World Footy News

Last weekend, Saturday 2nd July, saw the Brit Cup played for the first time ever in the North of England at Manton Coliery Worksop, with the Nottingham Scorpions lifting the trophy and breaking the 8-year winning streak of the West London Wildcats.

The Brit Cup is the traditional locals-only annual tournament, which has been showing off the best of British footy talent for a number of years.

With the IC2011 taking priority this year (something that was agreed to at the National Conference in November 2010 in Putney), the AFL London are pushing forward their fixture to get their season finished before the the Bulldogs fly out to Australia, and thus could only send up a West London/Wimbledon combined team under the name "London Wild Hawks".

The Wild Hawks were joined by 4 regional rep sides - the Northern Warriors, Southern Saxons, West Midlands Wolves and WARFL Red Devils - and the Nottingham Scorpions, who were eventual champions and the sole stand-alone club side on the day.

Karl Haigh from the Huddersfield Rams was event organizer and also umpired on the day, having stood down this season as Northern Warriors captain, assisted by Rams head coach and last year's Northern Warriors head Coach Neil Morrison, along with long-time English footy identity Andrew Markham who covered much of the umpiring duties and was behind the media and publicity.

This report courtesy of Karl Haigh.

The event was a six team comp played in a ladder format where every team had to play each other once and the top two sides play off in a Grand Final.

Runners-up to the Scorpions were the debutant West Midlands Wolves, a rep side of the Birmingham Bears, Wolverhampton Wolverines and Birmingham Uni Sharks, who competed last year as part of the Northern Warriors, but chose to stand alone in 2011.

The first-up performance of the Wolves emphasized the development of footy north of London, through the work of new England Dragon Slayers captain and Wolverhampton president Ian Mitchell, Birmingham Bears and Birmingham Uni president Tim Smith and Bears head coach David Veale, who also coached the West Midland Wolves on the day.

It was a red hot day in Worksop, and with the amazing facilities what Manton Coliery has to offer, set the mood for an amazing day of footy. There was a real buzz of excitement from the spectators and the teams themselves,

The games were two 12 minute halves and split over two ovals, set up side by side. Play was 12-a-side with a maximum of 18 in a squad, so the ovals were made to accommodate this and were 130 meters by 80.

This historic event was privileged to be opened by the Mayor of Basset Law who coincidentally holds the Guinness record for being the youngest mayor in British history. The Guardian newspaper was on hand to record this historic Brit cup forever and also local Radio station Traxx FM broadcasted live and Interviewed myself and the Mayor.

The first games kicked off at 11am and didn't allow much respite between fixtures for players to rest their tired muscles as there were so many games to get in. The Sun blazed down and made any rest unbearable, so the Physio room or the shade were the places for refuge from the gruelling games that were being played.

Every team put 110% into every game and it showed as mid afternoon saw some shattered athletes pushed to their limits and demanding every ounce of energy from their weary bodies.

At the Mid-afternoon stage there were a lot of shock results, and the ladder was so tight it was too tough to call guaranteed grand finalists apart from one team.

The Nottingham Scorpions were flying, they were pumped for this Brit Cup and were not going to go home without the prestigious trophy. Scorpions Head coach Lee Nicho wasn't going to let another Brit Cup slip out of his hands and did an awesome job coaching and keeping his boys in the zone despite the blistering conditions and grueling schedule.

The Scorpions went all day without defeat in the ladder stage and showed real guts and class throughout the event securing a grand final place.

The shock result in the day was the London Wild Hawks, before the event the talk was of these boys and were tipped favorites to win the event, a side full of AFL London players who regarded themselves as the pinnacle of footy in the U.K were going to come up North and show everyone what standard the country needs to be at, surely?

This was definitely not the case, and once again showcased how well the standard of footy has developed outside of London in recent years and has leveled the playing field throughout the U.K.

The Wild Hawks didn't manage to win a game all day and were the first team to hit the showers. They were very disappointed with their results but yet still had nothing but admiration and respect for the rest of the teams in the comp. This was great to hear from such respected players and officials from AFL London and showed the great sportsmanship and respect that London has to offer teams and officials from around the country.

I speak as President of the AFLB North Committee when I say that this makes all the hard work we have put in over the last 4-5 years all worthwhile. We have always wanted to be accepted by AFL London as equals and this is conformation that we are definitely working together and demanding the respect that we deserve, regardless of the format of footy each region plays.

As the day progressed, the ladder was getting tighter and no one was going to give up no matter how spent their body was. The next side that confirmed their departure from the event was the WARFL Red Devils, the Welsh lads put in a great effort and nearly caused a big upset against the Northern Warriors, only losing by a point to last year's Grand Finalists.

The long drive back to Wales must have seemed a lot easier knowing that they can hold their heads up high, having defeated the London Wild Hawks, whom they no doubt feared like the other sides in the run up to the event.

This too shows how the standard of footy has developed throughout Wales and WARFL, especially fielding European Legion star Joshua Davey who at such a young age is also the Secretary of WARFL.

With the Scorpions already confirmed in the Grand final it was now down to three teams who were tied on 8 points in the ladder, Warriors, Saxons and Wolves fought hard all day and it all came down to the last ladder game of the event.

With the Saxons finishing all their ladder games and unfortunately not being able to roll the Scorpions to secure a Grand Final place, they could only watch on as the last game started. The Warriors and the Wolves had everything to play for, as it was the winner of this game who would secure their place in the Grand Final to face the Mighty Scorpions.

The Warriors got in front first up but were quick to concede from great rucking by Sean Walton for the Wolves who had been consistent all day.

The Warriors looked tired compared to the young and plentiful Wolves, Warriors were dropping like flies with cramp and it was from this that the Wolves managed to capitalize on their misfortune by taking the lead just before half time.

The Wolves were hungry and started the second as strong as they finished the first, The Warriors were spent and it showed as they conceded another goal.

The Warriors had a couple of chances late in the game to bring things level but the opportunities were squandered as the cramps, pain and fatigue set in giving the debutantes a place in the Grand Final to face the Scorpions.

Spectators and players who were out of the comp had time to grab a quick beer before flocking to the pitch to watch this historic Grand final. Both sides knew this would be the longest 24 minutes of their lives but didn't let that phase them one bit.

As expected this was a great game fought tooth and nail, there was only one goal separating the sides at half time. The Wolves proved why they deserved to be in the Grand Final, giving it hard to the Scorpions, who must have been on their guard after getting some firm words from head coach Lee Nicho.

The Wolves started the second strong but were caught on the counter by a very clever and brutally strong Scorpion unit who had taken on board the encouraging words from Their head coach, the Scorpions went on to prove how desperately they wanted the Brit Cup silverware and wasn't going to fall at the last hurdle like previous years.

The Scorpions went on to win the Brit cup and lift the Silverware they so desperately wanted and worked so impressively hard to win, The Scorpions went all day without defeat and thoroughly deserved to be crowned 2011 Brit Cup Champions, stripping West London Wildcats of their title which they have held for the last eight years.

Other Awards on the day were the Golden boot for the top goal scorer and Best and Fairest award which was voted for by the umpires throughout the day on a points system.

Golden Boot went to Warriors Full Forward, Huddersfield Rams Captain and European Legion star Danny Armitage, who got 14 goals on the day.

Best and Fairest went to West Midlands Wolves Ruckman, Birmingham bears and GB Bulldogs player Sean Walton ,who had an outstanding day out and topped up an already formidable season so far in the CNW Division, Sean is in the squad for the GB Bulldogs to travel to Australia in August for the IC2011 and is proof of the continued talent to come out of the AFLB CNW Division.