Manchester Titans American Football Club

Manchester has had a long association with the sport of American Football in the UK. The first ever game between two British teams took place in October 1983 and featured the Northwich Spartans against the London Ravens. The following year, Northwich became the Manchester Spartans and along with other Mancunian teams the Allstars and Heroes, brought continued success to the city over the next few seasons.

The sport suffered a decline in the early 1990s, leading to the disbanding of all three Manchester teams by 1994. It was the better part of a decade before American Football returned to the city, when a group of players native to Manchester but forced to play elsewhere due to the lack of a team, joined together to form the Titans in 2003.

The first season saw the fledgling team achieve a record of 1 win, 8 losses and a draw, whilst earning the respect of the rest of the league. After a change in management, the team did not play in 2004, concentrating instead on recruiting and strengthening the squad for a return to competition in 2005.

These efforts were rewarded with a solid 5 win, 5 loss season in 2005, which earned the Titans a trip to the Quarter Finals of the BAFL 2nd Division. 2006 saw the team attract increased attention from the media and fans, although several injuries to key players meant a tough season and a final record of 3 wins and 6 losses. A highlight of the season was the teams’ 38-12 victory over the Chester Romans, a game which saw Titans Wide Receiver Jason Bushnell named the BAFL Player of the Week.
The Future

The Titans began training for the 2007 season on October 1st 2006. A successful recruiting programme has brought many new players to the team bringing the number of players to over 65. The team has moved from its ground at Old Bedians in the suburb of Didsbury to a much larger and more modern facility at Broughton Park Rugby Club, closer to the City Centre. The new home ground has a stand for spectators, a bar and a floodlit pitch. A rebrand is also underway, with a new kit and logo (the flaming sword at the top of this document) set to be unveiled before the 2007 season begins. Central to this is a relaunch of the team website,www.manchester-titans.com.

The future looks very bright indeed for the Titans; more players are joining all the time and public interest is growing after increased media exposure in 2006. On the field, the focus is on winning a division title in 2007. The team has an experienced group of coaches and a stable committee structure.

Several Companies have pledged support for the Titans, including Hayton’s Coaches who will be the team’s Official Transport. Prolab, a leading sports nutrition company, have selected the Titans to be a Supported Team, meaning discounted products, training and nutrition advice and valuable exposure on Prolab’s Inner Armour brand website.

The NFL has announced that the 2007 season will see a regular season (as opposed to an exhibition) game played outside North America for the first time. The chosen city is London. This means the sport will be getting a major boost in terms of interest and media coverage in the UK in the lead up to the game, to be played in September 2007.
League Information

The British American Football League (BAFL) celebrated 20 years of competitive American Football in the UK in 2006. Britbowl XX (the National Championship game for the top division) was held at Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, with commentary by Channel 5’s American Football presenter Mike Carlson and a highlights package taped for Sky Sports. The Britbowl game capped a weekend of action that also featured 2 other championship games for the other divisions.

The league has enjoyed growth in recent years, with 6 new teams entering competitive play in 2007, bringing the total number to 42. The BAFL is part of the British American Football Association, the umbrella organisation for the sport in the UK, which also includes a youth league and the university league.

The 2007 BAFL structure has 8 teams in the top flight BAFL Premier division, with BAFL 1 comprising 12 teams split into North and South (6 teams in each). BAFL 2 is made up of 22 teams split into North, Central, South East and South West Divisions. The Titans are in BAFL 2 Northern Division, along with teams in Lancashire, Merseyside, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh. We will also be playing Games in Hull and Peterborough in 2007.
Media

The Titans enjoyed a great year in the media in 2006. The team established solid links with local press leading to regular coverage in the South Manchester Reporter. We also had a full page feature in the North West Enquirer. British Airways selected the Titans to do a promotional appearance at Manchester Airport to launch their business class service from Manchester to New York, with coverage featuring in the BA staff journal, online with Marketing Manchester and the BAFL website and in print in First Down, Britain’s nationwide American Football newspaper. The team were filmed twice by Channel M, Manchester’s local TV network.

To help recruit players and fans, the Titans hand out flyers in the city centre whilst in full kit. The response to this is fantastic and it is very high profile. Our most successful appearance was our participation in Sport Relief; the team were interviewed onstage and featured prominently in publicity for the Manchester Mile event (we put on demonstrations and after running the mile twice, posed for photos and signed autographs for the public).

Moving to a ground with a stand helps the team provide first class facilities for spectators. An exhibition game the Titans played at Broughton Park against a team of high-school All-Stars from the USA attracted over 200 spectators. The team is aiming for 500+ attendance at future games and we expect continued coverage in local media.

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