.” 

Aside from American football, Neil 


says just go & play. “If the photo is 

awful, no-one will ever need to see it. 

Shoot anything and everything until 

you know the camera and how to 

adjust it, and constantly critique your 

own work or find someone willing to 

do so.” 

Neil is happy for his teams to use 

his work for publicity. He has also 

given shots to other clubs who have 

requested them. “I’d like to sell 

images, but don’t have the time 

between other things I’m involved in 

to commit to getting them printed and 

mailed-out, and would like to have 

some better lenses before doing so.” 

He uploads his shots to Facebook in 

the hope that friends of the players 

might see them kitted up & be 

prompted to give the sport a go. 

On the contentious issue of players 

taking photos without permission & 

posting them over websites such as 

Facebook, he says: “It annoys me 

when someone lifts them and there is 

no credit given though, but the players 

I’ve pulled up on it have usually been 

pretty quick to add a ‘Photos courtesy 

of...’ message beneath the shots.” 

BAFIA 

Neil was instrumental in the formation 

in 2010 of BAFIA, a group of likeminded 

individuals whose aim is to 

get the best in photography for the 

photographers & the sport. “I started 

what has become the BAFIA in 

attempt to just talk to people interested 

in shooting the game. When the 

whole BAFLing mess kicked-off, it 

became something better than I had 

envisioned and now has the chance 

to get the images and photography 

handled properly (due mostly to the 

excellent efforts of Dan Aitch and John 

Singer), but I’m hoping that at its core 

it remains a collective of people who 

have the love of photography and of 

this sport.” 

Away from Football & on the general 

side of photography, Neil says he 

doesn’t have any specific photographic 

heroes. “There isn’t anyone I 

particularly follow, but I do try to look 

at Getty Images from time to time to 

see the work the photographers at that

agency are producing. Sometimes it’s 

amazing, other times it’s too arty for 

its own good. I saw a photo of New 

Orleans post-Katrina on the frontpage 

of one of the major American 

newspapers. Four soldiers were 

standing in front of a huge puddle and 

all their full-length reflections were 

captured in it. I felt that the image 

over-powered the story and was more 

distracting than illustrative.” 

He would like to produce photographic 

books of his images, especially since 

dabbling with Photobox in producing 

a book of flower images he captured 

whilst on an away game with the 

Cornish Sharks. “The next year of the 

Snake in the Chinese horoscope will 

be 2013 and it would be amazing if 

I could produce a book detailing the 

rise of the Cobras from Division 2 

to champions of Europe that season. 

Generally, I’d love to produce books 

that take you inside unfamiliar worlds, 

particularly if I could do something 

like “The Half” but maybe behind the 

scenes of a sport.” 

To end with I asked Neil to describe 

some of his work of which he was 

particularly proud. “The shot of one 

of our lineman having his wrist taped 

prior to the Cornish sharks game is one 

of mine I love. 

“At the Youth final in 2008 I saw (in 

my mind) the best shot I never took. A 

Gateshead Senator payer was injured 

on the pitch and his mum came down 

from the stand. As the steward put 

his arm across the front of her, she 

put her hand to her mouth. I couldn’t 

bring myself to point the camera and 

shoot – it felt intrusive, even though 

it would very much be the kind of 

image that has inspired me. I shot a 

Christening for a child seriously girl 

with Rett’s syndrome a few weeks ago. 

At the end of the service was a candle 

lighting service and I got a photo of 

the mother placing the candle on the 

stand with her son standing beside her, 

both with a sombre look on their face. 

Seeing that on the back of the camera 

put a lump in my throat as it captured 

a major worry, that little Melody might 

not have long left. I know now from 

that shot, that I probably should have 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

taken the one of the player’s mother. 

The action we capture is meaningless 

without also capturing the impact that 

it has on other people.” 

You can see more of Neil’s work at 

www.flickr.com/photos/violentsilence 


All photos this article © Neil Biggs 


79

DIRECTORY 

BAFA CL Team Directory 

BAFA Premier 

Bristol Aztecs 

www.aztecsadult.co.uk 

twitter.com/AztecsAdults 

Filton WISE, New Road, Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS34 8LP 

Coventry Jets 

www.cassidyjets.com 

www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=30695263557 

twitter.com/CoventryJets 

Coventry RFC, Butts Park Arena, Butts Road, Coventry 

CV1 3GE 

Farnham Knights 

www.farnhamknights.com 

Farnborough Rugby Club, Tilebarn Close, Cove, Farnborough, 

GU14 8LS 

London Blitz 

www.londonblitz.com 

twitter.com/londonblitz 

Finsbury Park, Endymion Road,London 

London Cobras 

www.londonwarriorsafc.co.uk 

twitter.com/londoncobras 

Boston Manor Fields, Boston Gardens, Brentford, Middlesex 

TW8 9LP 

Sussex Thunder 

www.sussexthunder.com 

facebook.sussexthunder.com 

twitter.com/SussexThunder 

Thunder Stadium, Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre, Wickhurst 

Lane, Broadbridge Heath, Nr Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 3YS 

BAFA Division 1 South East 

Cambridgeshire Cats 

www.cambridgeshirecats.com 

Coldhams Common, Barnwell Road, Cambridge 

Colchester Gladiators 

www.colchestergladiators.org.uk 

Wivenhoe Stadium, Wivenhoe Town F.C., Elmstead Road, 

Wivenhoe, Essex, CO7 9HX 

East Kent Mavericks 

www.ekmavericks.co.uk 

twitter.com/EKMavericks 

Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NP 

Ipswich Cardinals 

www.ipswichcardinals.co.uk 

www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=ts&g 

id=89269243608#!/profile.php?id=1517657752&ref=mf 

Venue: Northgate Sports Centre, Sidegate Lane West, Ipswich 

IP4 

Kent Exiles 

www.kentexiles.co.uk 

Crockenhill FC, Wested Meadow Ground, Eynsford Rd, 

Crockenhill, Kent BR8 8EH 


Peterborough Saxons 

www.thesaxons.co.uk 

Stanground College, Peterborough Road, Stanground, 

Peterborough, Cambridgeshire PE7 3BY 

BAFA Division 1 South West 

Birmingham Bulls 

www.birminghambulls.org 

Aston Old Edwardian’s Rugby Club, Sunnybank Avenue, Perry 

Common, Birmingham, B44 OHP 

Leicester Falcons 

www.leicesterfalcons.co.uk 

twitter.com/leicesterfalcon 

Leicester Forest RFC, Hinckley Road, Leicester Forest East, 

Leicester LE3 3PJ 

Nottingham Caesars 

www.nottinghamcaesars.co.uk 

Harvey Hadden Stadium, Calveley Road, Nottingham NG8 

Oxford Saints 

www.oxfordsaints.com 

twitter.com/oxfordsaints 

Abingdon Rugby Club, Lambrick way, Preston Road, Abingdon, 

Oxfordshire OX14 5TJ 

South Wales Warriors 

www.southwaleswarriors.co.uk 

Llanharan RFC, Bridgend Road, Llanharan, Pontyclun CF72 

9RD 

Tamorth Phoenix 

www.tamworthfootball.com 

twitter.com/TamworthPhoenix 

Lichfield Rugby Club, Tamworth Road, Lichfield WS14 9JE 

BAFA Division 1 North 

Doncaster Mustangs 

www.doncastermustangs.com 

Keepmoat Stadium, Stadium Way, Doncaster DN4 5JB 

Dundee Hurricanes 

www.dundeehurricanes.com 

Dawson Park, Dundee 

East Kilbride Pirates 

www.piratesfootball.co.uk 

Hamilton Rugby Club, Bent Road, Hamilton ML3 6QB 

Gateshead Senators 

www.gateshead-senators.co.uk 

Gateshead International Stadium, Neilson Road, Gateshead 

NE10 0EF 

Merseyside Nighthawks 

www.merseysidenighthawks.co.uk 

Formby Football Club, Altcar Road, Formby

Yorkshire Rams 

www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/?u=YORKSHIRERAMS&s 

=football&t=c 

Leeds Corinthians RUFC, Ring Road, Middleton, Leeds LS10 

4AX 

BAFA Division 2 East 

Bedfordshire Blue Raiders 

www.bedfordshireblueraiders.com 

www.facebook.com/Bedfordshireblueraiders 

twitter.com/BedsBlueRaiders 

Bedford International Athletics Stadium, Barkers Lane, Bedford 

MK41 9SH 

Essex Spartans 

www.essexspartans.co.uk 

twitter.com/EssexSpartans 

Hannakins Farm, Rosebay Avenue, Billericay, CM12 0SY 

Lincolnshire Bombers 

www.lincolnshirebombers.com 

Sultan Qaboos Pavilion, RAF Cranwell, Sleaford, Lincolnshire, 

NG34 8HB 

London Olympians 

www.olympiansfootball.org 

Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, Maberley Road, London 

SE19 2JH 

Maidstone Pumas 

www.pumasafc.co.uk 

New Line Learning Academy, Boughton Lane, Loose, Maidstone 

ME15 9QL 

Norwich Devils 

www.norwichdevils.com 


The Hewett School, Cecil Road, Norwich NR1 

BAFA Division 2 West 

Berkshire Renegades 

www.renegadesafc.com 

www.facebook.com/pages/Reading-United-Kingdom/Berkshire- 

Renegades-American-Football-Club/97814424333 

Palmer Park Stadium, Wokingham Road, Reading RG6 1LF 

Cornish Sharks 

www.cornishsharks.co.uk 

Newquay Sports Centre, Yeoman Way, Newquay TR7 2SL 

Gloucester Banshees 

www.gloucesterbanshees.com 

Oxstalls Tennis Centre, Plock Court, Tewkesbury Road, 

Gloucester GL2 9DW 

Hampshire Thrashers 

www.thrashers.org.uk 

Winchester Rugby Club, North Walls Park, Winchester SO23 

7EF 

Milton Keynes City Pathfinders 

www.mkcitypathfinders.co.uk 

twitter.com/mkpathfinders 

Bletchley Rugby Club, Manor Field, Bletchley, Milton Keynes 

MK2 2HX 

Watford Cheetahs 

www.watfordcheetahs.com 

Fullerians Rugby Club, Coningsby Drive, Watford WD17 3BD 

BAFA Division 2 North 

Clyde Valley Blackhawks 

www.blackhawksfootball.co.uk 

Beltane Playing Fields, Wishaw Sports Centre, Alexander Street, 

Wishaw ML2 0HQ 

Edinburgh Wolves 

www.edinburghwolves.com 

Meadowbank Stadium, London Road, Edinburgh EH7 6AE 

Glasgow Tigers 

www.tigersfootball.co.uk 

www.facebook.com/pages/Glasgow-Tigers-American- 

Football/112176064763?ref=nf 

twitter.com/tigersafc 

Lochinch Stadium, Pollock Country Park, Dumbreck Road, 

Glasgow G41 4SN 

Highland Wildcats 

www.invernessblitz.co.uk 

Bught Park, Bught Road, Inverness IV3 5SS 

West Coast Trojans 

www.west-coast-trojans.com 

King George V Playing Fields, Dean Park Road, Renfrew PA4 

Division 2 Central 

Chester Romans 

www.chesterromans.com 

www.facebook.com/chesterromans 

www.twitter.com/RomansFootball 

Chester Rugby Club, Hares Lane, Vicars Cross, Chester CH3 

7DB 

Hull Hornets 

www.hullhornets.webs.com 

Brantingham Park, Brantingham Road, Elloughton, Brough 

HU15 1HX 

Lancashire Wolverines 

www.wolverineden.com 

Blackburn Rugby Club, Ramsgreave Drive, Blackburn BB1 8NB 

Manchester Titans 

www.manchester-titans.co.uk 

twitter.com/manchestertitan 

Broughton Park Rugby Club, 2 Houghend Crescent, Chorlton, 

Manchester M21 7TA 

Sheffield Predators 

www.sheffieldpredators.com 

Westfield Sports Centre, Eckington Road, Sothall, Sheffield S20 

1HQ 

Shropshire Revolution 

www.shropshirerevolution.co.uk 

Oakengates Leisure Centre, New Road, Telford TF2 7AB 

Staffordshire Surge 

www.teamsurge.com 

Longton Rugby Club, Stanley Matthews way, Trentham Lakes, 

Stoke on Trent ST4 8GR 

NATIONAL 

GB Lions 

twitter.com/GBLions 

DIRECTORY 


81

DIRECTORY 

BAFA CL Team Directory 

BAFA Kitted Youth 

Birmingham Bulls 

www.birminghambulls.org/Pages/YouthTeamRoster.html 

Bolton Bulldogs 

Bristol Aztecs 

www.aztecsyouth.co.uk 

Cambridgeshire Cats 

Chester Romans 

www.chesterromans.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task 

=view&id=5&Itemid=12 

Clyde Valley Hawks 

Colchester Gladiators 

East Kent Mavericks 

www.ekmavericks.co.uk/index.php/youth-team 

Edinburgh Wolves 

www.edinburghwolves.com/junior.html 

Farnham Knights 

www.farnhamknights.com/youthteam.asp 

Forth Valley Fusion 

www.forthvalleyfootball.co.uk 

Gateshead Senators 


Highland Wildcats 

Kent Exiles 

www.kentexiles.co.uk/news.php?cat=Youth 

Lancashire Wolverine Colts 

www.wolverineden.com/index.php?option=com_content&view 

=category&layout=blog&id=41&Itemid=72 

Leeds Varsity Rams 

London Blitz 

www.londonblitz.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=ar 

ticle&id=201&Itemid=61 

London Warriors 

Maidstone Pumas 

Norwich Devils 

Peterborough Saxons 

Redditch Arrows 

Sheffield Tomahawks 

Staffordshire Surge 

www.gallowtech.co.uk/TeamSurge/youth/youth.asp 

Sussex Thunder 

Tamworth Phoenix 

www.tamworthfootball.com/Youth%2009.html 

Yorkshire Rams 


BAFA Adult Flag South 

Basingstoke Zombie Horde 

www.rollhorde.co.uk 

Chichester Sharks 

www.chichestersharks.co.uk 

Coventry Jets 

www.coventrygridiron.com 

War Memorial Park, Coventry 

Leicester Eagles 

www.leicestereagles.co.uk 

Home Ground: Belgrave Rugby Football Club, Thurcaston Road, 

Belgrave, Leicester LE4 2QG 

London Rebels 

www.londonrebels.com 

Wanstead Flats, Leytonstone, London 

South Wales Warriors 

St Albans Kings 


Westminster Lodge, Holywell Hill, St Albans 

Woodham Warriors Black 

www.woodhamwarriors.com 

Woodham Community Technology College, Newton Aycliffe, 

County Durham 

Woodham Warriors White 

Details as per Woodham Warriors Black 

BAFA Adult Flag North 

Aberdeen Oilcats 

www.aberdeenoilcats.com 

Carluke Cobras 

www.carlukecobras.co.uk 

Glasgow Hornets 

www.glasgow-hornets.com 

East End Healthy Living Centre, Crownpoint Road, Glasgow 


www.glasgowtigers.org.uk/Web_Pages/Flag/flag_Home.htm 

Grangemouth Broncos 

www.gobroncos.co.uk 

Inchyra Park, Inchyra Road, Grangemouth 

Kircaldy Bulls 

www.kirkcaldybulls.com 

Beveridge Park, Kirkcaldy 

Tayside Raptors 

www.taysideraptors.co.uk 

The North Inch, Perth

two ShotS from the PeterBorouGh SaxonS home Game with kent exiLeS, June 2010 

PhotoS © Garry neeSam 

DIRECTORY 


83

LEAGUE RESULTS 

BAFA League Results 

Here we provide the most up-to-date results at the 

time of publication. 

We will update the tables with each issue. 

BAFA Premiership 


04/07/2010 Farnham Knights 20 - 33 Bristol Aztecs 

04/7/2010 Sussex Thunder 0 - 55 London Blitz 

03/07/2010 Coventry Jets 34 - 0 London Cobras 

27/06/2010 Bristol Aztecs 31 - 19 Farnham Knights 

27/06/2010 London Blitz 76 - 0 Sussex Thunder 

20/06/2010 London Cobras 24 - 0 Farnham Knights 

20/06/2010 London Blitz 39 - 20 Coventry Jets 

13/6/2010 Farnham Knights 17 - 7 London Cobras 

06/06/2010 Bristol Aztecs 34 - 32 Coventry Jets 

06/06/2010 Sussex Thunder 7 - 14 Farnham Knights 

23/05/2010 Farnham Knights 6 - 54 London Blitz 

22/05/2010 Coventry Jets 14 - 39 Bristol Aztecs 

16/05/2010 Bristol Aztecs 34 - 2 Sussex Thunder 

09/05/2010 Farnham Knights 36 - 12 Sussex Thunder 

02/05/2010 Bristol Aztecs 15 - 14 London Cobras 

25/04/2010 London Blitz 14 - 7 London Cobras 

BAFA Division One 

Division 1 North 


04/07/2010 Doncaster Mustangs 14 - 11 Merseyside Nighthawks 

04/07/2010 East Kilbride Pirates 37 - 0 Yorkshire Rams 

27/06/2010 Gateshead Senators 44 - 6 Dundee Hurricanes 

27/06/2010 Doncaster Mustangs 6 - 35 Yorkshire Rams 

27/06/2010 Merseyside Nighthawks 13 - 14 East Kilbride Pirates 

20/06/2010 Merseyside Nighthawks 7 - 21 Dundee Hurricanes 

06/06/2010 Dundee Hurricanes 2 - 13 Merseyside Nighthawks 

06/06/2010 East Kilbride Pirates 26 - 6 Doncaster Mustangs 

06/06/2010 Yorkshire Rams 19 - 0 Gateshead senators 

30/05/2010 Dundee Hurricanes 0 - 33 East Kilbride Pirates 

30/02/2010 Gateshead Senators 16 - 14 Yorkshire Rams 

23/05/2010 Doncaster Mustangs 7 - 27 East Kilbride Pirates 

16/05/2010 Merseyside Nighthawks 15 - 20 Gateshead Senators 

09/05/2010 Dundee Hurricanes 6 - 58 Yorkshire Rams 

09/05/2010 Gateshead Senators 6 - 34 East Kilbride Pirates 

02/05/2010 Dundee Hurricanes 20 - 28 Gateshead Senators 

02/05/2010 Merseyside Nighthawks 2 - 14 Doncaster Mustangs 

25/04/2010 Gateshead Senators 25 - 0 Merseyside Nighthawks 


BAFA Divisi 

Division 1 South West 

Date Home 

04/07/2010 Tamworth Phoenix 

27/06/2010 Oxford Saints 


20/06/2010 Leicester Falcons 

20/06/2010 South Wales Warriors 

13/06/2010 Nottingham Caesars 








16/05/2010 Birmingham Bulls 




25/04/2010 Birmingham Bulls 


Division 1 South East 

Date Home 

04/07/2010 Peterborough Saxons 

27/06/2010 Cambridgeshire cats 

20/06/2010 East Kent Mavericks 

20/06/2010 Ipswich Cardinals 

13/06/2010 Colchester Gladiators 

13/06/2010 Kent Exiles 



30/05/2010 Cambridgeshire cats 




23/05/2010 Ipswich Cardinals 


16/05/2010 Cambridgeshire Cats 

02/05/2010 Colchester Gladiators 


25/04/2010 Cambridgeshire Cats

on One 

Score Away 

42 - 20 Leicester Falcons 

48 - 20 Nottingham Caesars 

28 - 0 Birmingham Bulls 

3 - 19 Oxford Saints 


3 - 47 Tamworth Phoenix 








6 - 12 South Wales Warriors 


7 - 0 South Wales Warriors 




Score Away 

6 - 20 Ipswich Cardinals 

45 - 13 Kent Exiles 

6 - 44 Cambridgeshire Cats 

34 - 0 Colchester Gladiators 

34 - 22 East Kent Mavericks 









6 - 0 Peterborough Saxons 


10 - 7 Peterborough Saxons 



BAFA Division Two 


Division 2 North 


04/07/2010 Glasgow Tigers 8 - 8 West Coast Trojans 

03/07/2010 Edinburgh Wolves 7 - 0 Clyde Valley Blackhawks 

27/06/2010 West Coast Trojans 56 - 40 Clyde Valley Blackhawks 

27/06/2010 Glasgow Tigers 47 - 15 Highland Wildcats 

20/06/2010 Clyde Valley Blackhawks 13 - 15 Edinburgh Wolves 

20/06/2010 West Coast Trojans 20 - 48 Highland Wildcats 

13/06/2010 Edinburgh Wolves 19 - 14 Glasgow Tigers 

06/06/2010 Highland Wildcats 20 - 32 Clyde Valley Blackhawks 

30/05/2010 Edinburgh Wolves 16 - 10 Chester Romans 

30/05/2010 Sheffield Predators 0 - 6 Glasgow Tigers 

23/05/2010 West Coast Trojans 26 - 6 Edinburgh Wolves 

16/05/2010 Chester Romans 39 - 12 Highland Wildcats 

16/05/2020 Clyde Valley Blackhawks 26 - 12 West Coast Trojans 

09/05/2010 Glasgow Tigers 12 - 7 Shropshire Revolution 

08/05/2010 Edinburgh Wolves 22 - 13 Highland Wildcats 

25/04/2010 Highland Wildcats 20 - 14 Edinburgh Wolves 

Division 2 Central 


04/07/2010 Lancashire Wolverines 24 - 0 Staffordshire Surge 

04/07/2010 Sheffield Predators 0 - 28 Shropshire Revolution 

27/06/2010 Manchester Titans 34 - 6 Chester Romans 

27/06/2010 Staffordshire Surge 6 - 43 Shropshire Revolution 

20/06/2010 Shropshire Revolution 25 - 9 Staffordshire Surge 

20/06/2010 Sheffield Predators 0 - 47 Lancashire Wolverines 

13/06/2010 Lancashire Wolverines 7 - 0 Chester Romans 

06/06/2010 Shropshire Revolution 48 - 12 Sheffield Predators 

30/05/2010 Edinburgh Wolves 16 - 0 Chester Romans 

30/05/2010 Manchester Titans 36 - 20 Shropshire Revolution 

30/05/2010 Sheffield Predators 0 - 6 Glasgow Tigers 

23/05/2010 Hull Hornets 0 - 30 Lancashire Wolverines 

23/05/2010 Sheffield Predators 6 - 10 Staffordshire Surge 

23/05/2010 Hull Hornets 0 - 30 Lancashire Wolverines 

16/05/2010 Chester Romans 39 - 12 Highland Wildcats 

09/05/2010 Manchester Titans 26 - 12 Lancashire Wolverines 

09/05/2010 Glasgow Tigers 12 - 7 Shropshire Revolution 

09/05/2010 Chester Romans 19 - 0 Sheffield Predators 

02/05/2010 Staffordshire Surge 29 - 0 Sheffield Predators 

25/04/2010 Staffordshire Surge 13 - 6 Hull Hornets 

18/04/2010 Shropshire Revolution 15 - 10 Lancashire Wolverines 


85


BAFA Division Two 

Division 2 West 


27/06/2010 Hampshire Thrashers 17 - 15 Milton Keynes Pathfinders 

20/06/2010 Watford Cheetahs 6 - 21 Berkshire Renegades 

20/06/2010 Milton Keynes Pathfinders 0 - 16 Cornish Sharks 

13/06/2010 Berkshire Renegades 29 - 0 Gloucester Banshees 

13/06/2010 Cornish Sharks 66 - 3 Milton Keynes Pathfinders 

06/06/2010 Gloucester Banshees 28 - 6 Cornish Sharks 

06/06/2010 Hampshire Thrashers 16 - 13 Berkshire Renegades 

30/05/2010 Berkshire Renegades 40 - 3 Watford Cheetahs 

30/05/2010 Milton Keynes Pathfinders 0 - 29 Hampshire Thrashers 

23/05/2010 Hampshire Thrashers 36 - 6 Gloucester Banshees 

22/05/2010 Berkshire Renegades 20 - 0 Cornish Sharks 

16/05/2010 Cornish Sharks 14 - 27 Watford Cheetahs 

09/02/2010 Gloucester Banshees 12 - 41 Hampshire Thrashers 

09/05/2010 Milton Keynes Pathfinders 9 - 24 Berkshire Renegades 

02/05/2010 Cornish Sharks 10 - 13 Hampshire Thrashers 

02/05/2010 Gloucester Banshees 2 -39 Watford Cheetahs 

25/04/2010 Milton Keynes Pathfinders 8 - 28 Watford Cheetahs 

Division 2 East 


04/07/2010 Lincolnshire Bombers 0 - 18 Bedfordshire Blue Raiders 

04/07/2010 Norwich Devils 0 - 33 Essex Spartans 

20/06/2010 Essex Spartans 61 - 0 Lincolnshire Bombers 

13/06/2010 Bedfordshire Blue raiders 39 - 0 Lincolnshire Bombers 

13/06/2010 Essex Spartans 7 - 33 London Olympians 

06/06/2010 Maidstone Pumas 2 - 47 Essex Spartans 

30/05/2010 Essex Spartans 23 - 6 Bedfordshire Blue Raiders 

30/05/2010 Lincolnshire Bombers 0 - 58 London Olympians 

30/05/2010 Norwich Devils 26 - 0 Maidstone Pumas 

23/05/2010 Essex Spartans 25 - 0 Maidstone Pumas 

16/05/2010 London Olympians 46 - 0 Essex Spartans 

16/05/2010 Maidstone Pumas 18 - 8 Lincolnshire Bombers 

16/05/2020 Bedfordshire Blue Raiders 20 - 6 Norwich Devils 

09/05/2010 London Olympians 36 - 0 Norwich Devils 

02/05/2010 Essex Spartans 0 - 6 Norwich Devils 

02/05/2010 London Olympians 47 - 7 Lincolnshire Bombers 

02/05/2010 Maidstone Pumas 0 - 8 Bedfordshire Blue Raiders 

25/04/2010 London Olympians 32 - 6 Bedfordshire Blue Raiders 


Youth North 

Date Home 

04/07/2010 Lancashire Wolverines 

27/06/2010 Gateshead Senators 

26/06/2010 Leeds Varsity Bobcats 

20/06/2010 Lanarkshire Longhorns 

13/06/2010 Manchester Titans 

12/06/2010 Lanarkshire Longhorns 

30/05/2010 Gateshead senators 


23/05/2010 Lancashire Wolverines 


25/04/2010 Gateshead Senators 

Youth South 

Date Home 

04/07/2010 Farnham Knights 

04/07/2010 Reading Rebels 

20/06/2010 London Warriors 


13/06/2010 Bristol Aztecs 

06/06/2010 Hampshire Thrashers 

30/05/2010 Farnham Knights 

23/05/2010 Hampshire Thrashers 


02/05/2010 Bristol Aztecs 


25/04/2010 London Blitz 

BAFA

Youth 

Score Away 

21 - 0 Gateshead Senators 

8 - 30 Lanarkshire Longhorns 

28 - 6 Manchester Titans 


3 - 26 Lancashire Wolverines 

24 - 28 Leeds Varsity Bobcats 



16 - 6 Lanarkshire Longhorns 


8 - 12 Manchester Titans 

Score Away 

46 - 14 Hampshire Thrashers 

0 - 46 Bristol Aztecs 

0 - 22 Farnham Knights 

6 - 48 London Blitz 

14 - 6 Farnham Knights 

0 - 17 Reading Rebels 


6 - 46 London Warriors 

0 - 16 Bristol Aztecs 



40237 London Warriors 

BAFA Youth 


Youth Central 


27/06/2010 Tamworth Phoenix 58 - 9 Coventry Jets 

20/06/2010 Tamworth Phoenix 26 - 6 Birmingham Bulls 

13/06/2010 Nottingham Caesars 8 - 37 Tamworth Phoenix 

06/06/2010 Sheffield Tomahawks 56 - 0 Birmingham Bulls 

23/05/2010 Nottingham Caesars 16 - 40 Sheffield Tomahawks 

22/05/2010 Coventry Jets 28 - 24 Birmingham bulls 

09/05/2010 Sheffield Tomahawks 46 - 0 Tamworth Phoenix 

02/05/2010 Tamworth Phoenix 22 - 6 Nottingham Caesars 

Youth East 


04/07/2010 Colchester Gladiators 1 - 0 South London Renegades 

27/06/2010 South London Renegades 0 - 1 Peterborough Saxons 

27/06/2010 Cambridgeshire cats 6 - 18 Kent Exiles 

20/06/2010 East Kent Mavericks 78 - 0 South London Renegades 

13/062010 Colchester Gladiators 24 - 0 East Kent Mavericks 

13/06/2010 Peterborough Saxons 0 - 32 Cambridgeshire Cats 

06/06/2010 South London Renegades 0 - 36 East Kent Mavericks 

30/05/2010 Kent Exiles 6 - 32 Colchester Gladiators 

23/05/2010 Kent Exiles 14 - 14 Cambridgeshire Cats 

16/05/2010 Cambridgeshire Cats 10 - 0 East Kent Mavericks 

16/05/2010 South London Renegades 0 - 76 Colchester Gladiators 

09/05/2010 Peterborough Saxons 8 - 18 Kent Exiles 

02/05/2010 Colchester Gladiators 0 - 0 Peterborough Saxons 

25/04/2010 Cambridgeshire Cats 0 - 14 Colchester Gladiators 


87


BAFA Flag 

Flag North 


03/07/2010 Glasgow Hornets 12 - 13 Glasgow Tigers 

19/06/2010 Tayside Raptors 13 - 64 Carluke Cobras 

13/06/2010 Carluke Cobras 26 - 18 Glasgow Hornets 

05/06/2010 Grangemouth Broncos 30 - 41 Aberdeen Oilcats 

02/06/2010 Glasgow Hornets 49 - 24 Grangemouth Broncos 

02/06/2010 Glasgow Hornets 20 - 18 Tayside Raptors 

23/05/2010 Carluke Cobras 25 - 52 Kirkcaldy Bulls 

23/05/2010 Glasgow Tigers 12 - 53 Kirkcaldy Bulls 

23/05/2010 Carluke Cobras 50 - 12 Glasgow Tigers 

09/05/2010 Kirkcaldy Bulls 77 - 19 Glasgow Hornets 

09/05/2010 Kirkcaldy Bulls 52 - 13 Grangemouth Broncos 

28/04/2010 Glasgow Hornets 12 - 45 Kirkcaldy Bulls 

24/04/2010 Grangemouth Broncos 20 - 60 Kirkcaldy Bulls 

24/04/2010 Grangemouth Broncos 33 - 47 Glasgow Tigers 

24/04/2010 Kirkcaldy Bulls 104 - 0 Glasgow Tigers 

Flag South 


27/06/2010 Coventry Jets 13 - 32 Chichester Sharks 

27/06/2010 South Wales Warriors 54 - 0 Coventry Jets 

27/06/2010 South Wales Warriors 32 - 33 Chichester Sharks 

20/06/2010 Chichester Sharks 31 - 13 South Wales Warriors 

20/06/2010 Woodham Warriors Black 7 - 34 London Rebels 

20/06/2010 Woodham Warriors Black 20 - 33 South Wales Warriors 

20/06/2010 Woodham Warriors White 20 - 34 London Rebels 

20/06/2010 Woodham Warriors White 26 - 18 Chichester Sharks 

13/06/2010 Coventry Jets 19 - 25 South Wales Warriors 

13/06/2010 Chichester Sharks 20 - 21 Woodham Warriors White 

13/06/2010 Coventry Jets 26 - 14 Woodham Warriors Black 

13/06/2010 Woodham Warriors White 0 - 40 South Wales Warriors 

13/06/2010 Chichester Sharks 31 - 20 Woodham Warriors White 

06/06/2010 London Rebels 35 - 26 South Wales Warriors 

06/06/2010 London Rebels 24 - 34 Chichester Sharks 

06/06/2010 Basingstoke Zombie Horde 33 - 36 Chichester Sharks 

30/05/2010 Woodham Warriors Black 13 - 27 Chichester Sharks 

30/05/2010 Coventry Jets 25 - 40 Basingstoke Zombie Horde 

30/05/2010 Leicester Eagles 0 - 19 Woodham Warriors White 

30/05/2010 London Rebels 34 - 40 Basingstoke Zombie Horde 

30/05/2010 Woodham Warriors Black 26 - 47 Woodham Warriors White 

30/05/2010 Leicester Eagles 12 - 7 Chichester Sharks 

30/05/2010 London Rebels 32 - 24 Coventry Jets 

23/05/2010 South Wales warriors 21 - 13 London Rebels 

09/05/2010 Woodham Warriors White 49 - 13 Woodham Warriors Black 

09/05/2010 Woodham Warriors Black 34 - 35 Leicester Eagles 

09/05/2010 Leicester Eagles 27 - 25 Coventry Jets 

09/05/2010 Woodham Warriors White 50 - 0 Coventry Jets 


Junior North 

Date Home 

26/06/2010 Sheffield Tomahawks 



19/06/2010 Chorley Buccaneers 


19/06/2010 Woodham Warriors 



05/06/2010 Balby Carr Mustangs 

05/06/2010 Burnley Tornadoes 





22/05/2010 Bolton Bulldogs 





22/05/2010 Balby Carr Mustangs 







Junior South 

Date Home 

19/06/2010 Coventry Jets 





22/05/2010 London Blitz 










BAFA

Junior 

Score Away 

0 - 1 Chorley Buccaneers 

0 - 1 Balby Carr Mustangs 

0 - 1 Bolton Bulldogs 

1 - 0 Sheffield Tomahawks 



1 - 0 Sheffield Tomahawks 





31 - 8 Burnley Tornadoes 



26 - 38 Burnley Tornadoes 



21 - 46 Woodham Warriors 



C - C Woodham Warriors 


C - C Sheffield Tomahawks 


C - C Sheffield Tomahawks 


Score Away 



23 - 7 Marlow Wolfpack 











19 - 21 Coventry Jets 


two ShotS from the GB LionS -v- Sweden Game in JuLy 2009 

PhotoS © John SinGer 



89

Thanks to our 

contributing photographers 

Please visit our photographers’ websites where you can see more stunning American 

football shots plus lots of other stuff. While you’re there please leave a comment or sign 

their guestbook, it only takes a few seconds but leaves a warm glow of appreciation of their 

efforts. 

Dan Aitch 

www.photoboxgallery/danh_photos 

Garry Neesam 

www.glnphotography.com 

www.neesam.com/photography/gallery-sport-index-1.html 

John Singer 

www.colchestergladiators.org.uk 

Kevin Gedny 

www.kevingednyphotography.co.uk 

Leigh Morris 

www.leighmorrisphotography.co.uk 

Neil Biggs 

www.flickr.com/photos/violentsilence 

There are plenty of opportunities within the pages of “Inside American Football” for photographers to show their work; 

whether it’s a whole feature on you as a photographer in ‘Photographers in Focus’ or team-specific articles, match reports, 

full page spreads or specific requests for certain subjects. 

We can’t pay for any contributions but we can get your work out to the whole British American Football community & 

beyond. You should send ideas to the editor via email at editor@insideamericanfootball.com in the first instance. 

Most of our contributing photographers are members of the American Football Imagery Association via our Facebook Group 

which can be found at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=38580203329. This is also a place where we put requests 

out for magazine content. You can also see us at our online Discussion Forum: 

http://www.insideamericanfootball.com/forum 



91

Inside American Football 

July 2010 

www.insideamericanfootball.com

1 July 2010 - Inside American Football

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