GB Abroad: South-West England to Scandinavia

This summer will be one requiring passports and oversize luggage allowances for 4 members of the Plymouth Blitz.

Offensive co-ordinator Charles Rifenbark will be undertaking a new challenge, taking up the Head-Coaching position of Seinajoki Crocodiles in Finland. It will be Coach Rifenbark's first Head Coaching role and his chance to show his coaching acumen with one of the top Finnish teams.

Coach Rifenbark will be at the Seinajoki Crocodiles. Image c/o www.gridiron.fi 

Irish Football Weekend Roundup

Another weekend gone in the Irish American Football Leagues and what a weekend it was! New leaders in both the Shamrock Bowl Conference North and South as well as a shock result in the North coupled with a gutsy performance from the Mullingar Minotaurs in IAFL-1 made the weekend more than interesting.

Photo by Nathan James Sharrocks

Irish Football Weekend Previews

Shamrock Bowl Conference Match Previews

With the worst of the weather hopefully firmly behind us the Shamrock Bowl Conference can pick up some momentum. We have three more games this week, two in the north and one in the south. One game is the rescheduled

West Dublin Rhinos v Dublin Rebels – Castleknock College 2pm

First up the Dublin Rebels head across the city to face the Rhinos at Castleknock. They beat them 22-0 at home earlier in the season and will be looking for a similar result against a West Dublin side that is still yet to score a point in three games.

The Dublin Rebels will be looking to go 3-0 this weekend - photo by Ariane Boudias

London Blitz vs Copenhagen Towers Preview

It’s all systems go as the London Blitz prepare for their first game of the season on Saturday 13th April as they face Danish side Copenhagen Towers at a Finsbury Park, North London.

BAFANL Week One Predictions

BAFANL Premiership North

Doncaster Mustangs vs. Nottingham Caesars

The new look Premiership North gets underway this weekend when last season’s number three seed Doncaster take on the Premiership new boys, the Nottingham Caesars.

It was an up and down season for the Mustangs last year as their season started with a 1-0 forfeited loss to EKP due to reasons out of their control. The Mustangs then went on to win six of their next seven games (one win courtesy of the Bergamo 5) before ending the season losing their final two games and ultimately forfeiting their playoff quarter final against the London Blitz to end the season 6-4-1 including the playoffs.

With a new HC in town, the Mustangs will be hoping for to go one better than last season and claim the Premiership North title.

Talk about being thrown in the deep end for the Caesars. A year after their 7-3 season in Division 1, the Caesars find themselves competing in the Premiership following the latest league re-alignment.

Unlike last season, the Caesars will be missing a few key players when they start their campaign this weekend thanks to the postponement of the BUAFL finals. With the likes of Danny Miller and Marcus ‘Patches’ Boswell sidelined, the Caesars may struggle to repeat their explosive start to the new season.

Prediction: Doncaster to start the season 1-0 with a four score victory over the Nottingham Caesars.