By Twm Owen
The South Wales Warriors have learnt which teams they will face in their first campaign in seven years in British American Football’s basement division.
The Llanharan-based side will compete in the British American Football Association (BAFA) Southern Football Conference Divison Two West. Their opponents will be the Cornish Sharks, Torbay Trojans, Worcestershire Black Knights, the Jurassic Coast Raptors and debutants the Somerset Wyverns.
Warriors head coach Geraint Roberts said his side, who failed to register a single win in the middle tier in 2017 after opting for relegation from the Premiership, are now looking forward to getting to know some unfamiliar teams.
“Apart from the Cornish Sharks we haven’t faced any of the other teams in our new conference in a competitive match, and even then the last time we played them was in 2011.So it’s going to be a season of unknowns for us, but that just adds to the excitement,” said Roberts.
The Warriors hoped to rebuild and stabilise by stepping down from the premier division, where they had spent four seasons from 2013 to 2016, but despite proving themselves to be competitive opponents the Warriors were unable to win any of their 10-games and were doomed to relegation before the end of the season.
Their drop, from competing at the top of the British game to the bottom in two years, was only formally confirmed this week when BAFA released the line-up for its three-tier league of 68 teams across mainland Britain.
Fixtures haven’t yet been announced but the Warriors, who travelled to Bedfordshire, Sussex, Oxford and Southampton last season, could face long trips to Newquay to face the Sharks and Dorchester in Dorset to play the Jurassic Coast Raptors.
Promotion for the Bristol Apache has denied the Warriors a Severnside derby but local rivalry will come from only a little further down the M5 in Taunton.
The Somerset Wyverns are reviving the county’s tradition of American Football, and clashes with Welsh teams in years gone by, having worked for several years to establish themselves under BAFA’s associate programme for new teams to be awarded a national league place this season.
Division Two crowns a north and south champion. Three south conference champions, the three conference runners up and the two best third placed teams will qualify for the play-offs.
The Warriors have held open training session in Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea, Newport and this Sunday, February 4 at the International Sports Campus in Cardiff to attract new players.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to rebuild the club through development of locally based players,” said Roberts.
“We’ve had an excellent couple of open training sessions with large numbers of new players to the sport coming along to try the sport for the first time. The level of ability and enthusiasm has been very encouraging and we’re looking forward to progressing these players as we prepare for the new season.”