Photo courtesy of East Coast Leopards

Team Notes: Formed as the Lowestoft Leopards in 1986, and played the following teams in their pre-season games - Rugby Rollers,Boston Blitz,Bedford Stags,Kings Lynn Patriots,Breckland Bucks. Their strange kit colours came from a combination of a batch of cheap sky blue helmets and kit from the BBC when they appeared as extras in a short film called "defrosting the fridge" with Joe Don Baker. They joined the BNGL for the 1989 season as the East Coast Leopards. Original head coach Tony(T-Bag)Harris was replaced by another USAF guy JC Whymes for the 1989 season. Under the guidance of Whymes and QB Breedlove they improved to a good standard but most of the players worked in the offshore oil/gas industry so numbers fluctuated wildly. A 3-6-0 record did not do them justice. All the losses were close despite fielding less than 20 players! When they had 25+ on the sideline they won! It all fell apart after the 1989 away fixture at Bedford(5-0). They only had 16 to choose from but decided to play the game anyway. Bedford underestimated ECL and trailed by a point at the half. In the second half it was neck and neck. With only seconds remaining ECL decided to go for two points to win the game but the pass fell incomplete. Bedford won 32-31. The Referees and Bedford applauded ECL off the field. A lot of the ECL players moved on to start for the Ipswich Cardinals in their 1990 bowl winning season. ECL were a great team who loved the game and played it as it should be played for FUN!!