The Southern Sundevils, winners of Beach Bowl I and II, hosted Beach Bowl V the fifth annual, one-day, flag football tournament.

The tournament was created in 2001 by Matt Heasman, the Bournemouth Raider and www.britballnow.co.uk editor.

Each winter more and more teams enter the competition and this year was no exception with a total of 13 teams battling it out for the number one spot.

Teams traveled to Southampton, from Devon, Wales, Scotland and even some players flew in from as far away as Canada to compete. However, although the event was hosted at the home venue of the Southern Sundevils, they were unable to field a team due to having coaching commitments with the newly formed Portsmouth University team and having no available quarterbacks or receivers from their 2005 roster due to injuries and personal commitments.

The 13 competing teams for the event were:

• South Wales A
• South Wales B
• Stag Knights
• Team Voodoo
• Bournemouth Raiders
• The Barbarians
• Birmingham Raiders
• Chichester Sharks
• Chichester Thespians
• Chatham Sharks
• Kirkcaldy Bulls
• North Devon Dogs
• Team UA (US Navy)
  

The teams were split into groups in the morning and the winners of each of the four groups progressed in to the top semi-finals. Through the group stages some great games took place as Chichester Sharks faced off against Team UA where the American team's speed was the decider.Team Voodoo (from Andover) brought the largest traveling support, and the vocal team went toe to toe with a young & impressive South Wales B.

Some hard fought games throughout the morning led to first place grouping of:

• South Wales Rebellion A
• Bournemouth Raiders
• The Barbarians
• Kirkcaldy Bulls
  

South Wales Rebellion A took a lead against the favoured Barbarians in Semi Final One. However, they had to cling on with a goal line stand with only 30 seconds remaining in the match to book their place in the Beach Bowl Final.

Semi Final Two was a heated affair with pride and bragging rights at stake as well as a place in the final. The Scottish 2003 and 2004 flag football Champions Kirkcaldy Bulls faced off against the English 2002 and 2004 flag football Champions Bournemouth Raiders. An explosive start and turnovers saw Kirkcaldy demonstrate that they had not been affected by the long trip south as they secured the victory.

The Final started as the sun slipped over the horizon and the winter weather gripped the already cold Lordshill Gridiron. The Kirkcaldy Bulls continued their run of championship successes by stamped their authority on the South Wales Rebellion finishing the day with a 20-0 victory.

Congratulations to The Kikcakdy Bulls, and a safe trip home to All teams.

Sundevils General Manager stated "The Sundevils were very happy to help accommodate the Bournemouth Raiders and the 5th Annual ESFL Beach Bowl tournament. And an impressive array of football was on display today."

Hewitt continued "Its was great to meet up with teams and friends and I believe, with the help of some winter sunshine, everyone enjoyed the day."

"Hopefully events like this continue to help promote all levels of football interest in the UK and the Sundevils are happy to continue to support the continuation of this tournament. Whilst talking with the individual teams today, quite a few players expressed interest in also competing in kitted football next year. For anyone interested please checkout our team links page that has a map indicating your nearest team, or email me on hewittsrok@aol.com and well assist you find your nearest team."

Raiders results:

Quarter-Final Beat South Wales Warriors 27-13 (Heasman 3 TD passes to Mark Houston (2) and Jon Parsons)
Semi-Final Lost to Kirkcaldy Bulls  7-21
3rd/4th place playoff Lost to Barbarians 0-21