Newcastle Vikings

Newcastle Vikings
Established 2014
Based in Newcastle
Home stadium Druid Park
Head coach Matt Long
League BAFA National Leagues
Division Division Two NFC North
Current uniform

The Newcastle Vikings are an American Football team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. They were formed in 2014 and play their home games at Druid Park.

History

The Vikings were founded in 2014. They completed their associate period, playing games against the Yorkshire Rams, East Kilbride Pirates and fellow associate team, the Leeds Bobcats.[1]

In the summer of 2014, they announced a partnership with the nearby Northumbria University's American Football team, the Mustangs, which saw a number of Viking coaches join the Mustang staff.[2]

They were accepted into the league in 2015, and were placed in the newly formed BAFANL Division Two NFC North.[3] The Vikings played divisional rivals the Glasgow Tigers in their first competitive match, coming away with a comprehensive 46-8 win.[4]

Logos & Uniforms

Their logo is a stylised Norseman, inspired by that of their namesakes, the Minnesota Vikings.

The Vikings home jersey is primarily white with a black trim, and red numbers. Their away jersey is reversed, being primarily black with a white trim. Their game pants are black, and their socks are red. Their kits are currently manufactured by Nike.[5]

Druid Park

Main article: Druid Park

The Vikings play their home games at Druid Park, known for being the home of Gosforth RFC. The multi-purpose stadium has a modern synthetic pitch,[6] and a capacity of 2,500.

Academy

In 2014, the Vikings launched a schools programme which has attracted over 250 cadet level players, while five youth teams were either formed or joined the Vikings' satellite programme this year. The North Durham Knights, Darlington Steam, Cramlington Phoenix, Washington Predators and the Team Valley Cavaliers have all played at least one fixture internally and provided players for the Vikings BAFANL Youth team.[7]

Roster

Newcastle Vikings 2016

Quarterbacks

  • 11 Nick Whitehead
  • 19 Matthew Long
  • 4 Lee Fraser

Running Backs & Full Backs

  • 7 Misba Islam
  • 23 Jonny Mbuyi
  • 24 Tega Diegbe
  • 49 Paul Richardson
  • 81 Matthew Hall

Wide Receivers & Tight Ends

  • 8 Dick Carr
  • 11 Leonard Birnie
  • 20 Mark Laing
  • 80 Matthew Thornton
  • 82 Jerome Klein
  • 86 Junior McDonald
  • 87 Dom Howes
  • 89 Jordan Matthews

Offensive Linemen

  • 44 Vince Kinchley
  • 51 Simon Shaw
  • 55 Dan Wheatley
  • 62 Billy Slater
  • 65 Matthew Carney
  • 66 Steve Newton
  • 73 Andrew Skelton
  • 71 Stephen Briggs

Defensive Linemen

  • 3 Damyan Georgiev
  • 40 James Hobson
  • 68 William Ibekwe
  • 79 David Robson
  • 85 Carl Slater
  • 90 Zak Watson
  • 96 Richard Taylor
  • 97 Jonny Graham
  • 99 Jonathan Kemsley

Linebackers

  • 42 Daniel Sowerby
  • 56 Tom Andrews
  • 57 Keith Robson
  • 58 Kevin O'Reagan

Defensive Backs

  • 1 Diira Ejibe
  • 5 Evander Harewood
  • 21 Connor Joyce
  • 25 Robbie Brumpton
  • 32 Jonathan Alton
  • 33 Jack Gallagher
  • 34 Honore Ndayishimiye
  • 35 Tom Prior
  • 36 Tom Twizell

Previous Years

Newcastle Vikings 2015

Quarterbacks

  • 11 Nick Whitehead
  • 19 Matthew Long

Running Backs & Full Backs

  • 7 Misba Islam
  • 24 Tega Diegbe
  • 32 Matthew Caley
  • 35 Anthony Sowerby

Wide Receivers & Tight Ends

  • 1 Danny Bomken
  • 8 Dick Carr
  • 20 Chris Middlemas
  • 81 Jason Quigley
  • 82 Lloyd Oates
  • 86 Junior McDonald
  • 87 Dom Howes

Offensive Linemen

  • 44 Vince Kinchley
  • 51 Simon Shaw
  • 55 Dan Wheatley
  • 65 Matthew Carney
  • 70 Andrew Skelton
  • 71 Stephen Briggs
  • 73 Davis Parker

Defensive Linemen

  • 3 Damyan Georgiev
  • 90 Zak Watson
  • 97 David Cairns
  • 99 Jonathan Kemsley

Linebackers

  • 42 Daniel Sowerby
  • 49 Lee Soar
  • 53 Lee Lamb
  • 56 Tom Andrews
  • 58 Kevin O'Reagan

Defensive Backs

  • 14 Diira Ejibe
  • 21 Connor Joyce
  • 23 Robbie Brumpton
  • 25 Adam Winstone
  • 28 David Tuck
  • 33 Matthew Carter
  • 36 Tom Twizell

Coaches

Head Coach

  • Head Coach: Matt Long

Offensive Coaches

  • Offensive Coordinators: Mark Wright
  • Running Backs Coach: Aaron Arkley

Defensive Coaches

  • Defensive Coach: Rick Neal
  • Defensive Coach: Brian Carmichael
  • Defensive Coach: Daniel Westmorland

Notes

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.