Beach Bowl V - Sunday 11 December 2005

11th December 2005

The Southern Sundevils, winners of Beach Bowl I and II, hosted Beach Bowl V the fifth annual, one-day, flag football tournament.

The tournament was created in 2001 by Matt Heasman, the Bournemouth Raider and www.britballnow.co.uk editor. Each winter more and more teams enter the competition and this year was no exception with a total of 13 teams battling it out for the number one spot.

Teams traveled to Southampton, from Devon, Wales, Scotland and even some players flew in from as far away as Canada to compete. However, although the event was hosted at the home venue of the Southern Sundevils, they were unable to field a team due to having coaching commitments with the newly formed Portsmouth University team and having no available quarterbacks or receivers from their 2005 roster due to injuries and personal commitments.

The 13 competing teams for the event were:
South Wales (1)
South Wales (2)
Stag Knights
Team Voodoo
Bournemouth Raiders
The Barbarians
Chichester Sharks
Kirkcaldy Bulls
North Devon Dogs
Team UA (1)
Team UA (2)
Leicester Eagles
Eastbourne Crusaders

The teams were split into groups in the morning and the winners of each of the four groups progressed in to the top semi-finals. Through the group stages some great games took place as Chichester Sharks faced off against Team UA where the American team's speed was the decider.Team Voodoo (from Andover) brought the largest traveling support, and the vocal team went toe to toe with a young & impressive South Wales (2).

Some hard fought games throughout the morning led to first place grouping of:
South Wales (1)
Bournemouth Raiders
The Barbarians
Kirkcaldy Bulls

South Wales (1) took a lead against the favoured Barbarians in Semi Final One. However, they had to cling on with a goal line stand with only 30 seconds remaining in the match to book their place in the Beach Bowl Final.

Semi Final Two was a heated affair with pride and bragging rights at stake as well as a place in the final. The Scottish 2003 and 2004 flag football Champions Kirkcaldy Bulls faced off against the English 2002 and 2004 flag football Champions Bournemouth Raiders. An explosive start and turnovers saw Kirkcaldy demonstrate that they had not been affected by the long trip south as they secured the victory.

The Final started as the sun slipped over the horizon and the winter weather gripped the already cold Lordshill Gridiron. The Kirkcaldy Bulls continued their run of championship successes by stamped their authority on the South Wales Rebellion finishing the day with a 20-0 victory.Congratulations to The Kikcakdy Bulls.

Sundevils General Manager stated "The Sundevils were very happy to help accommodate the Bournemouth Raiders and the 5th Annual ESFL Beach Bowl tournament. And an impressive array of football was on display today."Hewitt continued "Its was great to meet up with teams and friends and I believe, with the help of some winter sunshine, everyone enjoyed the day."