Friday 30 December 2011

Challenging Traditional thinking: Pulaski Academy

An interesting article by Sports Illustrated looking at the Pulaski Academy and their philosophy:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/scorecasting/09/15/kelley.pulaski/index.html

They never punt on 4th down, don't return punts and have a myriad of onside kick options to get the ball back after they score (or they just kick it out of bounds).


Far from being a mad cap approach to the game, Head Coach Kevin Keely's thinking is grounded on statistical facts factoring in the probablility of an opponent scoring from certain areas of the field and the average net return.

Why are coaches rooted to the tradition of punting the ball away, even if it goes against all statistical sense? Could an approach like this be viable in British American Football?



Thursday 29 December 2011

Championship Playoffs Wild Card Weekend


Today we look at how the Championship wildcard matchups would play out and who would end up being a hero or villain for their respective teams based on the standings we produced before Christmas. Playoff predictions: As it stands. Remember it’s just a little fun to warm the cockles in the cold barren Christmas break.

North

Stirling Clansmen #6 @ Hallam Warriors #3

Despite being outplayed for majority of the first quarter, it was the Clansmen who struck first with a TD pass from Luis Stephenson to Dion Feather. Unfortunately this would be the highlight of the first half for Stirling as the high scoring Hallam offence took control of the game with four rushing TD’s of their own, scoring 32 straight points. The Warriors touchdowns came courtesy of Danny Pyle (2), James Musonda and QB Jacob Muncey.

The third quarter turned into a defensive battle with two interceptions for the Hallam defence (Aden Flannagan and Mike Whiston respectively) and a fumbleforced by Stirling MLB Zake Muluzi was recovered by Shaun Leslie for the first Stilring turnover. The only score of the half was a 6 yard passing TD for the Warriors from Muncey to TE Josh Bayley. The PAT was good 39-7 at the end of the third.
Pyle continued his good game with another two rushing touchdowns and the Warriors FB Richard Griffiths piled over for the final score of the game. For the Clansmen their scores came courtesy of a Muluzi fumble recovery in the endzone and a rushing TD. Stirling replied with two more TD’s of their own,but the game ended with the final score 59-20 to Hallam.

With a win Hallam now head off to the number 2 seed Newcastle in the next round of the playoffs.

Wednesday 28 December 2011

BUAFL Breakdown: Northern Conference (Part 2)


Manchester Tyrants
With the introduction of a new set of coaches this season, including new Head Coach Hugh English, the Tyrants are clearly a team in transition. Despite being involved in a number of close fixtures against Bradford and York, losing by a single score or less, Manchester seem to have taken a backward step when it comes to putting points on the board.

With fixtures against local rivals Manchester Met Eagles, Sheffield Sabres and conference leaders Hallam Warriors to come, there are sterner tests ahead for the Tyrants this season and it seems unlikely that the Lancashire side will see their 0-4 record improve.


Manchester Metropolitan Eagles
Manchester Met have been involved in some close battles so far this season against York and a nail-bitter with the Celtics, which took two periods of overtime to decide. Head Coach Jim Blinkhorn may be regretting going for the win in that one, but it shows the confidence he obviously has in his offence. But for a forceful hit in the end zone, he may have been vindicated in that decision.

Out of the sides in the bottom half of the table, the Eagles arguably have the easiest run-in to the end of the season with fixtures against the also winless Stallions, Fury and bottom-of-the-table rivals, Manchester Tyrants. With the defensive showing displayed against York, a rampant Bangor offence and Leeds Celtics it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Eagles finished the season strongly, but in these tight defensive battles it all comes down to who is able to get that ball into the end zone.   


BUAFL Breakdown: Northern Conference


Sheffield Hallam Warriors
The Hallam Warriors are looking unstoppable at the moment. Their offence is averaging over 76 points a game with MVP candidate Danny Pyle leading a potent rushing attack. Their defence is also strong having conceded only to Hull and they have only one real challenge left this year against their cross town rivals the Sheffield Sabres. That said, the Steel Bowl will probably only be a formality for Coach Batty and his boys.


Without a serious upset, Hallam are destined to go 8-0 in regular season games, but they have everything to prove in the playoffs. Many have written off Hallam as soon as they come up against one of the big four (Portsmouth, Hertfordshire, Birmingham and Loughborough), so it’s up to the Warriros to show that they have the versatility to cope with the other teams that are regarded as the league’s best.


Sheffield Sabres
With a relatively easy first half of the season, Sheffield will have to step it up for the second. The Sabres have played some of the north’s worst in Huddersfield and Lancaster and although they still have bottom of conference Tyrants to play, they also have to take on Hallam, Carnegie and Bradford. 


Losses against Bradford or Carnegie will put them out of the playoffs and perhaps out of the plate, however the biggest game of them all will be against Steel City rivals Hallam. If they win, they will clinch the conference. If they lose they will be in a ‘points conceded’ battle against Hull who have only been scored on by Bradford and Hallam – two teams the Sabres have yet to play.


UH Sharks
Hull have an easy schedule after Christmas which is probably a good thing as they have had some close run ins in their last three games. Their special teams did the scoring against Carnegie, but they conceded over fifty against Hallam and couldn’t get their offence to finish against Huddersfield. With games against three teams whose offences have only managed to put up a combined 117 points in 13 games, the Sharks will be looking to their defence to win them some games.


If Hull can go the last three games without conceding a point then they’re in with a good shot at the playoffs. Either way, they are likely to see some form of postseason football.


Bradford Bears
Although the Bears had a slow start, it looks like they are starting to find their form. Perhaps this is what you’d expect from a rookie team with a large and experienced coaching staff and with Hull being the only team to have scored on the Bears, they look to have taken on the ‘Defence wins championships’ philosophy. 


Bradford will be looking to build on their momentum and come in to the Sabres game with all guns blazing. This is a huge game for both teams because if Bradford cause an upset and win, they could be in the plate in their first season and depending on how Bangor do against Carnegie, could potentially push the Sabres out of postseason all together! However This eventuality is unlikely, leaving Bradford as a long shot for postseason and a favourite for 5th place in the conference.


Bangor Muddogs
Bangor have had a great season so far. Their first victories came this year, with the only loss being to the Sabres. With talk of some new imports coming over from the states for the start of 2012, Bangor will look to continue their form and hit post season football. They have two obstacles in their path though. 


The first is Carnegie and their stingy defence, a game which has the potential to be one of the highlights of the Northern Conference in the New Year.
The second is their schedule; they have already missed a game against Huddersfield and Bangor need to ensure that this game is replayed. Failing to do so could result in the game being awarded a tie, which could potentially cost the Muddogs a place in the plate.

Friday 23 December 2011

Seasons Greetings!

Nothing says Christmas like Santa kitted up to play...


A Merry Christmas from all in the Dbl Coverage team!
We would like to say thankyou for all your support over the first two months. The response to the blog has been overwhelming and we have sometimes struggled to match expectations, but with the new year round the corner we have lots of exciting things on the horizon!



With that, we will be giving our keyboards a rest over the festive weekend, so there won't be any updates on the blog until at least Boxing day (it depends on how long we can keep away)!

After the short break you can look forward to our playoff series getting well and truly under way, more controversial top 5's, predictions, breakdowns and interviews from around the league.

Thankyou again for you support!

Have A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wednesday 21 December 2011

GB Tryouts Announced

The open try outs for GB Lions are:

 Junior
(South)
Saturday 28th January 2012 - Hertfordshire University, £10 admission
(North)
Saturday 4th February 2012 - Balby Carr College, Doncaster, £10 admission

In games played during 2012, a player has to be born on or after January 1st 1993 to be eligible to play for the Junior GB Lions. 

To register for any of these events email your full name/DOB/BAFANL number/club/position/contact number/emergency contact number nick_wasmuth@hotmail.com. This is mandatory for juniors as there is a consent form for U.18s that must be signed by your parents to participate.
Offensive players should bring a white jersey, defensive players should bring a dark blue jersey and QB trialists should bring red jerseys.

Adult
(North)
Saturday 14th January 2012 - Balby Carr College, Doncaster, £20 admission
(South)
Saturday 4th February 2012 - Filton College, Bristol, £20 admission

 To register for any of these events email your full name/DOB/BAFANL number/club/position/contact number/emergency contact number (if under 18) to
nick_wasmuth@hotmail.com. Pre-registration is highly recommended to avoid being late on the day, I repeat highly recommended
Offensive players should bring a white jersey, defensive players should bring a dark blue jersey and QB trialists should bring red jerseys.


Put it in your diary and cascade to friends and team mates. More details to follow.

GB Lions announce Positional coaches

From BAFA: http://britishamericanfootball.org/news.aspx?id=55

The GB Lions have announced the positional coaches for the Junior and Senior teams:


Junior Team Position Coaches:
Marco Fasulo (Defensive Line)
Francis Hatega (Linebackers)
Simon Purcell (Defensive Backs)
Ben Johnson (Offensive Line)
Jay Alexander (Running Backs)
Clive Palumbo (Wide Receivers)
Jonathan Rooney (Quarterbacks)

Senior Team Position Coaches:
Mark Moss (Defensive Line)
Ross Templeton (Linebackers)
Martin Hilton (Defensive Backs)
Anthony Fitzpatrick (Offensive Line)
Nick Rockell (Running Backs)
Andy Sweeney (Wide Receivers)
Ryan Baker (Tight Ends)

Congratualtions to all!

Top 5 BUAFL Uniforms


Following on from last week’s article which drummed up a lot of debate (people clearly feel attached to their jerseys) we decided to turn our attention to the top 5 jerseys in BUAFL at the moment.
Once again this is just for fun and we are not fashion experts! If we missed your team of the list we do apologise and feel free to send us your respective team’s photographer’s details so we don’t miss you out in the future. 

Note: Teams who use kits from American Universities are automatically ineligible from the list. Support your local kit maker’s people! First off, honourable mentions:



Greenwich Mariners – I’ll admit I had no idea that Greenwich had new kits and wouldn’t have give  them a mention this week, but after being told by two members of our team to include them I did! I had to see picture evidence first though.

Compared to their old jersey (all navy with white and orange stripes on the sleeves) the new jerseys actually look quite smart. Once again an all navy jersey, but now with gold and white stripes down the side of the jersey and over the top of the arm just above the sleeve numbers. Even the gold and white numbers looks impressive on the dark backdrop.

Portsmouth Destroyers – Clearly Portsmouth followed the example of look good, feel good and play good as they won the National Championship. One of our writers pointed out “It’s funny how the top teams look the best”.
 
With their main colour as black the Destroyers also added purple stripes and trim to their jerseys and bottoms. White numbers with purple borders (they love their purple as it’s featured on the away kit as well), without doubt though the most impressive thing about the Pompy jerseys and I didn’t realise this until I looked closely at the pictures is the U logo at the bottom of the collar! Top marks for the man who came up with that idea.

Photo courtesy of Gary Neesam.
5. Hertfordshire Hurricanes 
Is it just me or do the Canes seem to have had this kit for a long long time? Despite not changing their jerseys for a while Hertfordshire still earn a spot in our rankings due to a number of votes from our writing staff. Rumour is that due to their AU we could soon see the Herts wearing a dashing purple number… great…

With forest green as their main colour the Herts jersey also features a white stripe down both sides of the jersey as well as a white stripe above the university name. White numbers with a black border makes the numbers stand out on these jerseys, giving them a much cleaner feel. Unlike some of the other teams on this list the Canes jersey don’t feature sleeves numbers or the kit makers’ advertisement, which isn’t a bad thing. As they continue to look good despite never being changed, Herts steal the last spot in our weekly top 5.




Photo Courtesy of Mike Hinton
4. Birmingham Lions
Since when have the Dillon Panthers played in Birmingham? Just kidding but the new Lions kit is clearly a copycat of the Friday Night Lights jerseys (FNL the series, not the film). We’re not saying that’s a bad thing, in fact we are saying quite the opposite and praising Birmingham for the new jerseys.

Sticking with their usual blue the Lions have gone with white sleeves down the side of the jersey and white numbers with gold borders. Unlike the Dillon Panthers, Birmingham has a small University of Birmingham logo on the jersey. Kukri make an appearance (even though the kit maker was Touchdown teamwear), as well as a KMPG advertisement where names would normally feature.

Hopefully the Lions #33 lives up to the reputation of the #33 from Friday Night Lights (Ed: and one of this writers idols...)...Tim Riggins 

3. Worcester Royals
photo courtesy of Paul@photographers-united.com
3. Worcester Royals
 I was told the reasoning for the sweet Worcester jerseys was because (Ed: as well as having an amazing designer..) “if we look smart as a team then we will play better as a team and win” This person was way off the ball, but hey at least the team got good jerseys.

With the main colour being royal blue, the kit designer added white stripes over the sleeves. The Royals also include both of their logos on each shoulder as well as sleeve numbers. The universities name features on the front as well as the teams sponsor (Tentec) and kit supplier (Scimitar) on the back. The lack of stitched numbers stopped Worcester from being ranked higher.

2. Leeds Celtics
Photo courtesy of gallowayphotography.co.uk

It seems whoever was in charge of getting a kit design for the Celtics just copied the Cambridge Cats and changed the main colour from red to a mintish green. Either way it seems to work well for Leeds.
Normally we’d criticise the font used for the Celtics numbers, but somehow they seem to suit this jersey. Also the white numbers with a black border work well instead of copying what other teams try to do and use black numbers with a white border. 

With just the team name, kukri logo and numbers on the front, back and sleeves the Celtics earn the number 2 spot with a jersey that shouldn’t be liked (colours wise) but somehow is. Well done Leeds.

1. UWE Bullets
Picture pending permission
It took me quite a while to decide the final order for these rankings and in the end I had to go with UWE as the best jersey in BUAFL this moment.

The UWE jersey is like the other jerseys on the list with a stripe down the side of the jersey (black jersey with a red stripe) players numbers on the front, back and sleeve, a Kukri logo (once again), but unlike all of the other teams on the list the UWE team all have names on their jerseys, which gives themthe crown this week. 

Now I’ve heard that names is a bad idea in case someone has to borrow another person’s jersey, but if you have enough players (and money) to not need jersey swaps then go ahead and put names on the jerseys. The fact the stripes on the jersey and bottoms also make this kit design look smart.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

NFL Week 15 Review


Thursday Night Football

JAC Jaguars lost to ATL Falcons by 27
Original prediction: Atlanta to win by 10.
Despite Maurice Jones-Drew rushing for another 100+ yards, the Jags were unable to stop Matt Ryan on offence (3 passing TD’s) and John Abraham defence (3.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles). Leading 27-0 at half time, the Falcons managed to win out comfortable to complete their 4th straight winning season.

Record = 1-0

Saturday Night Football

DAL Cowboys beat TB Buccaneers by 16
Original prediction: Dallas to win by 12.
Despite playing in December, Tony Romo and the Cowboys managed to win a game when the NFC East title was on the line. With three passing touchdowns and one rushing TD Romo ended the Cowboys two game losing streak and claim the top spot in their respective division. Tampa have now lost eight straight games.
Record = 2-0


6PM GMT Games

MIA Dolphins beat BUF Bills by 7
Original prediction: Miami to win by 9.
The closest prediction so far as Miami beat the Bills by 7 points. Behind the rushing performance of Reggie Bush (203 rushing yards, 1 TD), interim head coach Todd Bowles coaching career got off to a good start with a debut win. Matt Moore continued improving with 2 more passing touchdowns, whilst opposite number Ryan Fitzpatrick continued the poor play since his new contract deal (2 TDs, 3 Ints).

Record = 3-0

SEA Seahawks beat CHI Bears by 24
Original prediction: Seattle to win by 4.
Once again the Bears fell victim to an injury to a key offensive player, this time Johnny Knox. Despite Lynch not rushing for 100 yards, Seattle still managed to dominate Chicago behind the arm of Tavaris Jackson and two pick sixes in the second half. The Seahawks who outscored the Bears 31-0 in the second half still have a slight change of making the playoffs.

Record = 4-0

BUAFL: Breaking Down the SEC

Remember to follow us on Facebook to stay up to date with our Christmas releases!

As we head into Christmas and the mid-point of the season for most teams we’re taking a look at how each division stacks up so far. This week the SEC falls under our magnifying glass of knowledge and analysis.

Widely touted to be the worst division in BUAFL there are some interesting teams in this division. Let’s start from the bottom:

ARU Phantoms
First season back after a year out and the Phantoms are not having a good season. Breaking away from the Cambridge campus and being solely involved at Chelmsford seemed to solve some logistical problems in terms of transport and training etc. but it seems to have reduced their player pool by a significant amount. I have heard rumours of the Cambridge campus wanting to start up its own team, and I guess at that point, if they are successful and want to train, who owns all of the equipment? Could get nasty! Perhaps a single institution/single team rule needs to be enforced considering the hysteresis of the situation. 

I must say, considering that Andy Fuller seems to have complete say in the schedule (cite. The Northampton Protocol) giving ARU the Stags was a bit mean. It is tough having a game scheduled after your term finishes too, most teams would lose 4 or 5 players. The difference is, on most teams this shouldn’t matter too much, but with ARUs low numbers, it cost them dear. I think ARU are a good shout for the worst team in BUAFL at the moment, but kudos to Coach Saint for his handling of the situation on the forums, although we would advise him just to not bother rising to Mr Anonymous in the future.

Kings College Regents
The first three games of the season have not been anything to write home about for KCL, in its second full year in BUAFL I’m sure they are still recruiting and learning. However, they will be going into the Christmas break on a high after handing out some punishment to the ‘floppy haired academics’ up at Cambridge. Luckily for the Regents they have two very winnable games in their remaining schedule, it’s not quite a .5 season, but things will progress.

Cambridge Pythons
The new boys in this division have entered the league without ever playing a competitive game. The half time scores from the Pythons games seem to show them performing well in the first half, but then being clouted in the second. Perhaps lack of numbers is causing this?
Many people wonder about whether so many new teams should be entered into the league, but growth is not necessarily a bad thing and Cambridge have won a game in their first season (ok, ok, it was against ARPU),  so the signs are there for development of the squad to allow a return to the former glory of the Beau Riffenburgh days. 

Westminster Dragons
Looking at their schedule, they seemed to hold their own against Essex (this is for a new team); got beat quite convincingly by RHUL, who have been underperforming for a programme of that age in the TVC; been beaten quite badly by Canterbury, and beat a truly terrible Surrey side who are trying to steal ARU’s crown of worst team. 

Again another new team in the league and have again won a game, this is encouraging in terms of growth, but something that ultimately no one really cares about. It will be nice to track the progress of teams entering this year in the following years though. The remaining schedule for the team is quite soft, Gloucester who are a bottom 10 team, Brighton who will be a challenge, King’s which will be a good game, and ARU who they will beat.  

Monday 19 December 2011

Dbl Coverage Interviews: Ed Butcher two time BUAFL Defensive MVP

Double Coverage were privileged to sit down with BUAFL legend Ed Butcher and talk about football, friends and his legendary father.




DC: So, how did you get into football?

EB: When I was a lad, summer holidays were normally spent across the pond on trips to Disney world in Florida and the rest of the theme parks! It was from watching TV in countless sports bars the old man would take us around that I discovered the sport. I would watch loads of games and all the American Football movies as well.

My older brother and I would often throw the ball around in the garden and then when he went to university and joined up with the Glasgow Tigers I went to as many games as I could! I learnt a lot from watching him and the Tigers and my passion grew from there! I gained a scholarship to go over to a Private School in Northampton, MA, where I got to experience the full on the high school football experience and lifestyle.

DC: What position do you play? What attracted you to that position?

EB: The funny thing is I started off as a Quarterback as I can throw the ball a fair distance and accurately. It would have been interesting to see how I would have got on if I had continued there. I decided after 2 weeks of training that I was not going to be good enough to get on the field with the calibre of QB’s around my team at the time and I didn’t want to be redshirted, so I suggested to my coach I wanted to change!

When asked where I would go I decided to go back to my old position of Defensive end. I had played there before and it was a position I was made for! Hard hitting, tough going and non-complicated football, where every down you get to hit someone! Coming from a rugby background this suited me down to the ground. In my second season I was recruited to play offensive tackle as well, which worked for me as this was the position I had been going up against and one that I had always wanted to play! 

That season and the following seasons I also played Tight End, Slot receiver and Wide Receiver! In my final University season I played Outside and Middle Linebacker, which gave me the opportunity to have a run up and hit people!

Mid-season Powerless Rankings


Good afternoon sports fans and welcome to our mid-season powerless rankings, where we rank the ten worst teams in BUAFL at the moment. If your team is unfortunate enough to find yourselves on our rankings, don’t blame us! It’s not our fault you suck!

Also at the end of the season we will be returning with our “never managed to find any power” rankings!

Let’s get onto the list.
 
10. Manchester Tyrants (0-4)
PS: 18 PC: 78 Opp record: 12-5-1

The bottom team in the Northern Conference are only the number 10 team on our list. Despite being around for a few years, the Tyrants find themselves winless in the ’11 season with losses including a 6-4 loss to new boys Bradford and a 46-8 loss to Bangor who they beat 27-8 last year.

Looking at last year’s results compared to this year, it seems that the Tyrants may have lost some fire power on their offence. The most they have scored in a game so far is 8 points...If the Tyrants want to match last year’s 4-4 record they’ll need to win their remaining fixtures, unfortunately two of the teams left are the Sheffield Sabres and Hallam Warriors.

Friday 16 December 2011

As It Stands: BUAFL Christmas Break Playoff Brackets


As part of our festive schedule we are going to run a playoff bracket for the Championship and Plate playoffs based on how they would go if the season ended today. We know that some teams have been boosted by playing more games, or weaker opposition, but those are our rules and this is our game (and its all just a bit of fun anyway)!

The top two teams from the North and South get first round byes just like the NFL playoffs and the tie breaker for teams with the same scedule is points conceded. This is how the playoff picture plays out right now using BUAFL's rules and structure:

 North Champ Playoffs
Loughborough Aces (5-0) PS: 224 PC: 20
Newcastle Raiders (4-0) PS: 214 PC: 8
Hallam Warriors (4-0) PS: 306 PC: 13
Birmingham Lions (4-0) PS: 207 PC: 14
Sheffield Sabres (4-0) PS: 198 PC: 18
Stirling (3-1) PS: 166 PC: 20

 North Plate Playoffs
Northampton Nemesis (4-0) PS: 92 PC: 45
Hull Sharks (4-1) PS: 92 PC: 62
Glasgow Tigers (3-1) PS: 56 PC: 28
Bradford Bears (3-1-1) PS: 57 PC: 43
Northumbria Mustangs (3-1) PS: 108 PC: 52
Lincoln Colonials (2-1) PS: 79 PC: 52

Thursday 15 December 2011

NFL Week 15 Predictions


Overall record = 65-27

Thursday Night Football

JAC Jaguars @ ATL Falcons
Normally this would be a relatively easy matchup to decide, but after last week’s blowout against Tampa, the Jags shouldn’t be taken lightly. Despite the Jags 4-9 record they still have a top 10 defence and Maurice Jones-Drew is currently leading the NFL in rushing yards.

At one stage it looked like Atlanta may fall to the Carolina Panthers, but Matt Ryan and the Falcons offence managed to find their groove to score 24 unanswered points to earn the victory. If Atlanta wants to hold onto the division title then they need to win all of their remaining games or hope the Saints suffer a major collapse.

Dbl Coverage prediction: Atlanta to win by 10.

6PM GMT Games

DAL Cowboys @ TB Buccaneers
Oh Dallas, why do you always do this? Up by two scores with less than 3.14 remaining in the game, the Cowboys had the opportunity to claim a two game lead in the NFC East, but Romo and the Cowboys do what they did best and went on to lose the game. The fifth time Dallas has lost a game after leading in the fourth quarter this year...

Somehow Tampa managed to find a way to get blown out against Jacksonville. It seems that the Bucs have finally hit rock bottom which could be a plus as from now on the only way can be up. If Tampa wants to get back to winning ways then Josh Freeman will have to find his form from the 2010 season.

Dbl Coverage prediction: Dallas to win by 12.

Wednesday 14 December 2011

Look Good, Feel Good, Play Good - Weekly Top 5

After last week’s top 5 was released one of our writers suggested we do articles on the top 5 team jerseys in BUAFL and BAFANL as well as the top 5 jerseys that need to be changed in BUAFL/BAFANL.

This week sees the first of our four part special with the top 5 BUAFL jerseys that need to be changed! Remember this is just for fun!

Firstly the teams who were unfortunate (or fortunate in this case) not to make the list, but still need a word with their kit designers.

Bath Killer Bees – A lot of people probably love the Bath jerseys, these people are likely Swedish, or work at IKEA...

You’d think that when a team was named after deadly insects they’d base their team colours around that insect, but instead they went with yellow and blue! Shame on them for going with their AU colours! With a predominantly yellow jersey, blue strips down both sides and one the top of the shoulders, Baths brightly coloured strip isn’t a favourite of the Dbl coverage crew.

Tuesday 13 December 2011

GB Coordinators Announced

As per the BAFA Website: http://www.bafa.org.uk/news.aspx?id=54

Following the announcement of Mike Callan and Damien Anderson as GB Senior and Junior Head Coaches respectively Bafa has announced the coordinators that will be working with them.

Senior Team:

OC - Andy Mackintosh (EKP Head Coach)

DC - Wayne Hill (Birmingham Lions Head Coach)

ST - Chris Hartley (Reading Knights)

Junior team:

OC - Graham Kelly (Tamworth Phoenix Head Coach)

DC - Scott Rowe (London Olympians DC)

ST - Kenny McPhail (Manchester Titans Special Teams and DB's coach)

More to follow later!

NFL Week 14 Review

Overall record heading into week 14 = 52-24

Thursday Night Football

CLE Browns lost to PIT Steelers by 11
Original prediction: Steelers to win by 14.

Even though I managed to get off to a 1-0 start, my prediction was never going to be right when the Steelers offence kept stumbling against the Browns D. Despite suffering an ankle injury Big Ben managed to see the game out and passed for a 79-yard TD to Antonio Brown in the 4th quarter.

Record = 1-0

6PM GMT Games

IND Colts lost to BAL Ravens by 14
Original prediction: Ravens to win by 21.
This would’ve been a perfect prediction if the Ravens had managed to not concede a TD in the 4th quarter. With Ray Lewis still sitting on the sideline it was Terrell Suggs who led the Ravens D once again with three sacks and three forced fumbles.

Record = 2-0

Dbl Coverage: Christmas Schedule

Remember, if you're not following us on Facebook, you're considerably less cooler than those who do.

The Christmas break is upon us! Normally a time of purgatory for blogs covering British American Football we at Dbl Coverage towers have put our collective brains together and formulated the following features we will be running to keep your hunger for BUAFL and Britball based banter/information/opinion satisfied!

As It Stands: A Feature where we will project the playoffs using the standings as they are now the first half of the season is done. Each game from the Champ Playoffs and Challenge Cup (Plate) playoffs will have it's own fictional game report, which I am sure will lead to much derision/conversation/admiration from many...

The Breakdown: We will take a look at each division in the BUAFL and breakdown how each team has done so far this season and how we expect them to do for the rest of the season. We will shortly be contacting teams for details to fill out this feature, the more detail you give us, the more we can write about you! Rep your team!

Photo Challenge: As many of you will have noticed (and if you haven't you need to like the Facebook page and follow us already) the top of our Facebook page is a barren wasteland. We want to fill it with the top 5 photos from this seasons BUAFL. What we want people to do is to upload their picture to imageshack (with the permission of the tog on your team if you need it) and post the forum link on our Facebook Page.

Then you will need to get everyone you know to vote for your picture! The top 5 pics will  be added to our Facebook page, so if you don't want to see a load of pics of Herts or Brum on there (ED: I can see organised pic bombing and vote rigging on the horizon) you need to get on and REP YOUR TEAM!

We will be launching this during the week, so keep your eyes peeled!

The Powerless Rankings: A look at the bottom  of the BUAFL food chain as we put together our Powerless rankings, otherwise known as the "Lame report". Remember, we didn't put you here, you put you here!

Interviews: Following on from our excellent (Ed: If we do say so ourselves) interview with London Blitz Head Coach Mark Moss, we are currently stocking up on Christmas interviews from around the BUAFL, Britball and European leagues. We have some exciting interviews lined up with some of the big names around the country and will be bringing you their views and opinions on the game at large and how they got into American Football!

College Bowl Predictions: Some of you may be aware that they occasionally play a game of football across the pond. Those of you that are will know the the NCAA Football Bowl season is upon us! We will take a look at each bowl game and try and predict the winners!

Top 5: Our standard Wednesday Top 5 will still run over the Christmas break! We will be looking at the best and worst dressed teams in Britball, as well as the top coaches and players!

Alongside all these features we will be sure to bring you the latest news from around the leagues as well as the results from a heated round table debate on the need (or lack thereof) for a tiered BUAFL.

Keep it locked and follow us on Facebook already!!

Guest BUAFL Report: Bath Killer Bees @ Cardiff Cobras


 Sent to us by James Fooks, a captain of the Cardiff Cobras, this report gives us a view of the game from the Cobras standpoint.
Last weekend saw the return of a traditional Cardiff rival the Bath Killer Bees to Fortress Llanrumney. As perennial contenders in the division having already secured convincing victories against Aberystwyth and Swansea this season, the Cobras knew their work would be cut out for them. However, fresh off a bye week rest following the 46-6 demolition of Bristol Barracuda, Cardiff were energised coming in to the game.

Conditions were less than ideal!
 The game started with a one minute silence in honour of late Cobras former President and Head Coach, Andy Bate, who tragically passed away last week. Andy will be buried in his Cobras jersey, which really goes to show the impact the club had on him personally and, even 20 years after he took charge of the team, how much he felt a part of the Cobras family. Our thoughts are with his family and friends, some of whom made the game to pay respects, in this difficult time.

Monday 12 December 2011

GOTW Review: Derby Braves @ Loughborough Aces


In one of the biggest rivalries in the BUAFL the Derby Braves (3-2) and the Loughborough Aces (5-0) clashed at 'The Cage' in Loughborough last weekend. This game would go a long way towards confirming one of the top seeds in the MAC division, with the loser potentially looking at a trip to the plate playoffs.

Loughborough won the toss and choose to receive. On the second play of the game, Ben Burslem managed to get outside the Derby defence and outpaced everyone for a 35 yard TD. Derby looked to reply early as they attempted to drive the ball with their 'slow and steady wins the race' approach of moving the chains a few yards at a time, but Loughborough were stopping them dead in every 3rd down situation. On Loughborough's second possession they managed to score again with Loughborough's key man Adam Hope powering through the middle of Derby's injury riddled defence. A PAT later and the score was 14-0 to Loughborough. 

Derby realised at the end of the 1st quarter that Loughborough's defence was stopping their inside run, so they began to open up the field with their passing game, which has been successful this season with the pickup of American QB Joe Brammer. Derby began to gain a grip of the game in the 2nd quarter with dump offs to running back Marcus Francis, who was picking up 15 yards each time. Francis managed one of the plays of the game as he hurdled a cornerback to set Derby up on Loughborough's 35 yard line. Joe Brammer threw down the middle to an open Tom Singleton-Wells who shook his man and ran it in for a touchdown with less than 20 seconds left in the quarter. 

At the half it was 14-7 to Loughborough with Derby to receive the ball at the start of the second half and would look to keep their momentum. Loughborough adjusted their defensive formation to accommodate for Derby's aerial offence and after 7 passing plays in a row Derby were stopped and were forced to punt from their 39. 

GOTW Review: Derby Braves @ Loughborough Aces


In one of the biggest rivalries in the BUAFL the Derby Braves (3-2) and the Loughborough Aces (5-0) clashed at 'The Cage' in Loughborough last weekend. This game would go a long way towards confirming one of the top seeds in the MAC division, with the loser potentially looking at a trip to the plate playoffs.

Loughborough won the toss and choose to receive. On the second play of the game, Ben Burslem managed to get outside the Derby defence and outpaced everyone for a 35 yard TD. Derby looked to reply early as they attempted to drive the ball with their 'slow and steady wins the race' approach of moving the chains a few yards at a time, but Loughborough were stopping them dead in every 3rd down situation. On Loughborough's second possession they managed to score again with Loughborough's key man Adam Hope powering through the middle of Derby's injury riddled defence. A PAT later and the score was 14-0 to Loughborough. 

Derby realised at the end of the 1st quarter that Loughborough's defence was stopping their inside run, so they began to open up the field with their passing game, which has been successful this season with the pickup of American QB Joe Brammer. Derby began to gain a grip of the game in the 2nd quarter with dump offs to running back Marcus Francis, who was picking up 15 yards each time. Francis managed one of the plays of the game as he hurdled a cornerback to set Derby up on Loughborough's 35 yard line. Joe Brammer threw down the middle to an open Tom Singleton-Wells who shook his man and ran it in for a touchdown with less than 20 seconds left in the quarter. 

At the half it was 14-7 to Loughborough with Derby to receive the ball at the start of the second half and would look to keep their momentum. Loughborough adjusted their defensive formation to accommodate for Derby's aerial offence and after 7 passing plays in a row Derby were stopped and were forced to punt from their 39. 

Week 6 Power Rankings 1-14

The second part of our schedule sees some teams moving up and a tie!? Yes that’s right...a tie!

1. Hertfordshire Hurricanes (5-0)
With another 50+ win the Canes continue to lead our power rankings for the sixth straight week. A 51-0 victory over the previously unbeaten Essex Blades moves Herts to 5-0 at the Christmas break. With only one team left with a winning record left on their schedule, Hertfordshire look set on sealing the number one seed for the southern half of the league.

2. Birmingham Lions (4-0)
No game for the number 2 team in our rankings this week. With Derby and Loughborough on the schedule once the season resumes in the New Year, Birmingham will have to keep up the good form to return to the championship playoffs.

3T. Portsmouth Destroyers (4-0)
Despite not playing this week, the ‘U’ remains in our top 3 even though they are now tied with Loughborough for the third spot. Looking at their remaining fixtures Portsmouth should remain unbeaten all the way until their final game of the season against the Stags. If they go 8-0 once again, the Destroyers will no doubt be one of the top picks to make it to the semi finals once again.

Week 6 Power Rankings 25-15

As an early Christmas present from the Dbl Coverage team we have increased our power rankings from 20 to 25! That’s super POWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRR! Up first are ranks 25-15.

15. Bradford Bears (3-1-1)
Just like Northampton, Bradford have been fortunate with their schedule (no Hallam is always a plus). Unlike Northampton, Bradford have faced off against playoff quality teams (Hull, Carnegie and Celtics). This week’s win over the Celtics keeps Bradford’s good form this season and with Lancaster, Huddersfield and Sabres left on the schedule, Bradford could end up in the playoffs! Two rookie teams in the playoffs!? No doubt someone will have something to say about this!

16. Glasgow Tigers (3-1)
The Tigers move up this week with the losses for Derby and Essex despite completing their fixtures for the first half of the season. If the Tigers win their next three games they will head into their final matchup against Newcastle with a 6-1 record and the Borders crown possibly being up for grabs. 

17. Stirling Clansmen (3-1)
Two straight games for the Clansmen have now been postponed due to the weather! Tough break for everyone involved with the team. If the team hadn’t lost to Glasgow they’d currently be challenging Newcastle for the top spot in the conference, instead they’re in a three way fight for the second spot.

18. Derby Braves (3-2)
How much a few weeks can alter a team’s season. This week’s loss (this time without controversy) to Loughborough  means the Braves drop two straight and are now all but out of the race for the championship playoffs in the MAC. With Birmingham still left on the schedule, Derby may end up in a battle for the 4th and final playoff spot for the MAC conference.

19. Northampton Nemesis (4-0)
I’ve finally realised why Northampton get so much hatred! They’re the equivalent of Tim Tebow in the BUAFL! They shouldn’t have the record they have and no one wants them to, but somehow they keep winning! If they keep winning they’ll start to gain my approval, but until then...

Sunday 11 December 2011

BUAFL Week 6 Results

All scores are provisional until confirmed by the league!

Border

Durham Saints P @ P Stirling Clansmen

UWS Pyros P @  P Edinburgh Predators


Northern

Leeds Celtics 0 @ 17 Bradford Bears

Sheffield Sabres 52 @ 12 Lancaster Bombers

Huddersfield Hawks 0 @ 6 UH Sharks

Manchester Tyrants P @ P Liverpool Fury

Friday 9 December 2011

BUAFL Predictions pt 2 (SWAC, SEC, TVC)

SWAC

Bath Killer Bees @ Cardiff Cobras
This game will give us a clear idea of who will be making the Champ playoffs in the SWAC next to UWE this season. Normally this game has been easily won by Cardiff, but Bath have improved and will be pushing Cardiff all the way.
This will be a season defining game for Bath as a loss here could see them fall down the table and struggle against Plymouth and Exeter.
Cardiff win by 14

BUAFL Game of the week Derby Braves @ Loughborough Aces

Be sure to follow us on Facebook to catch the game report!

A return of the Game of the Week (sadly just before the Christmas Break) after a short sabbatical following the release of the BAFANL re alignment, which pretty much took up all our time!

we pick up where we left off in the MAC, with a top of the table clash between the high flying Loughborough Aces and the hard done by Derby Braves.

Having started the season well with big wins over Staffs and DMU, as well as a tough game against the NTU Renegades Derby were part of what will be considered one of the more controversial games of the season. With an injury to a Nottingham player in the 3rd quarter the game had to be stopped to allow the ambulance to return. Over an hour later and the game was called with no ambulance in sight, the victory awarded to the Outlaws who held a 9-7 lead.

What’s in an APPG?

Written by Jonathan Farrow

Despite the event itself being attended by NFL Chairmen and cheerleaders, there was surprisingly little made of the new All Party Parliamentary Group for American Football, that had its inaugural meeting two months ago. A short press release was seemingly all that surfaced from BAFA. A shame, because the APPG could represent a new willingness to change and improve the state of American Football in the UK.

Indeed, the aims stated by Richard Fuller MP (no relation to Andy, I think...) in his speech as Chairman of the APPG was to increase official recognition of the sport, develop participation at a grassroots level, aid British players to reach their full potential and to pave the way for an NFL franchise to be established in the UK based team. This last statement, I imagine, will probably be met with a fair amount of groaning from the community as a whole. I’m not going to pontificate on the arguments here, but an NFL franchise would seem to be the very antithesis of the “bottom-up” method of increasing participation that has seen such success in recent years, and pooling our efforts into such an endeavour would appear to be counter-productive to this.

NFL: Daily 12 Pack

A little tweak on the daily digest. Instead of bombarding you with all the enws from last night, I'm changing it up to the 12 most relevant stories from the NFL. So without further ado...



Thursday 8 December 2011

BUAFL Week 6 Predictions: Border, Northern and MAC


The final week of fixtures before the winter break! Nice work to all the teams that have this weekend off. Rest up and come back strong next year in the push for the layoffs. First we take a look at the northern conferences, with our eyes on the southern conferences tomorrow!

This week also sees the first time our regional reporters put their own predictions in instead of just me trying to guess based on the sketchy at best BUAFL website. Although I did have a pretty good record even though I was accused of partaking in illegal substances with some of my score line predictions! Keep an eye on these to see how they get on.

Borders

Durham Saints @ Stirling Clansmen
After their game was called off last week Stirling will be chomping at the bit to take out a bit of frustration after their shutout loss to Glasgow two weeks ago. Durham have won their most winnable game against Teeside, but look set to struggle again this season.
Stirling to win by 35

NFL Week 14 Predictions


Overall record = 52-24



Thursday Night Football

CLE Browns @ PIT Steelers
After a poor prediction last week on Thursday night football, I think this week’s prediction may be a tad easier to get correct.

Unfortunately for Cleveland fans, for the third game in a row their team faces off against an AFC North rival sitting in the playoff standings. Losing their fifth game out of six the Browns now face the difficult task of preparing to take on Pittsburgh after having three days to prepare. After giving up 290 yards to the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland will be hoping to shut down the Steelers run game forcing Big Ben to throw against Cleveland’s number one passing D.

Despite having a 9-3 record Pittsburgh find themselves sitting in a wildcard spot due to their two losses to the Ravens. A comfortable victory over the Bengals last week was helped by 28 points in the second quarter. Pittsburgh may need to rely heavily on Rashard Mendenhall to carry the Steelers to their tenth win of the season.
Dbl Coverage prediction: Steelers to win by 14.

6PM GMT Games

IND Colts @ BAL Ravens
How different things could’ve been for the Indianapolis Colts if Peyton Manning was fit. This matchup would potentially be a playoff preview, but that’s not the case and the Colts continue to remain winless. Despite only losing by 7 points last week to the New England Patriots, the Colts didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter. The only positive I can think of for them is that the season is almost over...

A week after winning a trap game against the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore now faces off against another minnow. With the Steelers hot on their tail, the Ravens need to continue pounding on their opponents with the rushing attack of Ray Rice and Ricky Williams; this allows Baltimore to take pressure off Joe Flacco who seems to be continuing his weekly bad impression of being a franchise QB.
Dbl Coverage prediction: Ravens to win by 21.

NFL Daily Digest: News and Rumour

We are over the hump and roaring towards the weekend! Football kicks in today and there is plenty of news in the NFL!


Wednesday 7 December 2011

Top 5 BUAFL Defences

After last week’s top 5 offences we decided to try and rank the top 5 BUAFL defences. Like last week we asked you to send in your opinions on who should be in our top 5, so if your team didn’t make the cut or missed out on the top spot you should’ve got in touch when you had the opportunity!

Once again before moving onto the top 5 we’d like to give a quick mention to a few teams who didn’t make the cut, but still deserve praise for how they’ve performed so far.

Quick note – Despite the suggestion of Glasgow Tigers they unfortunately just missed out. Keep up the good work though guys!

OBU Panthers – Points conceded: 26. Average points per game: 6.5

Despite losing their first game of the season to the Destroyers last weekend, the Panthers are still on our almost list. In their first three games of the season OBU had only conceded 3 points in total (two shutouts obviously) and had a solid case for being in our top 5 list. Unfortunately conceding 20 points at the weekend kept them out of the promise land.

Dbl Coverage Interviews: Mark Moss Head Coach of the London Blitz


Mark Moss has been the Head Coach of the London Blitz since 2006, overseeing the most successful period in the teams history. He has won the Britbowl four times and added the EFAF cup this year. We sat down with Coach Moss for an interview to get his thoughts on the season ahead, the season before and his views on coaching and philosophy. Read on after the page break for the full interview!

NFL Daily Digest: News and Rumour

Your daily delivery of NFL news!









Tuesday 6 December 2011

BNU Buccaneers vs Southampton Stags: American Dream




Sent to us by BNU Head Coach Luke Plastow, titled"American Dream" and put together by Josh Woodfin this video goes behind the scnenes for one of the best games of the season so far in the season.

Coach Plastow had this to say on the video:

"Josh Woodfin is an old friend of mine and has become an established journalist in London, but he is now making films too. He heard about our story and wanted to cover it. I think he has done a fantastic job with what he had to work with and we are very proud with what he has done. He is welcome back anytime."
***WARNING*** THERE IS BAD LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT THE VIDEO ***WARNING***

(Video after the break)

NFL Week 13 Review

After an outstanding 13-3 prediction record over Thanksgiving weekend, it seems that this week’s predictions may not have been as good as previous weeks.

Overall record = 42-18 (70%)

Thursday Night Football

PHI Eagles lost to SEA Seahawks by 17

Original Prediction: The Eagles to win by 10.

My predictions for week 13 couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start than they did with this misjudgement. What makes it worse is that I even disagreed with Jon over the outcome and was certain the Eagles would win. Against a poor Philly D, Marshawn Lynch ran for 148 yards and 2 TD’s.

Record = 0-1

NFL Daily Digest: News and Rumour round up

Your daily dose of NFL News and gossip



The Chargers decided to start playing now their HC and GM appear to be on the way out, but it was against the Jags...

After his poor showing as HC, the Jags are looking at several other coaches to replace Mel Tucker

But there might be some faint light at the end of the tunnel as they picked up former Patriots 3rd round pick Taylor Price afer he was waived on Saturday

And the Chargers will be looking at drafting some linemen in the near future as two starters are looking at retirement

Patrick Willis will miss some time with his hamstring injury, but 49ers fans can breath a sigh of relief that he will be back for their playoff run.

The New Yorker has put in a stupid amount of effort into making a very interesting look into the life of ESPN gurner Jon Gruden

Two Miami Hurricanes have decided to forgo their final season of eligibility and will declare for the draft. Obviously the booster wasn't letting them in teh VIP anymore


Ndamokung Suh just can't catch a break at the moment as a passenger in the car he crashed says "he floored it off the green light"

 The Colts also cannot catch a break as they lose corner Jerraud Powers for the season after dislocating his left elbow (ouch)


Mike Vick is expected to play against the Dolphins next weekend.

Andre Johnson is considered day-tp-day by Texans HC Gary Kubiak

Consider yourself up to date!

Monday 5 December 2011

Portsmouth Destroyers 20 vs 3 OBU Panthers

Written by Chris Richards

PORTSMOUTH, HAMPSHIRE – An offseason of change for the Portsmouth Destroyers who lost so many of their 2010 Championship standouts but still pulled out a somewhat flattering 17 point victory here. Gone is the sterile, commercial mien of the Roko as the Destroyers offseason relocation three miles down the road to its Langstone Campus has led to a more collegiate atmosphere for its home fixtures.


Purists would argue this is BUAFL (and BUSA) sport at its finest with fans and fellow students strolling over from concluded intramural fixtures to lend their vocal support on a cold December day. The only people missing from the spectacle were the whistle brandishing men in zebra stripes as no referees were assigned to this clash of previously unbeaten teams. The three volunteers standing in as officials did remarkably well and it was to both Portsmouth and OBU’s credit that the match was played with a well-tempered spirit and both sets of coaches showed patience to the makeshift officiating crew. However volunteer referees lack the clarity and authority of their more qualified BAFRA counterparts and the use of neon hi-vis jackets as penalty flags sadly does a disservice to the sport at an aesthetic level.


Week 5 BUAFL Rankings 1-10

We take a look at the teams we consider to be the top 10 teams in the country at the moment in the second half of our power rankings. Despite all teams remaining unbeaten, we still see a small shuffle after this weekend’s fixtures.

1. Hertfordshire Hurricanes (4-0)

If there’s a university team in the country better than Herts I’ll eat my hat. The ‘Canes extend their run of scoring 50+ points to four straight games with a 54-6 win over LSBU this weekend. A matchup against the unbeaten Essex Blades will show if Herts are worthy of this ranking or just a bunch of hype, we expect them to still be sitting here next weekend.

2. Birmingham Lions (4-0)

With a 69-0 victory over the Staffordshire Stallions, the Lions move to the top spot of the MAC Conference, but more importantly move up to the number 2 spot in the Dbl Coverage rankings. Birmingham now have a long break to prepare for the Lincoln Colonials before two straight games against Derby and Loughborough which will define the outcome of the MAC.

Week 5 BUAFL Rankings 11-20

With a couple of big divisional matchups, we find the rankings altering once again as we just completed the penultimate week of the 2011 fixtures.

11. Cardiff Cobras (2-0)

Cardiff find themselves rising this week even though they were on another bye. With three of the teams above them in last week’s rankings losing, the Cobras now sit atop the lower half of our top 20 and a win next week could see the Cobras rising again.

12. UH Sharks (3-1)

The Sharks drop down three places after a tough loss to Hallam this weekend. With Huddersfield next up, let’s hope Hull recover in time to go into the Christmas break sitting at 4-1 and continue to stay in contention for the Championship playoffs.

NFL Daily Digest: News and Rumour

There is a ton of news after a cracking weekend of NFL action over the weekend. Lot's of injuries, a few upsets, depending on if you believe the in the Cowboys in December and a fantastic game in the New Meadowlands where two very good QB's went at it!











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