British Universities American Football League. A Statement on the Relationship with British Universities & Colleges Sport

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1 British Universities American Football League A Statement on the Relationship with British Universities & Colleges Sport

2 Foreword British Universities & Colleges Sport is delighted to be working with Andy Fuller and the BUAFL. Over the last eighteen months we have had many productive discussions about the development of the game within the higher education sector which has led to the formation of what we hope will be a long-term working partnership. The remit of our new organisation will help us to engage more fully with national governing bodies and ultimately to provide a greater sporting offer to our membership. We look forward to working closely with the BUAFL over the next year with the aim of continually looking for ways to improve on what is a very solid foundation for the sport. Mark Brian Head of Sports Programmes, BUCS I am absolutely delighted to announce the start of what we hope will prove to be a long-term partnership with one of the most reputable and respected student sport organisations in the world. As we strive to further develop football across further and higher education I firmly believe that in agreeing a partnership with BUCS we have taken the single most important step to support us in achieving our aims. I am grateful to all the staff at BUCS for the time and energies they have spent thus far on this relationship and all of us at the BUAFL look forward to working closely with them in the future. Andy Fuller Chief Executive, BUAFL the

3 About the BUAFL Established in 2007, the British Universities American Football League is the largest university competition for American football in Europe. Forty-two teams were founder members with players drawn from over sixty institutions competing for the inaugural BUAFL National Championship. A further three teams successfully completed their Associate year meaning that for the kick-off of the 2008/09 season there will be forty-five teams with their sights trained on reaching the Championship Game and emulating the reigning champions the Southampton Stags. Whilst the BUAFL is relatively young, football in British universities dates back beyond 2007 with many of the BUAFL s teams having histories which stretch back to the 1980s when the sport first became popular in the UK. BUAFL Facts: The BUAFL had 2,390 registered members in 2007/08 The biggest team roster was that of the Sheffield Sabres 2007/08 with 89 people. The Southampton Stags claimed the inaugural BUAFL National Championship by defeating the Staffordshire Stallions The annual XpLosION game at Birmingham University continually attracts the biggest regular season attendance of any British university sport. The BUAFL season The BUAFL season operates in two distinct phases a regular season and play-offs. The BUAFL operates a conference-based regular season. There are four conferences, each of which has two divisions. During the regular season each team will play eight games, four at home and four away. Each team will play every other team in their division once and then make up the remaining games against teams from the other division in their conference. All games count towards a team s final ranking within their own division. the

4 At the end of the regular season the top two teams from each division will go through to a sixteen team play-offs which operates on a knock-out basis. A further four teams, one from each conference; will go through to the semi-finals of the BUAFL Challenge Trophy. These teams will have the best playing record outside of the four teams that have qualified from their conference for the Championship Game play-offs. The BUAFL s MVP Game, also popularly known as the All Star game is the annual end of season game between the best players from the conferences which constitute the League. Historically this has always been a team representing the Northern Conference taking on a team from the Southern Conference With the BUAFL moving to a four conference format from the 2008/09 season the MVP teams will become representative of two conferences and in 2009/10 there are plans for a four team MVP series which will see four games over two days with each team competing for the right to be named BUAFL MVP Series Champions. The first MVP Game took place at the home of one of the newest members of the League Bucks New University, where the Northern MVP team ran out 12-7 victors over the South. the

5 About BUCS BUCS is the new national organisation for higher education sport in the UK. It brings together experience and expertise from two former representative bodies UCS (University College Sport) and BUSA (British Universities Sports Association) to provide a unified voice for sport, fitness and physical activity on university campuses. BUCS works with student athletes, athletic union staff and elected officers as well as professional sporting staff, coaches and volunteers at 153 member institutions. It offers a comprehensive, multi-sport competition structure and manages the development of services and facilities for participative, grass-roots sport and healthy campuses through to highperformance, elite athletes. BUCS supports its member institutions to: - Provide first-class facilities, programmes and services to all students, staff and related communities - Increase participation in physical activity and develop active and healthy campuses - Deliver a world-class competition structure for more than 50 sports - Provide high quality performance sport infrastructure to produce world-class athletes - Lead innovative sports development BUCS Facts: Over one in four students take part in regular physical activity 4,500 sports teams operate on campus, the most popular being rugby, football and hockey 41% of university sports teams are female 170 Championship finals take place annually 55% of the Team GB medal take at the 2008 Olympics was by university students and/or university alumni 67% of visits to university sporting facilities are from students, with 26% from community users and 8% from staff BUCS members operate approximately 20bn worth of sporting facilities and amenities, including 145 fitness suites, 541 tennis courts and 139 sports halls The first BUCS Championships in March 2008 attracted 5,000 athletes and 3,000 spectators to the city of Sheffield. the

6 Key Questions re: BUAFL relationship with BUCS Will there be Championship points awarded this season? The relationship at this stage is purely strategic. As such, no team will be eligible for points which contribute to an institution s overall BUCS Championship ranking. Will there be points awarded in the 2009/10 season? We are working towards Championship sport status for the kick-off of the 2009/10 season and as such, award points based upon a team s BUAFL Championship performance. For the start of the 2009/10 season will the BUAFL mandate a split for those teams who are comprised of players from a number of institutions? There will be no mandate of a split for multi-institutional teams for the start of the 2009/10 season. It is in the best interests of both the BUAFL and BUCS to have a stable football programme and there has not been sufficient research undertaken to establish the effect that such a mandate would have. How will points be shared in the future? The BUAFL and BUCS are currently reviewing how points might be allocated based upon the current make up of teams. What will happen with regards to the BUAFL s current player eligibility criteria? For the 2008/09 season there will only be no or minor alterations to the BUAFL s eligibility criteria (these are currently being reviewed). Over the course of the next twelve months the BUAFL and BUCS will review how the eligibility criteria should evolve. Will the BUAFL move to a Premier League system like the one BUCS employs when it is awarded Championship status? At present the BUAFL is committed to retaining its current structure where there is divisional parity. Nevertheless, the BUAFL and BUCS will continue to review the competition format to establish what structure best services the needs of the sport, be it in terms of programme viability, athlete development or other. the

7 Will the BUAFL be run by BUCS? The BUAFL Management Board will retain the day to day management of the League with input where appropriate from BUCS. The BUAFL s Head of League Development Martin Boffey, will maintain a regular dialogue with BUCS and will lead the bi-lateral relationship from a BUAFL perspective. Will the MVP Game be part of the BUCS Championships? There are no plans at present for the MVP Game to become part of the BUCS Championships. How will this relationship affect an international team for students? The BUAFL is committed to supporting the work of the National Governing Body s national team programme and the development of athlete pathways into both the GB Lions team and a student representational team. The formats for the student representational teams as detailed in the Whole Sport Plan are aligned to current formats supported by BUCS. At this time the relationship between the BUAFL and BUCS regarding international representation will primarily be strategic and be focussed upon the transfer of knowledge from BUCS to the staff of football s national team programme to ensure that our student s get the best opportunities to showcase their talents. Will Athletic Unions be charged extra as a consequence of this relationship? There will be no additional costs to those outlined in the BUAFL s League Application form for Athletic Unions for the 2008/09 BUAFL season. Will BUAFL fixtures have to take place on Wednesdays? Whilst there is flexibility in the scheduling of BUAFL fixtures, the BUAFL anticipates that the vast majority of games will take place on weekends. Will there be a BUCS / BUAFL flag league or 5-a-side competition? The BUAFL and BUCS are committed to ensuring that our energies are focussed upon the successful development of the BUAFL s competition as it currently stands. As a consequence there are no plans for a modified format of the game having its own points scoring Championship.However, the BUAFL is currently exploring the implementation of a five-onfive competition to drive increased participation in the League and support the creation of new teams. the

8 How will this announcement affect the relationship between the teams and their Athletic Unions? The impact of this announcement will vary from institution to institution. We anticipate very little change in the relationships between Athletic Unions and teams for the forthcoming season, in part because budgets will have been allocated and training and match locations set. The BUAFL recognises that a lot more work needs to be put in by the League to support the development of football programmes in universities, primarily in the way in which we communicate with university staff and promote our game. As the BUAFL develops its communications platforms and is more proactive with universities we expect the nature of relationships to evolve anyway. This relationship just provides a further frame of reference by which people can judge the merits of investing in football. Can teams use the BUCS logo on their websites and / or apparel? The BUAFL requests that teams do not use BUCS logos on their websites or on their uniforms for the forthcoming season as the sport has not yet been awarded Championship status. Can teams access the Nike apparel deal through BUCS and if so, will there be access to football uniforms? BUCS have kindly given teams the opportunity to order clothing and equipment through their online store. All orders have to comply with the ordering agreement which is specified on the BUCS website and which Athletic Unions have been informed of. The BUAFL logo embroidery guidelines will be available as a download from the BUAFL website. With respect to football uniforms, the BUAFL and BUCS recognise that Nike is a premium supplier of apparel to collegiate teams in the United States. At present the current Nike / BUCS catalogue does not include football uniforms. As the relationship between the BUAFL and BUCS develops this is an area we can explore further. the