Highlights of 1991 to 1993: 

1991

Highlights of the year: 

NCMMA folds. NDMA start 2nd division
World League starts, Monarchs win
Domestic crowds start to drop
GB Euro champs again
EuroBowl disaster

NCMMA folds. NDMA start 2nd division.

These two events were inexorably linked. It started soon after the 1990 NDMA bowl when the chairman, Ron Weisz announced that interest was such that the NDMA would run two divisions in 1991 with proposed promotion but not relegation between the two. This had a devastating effect on the NCMMA as practically all of its teams pledged themselves to the NDMA bar a minority who wished to play football for the BNGL, an organisation which prided itself on a no-frills, low cost platform. Time ran out for the NCMMA in early December 1990 when every club in the league resigned and the one year league, born out of the ashes of the CGL was no more. Worringly, the number of senior clubs in the country dropped again. From 134 clubs in 1990, 114 registered in 1991. Two clubs who had been in Britball since the very beginning folded - the Manchester Allstars (who had been British runners-up in 1987) and the Chelmsford Cherokee decided to call it a day. The top flight was trimmed down to 17 clubs, with just the Essex Buccaneers joining after they had been runners-up in the NCMMA in 1990. The NDMA Second Division became a 9 team league with 5 teams in the north and 4 in the south. In fact only 4 clubs from the NCMMA joined the Second Division - Stoke, West London Aces, Coventry and Milton Keynes, with the other clubs being made up of some of the successful BNGL National Division teams in 1990.

World League begins, Monarchs take bowl.

With enormous public and press interest Wembley stadium opened its doors in early 1991 to the first ever international sporting league and it soon became the hottest ticket in town. Some 46000 people saw the opening game against NY/NJ Knights and the Monarchs never had less than 35000 through the gates. With a certain inevitability, the London team cruised through the regular season 9 and 1, the Barcelona Dragons inflicting their only defeat, into a semi final spot at Giants Stadium vs. the Knights where the Monarchs triumphed 42-26. The World Bowl itself was a slight anti-climax as Barcelona never really got going and London strolled to a 21-0 victory in front of over 61,000 fans at Wembley. Innovations included helmet-cam, a QBs eye view of the game, and coach to QB radio communication which would later be adopted by the NFL.

Monarchs Kicker Phil Alexander

GB triumph again in Helsinki.

The GB team travelled with expectation. They were the defending European champions and as such were not subject to a qualifying tournament but they were not the powerhouse nation of 89, the coaching staff were different as was the organisation. BAFA ruled that only BAFA registered players could play for the Lions, which meant that no London Monarchs players could play. In GB's favour there were to be no Germany and no Italy, both had fallen by the wayside. In the finals GB were up against an over the hill Holland and an inexperienced French side, the real danger came from the home team. Finland were at that time amongst the very best and hopes were high of a home team victory. In the semi final GB disposed of the Dutch side with little problem 49-3, a TD hat trick by the Bulls Lloyd O'Neil being the highlight. In the final the Finns, having disposed of France in the other semi, handed GB their opening score on a plate following an errant snap on fourth down, the ball sailing through the punters hands and being recovered by GB in great field position. QB Jason Elliot of the London Capitals scored with a minute remaining of the first quarter on a QB draw play. From then on defenses were the order of the day, Finland breaking the deadlock with a 32 yard field goal and it remained 7-3 until with sixty seconds to go in the game Jason Elliot, having a stellar game, hit Bournemouth receiver Pat Millar for a 40 yard gain, Millar being dragged down a yard shy of the end zone. On the ensuing play Olympian running back Richard Dunkley fumbled the ball which bounced into the end zone where an alert Millar fell on the ball to win the game and championship for GB. Elliot collected the tournament MVP, and was also named as an All-Europe player, along with eight team mates. Lance Cone commented, "Jason was so cool. He didn't react he just went out there and did what he had to do." The other eight Lions selected for the All-Europe team were: Barry Driver, Mark Webb, Jo Richardson, Colin Nash, Paul Roberts, Warren Billingham, Gary Mills and Bola Ayiede.


GB with the European Championship

Ipswich take Eurobowl spot, Spartans rebuild

BAFA ruled that for the right to represent Great Britain in the 1991 Eurobowl the champions of the NDMA, previously assumed to be the nations champions without question, would have to play off with the winners of the BNGL national division. This may have seemed like a good idea at the time, perhaps introducing a "Superbowl" element to British football and one of the teams involved, the BNGL's Ipswich Cardinals were all for it. The problem lay with the other team, current NDMA and European champions, the Manchester Spartans who decided to concentrate on rebuilding for the future after a number of retirements and some players Mike Taylor (London Monarchs) and Les Jackson (New York Knights) notably moving on to play in the World League. Ipswich Cardinals became Britain's representative, playing at home against the French champions, Aix-en-Provence Argonauts. Though Ipswich battled gamely they were completely outclassed and lost heavily 51-0. After this debacle BAFA reinstated the 1991 NDMA champions as Britain's team in the Eurobowl for the following season.

Bulls take bowl.

The London Olympians took the regular season by storm as they romped to ten wins out of ten in the Southern Conference. In the North, Birmingham, Nottingham and Glasgow had had great seasons and all finished with identical 9-1-0 records. Birmingham's superior record against the two led to them claiming the conference title, and so it was the Bulls and Olympians who would eventually meet in NDMA Bowl II.

The culmination of the 1991 NDMA season saw the Birmingham Bulls triumph over the London Olympians 39-38 in a thrilling see-saw game at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham in front of 4,000 fans. Trailing by 36-14 as the final quarter began the O's scored 24 unanswered points to lead the game 38-36 with only a minute to go. Bulls QB Dave Kramme engineered a six play, 62 yard drive enabling the Bulls to snatch victory with a 23-yard field goal from Mark Webb with 17 seconds left to break the hearts of the London side.

Mark Webb is lifted off the pitch at the end of Coke Bowl 91

Earlier in the season one of the most infamous incidents in Britball history happened at Helenvale, Glasgow in the "1/4-second game". The Nottingham Hoods had travelled to play the Lions in a regular season game and had built a lead of 20-14 with only a few seconds left in the game. Hoods QB Mike Grossner 'took a knee' on 4th down to end the game but the timekeeper ruled that a quarter of a second remained in the game. Glasgow took over on downs and scored on the last play of the game, missed the extra point and the game went into overtime. The Lions won the toss and received the ball, marched 65 yards in 7 plays where Lions QB Darren Trainer hit Andy McGowen in the end zone to win the game 26-20.

This was also the year of the first great drop in attendance figures at British games, none so markedly as the Olympians. In previous season the O's could draw a 1,000 a game with no problem, however, in its wisdom, the NDMA made no provision for the Monarchs and consequently on days where a full programme of British football went ahead and the Monarchs were at home the crowds went to Wembley with the O's pulling in 48 punters on one occasion. O's owner Philip Andreisz said after the first two home games of the season, "It's tough to survive on attendances of 48 and 94. Expenses are £1,200 a game minimum. Tell me, how much longer can you go on like that?". The crowds of 1990 and before were never to return.

Other notable events in 1991 were the loss of military players, coaches and officials for the duration of the Gulf War, the banning of "spiking" by the games governing body, the amalgamation of BYAFA and NDMA youth and the tragic death on the football field of Bristol Packers fullback Ronnie Barnes in the game vs London Ravens.

As 1991 ended, NDMA unveiled plans for a new 12 team Superleague in 1992 split into a North and South conference. Division Two would be increased to 12 sides. With 27 sides with NDMA membership, and just 24 places up for grabs, NDMA chairman Ron Weisz said "Some may not be asked back in the NDMA."

Lance Cone announced a blueprint for football (personal point of view only) in Great Britain, and here are some extracts:

1. Get a system where all teams are involved in promotion or relegation
2. A simplified, easy to understand league structure
3. A top league with 8-10 teams which would be the flagship of our game.
4. A concentrated effort for all in the game to break into the UK schools system to get youth players into the game.
5. A return to the concept of entertainment - a day's football is not enough.

British Gridiron sevens

This was a new Passball-style league which got off the ground in 1991. There was some legal action by the NPL for copyright infringements, (a BAFRA publication from the time mentions this too) but the championship game was played out between North West Demons and Glass City, Glass City winning 33-30.

Team Soviet Union toured the UK, and played two games. On 14th April, they lost 30-12 to the Bournemouth Bobcats at Kings Park Athletic Stadium. The Soviets were strong and had good technique but lacked coaching. They also played Brighton B-52s on their tour, losing 18-12.

In the Second Division, the Coventry Jaguars took on and conquered all-comers. They compiled a perfect regular season, and then dismantled the Cardiff Mets 50-28 in the Bowl game.


Coventry QB Travis Hunter

In the BNGL, the London Capitals won their second straight title. In 1990, they had won the NCMMA league, but in 1991 they switched to the BNGL and after winning all ten regular season games really piled on the points in the playoffs. Their playoff record read as follows:

Quarter-Final vs. Farnham Knights - Won 54-0
Semi-Final vs. Ipswich Cardinals - Won 50-0
Final vs. Clydesdale Colts - Won 52-7

Plymouth Admirals, who had been playing since the very first steps of British Football won their first title with a 26-16 win over the Sutton Coldfield Royals, and the Glasgow Cyclones took the First Division Bowl with a hard fought 30-21 win over the Basildon Chiefs.

In College Bowl V, the Teesside Demons repeated as College champs after a 19-0 win over UEA Pirates. Northants Storm destroyed all Youth Kitted sides, and they won the final 59-6 against the London Capitals. BAFA also accepted the BCAFL into their fold in June. In April, a pioneering attempt to merge Britains two youth leagues into one failed after BYAFA and the NDMA failed to agree on an age limit. The NDMA had a 18 year age limit and BYAFA allowed 19 year olds to play. Neither side budged, and NDMA Youth director David Shaw said at the time, "I thought the timing was right, the merger was something the NDMA was keen to succeed. We can only hope something constructive  can be done for 1992". However, a week later and after BAFA intervention a deal was done and a new 35 team league would kickoff in August.

BYAFA merged it's PeeWee and Double Touch leagues to form the Junior Gridiron League. The Pee Wees played 9-14 years division, with Double Touch from 15-18.

In TransAtlantic Challenge 3 at Moorways Stadium in Derby, the GB Crusaders registered their best ever victory. They defeated Team USA Milwaukee 40-12.

The following is adapted from the Bournemouth Raiders website (www.bournemouthraiders.co.uk) concerning the 1991 Youth Two Touch season

In the BYAFA Youth Two Touch league, the off-season had seen further structural changes with Walsall, Berkshire, Birmingham, and Tiptree all folding. Newcomers included Willenhall (believed to be a product of the Walsall and Birmingham teams from the previous season), Fen and Basildon. There was to be one less conference this season, with only Northern, Central and Southern conferences competing. Inter-conference games were played between the Northern and Central conferences, but again the Southern conference only played games amongst themselves.

Willenhall, Tamworth and Newark competed for the Northern Conference title. Newark were the pre-season favourites due to their strong performance in 1990, but it was to be Willenhall who took the title with a 4-2 record. Tamworth and Newark tied with each other, but did not quite have enough to make the play-offs.

The reigning National Champions, the Newmarket Mustangs, Heathrow Jets (who were unlucky not to qualify for the play-offs the previous season) and Fen Harriers (who were largely made up of the Cambridge side from the previous year) competed for the Central Conference.

It was Newmarket who carried off where they left off last year, by going undefeated throughout the regular season 6-0. Heathrow had a mixed season finishing 3-3, and missing out on the play-offs again, despite matching the same record as Eastleigh. Fen had a poor season winning 1 and losing 5.

The division that supplied most teams to the play-offs was the Southern. A complete role reversal of the previous one, but there was some controversy concerning Eastleigh’s place in them.

Crawley took the Southern Conference title, following a great season long tussle with the Bournemouth Raiders. The Eastleigh Devils had begun the season as favourites following their undefeated season in 1990, and indeed looked like champions judging by their opening day win against Bournemouth (17-6). Crawley, meanwhile had gone to work on Basildon and destroyed them in their opening fixture. Bournemouth travelled to Basildon the following week and recorded their first victory of the season (34-0), whilst Crawley produced the first shock of the season by defeating Eastleigh 6-0 at home. Bournemouth put the cat amongst the pigeons in June with a 8-0 home victory against Crawley, to put all three sides in contention for the conference. Mid-season saw Eastleigh blow it. They failed to fulfil a fixture against Bournemouth, and the league gave a 1-0 win to Bournemouth, and then the Devils were knocked out of title contention by Crawley by losing 13-0 at Lord's Hill. This set up a winner take-all match at Crawley between the two Raiders sides. Both teams had rebounded from poor seasons in 1990 and it is the credit to the management of both sides that they got were they did in 1991. Crawley decisively defeated Bournemouth 24-0 to take the title. Crawley, therefore, finished 5-1, with Bournemouth who secured a winning record for the first time in their history finishing 4-2 and snatching what they thought would be the last semi-final berth, with Eastleigh (3-3) missing out. Basildon finished with a 0-6 record, pulling out halfway through the season.

However, a week after the season finished the league declared that there should be a wild-card play-off to decide who should qualify for the semi-finals between Bournemouth and Eastleigh (who finished with a poorer record). It is thought that as the League ruled in Bournemouth’s favour in the middle of the season in an abandoned match (see report of this), the League wanted to even things up.

To compound things, the League ruled that the same should be played at Eastleigh’s Lord’s Hill ground! Nevertheless, the Bournemouth Raiders came good in the last minute of the match to snatch a dramatic 8-6 win and gain their deserved place in the semi-finals.

The semi-finals were played at Cambridge Sports Centre and the first tie pitted the Northern Champions Willenhall against the Southern Champions Crawley. Crawley won a dour game dominated by defense 9-0. In the other semi-final that followed, Bournemouth were blown away by their inability to cope with the Newmarket WR John Mensah. He scored 3 touchdowns in a 33-6 win.

The final at Chelmsford was a lively affair, which saw Newmarket defend their national title in a 19-7 victory.

1992

Highlights of the year: 

Olympians become champs at last
London Ravens fold
Tiptree make jump from Youth to Senior
Bulls dumped out of Europe by Cru again
Coca-Cola pull out

There were few changes for the 1992 season. Glasgow Lions were demoted to NDMA Division Two after they had fielded players who weren't properly registered in 1991. Registered teams dipped again, from 114 in 1991 to 99. More sides who had been the bedrock of British American football since the beginning disbanded as they struggled to keep pace with the very top sides. In 1992, the Bournemouth Bobcats, Solent (Portsmouth) Warriors and Bristol Packers all disbanded.

London Ravens fold

The UK's pioneer football team, the London Ravens folded after years of decline following a decision by the NDMA to demote them to division two for the 1992 season which provoked a walk out at the club, a spokesman said "If we can't play in the superleague we won't play at all. The Ravens played a major part in UK football and we can only assume this means nothing to the NDMA". The NDMA replied "Every week there were rumours coming out of the club that they were about to fold, we need stability, we need to look to the future, not live on past glories". For a few years the name lived on via the youth team but for the most famous name in Britball's formative years it was all over.

Still in a highly competitive season, the Bulls and Olympians fought for victory in the Southern Conference and it was the Bulls who won the Conference based on results between the two after they had both finished the regular season tied with a 9-1-0 record. In the Northern Conference, the Nottingham Hoods for the first time looked like they would challenge for major honours. They had flattered to deceive in the past, but perhaps this could be their year. The Hoods comfortably took the Northern Conference with a 9-1-0 record, with Leicester Panthers and Manchester Spartans on their coat-tails.

In the playoffs, the Hoods stormed past the Leeds Cougars 40-7, Leicester defeated Brighton 28-12, the Olympians thrashed the Spartans 49-0 and the Bulls shut-out Northants 31-0. Everything was going according to the form-book.

In the semi-finals, Leicester upset the Bulls 21-9 and reached their first British final. In the other semi, the Olympians travelled to Nottingham and hung on for a great 28-22 win.

The Glasgow Lions would regain their Division One place, after defeating Kent Mustangs 32-14 in the NDMA Division Two bowl game, and then thrashing the Blackpool (formerly Fylde) Falcons 38-0 in the promotion/relegation playoff.


Scott Couper scores in the Div.2 bowl game

In the BNGL national division, the Clydesdale Colts went one better than in 1991, as they swept to the title defeating Farnham Knights in an evenly contested final 30-26. Merseyside Nighthawks won the Premier Division title with a narrow 23-20 win against the Crawley Raiders, and the Tiptree Titans (in their first season as a senior team) won the First Division title with 20-6 victory against the Bath Gladiators.

In other finals in 1992, the Southampton Stags won College Bowl VI by a bowl record 53 points to nil against the hapless Glasgow Tigers. Glasgow's youth kitted side, the Lions Youth, played Southend Sabres in the BYAFA Youth Kitted final and also lost 28-8. The Sabres star was RB Paul Bushell who ran for 173 yards on 17 carries. The Fen Harriers won their first title, by winning the Youth Two Touch final 12-0 against the Tamworth Trojans.

Monarchs struggle, World League suspended

Reigning World Bowl champions, the London Monarchs began their campaign at Wembley against old foes New York and struggled to an error prone 26-20 overtime win in front of 30,167 patient fans who didn't realise it at the time but they were witnessing probably the highlight of a truly awful season. By the time they played Barcelona at home the crowd had now dwindled to 18,000 and alarm bells were ringing at the NFL. In early September the league ran a story that it was looking at potential expansion sites for the 1993 season, a week later the NFL announced that the league had suspended operations until 1995 at least, citing $10 million that it had apparently lost.

Not everyone agreed, citing Five areas of concern.

• The World Bowl was never played in the US.
  
• They never struck a deal with an ambitious TV company (ABC were too keen to save money rather than promote the league).
  
• There was too much league interference with player allocation.
  
• The league made major game day entertainments cutbacks.
  
• Not enough big name players were in from the start
  

Eurobowl disappointment for Bulls

NDMA champions Birmingham had high hopes of restoring national pride following the Ipswich saga of the year before but the writing was on the wall when they struggled to beat an enthusiastic Dublin Celts side in Birmingham. In a tight game with few chances and the scores tied at 0-0 going into the fourth quarter the Bulls eventually got their act together to scramble a 20-0 win over the luckless Celts who had been unable to convert twice from the Bulls 2 and 5 yard lines as well as having a touchdown called back for a procedure penalty.

In the next round the Bulls were up against perennial Euro specialists the Amsterdam Crusaders and in a dour defensive battle the Cru came out victorious thanks to a 2nd quarter safety.

BAFA pulls out of Europe

Britball's governing body BAFA sensationally voted to withdraw from the EFL. At an EGM in July, BAFRA boss Joe Mendell proposed that BAFA withdrew from all European competition, save Junior football, in 1992. It was backed by the NDMA's Ron Weisz and Wayne Persinger of the BNGL. The reasons given included:

• It cost the NDMA £15,000 towards sending the national team to the European championship out of a cost of £20,000 for what was a BAFA team.
  
• The EFL did not give the Bulls a chance in their appeal to get the result of their Eurobowl defeat by Amsterdam overturned because of player registration problems.
  
• The EFL banned non-European nationals from sitting on its board, eliminating GB's representative, American Ron Weisz at a stroke.
  

Ironically, it didn't stop the Olympians from representing GB in the 93 Eurobowl.

Olympians win the big one at last 34-6


Delton Anderson with the Coke Bowl

The Olympians finally ended their Britball jinx with a dominating performance which never gave surprise finalists Leicester a chance. Four time losers before this, the O's hardly put a foot wrong with three touchdown passes from former LSU Quarterback Leonard Valentine, arguably the best passer of a ball ever seen in this country, and a stifling defense that never gave the Panthers a look in although the cats avoided the shutout with a 4th quarter touchdown from future Loughborough Aces head coach Andy Sweeney but it was far too little, too late, the O's had won big and it would be the start of a dynasty.

Leroy Innes scores the opening TD of Coke Bowl 92

Odds and ends

This was the year marred by a number of game ending brawls when one team was 'taking a knee' to run the clock out. This lead to the BAFA rules committee bringing in the much hated "Take a knee" rule which calls for automatic disqualification should any contact between players occur during this play. In spite of its unpopularity it worked.

BYAFA's Junior League joined forces with Two Touch rivals the BYGL and Northern Conference to unite.

Great Britain Crusaders travelled to Toulon in France to take part in the first European Junior Championships. They lost a nail-biter to the French in the sem-finals 7-6, and had to play a third place playoff match against Italy. With the Crusaders fielding many reserve players, the Italians won 42-0.

It was also the year that Terry Smith began to reassemble the EuroSpartan team in preparation for the Football League of Europe (FLE) which would begin the next year. In readiness for this they played in the Schweppes Cool Masters European Tournament in Germany which featured the Hamburg Blue Devils, the Moscow Bears and the Amsterdam Crusaders. The Spartans game lost to the powerful hosts from Hamburg 25-42, but won their other two matches and finished second in the tournament

In a Four Nations Invititation Trophy at Cardiff, representative sides from the 4 Nations sent teams to compete for the trophy. Stoke Spitfires were the English representatives, Cardiff Mets the Welsh, Glasgow Cyclones the Scots and Belfast Blitzers the Irish. In the event the Cyclones failed to appear, and it was the Spitfires who defeated the Mets 13-10 in the final.

1993

Highlights of the year: 

NDMA streamlines into one division
Olympians complete the 'double'
NDMA/BNGL 'merge'
Spartans withdraw from superleague

NDMA streamlines into one division

The NDMA merged its two divisions into one superleague in January 1993 as it failed in its hope that more teams would join its second division. At the end of a desperate few months for the NDMA Blackpool, Cardiff, Manchester Spartans, Southern O's, Edinburgh and Stoke all pulled out of the league before the season began leaving the NDMA below the minimum 15 teams needed to keep BAFA recognition. At the end of a staccato season in which only three teams contested the northern division and the O's were unable to play all of their games owing to the Eurobowl competition it was left to the aforementioned Olympians to once again stamp their authority on the league, taking all before them and repeating their triumph of a year earlier by defeating a tough Glasgow Lions team 40-14 at Maidenhead rugby club in the bowl game.


LB Bob Dean lifts the 1993 trophy

Olympians masters of Europe

In the first round the O's travelled to Dusseldorf and squeaked past the home team panthers 32-29 following a protracted political battle as where and when the game should be played. Their reward for this was a gruelling twice postponed trip to Helsinki to play the East City Giants and in another tight game the O's triumphed 34-29. On to Brussels for the Eurobowl final where they would meet the bane of UK football, the Amsterdam Crusaders. After what had gone before this seemed almost like a home game and the rampant O's showed no mercy, running out winners by 42-21. Leonard Valentine scored three rushing TD's and Richard Dunkley scored twice, as at last the O's had stepped out of the shadow of the Ravens, they were now the very best.


Leonard Valentine

Spartans withdraw from the superleague

One of Britain's oldest clubs, the Manchester Spartans, pulled out of the NDMA superleague in favour of preparing for the proposed new Football League of Europe in 1994. "Players are bored with the superleague" said Spartans boss Terry Smith, "from a financial standpoint it was the only move to make. It was an enormous expense to play when we went to Italy in 1990, the Eurobowl is an outdated tournament, a lot of the best teams can't afford it".

NDMA chairman Weisz was furious, "There is no way the NDMA will give the Spartans our blessing when they are no longer part of our league and are using our players."

His EuroSpartans teams played a series of Exhibition games to set the stage for the League kick-off in 1994.  They played Hamburg twice, losing the opener on August 21st 23-21 on a field goal with a few seconds left in a televised game in Leicester.  They also played away to Munich losing 35-20.  Following on from these performances, they were chosen as one of the top four teams to compete in the Final Four Schweppes Cool Masters Tournament in Hamburg again (as in 1992). They finished third in this Final Four, with Hamburg first, Munich second, and Cologne fourth. The games were well promoted and always competitive and bolstered by this Terry Smith announced ambitious plans for an eight team Euroconference to be played in the Autumn.

All the games were played at Saffron Lane in October 93. Opposition from BAFA and NDMA, which at one time included a threat of expulsion for players participating in the UKC, ensured that Smith had to face several problems right up to the start of the season The season started with the kickoff classic between GB Spartans and the Sydney Kookaburras - Spartans winning 46-6. In the end four teams played a 4 game, 4 week season culminating in the championship game featuring the EuroBears (coached by Andy Capp) who beat the EuroRaiders in the big game by 14-12 on October 30th, ironically, the Bears had finished bottom of the regular season final standings.

NDMA, BNGL finally merge

After a decade of multi-league football Britain was at last united in having only one senior league (the British Senior League) after protracted talks in October 1993. The plan was formulated at the start of the 1993 season, when the NDMA was hit by a number of clubs pulling out of the schedule. BAFA has a rule which requires a member league to have a minimum of 15 teams. NDMA had seen 10 clubs fold over previous 3 years, with little prospect of replacements. They had lost Coca Cola sponsorship and planned to discontinue Division 2 in favour of a single division for 1993. When the London Olympians announced they would not field a second team, and Stoke Spitfires pulled out, before the start of the season the NDMA were left with the minimum 15 teams. Chairman Ron Weisz announced that the time was right for a merger and made all the early running. It was obvious that a single senior league was a deep wish for BAFA chairman Lance Cone, who brought the two sides together at the end of the season. 


BAFA Chairman, Lance Cone

By this time Terry Smith had also withdrawn his Manchester Spartans from the league in favour of participation in the European League AFL-E (also known as Football League Europe). The representatives of the six parties that made up BAFA, the two senior leagues, BYAFA, BSAFL, BAFRA and the coaches association thrashed out the agreement that all the countries 100 senior teams would be playing under one banner in 1994 - the British Senior League (BSL). Ron Weisz had already been replaced by Leigh Ensor as NDMA chairman when the deal was agreed, but that wasn't the last word in this protracted episode. In a meeting for the Scottish Gridiron Development Forum, which was attended by all the senior scottish clubs a vote was made on whether they would join the BSL in 1994. They voted for it after it was heard that there would be a major sponsorship deal. The sponsorship never materialised and the scottish clubs did eventually set up an independent league in 1995. Although Ron Weisz has claimed the initial credit for the merger, it was clear that the merger was forced onto the NDMA by BAFA, who would withdraw their recognition of the league, and hence withdraw the possibility of competing in the EuroBowl or NDMA players in the European Nations Championships. Presiding BAFA chairman Lance Cone said "This is the most significant event in the history of British American football".

Weisz resigns

After five years in office NDMA chairman Ron Weisz resigned from the NDMA and from his BAFA director role. Weisz first got involved in Britball in 1985 with Brighton and the National team, and was the league chairman from 1989 to 1993. 


Ron Weisz

He relocated to Ireland, which was his main reason for resigning. Birmingham GM Leigh Ensor was the surprise choice to replace Weisz. Ensor said, "I'm happy to do the job. I know a lot of flak is flying around now but I would like to assure all players I have got the interest of football at heart."

UKSC bows out

After 46 years of competition the United Kingdom Sports Conference played its last ever game on 20th November 1993 at RAF Upper Heyford where the home team SkyKings played the visiting Lakenheath Eagles for the UK championship. On a cold and frosty day 500 people saw Lakenheath win the game 30 seconds from time with a 30 yard field goal, so ending a football league that was born out of the American military presence during the 2nd World War. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the large military force stationed in the UK had become a liability and in a cost cutting move the vast majority of bases closed and with it the league.

EFL replaced by EFAF

The door to European competition was re-opened for Britain following the demise of the EFL. Seven countries at an EFL meeting in Brussels unanimously voted in favour of filing for bankruptcy and in its place EFAF was founded. "One of the main objectives of EFAF is to create a new environment to advance the sport in Europe into the next century" said new president, Sweden's Peter Lundgren.

Bafa had pulled out in 1992 because it could no longer afford crippling membership fees and the costs involved in sending a national squad to the biannual nations cup. In comparison to the EFL's £4000 membership fee, EFAF charged just £500. Former BAFA secretary and EFL board member Charles Macnamara said "I am delighted with what has happened, it is a step in the right direction"

Other odds and ends:

Ireland were expelled from EFL in 1993. We are not sure of the reasons behind this, but it was reported in First Down at the time.

Upper Heyford took on the Lakenheath Eagles in the last ever US Military game to be played in the UK

Action from Upper Heyford v Lakenheath Eagles

In 1993, a travelling university all-star team was formed under the direction of Damian Bayford, the head coach at the University of Leeds. This team included several non-British players and defeated three German college teams whilst on tour.

The Bournemouth Buccaneers took the last ever BNGL National title, winning the final 42-34 against the Bedford Bombardiers. Tiptree maintained their progress after promotion to the Premier League, by winning their second straight national title, this time against Croydon Kings 17-6. Lincoln Saints stormed to the First Division title destroying Redbridge Fire 51-14 in the final.

The Farnham Knights won the last ever Passball final at Cannock against the strongly fancied home team 36-19.

PA Knights - Passball champs 1993
Photo courtesy of www.paafo.freeserve.co.uk/

Southampton Stags won back-to-back college titles, winning College Bowl VII 19-0 against the Leeds Celtics. Southend Sabres also won back-to-back titles in 1993, winning the BYAFA Youth Kitted final 44-6 against the Heathrow Jets. Ealing Eagles took the Youth Two Touch title, thrashing Park Centre Bandits 44-0 in the final. London Capitals won the Junior Two Touch title with a narrow 8-6 win against Tiger Bay Warriors.