As the Nottingham
Caesars American Football Club enter their 32nd consecutive year of
competition, they are making some major changes off the field, as well as on
it.
Following this year’s league reshuffle by BAFANL, they will
be competing in the new Midlands
Division 1 against regular adversaries from recent years in the Birmingham Bulls and Doncaster Mustangs. Old rivalries
against the Cambridgeshire Cats and Peterborough Saxons will be rekindled
and we will also be testing our metal against new opponents in the Sandwell Steelers.
2016 sees us move back into our spiritual home inside the
athletics track at Harvey Hadden Stadium (in Bilborough, Notts.), following the
completion of renovation work of the sports complex there.
The Nottingham Caesars are building for the future. Their
new media team have taken the bit between their teeth and accepted the
challenge of increasing our visibility through our social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), our
website (www.nottinghamcaesars.co.uk),
which helped us achieve our biggest ever turnout (over 100 people) to the
pre-Christmas taster sessions for new players.
But perhaps most excitingly we are venturing into producing
in another medium, the newly created CaesarsTV!
The brainchild of former player Steve
Matthews, CaesarsTV will be streaming our 5 regular season home games live.
With his team of media whizzes and former players volunteering their time, we
are looking at making the Caesars game day experience a special event whether
you can attend the game in person or not.
Caesars TV is looking to provide:
- Player and coach interviews, team news and live footage of
the build up towards each home game in a live pre-game show. - Full coverage of each home game at Harvey
Hadden Stadium. - Full commentary of the game (with head ref mic’d up) -
Post-game reactions. - An edited highlights package made available within days
of the game.
This also allows us to venture into the exciting world of
being able to offer advertising through our media. We are actively seeking
anyone who would be willing to work with us through sponsorship and
advertising.
More details of packages can be produced on
request via contacting Steve Matthews on 07900 597 099 or emailing: media@nottinghamcaesars.co.uk
The Farnham Knights sponsored by Premier Prospects take their first step
back into the Premier level of British American Football this Sunday at Mill Hill Rugby Club (KO 3-00pm)
It could not
be much tougher than facing the perennial BritBowl
Finalists and 5 time Champion London
Blitz. The Blitz will be looking to set their third successive National
Championship defeat to their cross town rival London Warriors behind them and the odds must be against the newly
promoted Knights.
The Knights
were one of the top teams in the country from 2001-2006 and then reappeared in
the Premier level again from 2008 to 2012 - their 3 National Championship Final
appearances were 2002, 2004 and 2005they won the prize in 2004.
The last two
seasons have seen the Knights step up a level and they won the Division 1 South
Bowl last year to secure promotion back to the top flight.
The squad
has maintained the base of players from last year with some notable additions
from neighbouring teams, Surrey
Universities successful college team and of course graduates from their own
very successful Junior programme.
A key
absentee however will be star Running Back Gareth
Davies who ran for over 1600yds last season - it was discovered that he
achieved that with a broken wrist and the rehab from the subsequent operation
will see him miss the 2016 season.
Head Coach Steve Rains said "We are looking forward to
being back in the top level which is where we believe the Knights belong. We
know it’s going to be a significant challenge for us - but we have worked hard
in pre-season to be ready for it. We will find out Sunday how far we have come
on that journey"
The Knights
are still looking for further sponsorship and have now added live internet
streaming of all of their games (Data links permitting)as an added attraction for potential backers.
Report supplied by Neil van Holland - Bury Saints
Images Courtesy of Hayden Marie Photography
The Bury Saints
coming off a 2015 season in which they never lost a game and won the 2015 Rose Bowl with promotion to
National League Div. 1 football continued that win streak with a 34-0
dismantling of the 2015 Semi-final opponents Sussex Thunder.
RB Tommy Ellerbee
After holding the high powered Sussex offense scoreless on
their opening drive the Saints Offense took only 3 plays to drive 84 yards and
score culminated by RB Cory Jenkins'
54 yard TD scamper. The point after was perfect by Rob Giles.
The next few drives by both teams failed to secure points,
however late in the 1st quarter the Bury Offense drove the field and finished
off with a Fred Boyle run at the
goaline to push the scoreline to 13-0. Pauly
Bowers nailed the PAT to make it 14-0.
RB Cory Jenkins
A few more field position swaps and the Bury Offense once
again made a drive midway through the 2nd quarter to the Sussex 9 yard line
where Boyle passed to Don Washington
for a Saints touchdown. Giles once again made the PAT and the score was 21-0
going into halftime.
Coming out of the half the field position battle ensued with
Bury and Sussex trading punts. Bury on their 2nd possession after the
intermission drove another 80 yards and capped it off with a 35 yard run by
another new RB in Tommy Ellerbe.
This time the PAT was blocked by Sussex so the scoreline stood at 27-0.
The score stayed that way until late in the game when the
Saints in a spirited final drive managed to get to the Sussex 12 and Boyle
connected with Josh Marlow on a TD
pass. Bowers made the final PAT finishing the scoring at 34-0.
CB Dmont Herring
The Sussex Thunder could not get anything going all day and
were held to 108 total yards combined through the air and on the ground, never
getting into the Bury red zone. The Defense was responsible for intercepting
the Sussex QB's 4 times with Dmont
Herring, Troy Cockerill, and Rob
Giles picking off the passes along with Jack Hewett. Herring also added a fumble recovery after a big gain
for Sussex to stop a drive. Fabian
Mitchell and the rest of the Def line had a standout game with Mitchell
getting a sack to help seal the win.
Bury Saints Interim Head Coach Christian Cantrill had tempered enthusiasm following the game: "Although
we got a massive result against a team we needed 3 OT last year to beat, we
have a lot to work on with the SFC1 Bowl finalists coming to town in 2 weeks. I
can say I am very proud of the way my coordinators Neil Van Holland, Bobby
Coffman and Jamie Nuttall prepared and executed a very precise gameplan to
achieve the result. We have work on our hands with 9 more very tough games
going forward with the Thrashers on the forefront of our preparations".
WR's Ray Don Ellington (#18) and Axl Rodwell (#6) celegrate the 3rd TD
The Bury Saints are
back in action on Sunday 24 April at Thetford Rugby Club Vs the last years SFC1
finalists Solent Thrashers. Kickoff is 2PM.
Both teams and officials held a minutes applause in memory
of Alan Wilson as the Tigers played their first competitive
game since the former head coach and official sadly passed away last September.
The game started in bright sunshine and the defensive units
were in fine form in this season opener at Dundee,
not giving much way in yards at all. Tiger’s interceptions from first Scott McIntosh and then Nathan Brodie stopped any Dundee
momentum, but the Glasgow side were unable to move the ball against a solid
Dundee Defence.
In the second half both sides put some good drives together
, the Tigers on the back of some nice Pete
McNaughton runs , while Dundee had some long pass completions from QB Thomson. Glasgow’s Robb Renyi and James Lindsay
also recorded interceptions to keep Dundee from scoring. Then Andy Currie grabbed a Dundee fumble for
another Tigers turnover.
In the fourth quarter Tigers QB Paddy O’Donnell scrambled for 29 yards to set up a short Dean Jardine run for a touchdown. The
Hurricanes stopped the conversion but the Tigers held a 6 – 0 lead. The Dundee
response saw Thomson connect for a 30 yard pass completion to move his team up
the field but a Mark Chalmers fumble
recovery allowed the Tigers to take a knee and the win.
The Tigers next
fixture is on the 24th April when they travel to Northumberland.
As
excitement builds for the weekend’s kick off for the BAFA National League (BAFANL) it’s time to take a look
at the rule changes that will impact clubs and players this year. Plus read to the end to find out about our
new “Ask the Ref” column.
Two things
that often confuse both players and spectators watching UK games relate to
differences they see between the NFL and the major US College games they watch
on TV, so let me start by clearing up some of that confusion.
The NFL use
their own specific rules that address the way the game is played at a
professional level (faster, more capable, fitter and/or stronger). Colleges and the UK (plus most countries that
play football around the world) use variations of the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA) rules. These
place player safety as a higher priority with penalties that are tougher or
more strictly enforced. For further
differences, take a look at the Wikipedia comparison.
As a
guideline, rules that are introduced in the NCAA in one year are usually
integrated into the UK (and International) rules in the following year (with
some variations to reflect local issues).
Now for
what’s new for BAFA 2016. This year
doesn’t see very many changes over the rules in place for 2015 but there is one
significant one that certainly may impact some players on the field and in
their pockets and that is what is known as an Overbuilt Facemask.
Overbuilt
Facemasks
There are a
number of safety related reasons for the introduction of a ban on overbuilt
facemasks which include the added weight which makes a player more likely to
drop their head into a tackle, the increased probability of broken fingers
caused by contact with the masks and the physiological impact that a larger
cage has on players’ actions due to a false sense of security.
So what is
an overbuilt facemask? Here are some examples
of overbuilt facemasks:
So trying
to put the difference into words, count the bars below the eye line, 3 OK; 5
overbuilt. If there are 4 it is then a
question of how many finger breaking close sets, 1 set is OK but not more.
Expect
plenty of pre-game discussion before the first games this year as the officials
from the British American Football Referees’ Association BAFRA who are in charge of enforcing the
rules remind players who may not have thought they had an issue.
Pile Puling
now Unsportsmanlike
The second
major change that is introduced in 2016 is a change to the unsportsmanlike
conduct rule that prohibits players from pushing or pulling opponents off a
pile of players. Unsportsmanlike
penalties are very serious in football.
It’s like a yellow card in soccer.
Two unsportsmanlike penalties will result in the player ejecting
himself.
Drones
No drones
(unmanned aerial vehicle) may be used around the field. If a drone violates the space, the Referee
shall order the game stopped until the drone is removed. If there are no stands or fences around the
field, this extends within sight or sound of the playing field.
Coaching
staff or substitutes cannot encroach in the area within 6 feet of the sideline
during play. This area is the officials working area and it needs to be clear
so the officials can see the action near the sidelines clearly and so they
aren’t put in danger or running into people when their attention is focused on
the field. The first offence will result
in a warning and subsequent warnings will attract 5 yards (up to 2 warnings)
and 15 yard penalties (any further warnings).
Any offence that obstructs an official (including an official who needs
to change course to avoid somebody) will still be a 15-yard penalty.
Look on the
bright side, in the NFL it’s not just a penalty, Steeler’s Mike Tomlin was
fined $100,000 for this act of sideline interference:
To see an
example of where safety becomes an issue take a look at this play.
Failure to
wear mandatory equipment
This year
instead of being a charged timeout, players will simply be sent off the field
for at least a down until the equipment is made legal. A team can “burn” a time-out in order to buy
the player back in, however the equipment must be made legal for a player to
resume. Equipment violations are
normally items like gum shields but could include the new issue of overbuilt
facemasks.
Team Changing
Facilities
Changing
rooms have now become subject to the rules.
If the two teams' changing rooms are not of similar quality, the
visiting team must be offered the better facilities!
Blind-Side
Blocks and Targeting
Definitions
for Blind-Side blocks have been included to aide in the protection of
defenseless players from “targeting”. If
a player is not in a position to see a block coming, then he is defenseless and
forcible hits to the head and neck area will fall under the targeting rules.
To be
clear, targeting is not the deliberate taking aim at a player. It is the forcible hit to the head and neck
area of a defenseless player or the
lowering of the head to hit any part of the body with the crown of the helmet. This was
known as spearing in the past.
Targeting
involves an automatic disqualification.
Other examples of defenseless players are QBs who have just thrown the
ball and receivers in the process of catching a pass.
Here’s a
good example of Blind-Side block that includes targeting:
ASK THE REF
Now it’s
your turn. Are there rules you’ve not
fully understood or situations that baffle you in a game? These don’t need to be complex rules interpretations,
they could just be things like “Why does that official have a black band around
his fingers?”, “Why does he hold his arm out or up at certain times in the
play?” or “Why are there five officials and are they all watching the same
thing?”
Email your
questions to asktheref@ukfirstdown.co.uk and we will feature them in our
brand new “Ask the Ref” column. You can
even choose to be anonymous if you prefer.
On Sunday the 21st February, a highly motivated training
session took place at Chase High RugbyFields in preparation for an
American football (Scrimmage) game at Maidstone
Pumas this was followed by an emotionally charged speech at the East Essex Sabres first Annual General Meeting of which was held
at O’Neil’s in Southend the following
Tuesday evening.
This game was the second time the two teams had met in a
friendly the first of which took place on the 28th November, 2015 in which the
Pumas won 22-0, however the East Essex Sabres were to reverse the score line at
the Maidstone New Line Academy on
Sunday, and ran out 18-0 winners.
Buster Hodges ran
in the Sabres very first touchdown followed by two touchdown receptions one from Wide Receiver Kyle Bury, the other by Hodges for his second score of the day.
"What continues to impress me about this defense, as with the team
as a whole, there was not a sign of anybody giving up or quitting, everybody
gave me 110%. This was displayed in the third series, when their offense did
get a big play that took them to our 20, only for Greg Crease to get pressure
early which enabled another defensive player to strip the ball from the
QB"
Kirk goes on to say "It was a pleasure to coach the Defense
today, it wasn't about one player, everyone played hard and contributed,
players were flying to the ball and gang tackling. Now we just need to carry
this into training next week, continue to work hard and get ready for the next
game going forward"
Head Coach Lee Joseph
gave a brief match report by saying:
"Can’t really say too much about one individual player as the
whole team started off with the perfect attitude and work ethic and they
carried it through to the end. We started off putting our defense on the field
first. They basically shut down the Pumas offense from the first minute to the
last. The Defensive line stopped the Pumas running game all day long. They put
the Pumas Offensive line under so much constant pressure that when the Pumas
tried to then throw the ball our Defensive backs intercepted 2 passes and
batted down another 3 attempts.
The Pumas tried 4 different Quarterbacks but none of them could get
their offense moving. On offense, the East Essex Sabres began by running the
ball. Within a few plays Buster Hodges broke free and ran 40yrds for his first
touchdown. After that the Sabres pretty much moved up and down the field
putting together some very impressive drives using both their running plays and
passing plays. It was not long until the Sabres scored their second touchdown.
After an impressive 89 yard drive, QB James Dawson threw to a wide open Kyle
Bury in the end zone for a touchdown making the score 12-0 to the Sabres.
In the second half the Sabres defense continued to strangle and disrupt
the Pumas offense, stopping them on every series. Towards the end of the game
the Sabres offense took to the field for the last time and put together another
80 yard drive by passing and running the ball in a balanced attack. In the last
play of the game James Dawson through a pass this time to Buster Hodges to score
his 2nd TD. This was a total team effort with both offense and defense totally
dominating the game"
HC Lee Joseph also goes on to say, "Sabres offensive line
worked so hard to spring our running backs and because of their hard work they
managed to achieve that. The offensive line is a unit that doesn't get the
credit it deserves sometimes and they should as today they were the guys that
made it possible for our running backs to have a big day running and catching
the ball out of the back field.
All the coaching staff of the Sabres could not have wished for a better
way to get there 2016 campaign under"
If you would like to know more about the East Essex Sabres
American football team, then please phone Head Coach Lee Joseph on 07772446468
or follow us on FB and Twitter, you can even contact us through our Website.
The East Essex Sabres
are a newly reformed team from Southend
in Essex. I say reformed because
they used to be called the Southend
Sabres formed in 1984 by Lee Joseph
and were part of BAFA until 2004 when they were sadly disbanded due to
dwindling numbers and players not being able to commit etc. Now, with the NFL
becoming such a major entity in this country it was time to re-ignite the
excitement once again in the Southend and Essex area.
On the 30th August 2015 a recruitment day took place purely
to see how many lads were interested in reviving the old Sabres as a venture
going forward, this experiment turned out to be a major success and so the
Southend Sabres were reborn as the East Essex Sabres.
Training took place firstly at the Sabres original home
ground Southend Rugby Club, Warners Park, but after two weeks the Club
moved to Chase High School Rugby fields, opposite Southend University Hospital,
where training now takes place every Sunday morning 11.00 till 14.00.
As soon as our training schedule settled down the Sabres
immediately applied to join BAFA.
After 14 weeks of vigorous training the Sabres played their
very first affiliated game on the 28th November, against the Maidstone Pumas. BAFA’s Martin Cockrill was in attendance to
ensure things ran according to the rules and in front of 130+ fans, the team
showed how far they had come in such a short space of time.
Sadly the East Essex Sabres were unable to join the League
for 2016. BAFA stated that it was too soon and whilst a lot of the criteria had
been met, we (the Sabres) were not established enough and need more games under
our belts. So in summing up, head coach Lee
Joseph (pictured) and his assistant coaches, defensive coordinator and
player/coach Kirk Beacham, defensive
line coach Duncan Leslie and
offensive coordinator Kevin Kerwan
along with everybody involved in this amazing team are determined to become one
of the most competitive teams in the country there for intensive training will
continue and plenty of affiliated games will be arranged in which the East
Essex Sabres will be looking towards improving their performances and you can
rest assured that the East Essex Sabres will be in a BAFA league in 2017.
