British_Universities_American_Football_League

British Universities American Football League

British Universities American Football League

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The British Universities American Football League (BUAFL), is an American football league contested by university teams in the United Kingdom as part of the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) organisation. The league was formed by the British American Football Association (BAFA), the national governing body of American football in the UK, in 2007 as the successor to the British Collegiate American Football League, after BAFA withdrew its recognition of the British Student American Football Association which ran that league.[1][2] The BUAFL has been credited with reviving interest in American football in the UK.[3]

Quick Facts Sport, Founded ...

From 2008, the BUAFL was officially associated with the National Football League (NFL), through its partner organisation NFL UK.[4] In 2012, BUAFL's league and teams were absorbed into BUCS after American football became an official BUCS sport.[5] Over the period 2007 to 2014, the BUAFL grew from 42 teams and 2,460 participants to 75 teams and over 4,100 people involved.[6]

League structure

Over the course of the regular season, each team in the Premier and Tier 1 plays between eight regular season games. Each team plays everyone in their division twice; once home and once away. For the 2016/17 season, Tier 2 is broken down into six conferences, five of seven teams and one (South East) of eight; teams in Tier 2 play a six-game season (seven in the South East division), playing each other only once.[7]

Current structure

The latest structure for the BUAFL system was announced by BUCS on 26 August 2016. It consists of two Premier divisions, six regional Tier 1 divisions and six regional Tier 2 divisions.[7] This differs from the standard BUCS structure of five geographical regions below Premier level.[8] The Premier and Tier 1 divisions are considered to be of "high performance" by the BAFA and BUCS. The teams allocated to each division at the start of the 2023–2024 season were:

Premier Divisions

More information North, South ...
Premier North teams (red), Premier South teams (blue)

Tier 1 Divisions

More information Scottish, Northern ...
Tier 1 South West teams (red), Tier 1 Southern teams (blue), Tier 1 South East teams (yellow)

Tier 2 Divisions

More information Northern A, Northern B ...

Earlier structures

The first two full seasons of BUCS American Football preserved the single tier, eight conference structure inherited from BUAFL. In 2014–15, this was changed to a two tier system with the formation of two Premier divisions (North and South), each of five teams. The eight regional conferences, slightly reorganised (in particular, the small Scottish conference became the more balanced Borders conference, including teams from northern England) to contain 8 or 9 teams each, became the second tier. At the same time the Championship was reduced to the top two teams from each Premier division and the Challenge trophy was replaced with cup competitions for North and South Tier 1 divisional winners, with the winners being promoted to the appropriate Premier division.[8]

For the 2015–16 season, the league was split in three tiers. The premier remained organised into North and South, although the top four (of five) in each division now entered the Championship playoff, with the fifth being relegated. The second tier contained 6 geographic division, three Northern (Scottish North, Northern and Midlands) and three Southern (Western, South and Southeastern). The Trophy playoffs took the top two from each division plus the top two remaining teams with the best record from the northern and southern regions, the playoffs were structured with a "northern semi-final" and a "southern semi-final", with the semi-final winners promoted to the respective Premier division regardless of the result in the final. The third tier was organised into 8 divisions, four Northern (Scottish North, Northern, Midlands and North Midlands) and four Southern (Western, South, Southeastern and London).[8][9] The major change for the 2016–17 season was the reduction to six divisions (and a consequent increase in the number of teams per division) in the third tier (Tier 2), although not fully matching the geographical regions in the second tier (Tier 1).[7]

2021-22 regular season standings

Championship qualification is shaded in green, and relegation is shaded in red; position in the Championship bracket is based on final positions in the two divisions. League position is based on number of points scored, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss

More information Team, W ...
More information Team, W ...

2018-19 Regular Season Standings

Championship qualification is shaded in green, and relegation is shaded in red; position in the Championship bracket is based on final positions in the two divisions. League position is based on number of points scored, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss

More information Team, W ...
More information Team, W ...

2017–18 Final Standings

Championship qualification is shaded in green, and relegation is shaded in red; position in the Championship bracket is based on final positions in the two divisions. League position is based on number of points scored, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss

More information Team, W ...
More information Team, W ...

2016–17 Final Standings

Championship qualification is shaded in green, and relegation is shaded in red; position in the Championship bracket is based on final positions in the two divisions. League position is based on number of points scored, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss

More information Team, W ...
More information Team, W ...

2015–16 Final Standings

Championship qualification is shaded in green, and relegation is shaded in red; position in the Championship bracket is based on final positions in the two divisions. League position is based on number of points scored, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss

More information Team, W ...
More information Team, W ...

2014–15 Final Standings

Championship qualification is shaded in green, and relegation is shaded in red; position in the Championship bracket is based on final positions in the two divisions. League position is based on number of points scored, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss

More information Team, W ...
More information Team, W ...

2013–14 Final Standings

Championship qualification is shaded in green, and Plate qualification is shaded in orange. Seeding is based on number of points scored, with 2 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss

More information Team, W ...
More information Team, W ...

National Championship Games

More information Season, Winning team ...

Challenge Trophy/Divisional Cups/National Trophy

The Challenge Trophy was replaced by the two Divisional Cups for the transitional 2014–15 season, which were replaced in turn by the National Trophy from 2015 to 2016.

More information Season, Winning team ...

League MVP

MVP awards have been given out sporadically at best.

More information Season, League MVP ...

References

  1. "BSAFA Operations Suspended". British American Football Association. 25 July 2007. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  2. "BAFA Launches BUAFL". British American Football Association. 25 July 2007. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  3. Ben Halls (30 September 2016). "Riding the Second Wave: The Resurrection of the NFL in the UK". VICE Sports. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016. As any wannabe dictator will tell you, revolution simply cannot happen without grassroots action. That is it true in sport, too. For American football, that movement came not from the NFL itself, but was home-grown at British universities.
  4. "NFL announces partnership with BUAFL". 12 November 2008. Archived from the original on 8 January 2011.
  5. "American Football - British Universities & Colleges Sport". Archived from the original on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  6. Zander Swinburne (1 February 2014). "Super Bowl 2014: Move over, Wayne Rooney – gridiron's here". The Independent. The British Universities American Football League (BUAFL) had 42 teams before the first Wembley game in 2007 and 2,460 participants; now 75 universities are registered, with more than 4,100 players, coaches and officials
  7. "#BUCSball Conference Structures Released!". 26 August 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  8. "American Football – Moving to three tiers". BUCS. 9 June 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  9. "BUCS American Football 2015–16". BUCS. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  10. Penalised 2 points for conceding a walkover against Durham
  11. "BUCS American Football 2017–2018 – Premier North". BUCS. Archived from the original on 13 September 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  12. First five matches of season awarded as involuntary walkovers to opposition due to fielding an ineligible player
  13. Sheffield Hallam vs Durham match void
  14. Penalised 2 points for conceding walkover vs Durham
  15. Penalised 2 points for conceding walkover vs Birmingham
  16. "BUCS American Football 2013–2014 – South". BUCS. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  17. "BUCS Finals Day 2018". Football America UK. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.

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