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Introduction
BSAFA is the organisation responsible for the management of University American Football in the UK. This responsibility extends not only to the running of the BCAFL but also to the running of the University representative teams - The Northern Cougars, The Southern Wildcats, and the British Bulldogs, as well as giving support to Cheerleading squads, Alumni Associations, and liaising with other organisations to organise American Football events throughout the year.
BCAFL
The regular season of the BCAFL (British Collegiate American Football League) runs from October/November to February/March depending on university semester dates. The league is split into 2 Conferences (Northern and Southern) and each conference is split into 4 divisions.
Each team plays 8 regular season games with the 4 winners of each division in a conference proceeding to the playoffs along with the 4 next-best records in the conference. The playoffs are then played to determine the champions of each conference, with those two teams meeting to play for the chance to be crowned College Bowl champions.
The College Bowl is the longest running American Football championship in Europe and April 2006 will see the advent of College Bowl XX which is hoped to be the biggest and best championship game yet!
All-star Programme
The All-star Teams are the teams selected to represent the Northern and Southern conferences in the annual North/South All-star game. Teams are selected by trials which are open to all players in their respective conference, and the best players are selected to make up the representative side.
The North/South All-star game has been running for 9 years now and the two teams - Northern Cougars and Southern Wildcats - have been very evenly matched throughout the series. 2005 and the best All-star game in its history saw the Northern Cougars take the series to 5-4 in their favour.
Great Britain Bulldogs
The Great Britain Bulldogs - the British student representative team - and was first founded in 1993 and is the main showpiece of the BSAFA. During its history the Bulldogs organisation has taken teams into both Europe and America and has hosted games against international opposition.
In 2005, the inaugural Tri-Nations tournament between Great Britain, Canada, and the USA was held with the Bulldogs coming second in the series behind the highly experienced USA team. 2006 will see the third trip to the USA where the Bulldogs will travel to Los Angeles to once again take on tough American College opposition.
BCAFLCheer
BCAFLCheer has recently been set up in order to offer advice and support to BCAFL cheerleading teams which are becoming more and more common. BCAFLCheer is also fundamental in the selection of Cheerleader representative squads for both the annual All-star games and the British Bulldogs.
BSAFA Alumni
The Association is currently working on the set up of a much more organised Alumni association in order that the BCAFL players and coaches from throughout the history of the association can keep in contact and carry on their involvement in American Football after their University years are over. College Bowl XX will see the induction of the founding class of BCAFL alumni and membership.
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