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BYAFA Tables and Results 1990-1991 1990 Season ReviewWhen the Bournemouth Raiders entered the BYAFA league in 1990, the Youth system in this country was undergoing a sea of change. Traditional powerhouses such as Tiptree and Acorn (amongst others) had gone fully kitted, and many other sides had folded. In 1990 there were 16 teams who entered the league, although this turned into 15 competing sides, as rumours of over-age players and players ny the names of Dr.Death, the Exterminator and the Chip Shop! at Oxford proved true, and they were kicked out before the season started! Favourites for the title were Newmarket (always a well-drilled team), Birmingham and Eastleigh (who made the play-offs in 1989). In the Anglian Conference, Newmarket romped to the title with 7 wins out of 8. Poor old Tiptree were on the end of three hammerings (20-0, 59-0 and 27-0). Cambridge failed to fulfil a number of their fixtures and ended up without winning a game. In the Southern Conference, Berkshire were unstoppable, winning every match on their way to an 8-0 record. They also beat Newmarket in a thrilling inter-conference match 14-13. This was a fine conference with a number of close games. Waldron and Heathrow (despite their records) were two excellent outfits, shown in their narrow scraps with Berkshire. Indeed in their last match of the season, the Jets, needing to beat Berkshire to make the play-offs narrowly lost 13-12 to the champions. Waldron made the play-offs in their place. The Midland Conference was won by Newark, although there is still some mystery as to why Birmingham did not fulfil their fixtures. Four teams from 5 made the play-offs, with Walsall gaining their entry through their two 1-0 wins against Birmingham. The South West Conference was won by Eastleigh who took on and beat all-comers. This was the only conference that did not play inter-conference games, and the conference's lack of strength in depth showed as Eastleigh comfortably won the conference and no other side made the play-offs. Oxford forfeited all their games. Bournemouth and Basingstoke were closely matched, but Eastleigh were a class above the rest. Three of the favourites won their quarter-final play-off matches with Berkshire thrashing Birmingham 44-0, Newmarket overpowering Walsall 20-0 and Newark beating Tamworth 21-0. The shock of the round came at Waldron, where the home side defeated the SouthWest Conference winners, Eastleigh, 9-0. Both semi-finals were predictably tight affairs. Newmarket, whose aim for a 100% record was spoilt in the regular season by Berkshire gained revenge winning a controversial match 3-0. Waldron produced their second shock of the play-offs by ousting the Midland Conference champs, Newark, 7-6. The final was a one-way affair as Newmarket took their
first title at this level by thrashing Waldron 29-0.
Results: Tiptree 0-20 Newmarket
Results: Crawley 6-20 Heathrow
Results: Birmingham 8-0 Walsall
Results: Bournemouth 0-16 Eastleigh PLAY-OFFS QUARTER-FINALS BERKSHIRE 44-0 BIRMINGHAM SEMI-FINALS NEWMARKET 3-0 BERKSHIRE FINAL NEWMARKET 29-0 WALDRON 1990 NATIONAL RANKINGS
The off-season saw further structural changes to the BYAFA league 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. Final League Standings for 1991
Results: PLAY-OFFS WILD-CARD EASTLEIGH 6-8 BOURNEMOUTH SEMI-FINALS NEWMARKET 33-6 BOURNEMOUTH FINAL NEWMARKET 19-7 CRAWLEY 1991 NATIONAL RANKINGS
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