Tamworth Phoenix

Tamworth Phoenix

Team logo
Established	2004
Based in	Tamworth
Home ground	Lichfield Rugby Club
League	BAFA National Leagues
Division	Premier North
League titles	1 (2010)
Division titles	2 (2009)(2010)
Current uniform
Primary Alternate

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.

In the 2011 season the phoenix continued 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.

Staff

Head Coach/Offensive Co-ordinator: Graham Kelly
Defensive Co-ordinator: Justin Smith
Special Teams Co-ordinator: John Ridler
Defensive Backs Coach:
Linebackers Coach: Justin smith and Luke Cotton
'Wide Receivers Coach:Dave Winter and James Braizer'
Offensive Line Coach: George Bayliss and Edward Winter

Team Roster

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. In their first ever season they went 0-12 having to skip 9 due to a lack of players and injuries to key players like Jonah Evans (thumb) and Jake Phelps (ribs). In the season they played games against the Standish Raiders, Birmingham Bulls and the Leicester Falcons. In October 2012 the appointment of Andrew Garrett made everyone on the youth team excited. Andrew Garrett had been promoted to the position of head coach. In February 2013 the season began again however the numbers were dwindling. They were originally training with the junior squad however they soon branched off. The Phoenix started with 12 for the upcoming BAFANL Youth Central Season.

In May 2013 the season began with a tournament at the Coventry Jets, the Nix began the year with 12 players who all performed admirably in a 41-0 victory over the Coventry Jets, touchdowns coming from Jake Phelps, Ross O'Donoghue, Richard Perks and Joe Whitehouse. Nix moved on into their next game with Doncaster, a much bigger team with at least double the amount of Nix's players, however, the game was cruelly took away from Phoenix after two touchdowns were disallowed by a very controversial referee, Doncaster went on to win 0-20. Nix decided not to play their third game vs Birmingham.

The first week of June bought Phoenix to Yorkshire, the tournament started off poorly with serious injuries and a heavy defeat to Doncaster,the only highlight being an interception by James Statham, however Phoenix went on to stun the Yorkshire Rams and defeat them 41-6 with touchdowns from Joe Whitehouse, Jake Phelps and Joe Hickling. The Nix finished their tournament with a 0-25 loss to Leicester.

The following week, Tamworth hosted its home tournament, hopes were high with a 2-4 record and some positive performances, however, three serious injuries to key playing such as QB Cam Dean and WR Jake Phelps, Phoenix were forced to rotate and lost all three games. Coaches Andrew Garrett and Mick Fearn decided to shake things up the following week appointing new QB Ryan Ball and highlight-reel safety Joe Whitehouse as club captains. The club is currently embarked on a brutal six-week training routine for the Birmingham tournament on July 14 and already has three new players on their books. Whichever way you may look at the 2013 season you can only see it as a success for the Nix who have really shown just how bright the future is with the core of their team being 14/15 years old, the Nix are the youngest team around and with that fact, they will only get better over time.

Youth Staff

Head Coach: Andrew Garrett
Defensive Co-ordinator: Alistair Wilcox
Offensive Co-ordinator: Michael Fearn
Linebackers/ Running Backs Coach: Leo Chuck
Defensive Back Coach: Chris Thacker
Occasional Coaches: Stephen Gregory, Andy Mortimer and Ian Statham

Youth Roster

Team Records

2011 BAFACL Premier 5-5, defeat in the Semi-Finals of the Play-Offs
2010 BAFL1 South-West Conference 10-0 Regular Season, Play-off Winners
2009 BAFL1 South-West Conference 9-1 Regular Season
2008 BAFL2 Central Conference 6-2-2

External links

• Tamworth Phoenix official club website