2011 – Schedule

Date	Time	Home Team		Away Team
07 Aug 2011	02:30 PM	Sussex Thunder	45 - 0	East Kent Mavericks
31 Jul 2011	02:30 PM	Ipswich Cardinals	13 - 10	Sussex Thunder
24 Jul 2011	02:30 PM	Colchester Gladiators	12 - 25	Sussex Thunder
17 Jul 2011	02:30 PM	Hampshire Thrashers	14 - 40	Sussex Thunder
26 Jun 2011	02:30 PM	Sussex Thunder	20 - 13	Ipswich Cardinals
19 Jun 2011	02:30 PM	Sussex Thunder	14 - 19	London Olympians
05 Jun 2011	02:30 PM	Sussex Thunder	36 - 16	Colchester Gladiators
29 May 2011	02:30 PM	Sussex Thunder	38 - 34	Hampshire Thrashers
15 May 2011	12:00 PM	East Kent Mavericks	20 - 42	Sussex Thunder
24 Apr 2011	02:30 PM	London Olympians	22 - 19	Sussex Thunder

2011 – Final Standings

POS			P	W	T	L	F	A	PCT
1	London Olympians		10	10	0	0	330	74	1.000
2	Sussex Thunder		10	7	0	3	289	163	0.700
3	Ipswich Cardinals		10	6	1	3	242	172	0.650
4	Hampshire Thrashers		10	3	0	7	234	333	0.300
5	East Kent Mavericks		10	2	0	8	165	322	0.200
6	Colchester Gladiators		10	1	1	8	141	337	0.150

 

2010 – Schedule

DATE	DAY	KO	H/A	OPPONENT	VENUE	SCORE
May 9th	Sunday	2.30pm	A	Farnham KNIGHTS	Farnborough RFC	(HT 20-12)
May16th	Sunday	2.30pm	A	Bristol AZTECS	Filton College	(HT 27-2)
June 6th	Sunday	2.30pm	H	Farnham KNIGHTS	Thunder Stadium	(HT 7-0)
June 20th	Sunday	2.30pm	H	Bristol AZTECS	Thunder Stadium	(HT 0-17)
June 27th	Sunday	2.30pm	A	London BLITZ	Finsbury Park	(HT 41-0)
July 4th	Sunday	2.30pm	H	London BLITZ	Thunder Stadium	(HT 0-28)
July 18th	Sunday	2.30pm	A	London COBRAS	Boston Manor	(HT 7-0)
August 7th	Saturday	TBC	A	Coventry JETS	Butts Park Arena	(HT 35-0)
August 15th	Sunday	2.30pm	H	London COBRAS	Thunder Stadium	(HT 0-10)
August 28th	Saturday	7.00pm	H	Coventry JETS	Thunder Stadium	(HT 7-35)

2010 – Final Standings

1	London Blitz	10	10	0	0	400	86	1.000
2	Bristol Aztecs	10	7	0	3	263	167	0.700
3	Coventry Jets	10	5	0	5	293	201	0.500
4	London Cobras	10	5	0	5	161	129	0.500
5	Farnham Knights	10	3	0	7	134	281	0.300
6	Sussex Thunder	10	0	0	10	34	421	0.000

 

2009 – Season Overview

With their Bowl victory at the end of the previous season, the Thunder were promoted to the BAFL Premier Division for the first time. As in 2007, when promoted to Division 1, this was a big step up, but with no relegation guaranteed the Thunder could approach the season without any fear of losing their place in Britball’s elite.

The season opener was a visit to the Farnham Knights, with everyone forecasting a huge Knights victory, The Thunder put up a terrific performance before coming away on the wrong end of a 21-16 scoreline. Next up came a visit from the Champions elect London Blitz, yet again the Thunder performed well but could not produce a win, going down  34-0 in a game where the scoreline rather flattered the visitors.

Unfortunately this was to be the tale of the season. The season ended with a 0-8 record but with several very close games the consensus around the league was the Thunder had performed above all expectations and were considered unlucky not to have picked up at least one win during the season.

Jim Roberson had replaced Len Scott as Head Coach after game 1 of the season.

2008 – Season Overview

A new season saw changes, Len Scott had been brought in to replace Warren Smart as Head Coach. Eber Kington was the starting quarterback due to a serious shoulder injury to Paul Robinson in the last game of the previous season. Also the team’s strategy had changed, going from a “we can score more than you” attitude to a more conservative offence and tighter more disciplined defence.

The season began with a 10-0 win at old enemies the Oxford Saints, the next game saw the Thunder go down 6-7 at home to Kent. Four straight wins then saw the Thunder travel to the Sundevils for a big top of the table clash, which went right to the wire with the home side kicking a last second field goal to take the game 9-6.

Two more wins on the road against Norwich and the Exiles (Which put them out of the play-off race) set up a final day Conference decider against the Sundevils, both teams had already qualified for post-season action but the winners on the day would take both the Conference title and home-field advantage for the play-offs.

The Thunder started the game determined to take the win and soon went two scores up. The visitors did pull one back, but that was to be it as the Thunder’s defence, nicknamed “Thor’s Hammer“ dominated the rest of the game. A further touchdown by the Thunder left the game ending with a 20-7 triumph.

The semi-final brought a first ever visit to Sussex of the Yorkshire Rams. They had finished as runners-up in the northern conference to the Redditch Arrows. After a scoreless first quarter the Thunder took the lead when the Rams conceded a 2point safety in their own end-zone. The Thunder dominated the rest of the half and touchdowns from Pete Nameth and Eber Kington gave the Thunder a 16-3 half-time advantage. The second half swung one way then the other, with the Rams coming back, the Thunder restoring their two score lead, then the Rams coming back again. With the score 23-16 in favour of the Thunder, Chris Percival slotted home a 23 yard field goal to close out the scoring. The game ended 26-16 and the Thunder were on their way to their first final for a decade.

In the final, at the Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, the Thunder met the Redditch Arrows. It was a match-up of the Divisions #1 Offence (Redditch) and the #1 Defence (Thunder), so something had to give.

The Thunder made an impressive start, Dale Smart intercepted an Arrows pass on their first drive, from this the Thunder drove downfield and Phil Allman caught a touchdown from Eber Kington to open the scoring.

With both defences then shutting down the opposition, the game remained at 6-0 to the Thunder until mid-way through the third quarter when Redditch leveled the scores.

Neither team could break the deadlock and the game went to overtime. Both first and second periods of overtime were scoreless, then in the third, Kington found Adam Fishlock for the touchdown. If the Thunder could stop the Arrows on the next drive the title was their’s. They couldn’t, so the game went into a fourth overtime period and became the longest game in British American Football history.

This time Kington found Chris Lampey open and the running back powered into the end-zone to put the Thunder ahead once more. Yet again the Arrows dug deep and came back with the touchdown. They still needed to succeed with the 2 point conversion to tie the game up yet again. But as the pass headed towards a Redditch receiver Thunder safety James West batted the ball away to give the Thunder their first National Championship trophy in their history.

Quarterback Eber Kington also picked up the games MVP award.

The team dedicated its win to veteran lineman Kes Longhurst who had broken his leg earlier in the season and missed out on the big day.

2007 – Season Overview

The new season brought some good news, despite their loss in the semi-final the previous year, the team was promoted to Division 1 due to a re-alignment of the league. This would prove to be a stern test with games against teams of the caliber of the Farnham Knights, who had been national champions just 2 years previously and the Ipswich Cardinals, it also meant a re-match with the Saints and the renewal of our old rivalry with the Kent Exiles. The season did indeed turn into a bit of a struggle. Whilst showing they were capable of competing at the higher level, the club lacked that little bit extra needed to challenge for honors. They ended the season 2-1-7 with the only wins coming against Colchester and the Exiles.

2006- Season Overview

After missing out on the play-offs despite a 7-3 record in 2005. The club was looking forward to a big year, but things didn’t start as planned with an opening day loss away to the Norwich Devils.  This obviously had the right effect though, as the Thunder went unbeaten for the rest of the regular season, finishing with an 8-1-1 record. A 20-20 tie with the Essex Spartans being the only blemish.  The Thunder offence was dominating all opponents, three times putting over 50 points on the scoreboard.

Despite this record the Thunder finished the season as the #2 seed, this brought home advantage in the first round of the play-offs and a re-match with the Norwich Devils. There was to be no repeat of the team’s first meeting as the Thunder out-played the visitors to progress to the Semi-Finals with a 35-14 victory.

With a place in the national final at stake, next on the agenda was a trip to the Oxford Saints. The Saints had pipped the Thunder for the #1 spot by just half a game with a 9-1 record, so a tight encounter was on the cards. On the day it was just the opposite, everything that could go wrong for the Thunder went wrong, despite gaining more yards and having more time of possession  than their opponents, a mixture of crucial errors and bad luck led to the Saints taking the game 33-0. The Saints went on to lift the championship with a win over the West Coast Trojans from Scotland.