Birmingham Bulls v Humber Warhawks - Match Programme 12/05/19

BIRMINGHAM BULLS AMERICAN FOOTBALL CLUB

UNITED WE STAND O F F I C I A L G A M E D AY M AG A Z I N E

B A FA N A T I O N A L L E A G U E N F C D I V I S I O N T WO S O U T H BIRMINGHAM BULLS v HUMBER WARHAWKS S U N D AY 1 2 T H M AY 2 0 1 9 | K O 2 . 3 0 P M

KINGS NORTON RUGBY CLUB | ASH LANE | B48 7BD

BULLS HISTORY UNITED WE STAND! The Birmingham Bulls are one of the longer established American football teams playing in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1983.

Jerry Hartman, a former US military policeman with some College Football experience formed the team in a local park, and by April 1984, there was enough interest to begin a fully fledged adult team. The team was financed by local businessman Dave Gill, who later became the Bulls’ first chairman and would go onto become chairman of the British American Football Association.

On Friday June 8 1984, the Bulls played their first game against the Milton Keynes Bucks at the Alexander Stadium, losing 40–7. They later took residence in Salford Park, underneath the Gravelly Hill Interchange, and under Dave Webb, the club attempted to purchase the land from the local council.

In 1986, as members of the BAFL, under coach Warren Tate, the Bulls won their first national championship, and represented the UK in the inaugural Eurobowl, finishing third, losing to eventual runners-up, the Bologna Doves.

In 1988, the Bulls won their second national championship, and first in the Budweiser League, beating the London Olympians at Loftus Road 30–6, and again qualifying for the Eurobowl. However, they once more lost to the eventual runners up, this time the Amsterdam Crusaders.

In 1989, the Bulls again made the Budweiser Bowl to challenge for the national championship, but lost to the Manchester Spartans 21–14.

Under the banner of the NDMA league, the Bulls took their third national championship in 1991, defeating the London Olympians 39–38 at the Alexander Stadium, with kicker Mark Webb scoring the winning field goal with just 17 seconds remaining.

In 1992, the Bulls again faced Eurobowl disappointment, falling to the eventual winners, the Amsterdam Crusaders once more.

In 1995, the Bulls won their most recent national championship, defeating the London Olympians once more, in a 34–30 game. However, the Olympians got their revenge later in the year, knocking the Bulls out of the Eurobowl at the quarter-final stage, before going onto finish as runners-up.

After a re-invention, the Bulls began life in Division 2 in 1996.

The Bulls reached the national championship again in 1999, but fell to the London Olympians in a close, defenceheavy 9–6 loss. The result of the 1999 Britbowl was repeated a year later in 2000, when the London Olympians again defeated the Bulls in the national championship game, 34–26.

In 2013, the Bulls junior team finished an undefeated season by defeating the Woodham Warriors in the Junior Britbowl at Keepmoat Stadium, and were crowned national champions.

In 2014, in the second and final year of former Redditch Arrows head coach Ian Hill’s tenure, despite a large rookie contingent, the Bulls came within one game of making the play-offs.

2015 saw a league restructure and the Bulls found themselves placed in the Division One SFC North, with former player, Mark Pagett, taking over the reins.

After two seasons of transition, with a large number of rookies getting regular playing time due to a number of experienced players retiring or moving to new clubs, the Bulls were relegated to Division Two following a one win season in 2017.

Mark Pagett resigned from the role as Head Coach and the Bulls moved to appoint Matthew Sheldon as the new leader for a new chapter of 'Bulls Football' in 2018.

www.birminghambulls.co.uk

WE'RE BACK...!

Good afternoon and a warm welcome back to Ash Lane, the new home of the Birmingham Bulls!

While the weather has not improved much in terms of temperature since our opening game here against the Lincolnshire Bombers, there is no doubt the boys of summer are back with a full slate of Britball fixtures each weekend.

Our short break after game 1 is over and today is back to work as we open our double header with Humber Warhawks this afternoon the Bulls heading north in just seven days time.

That will mean an early start for the players and supporting cast and an increase in the earnings of fast food and coffee chains on the way up to Humberside.

If you don't like standing in a queue then you don't want to be arrive at a service station Greggs just after the OL or DL have walked through the door!

Without a doubt the win over the Bombers was an important one, they are sure to be challenging for a post-season berth and we have the upper hand in the head to head should it come down to that.

That said we are not taking anything for granted, we know we have hard work to do if we are to end the season with a division title or a plsy-off place and the expectations around the Britball world are that we should be winning more games than we lose.

We found that out last season, despite winning 16-0 in Humber we were written off as contenders for any end of season success because the expectation was that we 'should' be putting up 50 points or more on the Warhawks which is not only disrespectful to our opponents but also ignorant of the facts surrounding the game.

Don't forget that these games are played by guys that will miss games due to work or family commitments, that is the nature of the pay to play sport we are involved in.

Anyway, we look forward to another great game this afternoon and we welcome our opponents from Humber here this afternoon and wish them a safe journey home after the game.

The Warhawks have suffered two defeats to begin the season and, despite a heavy 42-0 defeat to the Bombers to start their season, they almost pulled out a win against last season's division winners, Staffordshire Surge, finally being edged out 31-16.

UWS.

TODAYS DIVISION TWO FIXTURES NFC2 CENTRAL | HALTON SPARTANS v KNOTTINGLEY RAIDERS NFC2 NORTH | INVERCLYDE GOLIATHS v CLYDE VALLEY BLACKHAWKS NFC2 SOUTH | BIRMINGHAM BULLS v HUMBER WARHAWKS SFC2 EAST | EAST ESSEX SABRES v ESSEX SPARTANS SFC2 SOUTH | LONDON BLITZ 'B' v HASTINGS CONQUERORS SFC2 WEST | SOUTH WALES WARRIORS v WORCESTERSHIRE BLACK KNIGHTS

NEXT BULLS FIXTURE AT ASH LANE : BIRMINGHAM BULLS v CREWE RAILROADERS SUNDAY 2ND JUNE 2019 | KICK-OFF 2.00PM

www.birminghambulls.co.uk

We approach the Humber game after a long

mindful of their threat and their desire as a team

early season break, with four weeks between

to compete with more established sides.

games. The Warhawks begin a run of four games in five weeks for us, so we will really need to build our momentum over this period.

From a Bulls standpoint, we will go into the game with the same intention as every other game we play, shut them out, turn them over and put our

We overcame Lincoln in what was at times a hard physical Offense on the field behind the blocking fought battle and they certainly offered us some

of our OL. I’m looking for much greater

challenges in the first half.

consistency and execution on Offense, translated more effectively from what we have been doing

Our 12-0 win was probably below predicted margins, but I was delighted with the shut out, with both O and D providing us crucial scores when it counted with a strike from AJ Mepstead to Neil Solomon and Mitch Vaughan’s strip recovery touchdown.

on the training ground.

This weeks captains have been rotated slightly with Jake Mason retaining the D captaincy. Our club Vice Captain Neil Solomon steps in as speaking Captain this week. AJ Mepstead has earned the start as QB over the last few weeks

Only playing Humber once last season, we went

and he will come in as Offensive Captain. Alex

into the game heavy favourites. With a depleted

Corbett will be today’s Game Captain in

squad through injury, scorching conditions and

recognition of his work and dedication over the

an opposition that never gave up, we came out of

whole season to date.

the game 16-0 victors.

This season, Humber put in a good performance

UWS. Matthew Sheldon | Head Coach

against our main rivals at the Surge, so we will be

COACHES CORNER HEAD COACH MATT SHELDON

NFC TWO SOUTH SUNDAY 14TH APRIL 2019 Lincolnshire Bombers 0 Birmingham Bulls 12 Crewe Railroaders 13 Staffordshire Surge 20 SUNDAY 21ST APRIL 2019 Lincolnshire Bombers 42 Humber Warhawks 0 SUNDAY 28TH APRIL 2019 Humber Warhawks 16 Staffordshire Surge 31 SUNDAY 5TH MAY 2019 Staffordshire Surge 8 Lincolnshire Bombers 11 SUNDAY 12TH MAY 2019 Humber Warhawks at Birmingham Bulls SUNDAY 19TH MAY 2019 Staffordshire Surge at Crewe Railroaders Birmingham Bulls at Humber Warhawks SUNDAY 26TH MAY 2019 Humber Warhawks at Crewe Railroaders SUNDAY 2ND JUNE 2019 Staffordshire Surge at Birmingham Bulls SUNDAY 9TH JUNE 2019 Crewe Railroaders at Birmingham Bulls Lincolnshire Bombers at Staffordshire Surge SUNDAY 30TH JUNE 2019 Staffordshire Surge at Humber Warhawks Birmingham Bulls at Lincolnshire Bombers SUNDAY 7TH JULY 2019 Birmingham Bulls at Crewe Railroaders SUNDAY 7TH JULY 2019 Humber Warhawks at Lincolnshire Bombers SUNDAY 21ST JULY 2019 Crewe Railroaders at Humber Warhawks SUNDAY 28TH JULY 2019 Lincolnshire Bombers at Crewe Railroaders SUNDAY 4TH AUGUST 2019 Crewe Railroaders at Lincolnshire Bombers Birmingham Bulls at Staffordshire Surge

CAPTAIN'S LOG Game 1 is in the books and we are 1-0. The game against the Surge shows us that we Lincolnshire Bombers travelled well and can’t be complacent. They are going to turn gave us an incredibly tough game, which is up ready to play and fighting for a result, so what we expected from them. we need to be switched on and do our jobs.

Offensively we struggled to find our UWS rhythm. Things weren’t quite clicking and i Tom Farnell | Team Captain think we put too much pressure on ourselves to make plays. From a personal point of view, i was really disappointed with Today (and in fact next week) it is Humber my game and missed a couple of Warhawks. opportunities that could have really pushed the offense forward. After two good weeks It is important that we start early and the in practice, i am feeling confident that i can Offence demonstrates fluidity as it has done put that behind me and put in a good during all of pre-season training. Our performance.

Defence (the best in the league in my opinion) will naturally take care of itself.

Yet again, the defense put in a championship level performance and really We have two objectives 1. score big and 2. helped the offense out, turning the ball over shut them out. This will allow for the rotation quickly, giving us short fields to work with of our squad and the gaining of invaluable and putting points on the board as well. It’s game experience every player that has put amazing watching them do their thing, but the effort in so richly deserves. it’s about time the offense did their thing “Success is not achieved by chance, it’s and paid back the defense for putting us in achieved by choice" so many favourable positions.

Lead by example, work hard and never This Sunday sees the Humber Warhawks give in. travel to Ash Lane. The team has struggled in previous seasons, but their most recent SOL13 | Team Vice-Captain

#TEAMTIANNA This season we are looking to raise funds to donate to the Teenage Cancer Trust at all of our home fixtures.

John 'Jock' McManus is a Bulls Legend and we are honoured to do what we can to show the McManus family our love and support as Tianna daughter receives treatment for a rare form of bone cancer.

To John, Tina, Tianna and Tayja - United We Stand.

In August 2018, our beautiful, strong and courageous daughter, Tianna, was diagnosed with Bone Cancer, to be specific it’s called Ewings Sarcoma that effects children and young adults between the ages of 15 and 20 years old.

Incredibly rare but aggressive.

Thankfully, if caught early, this Cancer is treatable.

Our other beautiful daughter Tayja, took the decision to have her hair cut off to support her 'Big Sister' during her current chemotherapy treatment and donate her hair to 'The Little Princess Trust' who recently supplied Tianna with a fantastic wig.

As a result we are trying to raise awareness of the remarkable people who work and give their all, every day and every night at The Teenage Cancer Trust at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

The support the family have received from Birmingham’s Teenage Cancer Trust, as a Family, has been incredible and invaluable.

Tianna was back in hospital for surgery recently, undergoing a 9 hour operstion to remove the piece of cancerous bone and do a bone graft from her lower leg.

She remained in hospital for 5 days in full leg plaster from ankle to hip and a full arm plaster from knuckles to armpit.

It was due to be 2 to 3 weeks before she was due to go back to hospital so they could remove some of the plastering so she can start to be a

bit more mobile.

We are hoping she will be mobile and well enough to be part of one of our home fixture at our new home and that the family enjoy an afternoon with us here at Kings Norton.

Whatever challenges both teams face on the field this afternoon we doubt that we will see a more courageous individual than Tianna and we are proud to have her here with us today.

All monies raised today will be donated to the Teenage Cancer Trust and we thank each and every one of you who has contributed this afternoon. #UWS

THE FIRST TIME WE MET Humber Warhawks 0 Birmingham Bulls 16 A scorching day on Humberside Warhawks defines and the six

scores to effectively put the

as the undefeated Bulls headed

Warhawks out of reach and snuff

north in their final road game of the regular season, looking to cement their place at the top of the division following their win

pointer stood.

Dan James ran in the two point conversion and the lead was 8-0.

over Staffordshire Surge two

Despite the Bulls offense

weeks ago.

struggling to sustain drives and

A subdued start for the Bulls saw them go 3 and out, giving the home side possession after a punt but the defence came up big with a Ross Martin interception putting the ball back in Alex Back’s hands.

This turnover led to a historic moment in Bulls history as TE Mike Beaty grabbed Back’s pass and bullied his way into the end zone for his first ever touchdown as a Birmingham Bull.

force the ball into the end zone the defense were as relentless

again.

Scott Robinson forced a Humber fumble with Nathan Cotterell diving on the loose ball to send the offense back onto the field.

up with a second interception of purpose, breaking a big run to the day to snuff out Humber’s

set up Back’s second touchdown

hopes of a score before the half. pass of the game, this time to Andy Gibson’s fumble whilst in at running back was fortunately recovered by him and Beaty

Andy Brown who made a great grab to increase the lead to 14-0.

almost grabbed a second TD

With a missed extra two points

catch of the day but Back’s pass

the lead was still two scores

was inches short with the

ahead and surely enough for a

receiver open which saw the

7th victory of the season.

drive end soon after when Gibson’s run was stopped shy of first down on a fourth down play

the end zone had everyone’s

bringing the half to a close.

penalty was against the

the defense at the forefront

as ever with Jake Mason coming Dan James was running with

The sight of a flag just outside hearts in their mouth but the

out any chances of an upset with

Shortly after, with Humber forced to punt from near their own goal line, the Bulls recorded a safety when the

The third quarter saw the Bulls

snap drifted over the punter and

cement their victory with two

he was tackled in the endzone

for the two points and a 16-0 lead.

The remainder of the game saw a number of back ups getting deserved game time and also a first appearance on defense for youth team graduate James Brown who came up with a fumble recovery only for the referee to negate Luke Greenshield’s strip by determining that the play had been called dead after forward progress had stopped.

With little or no pressure on either side’s end zone during the remainder of the game the Bulls saw out the game to win their 7th game of the season and maintain their 100% record going into the crunch game with Staffordshire Surge next weekend.

TODAY'S VISITORS folded after two games.

The Hull Hornets were formed in 2005 and were awarded BAFA League Status in 2005. The Hornets became the City's only American football club until it folded in 2011.

Humber Warhawks are a British American football team based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire who play in the BAFA NFC South 2.

The following year former Doncaster Mustangs coach Pete Scorah formed the Kingston Warhawks. The Warhawks operated for two seasons as an associate American football team before a deal was struck to merge with rival team the Grimsby Scorpions who are from neighbouring town Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire.

The club represent the counties of East Yorkshire and North East Lincolnshire by taking their name from the Humber Estuary that flows between the two counties and the Humber Bridge which connects them.

Hull was chosen as the base city for the new club with the majority of players from both teams forming into one squad with the exception of some who opted to join the Lincolnshire Bombers.

The club were formed in 2014 when the Kingston Debut season Warhawks merged with fellow associate team the The Humber Warhawks' inaugural match was a Grimsby Scorpions. friendly against BAFA side Lincolnshire Bombers They were later granted official BAFA status and in which the Warhawks were soundly beaten. debuted in the 2015 season.

Other games came against the University of Hull Early history Sharks before playing in the associate bowl against Halton Spartans at the Select Security American football was first played in the City of Stadium, in which both clubs were eventually Hull in the late 1980s, with the first club being the invited to become BAFA clubs for the 2015 Hull Kingston Liberators. season.

Over the next few years, the team were known Warhawks' first ever official season saw them by several other names, such as the Kingston placed in the NFC South 2 along with the Liberators, before disbanding as the Humberside Lincolnshire Bombers, Leicester Falcons, Liberators in the early 1990s.

Peterborough Saxons, Leeds Bobcats and The next team to come out of the City were the Hull Pirates, who achieved a third-place position in the National League in their only season of existence.

Next came the Hull Rockets, before the Kingston Barbarians entered the league in 2001, then

Sandwell Steelers.

The club's first result was a 54-0 away defeat to the Saxons, followed up by a 73-0 home defeat the following week to the same team. Humber struggled in their opening season, with their best performance coming in a 52-16 home defeat

Robson resigned from the Warhawks at the end of the season in order to start a family, handing back the Head Coach position to Pete Scorah. The Warhawks struggled to retain key personnel from the previous season and would evidently struggle with the team finishing bottom of the division with a 1-9 record following a solitary 14-13 victory over the Crewe Railroaders on the opening day of the season.

Name

against the Leeds Bobcats. Games against local rivals the Lincolnshire Bombers ended in 54-0 and 64-0 defeats.

Humber ultimately finished the season with a 0-10 record.

First victories The Warhawks appointed Lincolnshire Bombers Offensive Coordinator Alex Robson as Head Coach who in turn acquired a wave of experienced players from other sides.

On the first day of the 2016 season they defeated the Bombers 34-32 in a fiercely fought contest. Robson went on to guide the Warhawks to a 3-7 record in which they also beat the Bombers by a score of 50-12.

They eventually finished 4th in a strong division in which all 3 teams ahead of them advanced to the Play-Offs. They also notably ran relegated Division One side Staffordshire Surge close only losing

Following the merge between the Kingston Warhawks and the Grimsby Scorpions, it was decided to use the term "Humber" due to the Humber Estuary and Humber Bridge that separate Hull and the county of East Yorkshire and Grimsby and the county of North East Linolnshire.

HUMBERERWARHAWKS

30-26 with the winning margin coming because of Humber failing to convert PAT's.

YOUTH & JUNIOR Following a 1-2 start to the season for the youth team at the Etone Jaguars tournament we caught up with Head Coach John Phillips for an update on the youth and junior programme.

"I'm delighted with how all the you team players are progressing week on week and the team is growing in numbers all the time.

"We have a really talented group of young men and I'm proud to see how far they have come in such a short space in time.

"Our next tournament is our home tournament so we are working hard to to get our game plan ready for the next set of games and I'm looking forward to seeing how weve improved since our 1st tournament."

Despite two defeats in their opening tournament, to Etone Jaguars (30-2) and Leicester Falcons (44-6) the largely rookie squad got their first win with a hard fought 18-8 win over Bedordshire Blackhawks.

The players will return to action on Saturday 22nd June when the Bulls host their tournament at Kings Norton.

Opponents on that day will be Sandwell Steelers, Birmingham Lions and Leicester Falcons and all support is welcomed for what

should be another exciting day of football.

The Junior team, playing under the Black Country Vipers banner following our partnership with them agreed in the spring, will also face tournament style play, heading to Lincolnshire on Saturday 18th May for their opening fixtures against the host side Lincolnshire Bombers and Leicester Falcons.

The Vipers will be hosting their tournament on Saturday 15th June and then rounding the season off with a trip to Ipswich on Saturday 20th July.

The Vipers released their squad photo for the new season, courtesy of Danielle Francesca Photography.

We wish both teams good luck.

THE LOCKER ROOM We caught up with Bulls old and new following the opening day win over the Lincolnshire Bombers...

I felt great for my first ever game of American football, especially forcing a fumble and blocking a punt. The shut out showed how well as a defence we worked to stop them even with a rookie starting Patrick Kuduwa (CB) #30 It is an honour and my pleasure to be back at The Bulls this season. Ive returned to alot of new faces this year, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for welcoming me back as part of the family.

Pre-Season has gone very well, alot of hard work has gone into the preparation for the upcoming year. Head Coach Matt, and Defensive Coordinator Steve, along with the Offensive Coordinator Doug, and all the other positional coaches, have put alot of time and effort into getting all the players ready.

With all the work that has been done and continues to take place, I have high expectations for the season, and the Bull's ability to gain promotion.

United we stand Lee Macken (DE) #94 Being selected as game day captain came as a total surprise but I am honoured to be given the privilege. Holding Lincoln to a shut out last game was what coach expected of us as he sets us some challenges every week. People always say ‘start as you mean to go on’ and we plan on shutting out as many opponents as possible this year.

Alex Corbett (SS) #34 Game Day Captain Following on from the defence dominance of last season and a successful pre season programme, the expectation for a good performance in our first outing was huge. I was therefore honoured to once again lead the boys out and get our first shutout at our new home. At the Bulls on the defence, we set ourselves extremely high targets and against Lincoln we smashed everyone! Clearly there is room for improvement but, as a season opener, it couldn't have gone much better. The shutout continues. UWS, Go Bulls.

Jake Mason (LB) #90 Defence Captain More Locker Room notes in the Railroaders programme on 2nd June!

AN INTRODUCTION TO

AMERICAN FOOTBALL BASICS The purpose of the game is to move the ball towards, and ultimately into, the opposition's end zone.

This is achieved by either running with the ball until tackled, or throwing the ball downfield to a team-mate.

DOWNS

uprights after a touchdown (similar to a rugby conversion). Two points are earned by taking the ball into the end zone again.

Safety (two points) Awarded to the defensive team when a member of the offensive team is tackled with the ball in his own end zone.

Downs are the most fundamental, and confusing, part of the NFL rulebook.

POSITIONS

The attacking team, or offence, needs to move the ball forward in chunks of at least 10 yards, which is why the pitch has yardage markings.

Although there are only 11 players from each side on the field at any one time, an American football team is made up of 45 players, ranging in size, speed and their roles within the team.

They have four chances, or downs, to gain those 10 yards.

Offence

When the ball has advanced that far another first down is earned, with four more chances to go a further 10 yards.

If the offensive team fails to move 10 yards within four downs, possession is surrendered, although the ball is usually kicked, or punted, to the defending team on fourth down.

While most scoring comes from near the defending team's end zone, a touchdown can be scored from anywhere on the field, and on any down.

PLAYS These are the complicated movements involving all 11 players teams use to move the ball downfield.

Plays are called by the head coach or quarterback, who is the attacking lynchpin of any team.

While the term usually refers to attacking teams, defending teams also use set plays to stop their opponents' forward movement.

The offensive team has 30 seconds to get the ball in play or kick a field goal.

SCORING Touchdown (six points)

A team's attacking players who attempt to move the ball forward and score touchdowns.

The key man is the quarterback.

On the quarterback's signal, the centre snaps the ball back between his legs to the QB (similar to rugby league's play-the-ball).

The quarterback can then either run with the ball, hand it to a running back, or pass it downfield to one of his receivers.

The plays used by the quarterback can either be prearranged or improvised to take advantage of the game's changing shape.

Defence The role of the defence is to stop the other team from scoring by tackling the ball-carrier, intercepting passes or causing fumbles.

The defence is made up of big, powerful players trying to stop the other team from running the ball, and fast, athletic players trying to prevent the quarterback's passes from reaching his receivers.

The defence's power players also attempt to tackle, or sack, the quarterback before he has thrown the ball, while any defender can cause a fumble by knocking the ball from a ball-carrier's grasp.

A touchdown is scored when a team crosses the opposition's goal line with the ball, or catches or collects Special Teams the ball in the end zone.

Responsible for all plays involving kicks or punts.

Field goal (three points)

Special teams play a small but vital role. They come onto These are usually attempted on fourth down if the kicker the field to execute field goal or extra point attempts, and when the team wants to punt the ball downfield on is close enough to the end zone to kick the ball through fourth down. the posts, or uprights.

Extra point (one or two points) A point is earned by kicking the ball through the

They are also responsible for trying to block the opposition's kicks and punts, as well as attempting to return them as far as possible in the other direction.

MATCH REPORT BIRMINGHAM BULLS 12 LINCOLNSHIRE BOMBERS 0 SUNDAY 14TH APRIL 2019 The Bulls kicked off their 2019 campaign with a hard earned victory over the Lincolnshire Bombers at Kings Norton.

Following two close games last season and with both team featuring in post-season play in 2018 it was no surprise that points were hard to come by and the early season jitters seemed to affect both teams with a number of turnovers in a scoreless first two quarters.

The Bulls made a change at QB in the 3rd quarter after Alex Back had thrown 4 interceptions but it was Neil Solomon, straight from one uniform into another following a late shift at work, who ignited the offence with his first touchdown since his return to the Bulls, catching a pass from AJ Mepstead and racing into the endzone.

The game was still very much in the balance at 6-0 in the 4th quarter until Mitchell Vaughan, the MVP on the day, collected a fumble in the Bombers backfield and rumbled for the touchdown to seal the win.

With the Bulls defence back to it's usual stifling style the Bombers could not come up with a response and the Bulls open the season with a win against a serious division title contender.

BIRMINGHAM BULLS AMERICAN FOOTBALL CLUB

SCHEDULE 2019 B A FA N A T I O N A L L E A G U E N F C D I V I S I O N T WO S O U T H

BIRMINGHAM BULLS 12 LINCOLNSHIRE BOMBERS 0 S U N D AY 1 4 T H A P R I L 2 0 1 9 BIRMINGHAM BULLS v HUMBER WARHAWKS S U N D AY 1 2 T H M AY 2 0 1 9 HUMBER WARHAWKS v BIRMINGHAM BULLS S U N D AY 1 9 T H M AY 2 0 1 9 STA FFORDSHIRE SURG E v B IRMING HA M BULLS S U N D AY 2 N D J U N E 2 0 1 9 B I R M I N G H A M B U L L S v C R E W E R A I L R OA D E R S S U N D AY 9 T H J U N E 2 0 1 9 LINCOLNSHIRE BOMBERS v BIRMINGHAM BULLS S U N D AY 3 0 T H J U N E 2 0 1 9 C R E W E R A I L R OA D E R S v B I R M I N G H A M B U L L S S U N D AY 7 T H J U LY 2 0 1 9 BIRMINGHAM BULLS v STAFFORDSHIRE SURGE S U N D AY 4 T H A U G U S T 2 0 1 9

KINGS NORTON RUGBY CLUB | ASH LANE | B48 7BD