American Football in the UK

Birmingham Lions 42 – 2 Newcastle Raiders
BUAFL Championship Game
John Charles Stadium, Leeds
Sunday 5th April 2009

The pendulum of dominance in the British game may swung violently towards the pass as Birmingham Lions destroyed Newcastle Raiders in the BUAFL Championship Game.

In front of a full house at the John Charles Stadium in Leeds, the Lions ripped apart the Radiers with six unanswered touchdowns in a game that had been billed as a close encounter.

Both sides had come through the season unbeaten, averaging scores over 50 while conceding less than two points per game. They had dominated their respective conferences. With that in mind, this was the closest BUAFL gets to a clash of the titans.

On a broader note, the game was a microcosm of the age-old battle between run and pass, with both sides take this fight to different ends of the spectrum.

Newcastle’s decision to run the Double Wing formation – a run-dominated set rarely seen at the higher levels of the sport - met with a distinctly mixed reaction. Meanwhile, Birmingham use a system more commonly seen in the NFL, utilising four and five receivers out of a passing playbook.

While “the run” has subjugated the British game since its inception in the 1980s, teams are always on the look out for a pocket passer. In Tristan Varney, the Lions have found that man.

No rookie quarterback has taken his team to a Championship at the ease with which Varney has led Birmingham. Newcastle’s mean defence, who had conceded just twelve points in the regular season, were made to look tame by Varney’s drop-back passing, which surely impressed the watching GB coach, Riq Ayub.

To Newcastle’s credit, the fight they showed throughout will be one of the lasting memories of the game. Even when 40 points down, they dug deep, returning a blocked point after try to pick up their solitary two points.

But there was no doubting the side that came out on top. Those critics of the Double Wing who believed it would falter against a top defence were proved right, but very few predicted that the Raiders reliable defence would be made futile by the Birmingham “Air Raid.”

The Lions use of motion and the empty backfield would have impressed even the most grizzled of observers.

For Newcastle, it may not quite be back to the drawing board, but they have been shown it takes more than one dimensional football to become National Champions.

By Tom Snee, Live Media UK

NOTE: Photos used with permission fron picsbyvic