World Footy News

The newly reincarnated Birmingham Bears took the first crown in their history last Saturday, April 16, as they won the AFL Britain Central & North-West League Lightning Cup, held in Hull.

The league’s inaugural Lightning Cup, which marked exactly 3 weeks until regular season start, featured 6 of the 7 teams in the division with Huddersfield Rams, Manchester Mosquitoes, Nottingham Scorpions and Sheffield Thunder being joined by newcomers Birmingham Bears and Hull Mariners.

Thanks to Tim Smith from the Birmingham Bears for this report.

With short 20 minute matches, the rounds were played with high intensity despite the hot sun. Manchester quickly established the front foot in Group A by beating Hull and scraping past Huddersfield, while in Group B it was 1 win apiece after the first round of games. At the culmination of the group stage, last season’s league premiers remained unbeaten in their group ascending to the final. In Group B, Birmingham avenged their opening loss by soundly beating Nottingham, then coming out on top in a tight contest with Sheffield to make the gold medal match.

In the final, Birmingham were on top from as early as the first minute when Jack Wood jinxed through two defenders to slot home his 5th goal of the day. Shortly after, player-coach David Veale took a mark 30m out in front of goal and kicked it straight and true. Within minutes, Chris Britton had also scampered past defenders to slot the ball through the posts and the improbable was looking possible for Birmingham. A long range effort from Warren Policha and another Britton score saw Bears 5 goals up at half-time and cruising, with little pressure been applied by the Manchester forwards. Riled up, the Mosquitoes came out hard in the 2nd period and quickly pulled back 2.

However, good spoiling from Tim Smith and some clever kicking play to the forward line settled the Birmingham boys who kicked two more goals through Britton and Style to keep the lead at a comfortable margin. At the whistle, Birmingham Bears were champions of the Lightning Cup winning 7.2(44) to 4.1(25), an outstanding achievement considering the team has only been together since February, and only played their first match in mid-March.

After a successful 2009, the Bears almost completely folded in 2010 as they experienced high player turnaround. With just two members of the 2009 squad still present, it is the arrival of Australian player-coach David Veale who has really revitalised the club, and brought it back to being a competitive force in the UK footy scene. The club has been completely rebranded including a new logo, kit and website at birminghambears.co.uk, however there is a long way to go to replicate this one-day tournament success and convert this into wins in the regular season.

The tournament was organised by Hull Mariners president Dan Beardshaw, who was pleased with the way the day went for his team: “I would like to mention that today we faced the 2010 premiers, runners-up and national carnival winners in Manchester, Nottingham and Huddersfield respectively so we did alright!” Hull Mariners will be part of the league on a social basis this year, with the other 5 clubs joined by Wolverhampton Wolverines to create a 6 team Premiership.

Birmingham Bears team: C Oliver, T Smith, N Ferrett, D Salisbury, D Veale, A Style, C Britton, W Policha, P Moss, M Allen, J Wood, G Johnston

Full results:

Group A:
Huddersfield 6.1 (37) df. Hull 1.3 (9)
Manchester 6.3 (39) df. Hull 0.0 (0)
Manchester 5.3 (33) df. Huddersfield 4.2 (26)
Huddersfield 7.4 (46) df. Hull 2.3 (15)
Manchester 6.3 (39) df. Hull 2.0 (12)
Manchester 11.2 (68) df. Huddersfield 5.0 (30)

Group B:
Sheffield. 4.5 (29) df. Nottingham. 4.2 (26)
Nottingham 6.3 (39) df. Birmingham 5.0 (30)
Birmingham 8.4 (52) df Sheffield 1.1 (7)
Sheffield 3.5 (23) df. Nottingham 2.4 (16)
Birmingham 5.3 (33) df. Nottingham 1.1 (7)
Birmingham 4.9 (33) df. Sheffield 3.2 (20)

5th place final:
Nottingham 10.6 (66) df. Hull 2.2 (14)

3rd place final:
Sheffield df. Huddersfield

1st place final:
Birmingham 7.2 (44) df. Manchester 4.1 (25)

The Birmingham Bears squad celebrate their tournament win

The Birmingham Bears new playing strip