Birmingham And Imperial Fired Up For BUCS Season Opener

All photos by Bec Edwards

We catch up with Lions DB Sam Jeater and Immortals LT Sam Hill ahead of this Saturday's clash...

This Saturday brings the start of the BUCS American football league, and Week 1 in the Premier South sees the Birmingham Lions host the Imperial Immortals.

The Immortals had pretty rotten luck in this matchup last year – their home fixture was forfeited due to a waterlogged pitch, and the return in Birmingham saw them fall to a 41-0 defeat as the Lions stormed towards the playoffs.

Including the forfeit, the side from Kensington in West London lost 6 of their 8 games last season, and they hope to begin turning that around with a win at the site of last season’s lowest moment.

“We’re looking to sharpen up on defence against them, run hard against them and not be frightened of how big a squad they’ve got,” said third year Offensive Lineman Sam Hill. “We’re going to stand up and play football. If they play inside run we’ll put people in there to stop it, if they try to pass on us we’ve got a good enough secondary that we’re comfortable with the people there.

“We don’t expect anything different than we ever have from Birmingham, we know they’re a great team, we know we’re going to go out on the sideline and there’s going to be 80 people out there but at the end of the day football is 11v11 on the field at one point, so for us we’re not really focusing on them as much as on ourselves. We’re going to be aggressive and play to the whistle and we’re really looking forward to the game.

“Our preseason has been really good, it’s the best the club has ever had as far as I’ve been around. We had an off season where we’ve been lifting together, training together every day for 2 weeks, conditioning which we haven’t done that much before, its been so much better than last year and we’re looking like a premiership team more than we ever have. There were times last year when we felt we lacked that intensity to really look like a premiership team. But this year our intensity and focus is so much greater, every single person is giving 100% every rep, and if everyone’s beating the guy in front of them on every rep then everyone is happy.”

Meanwhile, the Birmingham Lions go into this season still seething from their playoff semi-final defeat to the Stirling Clansmen, the second time in a row that the Scottish team had edged them out of the championship race. According to fourth year defensive back Sam Jeater, they’re coming back for the title again.

“For a team that’s as strong as we are, if we were aiming any lower than the championship we’d be taking a serious look at ourselves.

“It’s frustrating, it’s hard to take,” he says of the consecutive Stirling defeats. “I think they’re the team to beat again this year, but we’ve been working hard to avenge that Twice is enough now. As a veteran that have played in those games we want to pass down that losing not a fun thing and we’ve got to work extra hard this year.”

But for now, the Masters in Economics student, whose first season with the Lions was their last title season in 2012/13, said they are focusing on the first game. Despite last year’s big win, they’re treating the Immortals with respect and caution.

“I think, being a defensive guy myself I will always say having a sound defence as a basis to work from is always a benefit, because the pressure on the offence is somewhat lessened if they can be confident the defence will put the ball back in their hands sooner rather than later. That’s where I’d say the difference was made [in last year’s game].

“Last year it was 41-0 but we’re not expecting to have the same sort of result as that this year, we’re being more wary because it’s the first game of the season so there’s no film, and some of the Durham coaching staff have joined Imperial so we’re expecting the task to potentially be a little bit harder with their scheme. From a defensive point of view, we’re preparing for every type of offence we could face, and we’re not looking past the first game, we’re fully focused on that.”

Birmingham Lions v Imperial Immortals kicks off this Saturday at 1pm on the Metchley 3G Astro at 9 Pritchatts Road, Birmingham.