Border City Centurions have made a sensational start to their first season competing in the British American Football Leagues NFFL Division 1 A (North and Highlands).
Playing in East Kilbride the Carlisle-based side defeated Glasgow, Aberdeen and Grangemouth to send them clear at the top of the table.
Nick Weston, Centurions head coach said: “In 35 years of local American Football teams, we’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s been a phenomenal start to the team’s inaugural season on the national league stage.”
After opening day victories against both the highly skilled Lancashire and equally experienced Chorley sides, these latest three wins have continued a 100% record from the five opening games.
Weston went on: “It goes to show, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog. Coming into this we’d been pegged as the rookie team, likely to be no more than whipping boys to the big clubs – but now they’re all having to seriously think again.”
The Centurions are now preparing to travel down to Lancashire on the coronation weekend, to go head-to-head with second place Warrington and 10th place West Lancashire, hoping to consolidate their position as the top of the table.
Flag football is a rapidly growing, high-skill based format of non-contact American Football. Embraced by both the NFL and now the International Olympic Committee who have cleared it for immediate inclusion for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, flag has been gaining many new followers across the sports world over the past decade.
The growth of the game is chiefly a result of the world seeking alternatives pathways for the future of contact sports, due to increasing awareness of the links between the impacts of repetitive concussions and the long-term head traumas in traditional sport formats.
Founded last year, Border City Centurions are a Carlisle based Flag American Football Team, with club members and players from across Cumbria and South Scotland.
Sponsored by Denton Tyres, part of Team Protyre, the Centurions are affiliated to the British American Football Association and play in the UK’s National Flag Football League’s Division 1.
With a senior adult team established now in the league, a junior team rapidly developing and a women’s side starting up in June, the future of the sport looks exciting for Carlisle and the Borders.
