It’s coming, it really is coming, and the countdown is well and truly on….
After more than a year of no action, no punting the ball upfield, no scrimmage, no touchdowns in which to celebrate, the Nottingham Caesars, and all of the British American Football Association (BAFA), finally return to their hallowed turf.
There may be a change in alignments for the league this year, some fourteen divisions created in accordance to regional proximity, Caesars Coach Vanden Warner, is ready for the trials and tribulations of the task at hand.
Placed within that of the BAFANL Central East division, the Caesars find themselves opposing that of the Lincolnshire Bombers, Northants Knights, and Scunthorpe Alphas
Of the new alignments, BAFA National Game Manger, Warren Smart, told www.britishamaericanfootball.org; “I am grateful to the input and constructive conversations we’ve had with our clubs about the alignments for this season.
“We all know that we are having to adapt and compromise, but I am excited about the regional structure and 2021 will be marked by a number of really interesting match ups.
“To help grow the sport we have allocated all new teams to the group structure to help them achieve full competitive membership for 2022.
“I have been working with clubs to ensure some level of parity is maintained and we really want the year to be approached as an opportunity to develop, with clubs all across the country helping one another.”
Eighteen matches will open up BAFA 2021, on Saturday 27 June,, with the Nottingham Ceasars making the trip to the Belle Vue Sports Village, Wellingborough, against that of the Northants Knights – they will also be the first visitors to the Harvey Hadden Sports Village in mid-July (the Caesars head to Lincolnshire between the two Knights matches).
“It feels really good to be back, even if it’s going to be different with new, divisional realignments,” began Caesars Coach, Vanden Warner.
“We’ve not played competitively, against these sides, before, other than one in a pre-season scrimmage.
“This though, it isn’t a new format for us either as I’ve experienced similar before where we’ve had to play sides three times.
“It’ll just come down to what tweaks are implemented come that third game, that would be different to the other two games, and which makes it easier for players to be able to pick up different plays.”
Although some sports, have carried on, or started much earlier than BAFA, sports like professional football, and professional boxing, in part, the American Football scene on these shores has neglected a call to action, for both contact, and flag sports.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, the likes of the NFL and College Football, NBA, NHL etc, have seen their ‘regular’ season take place; it all means that, by the time the Caesars do see a playing field properly again, close to sixteen months or more will have elapsed.
“We should be reasonably well-prepared and have been back training for a number of weeks,” explained Vanden.
“It’s been frustrating over the past few months, but now, with the divisional realignments and the fixtures having been confirmed, we’re just hoping everything now goes according to plan and we can get back out there.
“We’ve followed BAFA’s guidelines for their return to play, and that has five different levels to it, so we just have to be careful really, more as the size of the squad we have here has increased over the past year meaning we’ve had to put extra sessions on so nobody missed out (on training).
“The squad itself though has largely remained the same, we’ve just added some depth, some experience to it last year, whilst graduating some juniors into the first team.
“The same can be said of the coaching side with, other than Peter Brown (wide receivers), and a few guest coaches (one from UoN) who’ve helped with the quarterbacks.”
As for the months ahead, it will be tough, that much is certain, the Caesars, and other BAFA outfits, piling up twelve weeks of pre-season, and a twelve week regular season, but with no pre-season game-time.
The eight games in which they’ll play, begins with the opener against the Northants Knights, on 27 July, and the same side will close the regular season on 26 September.
“The schedule isn’t too bad, we just want the whole squad involved as much as possible,” concluded Vanden.
“Yes, there’s time constraints, but it’s also reasonably spaced out to both suit, and cover, any eventuality.”
BAFANL Central East Division (Configuration & Fixtures)
Lincolnshire Bombers, Northants Knights, Nottingham Caesars, Scunthorpe Alphas
27 June vs. Northants Knights (A); 4 July vs. Lincs. Bombers (A); 18 July vs. Northants Knights (H); 8 August vs. Lincs. Bombers (H); 22 August vs. Scunthorpe Alphas (A); 5 September vs. Lincs. Bombers (A); 19 September vs. Scunthorpe Alpha (H); 26 September vs. Northants Knights (H)
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*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).
*Main image @CaesarsFootball the Nottingham team are ready for action.
