If you were to write a list of the various sports associated with Great Britain, it is unlikely that American football would appear even close to the top. Everything from football to cricket, rugby and golf would almost certainly be written down before the idea of gridiron would even cross your mind.
In spite of this, there is actually a team that was set up to represent the United Kingdom in 1985 and that has been playing American football games ever since, given the moniker of the GB Lions. The team plays in the European Championship as its main competition when it qualifies to do so.
A History of the GB Lions
It was in 1985 that the team was formed and played in its first game. The decision to put a Great Britain side together came on the back of interest in the sport growing in the country, largely thanks to the fact that Channel 4, the terrestrial broadcaster, had started showing National Football League highlights every week three years earlier. The fact that association football’s reputation was tainted by association with football hooligans certainly helped, as did the excitement around Super Bowl XX, which saw the Chicago Bears defeat the New England Patriots 46-10.
A domestic British league of American football started at around the same sort of time, seeing numerous teams form around the country. In the February of 1984, a meeting took place at the Post House Hotel in Bedford, which brought together representatives of 35 teams to discuss the possibility of forming an association. A year later, the GB Lions seized upon this popularity and a team was formed with the idea being that it would represent the country as a whole on the international stage, heading to Stompond Lane in Walton-Upon-Thames to take on France.
Slow Beginnings
That first game, which was watched by about 2,000 people, was a success for the GB Lions, who roared to a 7-0 win over their French counterparts. It helped that Victor Muhammad, a legend of Britball, scored the touchdown before Steve Raven converted it. Over the next two years, the team took on the Netherlands as well as playing France again, hoping to qualify for the European Championship of 1987. They did just that, but ended up coming fourth after defeats to both Italy and Finland; not bad for the team’s first ever experience of a major tournament when they were still relatively inexperienced.
In 1989, another win over France allowed them to qualify for the team’s second consecutive European Championship, smashing hosts Germany 38-6 in the semi-final in order to set up a revenge match against Finland in the final. This time, the GB Lions were comprehensive in their victory, winning 26-0 to pick up the European Championship for the first time. Two years on and the tournament was hosted in Helsinki, where the defending champions beat the Netherlands 46-3 in the semi-final and took on Finland at the Olympic Stadium, securing their second consecutive title with a 14-3 win.
Issues Surface
In 1993, the British American Football Association, which was responsible for the GB Lions, withdrew from the European Football League, meaning that the team could not take part in the tournament that was hosted in Italy. They were due to return to the competition in 1995, but Germany withdrew from the tournament late on and left the GB Lions needing to play three games in the space of eight days. When the logistics for this couldn’t be worked out, the team was forced to pull out of the 1995 version of the European Championships, meaning that they had missed two in a row.
Normal service was resumed in 1997, defeating Spain at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid to qualify. The semi-final presented a chance for Finland to gain revenge for past defeats, resulting in the GB Lions losing 24-6, going on to lose 14-7 to Italy in the third/fourth place playoff. The European Championships in 1999 were suspended, with the GB Lions invited to take part in the first-ever IFAF World Championship, but they turned the invitation down. Riq Ayub, the Head Coach, resigned before the 2000 tournament, whilst the GB Lions lost to Finland once again.
Tournament Reformatted
In 2001, the GB Lions were expecting to receive a semi-final bye after their defeat of Spain in qualifying, following the disqualification of Germany. When Germany appealed, however, the decision was reversed and the GB Lions were expected to fulfil the fixture at short notice. When they couldn’t, they were expelled from the tournament. The competition was reformatted prior to the 2005 Championship, resulting in the participating nations divided into three pools. The Lions were put in Pool B and won all of their matches against Russia, Spain and France in order to qualify for Pool A in the championship.
A visiting team from Kentucky in the United States of America, the Centre Colonels, defeated the GB Lions, then the Germans, who were the top seed, shut them out in what was a one-sided semi-final. They had to face their old enemy Finland in the match for the bronze medal, but lost 34-12. When 2009 came about, it was a year of mixed fortunes. They lost to a visiting team from Australia, but then played the reigning European champions Sweden and won. They struggled in 2010, coming sixth, then failed to qualify for the 2014 tournament before coming fifth in 2018.
The Student Team
As with any sport, the American football team knew that their best way of spreading the message and growing the game was to get more students involved. As a result, GB Students were formed in 1993 as an All-Star team for the British Collegiate American Football League. They were coached by Damian Bayford from Leeds University; then, in the mid-1990s, it was decided that they should be renamed the Bulldogs, mostly spending their time playing against visiting teams. In 2008, the team fell under the remit of British Universities and Colleges Sport.
As the 2014 International University Sports Federation World Championships approached, BUCS refused to sanction entry into the tournament. Further issues were to come not long after. A combination of financial limitations and administrative errors meant that no GB Students team took part in the 2016 World Championships in Mexico. This was blamed on both BUCS and BAFA, but also led to the resignation of Wayne Hill, the Head Coach. As with the Great Britain Under-19 American football team, GB Students are seen as something of a feeder team for the GB Lions.
There is also a Great Britain Women’s Team, which was founded in 2012 and takes on the role of representing the country in the women’s version of American football. Remarkably, it took until the final of the European Championships in 2015 for the women to suffer a defeat. Which other team could it possibly come against but Finland? The score finished 50-12 to the Finnish side.