We here at Full10Yards are always looking for ways to support the game in all formats in the UK. Whether it’s helping budding coaches and officials through our FlyingTheFlag Scheme or sponsorship of Britball teams such as Sandwell Steelers, Merseyside Nighthawks and Crewe Railroaders.
We are proud to say we have once agian made a sizeable contribution for the sport in this country.
On this occasion, we have donated £450 to help provide equipment for taster sessions and help Wheelchair American Football in this country get going off the ground.
Wheelchair American Football Commission Lead at British American Football Association (BAFA Official) had this to say:
“We are truly grateful for the generous donation of the equipment we need to run our taster sessions, and the events we will be attending nationwide. Thanks to The Full 10 Yards we are fully equipped to enable us to grow Wheelchair American Football here in the UK.”
Make sure you are on the lookout for future projects coming up, and don’t forget, just around the corner will be our NFL Draft Scouting Reports guide, coming out very shortly indeed, something which helps make our donations to such great causes in this country possible.
As the curtain draws on the 2021 for pretty much everyone but Scotland, I just want to take this opportunity to say thank you to every single one of you that have read 1,2 or all 14 of my weekly previews and recaps. It’s been a scramble to try and provide anything more than the results and the context of the divisions. Hopefully it’s been an interesting read, I’ll hopefully increase more interviews/podcasts to fill in the void and will also try and do a division in review for each of the divisions.
If you want to help with this by providing me with any stats for players on any team or some quotes if you are a head coach or co-ordinator, that would be much appreciated. Similarly, if you want to represent your team and get a bit of air time, please get in touch on Twitter (@F10YBritball), Instagram (@Full10yards) or our Facebook page and we’ll get an interview recorded.
Let’s get the sneaky fixture out of the way, where Tamworth and London Blitz played a secret exhibition game. Low scoring game but the Blitz take it. A marker laid down ahead of 2022.
In the known, scheduled fixtures, some really strange results showing up on the results sheet.
The most surprising result probably comes in Scotland where the Clyde Valley Blackhawks snatch a win against the Dumfries Hunters. Dumfries looked to be streaking ahead in the Saltire division and Clyde Valley have not given much indication thus far that a victory was incoming. Home comforts and some stout defence gets them their first win of the year and potentially opens up the division a little.
In the White Rose, the results swung the way of the gods in enabling us to absolutely without a shadow of a doubt be able to congratulate the Yorkshire Rams and 1st year Head Coach Jason Shaw on the undefeated season and the division win. It needed a win from them, which they did by a solitary point. The Giants were driving inside the 2 minute warning but Tyler Broad said “NOT ON MY WATCH” with the game clinching interception for the Rams. Conor Moran with the crucial 2pt successful try midway through the 4th quarter the decisive and solitary point deciding the fixture. This was despite a penalty being enforced on the 2pt try.
4️⃣ 4th Quarter 🤦🏻♀️ 1st 2-point attempt pulled back for a holding penalty 1️⃣ Down by a point 😬 Double covered 🏆 Undefeated season on the line
No problem for #81
See full highlights of the game on our YouTube channel!#BetterNeverStops
In the shock result of the division, the Knottingley Raiders out of absolutely nowhere defeat the Humber Warhawks. The Humber Warhawks have been one of the more impressive teams this year with their results posted prior to this game. I was unable to find anything on socials from either side apart from the touchdown scorers for the Raiders – Alex Woffenden, Andy Lund, Johnny Smith and Stu Kain. With the dust settling on the White Rose division, the Rams loss column remains unchanged and they take the division. The games played column looks messier than a 3 year old’s bedroom, however.
Continuing with the surprise result theme, it was an eyerbrow raising result in the Thames Valley which saw the London Hornets smash the Blitz B 34-6. That was just the Hornets’ second win which condemns Blitz B to a losing record in 2021 at 3-4-1 and only scoring single digit figures in their last 2 games to end the season. Elsewhere in the division, the Stallions got over their division deciding loss to the Cheetahs by getting the job done up in Oxford. Oxford started the season off with 2 close defeats but from then on, losing margins of between in the 20-30pt area means they have a few things to conjour up on the drawing board in the offseason. This game was close until the 4th quarter, where Stallions defence grabbed two interceptions, returning both back to the house. It seemed to be a theme in the game as there were a total of 4 pick sixes and the added cherry on the top was a punt return score too. Dan Symons seemingly the only scorer on the offence for either side, which takes some doing.
The Essex Spartans gained more retribution for their game 2 defeat against the East Essex Sabres, which was their only blemish on their 2021 record. It would have been a shutout if it were not for the last play of the game in which the Sabres score. Alex McLachan with a score for the Spartans making it 40-0 at the time and was also previously successful for a 2pt try. A promising season for the Sabres all things considered and will look to build upon this in the SFC 2 East in 2022.
They’ll likely be joined there again by the East Kent Mavericks and they signed off their season with a comprehensive victory over the South East Squadron. Scorers were 4 TD’s for Tyrrell Bovelle, 1 for Lewis James, Andrew Johnson and a pick 6 for Nick Mayer.
Staying East, the Norwich Devils sign off with 3 straight wins as they improved to 4-4 on the season and rescued themselves from a losing record. A slight surprise they were able to defeat and even more so, shutout, the Colchester Gladiators. Norwich just had 1 defeat at home to runaway division winners Cambridgeshire and will have to work on their away performances for 2022.
Heading due west, the Birmingham Bulls and Swindon Storm played out a 30-30 draw. The Bulls took an age to get going in this one, having a deficit of 17 pts to overcome and even had to go 94 yards on their final drive to tie it up in the 4th.
The Bristol Apache kept the Somerset offence out of their endzone but their offence gave up the 2pts for the first points in the game but were comfortable in their 26-2 win in the South West. The Wyverns though, have their first winning season in the national league so plenty of positives to take in to next year Torbay possibly enjoyed their last game, putting up 30 points. Cornwall put up 50 of their own however and the Trojans’ horrid season can now have a line drawn through it after giving up almost 350 points on defence.
In the Central East, I predicted a tie in the game between the Bombers and the Lightning for the 5 fixture prediction competition, I was far away! A low scorer was predicable and it turned out that way. The Bombers. Ryan Wakeling with all the points for the Bombers. Thank you to the Bombers social team for their light hearted fun on Socials during game days.
Talking of fun twitter accounts, The Nottingham Caesers complete their undefeated season but were made to work hard for it by Northants Knights. The Caesers were stout to the very last minute, keeping out Northants when they had 1st and goal from the 1 deep inside two minute warning, which may have been a more crucial stand had the knights not missed an earlier field goal. They also report that their O-line have not given up a single sack in 2021, so kudos to the guys in the trenches. Also, best wishes to the Caesers defender that was taken in the ambulance.
Another team achieving their unbeaten season, which they would have expected to do, was the Manchester Titans. Another battering of another team saw them win 54-6 against the Merseyside Nighthawks. Business as usual for Sam Bloomfield and co. Sam joined the Britballing Vodcast if you want to get his thoughts on the season. Their social media team say they have some exciting news to divulge in a few weeks on Twitter, so eyes peeled!
In a closer game, the Darlington Steam extracted revenge on the Gateshead Senators for their earlier season defeat as they squeeze out a victory at home. The Senators were driving with the final possession and took a batted pass down to seal the victory. Rob Carey with the credit for the batted down pass. The Steam leapfrog Gateshead into 2nd place at the finish line in the division.
In the game I had the pleasure of watching, well, after my meltdown and turning up to the wrong venue initially, saw the Solent Thrashers beat the Rushmoor Knights. More turnovers in this one than a Greggs at a services stop. Rushmoor ran the ball very well but Solent were quite plucky and took the opportunities presented to them. Plenty of missed Extra points and a few plays here or there and this one would have been a bit closer. Head over to our Twitter for some of the plays and live tweeting on the gameflow. Shout out to QB Coach Gibbs for the Thrashers who looked straight through me when i went over to say hi!
Rounding us off, two teams that have huffed and puffed without blowing the house down played in a cross divisional game. The Crewe Railroaders secure the victory and I’m delighted to report that our sponsored player for the year Hus Roberts, scored his first touchdown and secured his first taste of the endzone in this one. He’s had 4 previous TDs called back for penalty so I wouldn’t be surprised if he waited a few seconds before celebrating. Congrats pal.
Predictions – This week saw my worst effort with only 9 correct predictions from 17 matches. 165/209 on the season takes me just under 80% where i’ve been all season. Waiting to hear if I have won the 5 fixture prediction competition, keep an eye on socials for that!
Photographer of the week: Chris Bradley
Chris went to see the entertaining game between Nottingham and Northants and came up with some cracking pictures.
Thanks again for reading, that’s pretty much it for the majority of the Britball world and attention for some will revert to Uniball. If there is anyone out there that wants to help cover American Football in this country, please let me know! We’ll be making more announcements regarding our Flying the Flag scheme and getting more of you qualified in coach or officiating.
Here are, pretty much the final week (Scotland apart) of Britball action and i suppose it should be commended that we have 17 fixtures to play.
If you are heading to the Rushmoor game, I will be heading down too to get my taste of Britball action. Come say hello! If not, i’ll try and post drive updates and some highlights when teams are in the Redzone.
Let’s get to the games then and technically, this is a division decider between Manchester Titans (5-0) and Merseyside Nighthawks (4-1). The previous fixture ended up 42-10 to the Titans and the Titans have a huge point difference advantage. It’s been an absolute pleasure sponsoring the Nighthawks so far this year so we’ll be rooting for them to pull off a huge upset. Titans with a win confirm a perfect season.
Talking of perfect season, Solent have taken on all comers this year, whether it be in the Wessex division or the London division and they finish off with a trip up the M3 to face Rushmoor. have to anticipate another victory for the Thrashers and have been one of the standout teams this year. Looking forward to going to watch this one between two decent outfits. Maybe I’ll win photographer of the week :).
The top two teams in the South East do battle and from what I can see in the standings, this also could be a division decider. A win for East Essex would make them 6-2, making Essex 5-2 and East Essex would have 2 wins over Essex’s 1 in the direct head to head but also a better win percentage, purely based on the fact that there would be a difference in games played. It would help if BAFA’s standing and results were totally up to date and using my mind is never a reliable source of information.
Elsewhere in the division, South East Squadron will look to pull off another upset as they face the East Kent Mavericks. Squadron beat the East Essex Sabres in their last match by a 9-8 scoreline. Both the Squadron’s wins have come at home and this week they are travelling to try and score victory on the road.
The Wyverns, one of the more impressive teams this year travel to Bristol to face the Apache, they’ll be taking their good form in to this one hoping to cause an upset. 28-6 scoreline in the corresponding fixture in favour of the Apache so could be a close one. Apache looking to complete their perfect season.
The Cornwall Monarchs will remain in 3rd place no matter the result this week and they face Torbay, who’ll be looking to add to their 16 points scored in 2021 at the very least. The Monarchs are currently -11 in points difference, so there is a small carrot dangling there to make that a positive come the final whistle.
Staying in the west, the Birmingham Bulls travel to Swindon to face the Storm. Birmingham ran the Leicester Falcons close last week in a cross divisional game and the corresponding fixture resulted in a 10pt win for the Bulls last time out.
We have a tasty clash in the White Rose as the Sheffield Giants travel to face the Yorkshire Rams. Sheffield have spent about as much time on the field as I have spent in the gym (very little), with 4 cancelled games and the previous fixtures against the Rams abandoned, consequently, the Giants on have 2 wins from their 2 finished games, even with one of those being against a Red Rose opponent in the Nighthawks. Yorkshire themselves are also unbeaten in 4 games. A win for Yorkshire would see them ascend to the top of the division, supplanting Humber Warhawks if they lose to the Knottingley Raiders. Whichever way you look at it the table is a bit of a mess. 2021 Britball in a nutshell. Humber have been another team that have impressed this season, with their only loss coming to Yorkshire.
Wembley will be looking to put their divisional loss and their first loss of the season last week against the Cheetahs behind them as they finish off with a trip to Oxford. Can the Saints capitalise on a Stallions team potentially licking their wounds or will they get trampled on? Saints looking for that elusive win in 2021. Last fixture finished 23-0 to the Stallions.
Staying in the Thames Valley, the London Hornets travel to face the Blitz B. The Hornets were stung themselves last time these two faced off and were unable to penetrate the endzone, losing 24-0 but the Hornets’ games this year have been fairly competitive and their 1-4-1 record perhaps undersells their efforts in 2021 27 and 24 on two occasions the highest amounts of points they have allowed this year. If you like your symmetry, the Blitz B are 1-1-1 at home and 2-2 away. OCD fans, don’t look at their standings on Monday.
Let’s move to the Central East division, where Nottingham (5-0) have the division all sewn up, at least i think they do. They host the impressive Northants Knights (5-2) in the final game as its a 1st vs 2nd place clash. A win for Northants would give them more wins (6), but the Caesers would have a better win pct. Ahh who knows anymore. Let’s hope Nottingham win for the ease of reporting on that come Tuesday.
The Lincolnshire Bombers play their first game for a month as they face off against the South Lincolnshire Lightning, a game that finished 7-0 last time out. Could be another one for the purists as the curtain comes down on both of these 1-4 teams. Losers takes the wooden spoon here in a division that has had some decent scraps and a lot of defence.
In the Hadrians, Gateshead will look to confirm superiority over the Darlington Steam after defeating the Steam 28-6 last time out. A win for Darlington should leapfrog them over Gateshead into 2nd place in the division too, again with different games played. There’s a theme here, isn’t there.
An exception rather than the rule division-wise is the East Anglia division where the fixture between the Norwich Devils and Colchester Gladiators sees one of the rare occurrences where all fixtures have been completed. All 5 teams have played 8 games, so hats off to you guys! At least we’ll have one division where all games played are equal. both teams will stay exactly where they are regardless of the result, unless Colchester win by about 100. But even then, it might come down to H2H rather than points differential, becuase if you hadnt have guessed by now, I don’t bloody know the tiebreaker order.
Crewe Railroaders and Leigh Miners would have been waiting all season for this game as the winner here gets their first win of the season in this post season game. Leigh have had a rough set of fixtures well out of their depth in the Red Rose and hopefully this game here presents a more competitive outcome. Like Merseyside, been a joy to sponsor Crewe this year as they have had a baptism of fire in the Mercia, let’s hope both teams score a decent amount of points and end on a positive note as they head in to the offseason.
Finishing off in Scotland, Dumfries have a chance to give themselves further daylight in the Saltire division. They travel to the Blackhawks, who have not pulled up many trees so far this year. Dumfries would have a 2 game lead with a win after all teams in the division have played 4 games.
Predictions below for the final week of games for if not all of England and Wales. I hope you have enjoyed the previews and results recap posts. I’ll continue to do what I can when the Scottish leagues take over. though with only a few games each week and little information to go off, i’ll play it by ear. I’ll continue to get teams on the podcast, looking back over the season. If you or your team want to come on, please give us a shout on the socials (@F10YBritball).
With the season winding down, we have some teams that have played their last fixture this weekend and we have a division or two which has crowned their champion. Cant quite decide if the state of Britball is/was to be expected taking in to account the state of some divisions and teams, I guess it was inevitable to get the state of play that we have.
If you would like to see our podcast this week with the Bournemouth Bobcats, arguable one of the teams of the season (I’ll do an awards post at some point, perhaps), you can find it here:
A debacle in East Kent it seems as an officiating issue caused their game with the Essex Spartans to be cancelled.
The other fixture was able to go ahead and that saw the East Essex Sabres return to winning ways as they get the job done against the Sussex Thunderbolts. Sabres indicated on their Facebook post they were low on numbers so hats off to those potentially going ironman for that game. They are now 5-2 as they head into their last game in week 14 against Essex.
In the Wessex division, Bournemouth finish their positive season at 5-3 and will sit 2nd when the dust settles in the division due to their Head to Head record over Rushmoor…and the fact Rushmoor wont play the same number of games. For Solent, their quest for the unbeaten season travels up the M3 to Farnham to play Rushmoor in week 14. Congratulations to Solent for clinching the division with a game to spare.
Further congratulations go to the Hertfordshire Cheetahs as they defeated the Wembley Stallions in a back and forth game to determine the Thames Valley division champions. Extracting revenge for week 1’s opening defeat sees Wembley suffer their first and only defeat of the season in heartbreaking fashion. 69% (nice) of you voted correctly in our twitter poll so well done to you too, though you have to think it’s perhaps Coach Barnes and all his burner accounts :). From what I gather, they’ll return to SFC 1 Central (assuming divisions revert back to 2019) and they’ll look to push on for a Prem South place in 2022. Wembley did hold a 20-14 lead in this one but just couldn’t see it out.
Staying near the nation’s capital, we saw all teams in action in the London division. The London Warriors eeked out a close victory against the London Blitz. Have no idea of numbers or game flow because….well you know why. What i do know is Blitz held a 12-0 lead in the early goings in that one. The other fixture saw the Kent Exiles finally get over the line and win their first game of the season and battered the London O’s deserved victory considering the toughness Kent have played by and shown this year. Exiles were in the lead early and in cruise control throughout. they were 21-0 up within the first 5 minutes after TDs from their defence on a muffed punt, a James Cook TD and a TD from short field after recovering a fumble. Olympians not able to recover from some key injuries throughout and everything fell right for Kent for once this year.
In East Anglia, Congratulations to the Cambridgeshire Cats who secured their undefeated season and the division Crown as they beat the Ipswich Cardinals in comprehensive fashion. Cats opened up with two rushing scores before QB Mark Rivett grabbed the spotlight with (count them!) at least 6 TD passes, a couple hauled in by Ryan Smith in the 2nd half. A Rivett-ing performance. I bet that isn’t the first time Mark has heard that.
Cambridgeshire seemingly getting stronger as the weeks went on increasing their average points scored in the last few weeks. Worth noting as well that only on one occasion did a team post more than 12 points on the Cats’ defence and had 5 out of 8 games where they either posted a shutout or single digits points given up. On the Ipswich side, I’m glad I could end their season on a correct, albeit comfortable prediction.
The other fixture in the division saw the Colchester Gladiators show no mercy to the Ouse Valley Eagles, who will probably be happy to see the end of the 2021 season. Last few weeks in the lead up saw the Eaagles score some points, but not to be as the curtain draws on a goose egg. Let’s hope they can regroup and go again in 2022.
Business as usual in the Central East as wins for Northants Knights and Nottingham Caesers over the Lincs Lightning and Scunthorpe Alphas respectively. The two best teams in an intriguing division coming on strong for the majority of these season and the Caesers will look to achieve perfection in their final game against Northant. Congrats to Coach Lawless and the guys in Nottingham who caught the eye this year and will be looking forward to seeing them do battle again in 2022 with some strong opposition potentially in the NFC 1 South. For the two defeated teams, there are definitely some positives to take away from 2021 and they’ll be fully fledged outfits come the divisional alignment next year and likely facing off against one another next year.
Moving up to the Hadrians division, and the Yorkshire Rams put up 69 (nice!) on offence and their defence put up an even better number posting a shutout against a fiesty Doncaster team this season. Tyler Broad with a kick return back to the house as well as a score on offence in a good day for him. Same comments apply to Connor Moran who also had a couple of scores through the air. The signs were great out of the gate with Rio Irvine going the distance on the Rams’ first play from scrimmage, 75 yards.
Darlington Steam put up just under half the points of the Rams in their game against DC Presidents and also posting the shutout. It’s been a difficult season for the Presidents but fair paly to them, they’ve kept going. They’ve finished with just the 6 points scored in their 5 games as they sign off 2021. Steam’s offensive MVP had to revert to Center after an ejection and by the looks of it did a pretty good job. Steam had a couple of defensive scores on fumble recoveries (Rob Dowson and Alex Coatsworth) and a kick return TD too from Mikey Healey.
In the Mercia, a close game was anticipated between the Shropshire Revolution and the Sandwell Steelers, but Shropshire have fared pretty well outside of their games with Tamworth and that continued to be the case here. Sandwell. The Steelers finish at 2-5 and Coach Andrew, Coach Butler and co will be putting in the work this offseason as they now prepare for the heavyweights of Britball in the Prem North for 2022 as they try and redirect the train in the same direction it was heading in back in 2019 after a fair amount of tumult in 2021. Shropshire should find themselves in the NFC 1 South along with some other decent teams and certainly looks to be an intriguing division should that division return in 2022 in the way it’s supposed to.
In the cross divisional fixture involving a Mercia team, the Birmingham Bulls nearly put the cats amongst the Falcons (see what I did there) as they threatened to score an upset victory. They took a 13-0 lead in this one and were only 2 points behind going into the 4th before the Leicester Falcons pulled away. Kudos to the Bulls there against stronger opposition on short notice. Matt Dutton scoring a few TDs for the Bulls in a good day personally for him and shout out to the Bulls Twitter as they were playing a game of Chinese whispers whilst they were working. A shout out too for Falcons player Aland Kasraw who recently found out he’ll be going to the NFL Academy.
To the Rose divisions now, where there was only 1 fixture between them. In the Red version, the Lancashire Wolverines did what was expected against the Leigh Miners. This one was 44-0 at the half and that’s all I could find. The few games Leigh have played, I have seen the other teams give them a round of applause of sorts on how they went about their business so we’ll see what Leigh give us in 2022 when they tackle teams at their level. Two games against the Chester Romans and a game against the Wolverines wouldn’t have been easy for most teams and whilst the scorelines had wide margins, hopefully the Miners wont find themselves in that much of a hole next year, though considering their name, that’s what they’d be accustomed to.
The final fixture in England for week 13 saw the Aztecs hammer the Swindon storm in the Severn division, with the other 2 fixtures cancelled due to the withdrawals of Hereford and Worcestershire. Coach Pwles and the Aztecs giving no let up as they have a week or two wait now before they finish off with a game against the South Wales Warriors as they look certain to go the year unbeaten.
It was the turn of the Caledonia division in Scotland and a repeat of the fixtures saw a repeat of the winning teams as East Kilbride travelled to the Tigetrs and beat Glasgow 35-0, though they were made to work hard by Glasgow as this was only 7-0 at the half. The Pirates post their 3rd shutout in their 4 games. Pirates are back guys, if you didnt know. Some TD scorers for the Pirates were Dougie Meechan, Fraser McDonald, David Fallon and Ssarien Liddell, who got his first taste of the endzone with a receiving touchdown.
The other fixture confirmed Edinburgh’s dominance over the Inverclyde Goliaths. 57-12 scoreline continues Edinburghs good form after their week 1 defeat. Not able to give much more than that I am afraid.
Predictions time and I went 16/17 on the predictions, with only only the Olympians denying me for a full house! 156/192 on the season.
Photographer of the week: Tony Small
Well, we didnt get a live stream but i guess the next best thing in terms of visuals is photographs, right? Here is some snaps of the crunch game in the Thames Valley division from Tony Small. Some great action pictures here. For the deficiency in Live streaming that we have in Britball it’s been nice to see it’s been made up in bundles by the photography this year.
Bonus Snap – Spot the Ball Competition.
Saw a great photo in one of the groups I am in, Shout out to Duncan Gray. So here you go, spot the ball. Follow us on Twitter for the answer!
A whole host of fixtures even without the plenty of postponed fixtures this week.
Thankfully, some of the Somerset faithful won’t be on my back due to lack of information about their games and there is only one Bristol team playing so i wont have to talk about them too much.
Oxford Saints are trying to find a partner after the London Hornets were forced to withdraw due to Covid issues.
Leicester Falcons were able to find someone that “swiped right” and the Birmingham Bulls will face them in a cross divisional match after the Hereford Stampede couldn’t play ball.
Other fixtures that hit the dust are Northumberland Vikings vs Gateshead Senators, Sussex Thunder pulling out from the season means Rushmoor no longer have a game and South Wales Warriors wont be beating the Worcestershire Black Knights this week. Ho hum.
Let’s get to the fixtures that are playing then, and it seems like an absolute age since the last time we saw some of these teams.
The Wembley Stallions fit that criteria and in what is one of the standout fixtures of the weekend the Thames Valley division will crown it’s winner from this game and it’s all or nothing for these two teams. The first fixture in week 1 (17-9 to Stallions) is going to be totally different compared to today and anyone in the Harrow area, GET YOURSELF DOWN! Should be a cracker and as I say, the division crown up for grabs. Don’t ask me what happens if that ends in a tie. Stalions have a game in hand (vs Oxford Saints) but a win for Herts would see them finish at 7-1 whereas a win for the Stallions gives the a 5-0-2 record. Now I am doubting myself whether a Stallions win gives them the title. Let’s assume yes because if they (somehow) lost to Oxford, that would see them end 5-1-2 which equals a 6-2 record for the Cheetahs but the Stallions get the head to head? Oh we’ll just wait and see. Moral of the story is, get yourself down to the game.
As it stands we have all four teams playing in the London division and it’s the London Blitz’s turn to get hammered by the London Warriors whereas the Kent Exiles get a chance at retribution and revenge and to try and win a game this season after coming so close in numerous games this year, going down 13-15 to the Olympians last time out. Positions in that division pretty much all tied up regardless of results this week.
The Bournemouth Bobcats, who’ll we have on the podcast next week (barring any last minute changes) will be travelling slightly east to go face Solent. Bournemouth one of the more impressive teams this season going in against some of the bigger boys and more than holding their own. I don’t seeing them scaling the heights of Solent in this one but cant wait to get talking to them and get their views on the season and how far they have come from 2019 where they reached a Div 2 bowl game. Solent with a win will continue their unbeaten year and finishing off with a trip to Rushmoor next week.
Couple of fixtures in the South East sees the East Essex Sabres looking to try and bounceback after a bad run of form which saw them defeated by the Squadron last week. Easier assignment here as they travel to the Thunderbolts and a “get right” game for them. Or perhaps Sussex pull off a massive shock? East Kent Mavericks host the Essex Spartans where a win for them clinches the division after the Sabres’ loss last week. Mavericks with a win will pull them back to .500 and a chance for a winning season with a win here and a win against the Squadron next week.
In East Anglia, Cambridgeshire Cats have already won the division by a distance but also have a shot at an unbeaten year and welcome the Ipswich Cardinals who are fresh off their battering given to them by Norwich in one of the more eyebrow raising scorelines of the year. This one finished 32-6 to the Cats last time out and one would fully expects the Cats to not lose any of their lives (to shoe-horn in a metaphor) once this is said and done. Saying that, my record in predicting Ipswich games is not good. Pretty confident this one ends in defeat for Ipswich. Go on Cardinals, I double dare you!
The other fixture sees Ouse Valley travel to Colchester as the Eagles look to try and play for pride in their final game. Colchester secure second spot with a win. Colchester won 21-0 in the corresponding fixture back in July.
In the Central East, the Nottingham Caesers return to the field after their impressive showing on Twitter. They host the Scunthorpe Alphas who have seemingly lost their way after 3 straight defeats, the first of which was against Nottingham. Can they put in a final performance and run Nottingham close?
Northants Knights have been going great guns recently and they travel to Bourne to face the Lightning. Games involving South Lincs are usually low scorers, will that trend continue ere. All 3 games involving them have mustered 42 points collectively, something in which the Knights are used to nearing putting up each week. A win for the Knights would guarantee them a winning season, which is a fine effort from them. A win for the lightning still gives them a shot at a .500 season, with their final fixture coming against the Bombers.
Another two teams that we haven’t seen for a while is the DC Presidents and the Darlington Steam, who last took the field at the end of August when they played each other, with the Steam taking victory and there’s not really much evidence to expect anything different this week as that’s the only fixture in the Hadrians division, due to the Vikings and Senators not playing.
You have to go even further back in time to find the last time the Yorkshire Rams played a game. After 2 cancelled fixtures, they (fingers crossed) finally take the field this week in what should be a good game with the Doncaster Mustangs who have been battling hard through their games, come win or lose. They’ll hope to fare better than the 57-0 loss they suffered back in their gameweek 2 as they close out the season. A win would mean a 4-4 record and a non losing season, which isn’t a bad carrot to dangle if you ever needed one. The scalp of Yorkshire is also a decent carrot to dangle, too. A win for Yorkshire would take them to 4-0 ahead of their clash with the Sheffield Giants next week and both teams may be heading into the one undefeated.
Is it another case of pick your winning margin for the Lancashire Wolverines as they face the Leigh Miners. Leigh have nearly given up an average of 100 pts through their 3 games and this one finished 86-7 in Leigh’s first game. Leigh and Crewe face off next week which will be interesting to watch as both teams are likely going for their first win. Up and down season for Lancashire in a tough division but should be able to play with freedom in this one.
To the Mercia division and the game where Shorpshire travel to face Sandwell. Can Sandwell start to pick up some momentum heading in to the offseason or will Shropshire continue to grind out results against teams not named Tamworth. This one finished 13-0 last time to Shropshire so another low scoring punishing game could be on the cards in the final game of the season for both teams. As previously mentioned there is a cross division game between the Falcons and the Bulls with the former likely to take the win. I am unaware of whether this one counts towards W/L totals in their respective divisions.
In the Bulls division, the Sever, there is a game taking place and the Aztecs travel to Swindon to face the Storm. No more needs to be said on that (wink face).
We round off north of the border and it’s taken me to the middle of September to realise that the Scottish division seem to be alternating in fixtures. This week it’s the return of the Caledonia division and the East Kilbride Pirates will be looking for more of the same as their impressive start has seen them go 3 wins from 3, 6pts conceded and 124pts scored, 57 of which were scored in this corresponding fixture 2 weeks ago. Inverclyde have had a rough time in their opening two fixtures, scoring the 6 pts that East Kilbride have given up but took a battering against the Edinburgh Wolves last time out. Wins for East Kilbride and Edinburgh will see even more daylight between themselves and the Tigers/Goliaths.
Don’t forget, the Scottish divisions will be continuing well into October.
Predictions are below for this week as I try and improve on my poor performance last week. I am hoping to get the Bournemouth Bobcats on the mics next week so keep you eyes and ears peeled for that on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget if you are a budding GB Lion wannabe and show the national coaches what you have got, head over to our post surrounding the GB Lions Trials announcement or checkout our interview with Lions HC Jason Scott for a bit more info around that. Deadline for registering interest is 30th September but I am well informed that there are already almost 300 registrations entered.
Enjoy your football, wherever you go to get it, I’ll be back next week to review and praise another Photographer.
As we make our way through the “back 9” of the Britball season in the Mens contact game, an interesting set of results to get our teeth into.
Before we do though, bit of news to tell you about on the international scene.
If you are wanting to try and get involved with the GB Lions, the men’s team are holding trials on the 23rd of October at the University of Nottingham. You can find out more here.
This weekend was all about the number 12.
Week 12 on the 12th September saw 12 (minus 7) teams score 12 points. I wonder if there were 12 drummers drumming at any of the games. The Sussex Thunderbolts at the twelfth hour (to be confirmed, trying to fit a narrative here) did one part of their name and bolted from their game against the East Kent Mavericks and from what i’ve seen about, seemingly at quite short notice. Not sure as to the reasoning why.
Let’s get to perhaps the shock of the weekend first though, and over in the East Anglia division which saw the Norwich Devils obliterate the Ipswich Cardinals 63-0. What isn’t a shock of course is me being able to predict Ipswich Cardinals results and was on the wrong end of that one yet again. What did I do to deserve this, Ipswich? Norwich must have been pleased with the results over their local rivals as they took the time to tweet about it and is their first tweet since June 6th. What goes on the Internet, stays on the Internet. On the Ipswich side, let’s just say their Twitter was a vidiprinter full of Norwich scoreline updates.
Staying in East Anglia and some things that are predictable, the Cambridgeshire Cats take their season to 7 wins from 7 over the Ouse Valley Eagles with a seemingly comfortable victory. Looking on the bright side for Ouse Valley, there was a closer winning margin and they managed to score 12 more than they did in the previous fixture. Their final game comes up this week against Colchester to try and prevent themselves from going 0-8 on the year.
Let’s go to the battle of the Bristol teams. Both teams winning yet again in their respective divisions, both teams again posting shutouts. The Apache get the bigger win this week as they demolish the Cornwall Monarchs 52-0, the Aztecs beat the South Wales Warriors, despite a slow start (8-0 after the first quarter). The Apache are 194 in the points difference column, the Aztecs are now 184 on points difference (assuming my maths is correct, BAFA website still has the Aztecs fixture as a fixture and not a result, happy days). The Apache have 1 remaining fixture against the Wyverns, and the Aztecs have two fixtures left. Have to think the Aztecs win the Points difference race with the Apache. Other fixture in the South West saw the Somerset Wyverns get an expected victory over the Jurassic Coast Raptors, 44-8.
Talking of battles, it’s usually a good game between any teams in the Thames Valley and this week saw the Hertfordshire Cheetahs and the London Blitz B do battle, Blitz B headed out to a 9-0 lead before Hertfordshire responded with 21 unanswered. Absolutely huge game in week 13 between the top two Cheetahs and Stallions in a repeat of Week 1. Winner takes all! You love to see it. Please for the love of god, someone get a live stream down there.
The Mercia saw just one fixture and Shropshire take no prisoners against the Railroaders at home, 56-0. They improve to 4-2 with their final game coming this upcoming weekend against Sandwell, could be a sneaky good game that to finish off.
In a repeat of Week 11, the Manchester Titans complete a quick double over the Chester Romans, Manchester pulling away in the second half, something we are used to seeing this year. If you wanna beat the Titans, you have to be perfect for 4 quarters. Manchester, still to wrap up the division face Merseyside in a few weeks time in their last game of the season against Merseyside, the nighthawks defeated the Lancashire Wolverines in the other fixture in the Red Rose division. I’m not sure if it comes down to H2H or points difference, but Titans all but mathematically division winners I believe, let me know if I am wrong. Either way, would be nice to still have something to play for in a division game at the end of the season.
Same comments apply in the Central east as Nottingham have all but secured that crown, 2 game lead with 2 to play, but Northants continue their good season with yet another strong performance against the Alphas. Scunthorpe’s season somewhat fizzling out with 3 straight defeats after their awarded win against the Alphas, the Alphas have only actually won on the field once, which came in their first game. Be interesting to see how they get on in the off-season and in 2022. Scunthorpe face the Caesers next whereas Knights face the South Lincolnshire Lightning. If results go a certain way, there is a chance the Knights could face the Caesers for the division crown on 26th September for the title. Due to the game imbalance, however, I’m not sure Northants can win. Who the hell knows, not me.
What I do know is, I got the Rushmoor game prediction wrong as Bournemouth take their mini series with the Knights 2-1 with a hard fought victory. They secure 2nd place in that division where only 3 teams are left standing at all. Couple more fixtures to play out there too. Bournemouth, a Div 2 team in 2019 are outdoing themselves for the division they are in, in amongst future or past Prem South teams, a pat on the back for those all involved with the team. If any of you Bobcats are reading, please reach out, love to get you on a podcast.
The final fixture to cover in England was a cracker, the South East Squadron, relative unknowns heading in to the season squeak past the East Essex Sabres, who have shown good form this season.
After trying to find some more info about game flow etc, I noted their Twitter account said is was temporarily restricted due to unusual activity. Not sure if that’s because they won again? Anywho, after that surprise win, they now sit at 2-1 with 1 game to play which will beagainst the Mavericks at the end of the month.
Moving to Scotland and you have to love the fact we got a 0-0 result, right?
The long trip down from Invergordon to South West Scotland must have taken the wind out of the Stags sails as both teams come up empty in a bore draw. It certainly is more difficult to have a full game played ending in a shutout for both sides.
Dumfries Hunters took full advantage and extend their lead at the top of the Satlire division. Dunfermline were without some offensive lineman and if you ever have that in Britball, you really are behind the 8 ball. A fair amount of fixtures still to play but Dumfries sit at 3-0 with head to heads over all of the teams currently. They have 2 away fixtures up coming so can they keep it going?
Prediction-wise, bad week for me. 9/14 correct, 140/175 on the season. Try again next week.
This week we head to East Anglia and a nice varied set of snaps by the photographer Des Fisher who, from the looks of one photo, may have been trying to camouflage himself but was spotted by the chain gang and officials! We also had a spectator give the signal for a touchdown, you love to see it. Get him on board, BAFRA!
For those of you playing in the Britball game, you may have caught wind of the announcement(s) regarding the Great britain Men’s team Open Trials!
Anyone thinking of trying to reach the pinnacle of the sport her ein this country and play for the GB Lions, GO AND HAVE A GO!
HC Jason Scott joined us to talk more about it here:
Coach Scott is looking for a massive turnout to push the national team and game on from where it currently is. He’s installed his coaching staff and team to help facilitate his future plans to help the GB team compete with the likes of France, Germany, Austria and the like but is under no illusions of the battle and slog that is ahead of him and his team.
Further details below:
Location – David Ross Sports Village, Beeston Lane, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RJ
Date – 23rd October
Open to all registered BAFA players with insurance, etc. further info on the YouTube Channel.
Move aside NFL, you imposters! Britball is still going! Well….yeah is depending on who you ask.
If the NFL opening kickoff whetted your appetite, then get yourself down to your local Britball team on Sunday afternoon, support our game before you come back for your Sunday Roast and the main week 1 games in the NFL.
The fixture list starting to look a little bit bare inside the cupboard, similar to Arsenal’s trophy cabinet over the past 10 years.
But enough dunking on a team that is in a relegation 6 pointer this weekend to focus on the UK pigskin.
The Saltire division sees all 4 teams in action again and Dumfries welcome Dunfermline to their home turf after beating them away in Duloch a few weeks ago. Kings led at half time in that one and will look to have a better 2nd half in this one compared to the previous fixture. A Kings win would make this division particularly interesting, especially if the Highland Stags are able to replicate their previous performance against Clyde Valley as they make the trip down to south Glasgow. A win for Dumfries and Clyde Valley would see Dumfries take a very comfortable lead in the division.
Talking of comfortable leads, we head to the Red rose and the top 4 teams in action. Manchester Titans are used to comfortable leads and they meet Chester for the 2nd time in two weeks after their dominant performance last week at home against the Romans in the Red Rose division. The Red Rose also sees the Merseyside Nighthawks who havent had any troubles scoring this year and demolished Lancashire the last time these two met. Merseyside travelling this time and Lancashire will be hoping for more potency on offence and more stoutness on defence. Can anyone stop Manchester in this division?
It’s similar comments to the western divisions and Bristol as both the Apache (South West) and Aztecs (Severn) look to try and outdo each other in their respective division. They are both in action this week against the Cornwall Monarchs and South Wales Warriors respectively. I wonder if the Bristol Aztecs (115pts scored from 4 games) and Bristol Apache (154 from 6) have a side game on for points scored on offence or defence (Aztecs conceded 8, Apache 12)?!?!
The other fixture in that part of the country is the Somerset Wyverns hosting the Jurassic Coast Raptors, and the Wyverns coming off a very good win last week against Cornwall. The Raptors playing their final game of the season, going in with a 2-5 record.
We have a rearranged fixture in the Thames Valley as the previously postponed fixture between the Cheetahs and Blitz B will be played this week. Good to know someone on Socials is helping us out, shoutout Coach Barnes! Cheetahs at 5-1 can ill afford a defeat with the Wembley Stallions right there with them. Blitz B unlikely to win the division from here, but still mathematically possible I guess.
Plenty of fixtures over in the eastern divisions, we start off in the South East as we get to see the SE Squadron once more, sitting at 1-1 as they host the East Essex Sabres. Win needed for the Sabres here to keep on the coat tails of Essex Spartans, being a game behind, playing a game less. The Squadron are 1-1 with just 2 fixtures left for them including this one. The other fixture sees the 1-3 East Kent Mavericks host the winless Sussex Thunderbolts, Mavericks took this one comfortably last time out by a 62-8 scoreline.
In East Anglia, Cambridgeshire’s quest for perfection continues as they host the Ouse Valley Eagles and I dont see any upset in the making here unfortunately for Eagles fans. Ipswich return to action to try and tempt me in to a wrong prediction again as they travel to Norwich to face the Devils. Ipswich vs Norwich always a war no matter the sport, here is no different. Should be in for a belter regardless as the last matchup was won by a single point by the Cardinals. Their 2019 fixtures also saw close games including a tie.
In the Central East, just the one fixture sees the 3-2 Northants Knights travel to Scunthorpe to face the 3-3 Alphas. A winning record and pride at stake here with the Caesers securing the division title already. Northants took the fixture 2 weeks ago 32-8.
In the South, Rushmoor finally have a home fixture as they welcome Bournemouth. Their only other scheduled home fixture to date was a walkover win against Sussex. Wonder if they had gotten used to being away. This is the third fixture against the Bobcats, both teams winning 1 so this is the decider! Gutted I wont be able to make this one being a stone’s throw away from Rushmoor, hopefully catch their final fixture at home against Solent later in the month.
We round off in the Mercia, just the one fixture. Crewe travel to Shropshire in their challenge to get a victory in the win column. These two teams are yet to face off this year and Crewe have 2 further fixtures to play in order to try and find that elusive win. Shropshire travel to Sandwell next week in their final game.
If you are going to a game or are affiliated with any of the teams, would love for you to post me some stats/highlights/big plays via @F10YBritball on social media to give me a bit of colour to add in to my reviews, jsut a few weeks left now in England/Wales whilst there is still a bit longer in the season for those up in Scotland.
We are nearly there folks, enjoy the action if you are going. Photographers get your lenses at the ready too! My predictions are below and I’ll bring you all the results next week as usual!
Unfortuantely, not the most competitive of weeks as could we be seeing a trend as the later weeks of the season are being played out? Or was it just a coincidence of matchups? We’ll have to wait and see.
Let’s start north of the border where some hammerings handed out in the Caledonia division. The East Kilbride Pirates were not in a mood to mess around as they post a 50 burger and also a shutout, that’s a win-win for Coach McLaughlin and that Pirates team. The Edinburgh Wolves were just as dominant and achieved the same 50 burger shutout on home soil against the Inverclyde Goliaths, and was slightly surprised to see Inverclyde struggle to the point of drawing a blank. These results mean there is 2 sets of two with East Kilbride and Edinburgh clear of the other two. They’ll have a chance to extend that gap as the exact same fixture occur in two weeks time in week 13.
A game I didnt expect to see a wide margin was the Wyverns dethroning the Monarchs. The Wyverns continue their hot streak after their opening game loss, now on a 4 game winning streak. Mike Ellacott and Tom Bowering both scoring multiple TDs in a fight for MVP. Who won? Don’t know. But as has been the case an awful lot this year, the opening score was a safety for the Wyverns and they never looked back, thanks to Lucan on the Wyverns Socials!
One way traffic which was expected to be the case in the other game in the division, and this was called early too. The Apache far too strong for the Torbay Trojans, who are now 0-7 with the solitary fixture against the Monarchs left to go to try and change that, or at least add some points on the board which currently stands at 16. They did score 7 against Cornwall last time out, so here’s my fingers crossed for them to try and end on a positive. The Monarchs face the Apache next week.
In the Len Goodman division (Severn…I’m so sorry), the team from Bristol were just as unforgiving and punishing the Birmingham Bulls for the audacity to score a pick six for the first points in the game, by Ross (don’t know the surname, let’s assume it’s Gellar). 46 unanswered then for the Aztecs including defensive scores which included a safety too. The other fixture saw the South Wales Warriors defeat the Hereford Stampede. This one was 22-0 to South Wales before a bad injury to one of the Warriors led to a lengthy delay. Thankfully the game was able to be finished and Hereford were able seemingly to capitalise on the loss of focus from the Warriors players.
Couple of easy victories for the teams scoring 55 in the Mercia division, Shropshire going down but able to score a FG in their loss at home to Tamworth, meaning the Phoenix are unbeaten in all facets (youth, etc) apparently this year and the Leicester Falcons made short work at home against Staffordshire. Certainly no “mercy-a” here(look, I’m sorry, alright!). I’d give you the updated league table, but it looks a mess with one team playing 3 games and others playing 5 or 6, I’ll just wait til the end of the season when it’s a bit more level.
The Chester Romans were always going to be in for a tougher time of it after their last few fixtures against the Leigh Miners, and the Manchester Titans defence (and offence) were exactly as billed. Motivated by their lower power ranking from another Britball media outlet to the Sheffield Giants, Manchester conquer the Romans empire convincingly. they have continued to dominate in the division this season, with 42points their lowest points tally on offence. QB Sam Bloomfield continuing to lead a high powered offence to points and more importantly, victories. Bad news for the Romans, the two teams face off again (hopefully) next week.
On the South Coast, Rushmoor could not pull many punches against a crushing Solent team. Really looking forward to see what Solent can do in the Prem South next year. They go 6-0 on the season (7-0 if you include the O’s victory) with a resounding 42-6 victory against Rushmoor, who I am STILL waiting to play a home game so I can go watch. They face Bournemouth at home next week, but I’m in bloody Birmingham. Any chance of getting that fixture relocated fellas? Big game that one in the race for 2nd place, with both teams at 3-2 and both eerily having similar points for and against.
Ad 6 points to that above fixture and you have the scoreline from the South East fixture in favour of the Essex Spartans (48) beating the Thunderbolts (12). Nick Walter with a 70yard TD run for the Spartans, probably one of the plays of the week. Well, if it wasnt for the Thunderbolts recovering a fumble on their goal line to then take back the distance of the pitch. If someone has that highlight, please let me watch it. I’ve probably read the tweet wrong and Essex fumble on their own goaline, but let my imagination have this one, please.
In the London division, the London Warriors played a game and won a game (copy and paste for all future Warriors’ fixtures). Demolish the Olympians 68-6 and probably don’t need to say any more about it apart from the Olympians TD was an 80 yard receiving TD by Kadeem Crabbe.
Couple of fixtures in the Thames Valley saw the London Blitz B secure victory in what looked to be a decent tussle against the Oxford Saints. Highlight of a Saints TD below, lovely catch in the endzone. Number 28 of the Blitz B not being able to locate the football to make a play.
The Saints got to within 11 points in the 3rd, but Blitz B pulling away at a canter.
The Wembley Stallions defeated the London Hornets in the other fixture as they improve to 4-0-2. All eyes on 19th September as they face the Hertfordshire Cheetahs in a potential winner takes all fixture in the Thames Valley.
In the East Anglia division, just the one fixture and an expected result saw the Cambridgeshire Cats continue their dominance of the division as they defeat the Colchester Gladiators, improving to 6-0. As they have swept the Gladiators, I think that gives them the division as with two games left to play, they have a two game lead over them and a far superior points difference. Congratulations to them (if confirmed).
Saving the closest fixture to last, it sounded like a right ding dong battle in the White Rose between Doncaster and Humber. I chose incorrectly in terms of predictions but was a close one right to the finish. Humber converting on 3rd down after the two minute warning to be able to kneel out of victory formation. Prior to that, it seemed as if you have to make big time plays to score in this one with defences on top. Doncaster score on a 4th and 5 from the Humber 13, Jon Green with the reception of the arm of Joseph Canseco (great name, sounds like he;s the striker for Villareal), only for Humber to break off a big run for the score to wrestle back the lead. Humber finish their season off with a game against Knottingley, where a win will give them a 6-1 record for the year, sterling effort, chaps. Doncaster finish off with a tough assignment against Yorkshire.
In terms of predictions, I went 14/16 with Doncaster and Cornwall my erroneous selections. 131/161 for the season (81% correct).
Photographer of the week: Duncan Gray
How can you not have the photographer of the week coming from the team with the best helmets (apparently!). East Kilbride’s thumping of Glasgow on show here.
Week 11 is fast approaching, Teams in England are starting to see the finish line. Teams are in different states, conditions and confidence.
Couple of games that wont be going ahead this week are Bournemouth Bobcats/Sussex Thunder, Knottingley Raiders/Leeds Bobcats, Crewe Railroaders/Sandwell Steelers and Lincolnshire Bombers/Nottingham Caesers. Loving the Batman signals coming from the Caesers’ Twitter this week, the one asking the SW Warriors for a game was contender for tweet of the year.
Just the two fixtures north of the border and both come in the Caledonia division. A return to action for the Edinburgh Wolves as they host the Inverclyde Goliaths and both teams have losses against the EK Pirates this season but the Wolves returned to their best in a convincing win over the Glasgow Tigers a few weeks ago. I think this is a fixture that can go either way, but I’ll side with Edinburgh. The aforementioned Pirates host the Glasgow Tigers in the Glasgow derby (Pretty sure East Kilbride is classed as Glasgow, no?It’s like 15 mins away).
South of the border and in what seems like an absolute age, we also see the return of the two Bristol teams, who both look to extend their leads in their respective divisions. The Apache host the Torbay Trojans, who must want 2021 to end to get back to the drawing board after 6 losses in their games this season and a 52-0 loss the last time these two met.
The Aztecs complete the double header in Bristol as they welcome the Bulls, fresh of their win last week. Bulls only defeat this year was to the Aztecs quite handily and the Aztecs will look to improve to 5-0.
Staying in the western divisions, The South Wales Warriors return to face the Hereford Stampede, who come off the back of a win last week against the Worcestershire Black Knights. On home soil, South Wales should take the victory here.
An intriguing matchup in the South west sees the Somerset Wyverns tackle the Cornwall Monarchs. Both teams aside from their losses to the Apache, have had comfortable victories elsewhere in the division and will be interesting to see if this one is a close game throughout and look to be quite close on paper. I’ll take the Monarchs in a one score game.
Intrigue is also the word I use to describe the Doncaster travelling to Humber game. 24-17 the score in Humber’s favour last time out. That was in week 1 and there has been plenty of positives for both of these teams to take out of this year and I think this one has the makings of a humdinger once more. Losses for both of these teams have either come against Yorkshire or Sheffield, which is nothing to be ashamed of.
To the Mercia division and were 6 teams in action here but Crewe/Sandwell has bitten the dust. The Leicester Falcons will look to get back to winning ways after defeat under the lights against Tamworth last week. The Surge coming off their win against Crewe but that Falcons defence will look to feast in this one. Tamworth travel to Shropshire to face the Revolution. 54-0 the score last time these two met and don’t see joy in this one for Shropshire. A win for Tamworth sees them go the year unbeaten as this is their final game scheduled (according to BAFA’s website), which will be job done for Jason Scott and the Nix.
In the Red Rose, the Manchester Titans and the Chester Romans do battle. Chester games usually mean points and they are of course coming off that huge win over the Leigh Miners in their last 2 matchups. Manchester Titans had themselves a high scoring game with Lancashire last week too, so has everyone pencilled in both teams scoring three figures here? Be interesting to see how far Chester push the Titans after some good battles with the Merseyside Nighthawks too but considering the Titans comfort in dealing with Merseyside, it could be a long slog for that Romans defence.
With Sussex withdrawing, leaving Bournemouth standing at the altar, the only other teams left in the division face off as Rushmoor travel to Solent to face the Thrashers, who have been in fine form this season. Solent are 4-0 in the division with an extra win against the London O’s too. Can Rushmoor pull off a shock here on the south coast?
Talking of Sussex, the Thunderbolts are still playing games and they host the Essex Spartans who have the eye on the divisional prize. One way traffic in this one. Can Sussex pull off the same feat as the previous game between the sides when the Thunderbolts scored a safety for the first points in the game but then conceded 62 unanswered.
Staying east but heading up north to the East Anglia division, the Colchester Gladiators will probably be sad they arent playing Ipswich again as it seems they’ve played every week for the last month. This week they travel to Cambridgeshire to face the Cats. Can their winning streak continue or will the Cats continue to dominate as they have done so far in 2021. They’ll want to fare better than being shutout as they were 21-0 last time out. With a win the Cats will go 6-0 and have every chance of finishing 8-0 this season.
Moving towards the Capital, the Warriors face off against the O’s in one of those classic battles of two big names in Britball. Warriors having a tough time to even get on the field this year and bad news folks, the Warriors guys didn’t want to come on for a podcast this year. I’ll try again next year (and the year after that 😉 ).
Finishing off in the Thames Valley, the Hornets travel to the Wembley Stallions and the last time these two played they played out a 18-18 tie which raised eyebrows at the time considering the Hornets hadn’t won a game and the Stallions were slaying all before them. The Stallions have 2 ties already this season, wonder if there will be a third here. The other fixture in the divisions sees a repeat of a week 1 fixture as the London Blitz B face off against Oxford. 16-12 in week one and Oxford will be looking to get rid of the 5 game losing streak.
So there we have it Week 11, my predictions are below. Make sure you check out our interview this week focusing on the women’s game with Laura Dye and Phoebe Schecter.
Last chance to buy our digital 2021 NFL season guide. Use code YARDS to get £1 off, making it £3.99. Every penny goes back in to the British game.
