Tamworth Phoenix

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Tamworth Phoenix
Established 2004
Based in Tamworth
Home stadium Lichfield Rugby Club
League BAFA National Leagues
Division Premier North
League titles 1 (2010)
Division titles 2 (2009)(2010)
Current uniform

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The Tamworth Phoenix, founded in 2004, are an American football team playing in the United Kingdom. The Phoenix senior team was promoted to the Premiership North of the BAFA National Leagues (BAFANL), after completing an undefeated season in 2010. The Phoenix also field a junior team and a youth team.

History

The Phoenix were founded in 2004 by Dave Winter, Jay Alexander, Ed Winter and Ryan Baker, after re-establishing youth football in the area, as the Tamworth Trojans, a year earlier. In their first season 2008, the Phoenix came 2nd in the BAFL2 Central conference behind champions the Nottingham Caesars. However, they avenged this by defeating them in the playoffs on route to a BritBowl 2 final defeat to the London Cobras, also a first year club.

Despite defeat in the BritBowl 2 final, Tamworth Phoenix were promoted to BAFL1 division and placed in the South-West Conference. The Phoenix completed the regular season with a record of 9-1, winning the South-West Conference, and moved into the playoffs as the #2 seed. After a victory over the Kent Exiles in the first round of the playoffs, their run was halted at the semi final stage by the East Kilbride Pirates.

In the 2010 season, Tamworth completed a perfect 10-0 season, and a perfect post-season, winning the BritBowl against the East Kilbride Pirates, and moving to the BAFACL Premiership. It was a memorable season for the Phoenix as earlier in the year they had the chance to compete against the Australian Gridiron team as part their tri-nations warm up, and matched-up well, only losing 27-22 to the tourists.

Graham Kelly took over from Jay Alexander as Head Coach, and began life in the Premier League with a win against the East Kilbride Pirates at Lichfield Rugby Club. They built on this success with a 5-5 regular season record with victories over some of the established premiership teams. They were defeated by the London Warriors in the semi-finals of the Play-offs.

The 2014 season was the most successful Premiership campaign for the Phoenix. Having secured the second seed in the Northern Conference, the team beat the Bristol Aztecs in the National Playoffs before succumbing to the London Warriors in the Semi Final.

2015 saw the appointment of Martin Hilton to the position of Head Coach - the fourth in the team's short history - and a fledgling partnership with the Atherstone Sports Hub, where the Phoenix will play their home games.

Senior team season records

Season Division Wins Losses Ties PF PA Final Position Playoff Record Notes
2008 BAFL Division Two North Midlands 6 2 2 227 45 National Runners Up Beat Merseyside Nighthawks 173 in quarter-final.
Beat Nottingham Caesars 288 in semi-final.
Defeated by London Warriors 306 in final.
Conference champions.
Promoted to Division One.
2009 BAFL Division One South West Conference 9 1 0 322 51 Defeated Semi Finalists Beat Kent Exiles 2720 in quarter-final.
Defeated by East Kilbride 280 in semi-final.
Conference champions.

-"pants"

2010 BAFL Division One South West Conference 10 0 0 428 48 National Champions Beat Gateshead Senators 2100 in quarter-final.
Beat Cambridge Cats 477 in semi-final.
Beat East Kilbride 3514 in final.
Conference champions.
Division 1 Champions.
Promoted to Premier League
2011 BAFACL Premier 5 5 165 124 Did not make playoffs
2012 BAFACL Premier 6 4 0 201 176 Defeated in first round of playoffs Defeated by London Olympians in quarter final
2013 BAFACL Premier 6 4 0 178 198 Defeated in first round of playoffs Defeated by London Warriors in quarter final
2014 BAFACL Premier North 8 1 0 229 144 Defeated Semi Finalists Beat Bristol Aztecs 288 in quarter-final.
Defeated by London Warriors 4417 in semi-final
Seeded as #2 team in the North. Conference Runners Up
2015 BAFACL Premier North 8 1 0 246 90 Defeated Semi Finalists
Defeated by London Warriors 149 in semi-final
Seeded as #2 team in the North. Conference Runners Up.

Staff

Head Coach/Offensive Co-ordinator: Martin Hilton
Defensive Coordinator: Jason Scott
Offensive Coordinator: Dan Smith

Defensive Assistant Coaches: George Bayliss, Andy Mortimer, Jonny Flowers
Offensive Assistant Coaches: Justin Smith, Adam Hope, John Pimperton, James Hossack

Team Roster

Tamworth Phoenix Roster 2010

Quarterbacks

  • Pat Daley
  • James Slack

Running Backs

  • Adam Hope
  • Elliot Walters
  • Alex Lenkowski
  • Sam Smith

Wide Receivers

  • Sam Rogers
  • Ben Burslem
  • Darragh Mooney
  • Kris Wedderburn
  • James Hossack
  • Gareth Pemberton
  • Fred Bull
  • Adam Hennessey
  • Liam Watson
  • Keiran Laska
  • Peter Pratt
  • George Cox
  • Stephen Ray

Offensive Linemen

  • Owain Davies
  • Joshua Thompson
  • James Bacon
  • Rob Stirling
  • Jamie Gallagher
  • Joshua Gaff
  • Niall Earnshaw
  • Luke Lyons
  • Ed Holden

Defensive Linemen

  • Steve Gregory
  • Ash Miller
  • John Winter
  • Jared Burnell
  • Brandon Hattiloney

Linebackers

  • Max Petitjean
  • Olly Powell
  • Emmanuel Nyabadza
  • Ben Davies
  • Raphael Omuzusi
  • Chris Thacker
  • Nik Evans
  • Sunil Sharma
  • Keiran Hagan
  • Andy Quick

Defensive Backs

  • John Kenyon
  • Tom Tandurella
  • Aidan Crump
  • Phil Gallett
  • Ross Gabriel
  • Daniel Norgrove
  • Will Hobbs
  • Diekola Lanre-Ojo
  • Peter Ashurst

Youth Team

In February 2012 a new team was introduced, the youth team. The youth team games last 30 minutes and it is 5 vs 5. They faced a difficult first season having to forfeit nine games due to lack of players, but competed well against established teams like Standish Raiders, Birmingham Bulls and the Leicester Falcons.

In 2013 the appointment of Andrew Garrett brought new optimism to the Youth Program. Andrew Garrett had been promoted to the position of head coach. The following season they saw huge improvements on the field, beating Coventry Jets in the opening game of the year. They continued a rich vein of form by beating an experienced Yorkshire Rams team, before narrowly losing to Leicester. They also hosted their first home tournament, and built links for the future.

2014 brought more success as the Youth Team won their first tournament in Doncaster, and made the playoffs for the first time in their history.

Youth Staff

Head Coach: Andrew Garrett
Defensive Co-ordinator: Ian Statham
Offensive Co-ordinator: Michael Fearn
Linebackers/ Running Backs Coach:
Defensive Back Coach:
Occasional Coaches: James Statham

Youth Roster

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Defensive Linemen

Linebackers

Defensive Backs

Team Records

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.