BritBowl dates announced

BAFA announced the dates for our diaries yesterday with BritBowl XXV to be staged on the 24 and 25 September. Crystal Palace will be this year’s venue giving a further incentive for teams in the capital to make it to the Big Show.

Home of the London Olympians, Crystal Palace will welcome sixteen teams on finals’ weekend, with many sides battling it out for promotion to a higher division. Two teams will also go head to head for the BritBowl National Championship. The Olympians hold the record for the most number of appearances at BritBowl weekend, with eleven visits to the finals in their history.

If you are fairly new to American Football as played in the UK, then check out the video of last year’s National Championship final at Sixways in Worcester (at the end of this post). The London Blitz ran out winners in the Midlands, and the three time BritBowl National Champions will be hoping for a return to the end of season matchup again. The Blitz kicked-off this term’s campaign at the beginning of this month, with a 35-7 win over the Farnham Knights. If you want to catch the Blitz in action, then you could do no better than head down to Boston Manor Fields (Brentford) this Sunday, where a London Derby at the home of the Warriors kicks-off at 3pm.

But BritBowl weekend isn’t just about the Premier League, with many teams hoping to follow Tamworth Phoenix to the promised land. The Phoenix won the Division 1 playoff at BritBowl 2010, and are this season playing in the top flight. The system of promotion and relegation works well to promote the development of the game in the UK, and allows teams to play competitively week in week out.

Below the Premier League though, a conference system is employed for teams vying to get out of Divisions 1 and 2. Three conferences make up Division 1 (North, South and Central), whilst there are four conferences in Division 2 (North, Central, East and West). The eight teams with the best records in each division make it to the playoffs with a chance of appearing at BritBowl weekend.

Youth and Junior Contact teams also play in the BAFA Community Leagues, and those who have got what it takes this season will be joining the adult teams at Crystal Palace in September.

We’ve a long way to go yet though, and as the season starts to get in to full-flow, we have 32 teams in action (in the adult league) this Saturday and Sunday in the BAFACL. So if one of these sides we are about to list sound local to you, get down and watch live American Football on your doorstep. At home this weekend are the Cornish Sharks (Saturday), East Kent Mavericks, Bristol Aztecs, Clyde Valley Blackhawks, Colchester Gladiators, Essex Spartans, Farnham Knights, Gateshead Senators, Glasgow Tigers, Gloucester Banshees, Maidstone Pumas, Oxford Saints, Shropshire Revolution, Yorkshire Rams, London Warriors and Peterborough Saxons (all Sunday).

Good luck to everyone playing this weekend.

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Fixtures and results courtesy of BAFACL.com