The Birmingham Bulls are an American football team based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. They play their home games at Kings Norton RFC in Hopwood. They are a member of the NFC Division One South in the BAFA National Leagues.
The Bulls are one of the longer established American football teams playing in the United Kingdom, having been founded in 1983, and are one of the most successful teams in British American Football, winning 4 British titles and 19 conference championships.
The Bulls field a senior team in the BAFA National Leagues with Matthew Sheldon the Head Coach since 2018.
They also field a youth team in the Under 17 system, and in 2019 they announced a partnership with the Black Country Vipers to provide Under 19s football in the Birmingham-Black Country region.
History
Early years
Jerry Hartman, a former US military policeman and security guard for Howard Hughes with some College Football experience formed the team in a local park, and by April 1984, there was enough interest to begin a fully fledged adult team. They are named after the local landmark, The Bull Ring. and were financed by local businessman Dave Gill, who later became the Bulls' first chairman and would go on to become chairman of the British American Football Association.
On Friday 8 June, the Bulls played their first game against the Milton Keynes Bucks at the Alexander Stadium, losing 40–7. They later took residence in Salford Park, underneath the Gravelly Hill Interchange, and in later years, the club attempted to purchase the land from the local council.
In 1986, as members of the BAFL, under coach Warren Tate, the Bulls won their first national championship, and represented the UK in the inaugural Eurobowl, finishing third, losing to eventual runners-up, the Bologna Doves. In 1988, the Bulls won their second national championship, and first in the Budweiser League, beating the London Olympians at Loftus Road 30–6, and again qualifying for the Eurobowl. However, they once more lost to the eventual runners up, this time the Amsterdam Crusaders.
In 1989 off-season, the entire Bulls starting secondary was arrested on charges ranging from armed robbery to assault. Now owned by local businessman and Don Ho impersonator Frank Leadon, the team suffered internal strife with American lineman James Thornton regularly threatening to get himself deported, with Leadon himself leaving the club and returning multiple times. Businessman and father of nose tackle Andy Webb, Dave Webb took over ownership of the team part way through the season, with the Bulls' payroll the highest in the league.
the Bulls again made the Budweiser Bowl to challenge for the national championship, but just hours before the game, star quarterback and coach, Russ Jensen, left the team for financial reasons. The Bulls lost to the Manchester Spartans 21–14. In the same year, due to protests against Apartheid from the Bulls' supporters club, the team turned down the offer of a tour of South Africa, estimated at the time to be worth $100,000. It was in 1989 that former sportswriter for the Boston Herald, Michael Globetti, joined the Bulls and authored the book God Save The Quarterback!.
The nineties
Under the banner of the NDMA league, the Bulls took their third national championship in 1991, defeating the London Olympians 39–38 at the Alexander Stadium, with kicker Mark Webb scoring the winning field goal with just 17 seconds remaining. In 1992, the Bulls again faced Eurobowl disappointment, falling to the eventual winners, the Amsterdam Crusaders once more. The result of the loss was challenged by the Bulls due to player registration issues, but the appeal failed. This failed appeal was part of the reasoning given for the withdrawal of BAFA from the European governing body.
In 1995, the Bulls won their most recent national championship, defeating the London Olympians once more, in a 34–30 game. However, the Olympians got their revenge later in the year, knocking the Bulls out of the Eurobowl at the quarter-final stage, before going onto finish as runners-up. After a re-invention, the Bulls began life in Division 2 in 1996.
The Bulls reached the national championship again in 1999, but fell to the London Olympians in a close, defence-heavy 9–6 loss.
New millennium and recent years
The result of the 1999 Britbowl was repeated a year later in 2000, when the London Olympians again defeated the Bulls in the national championship game, 34–26.
There followed a down period in the Bulls history, marked by several play-off appearances, a lone conference championship in 2005, and emerging rivalries with the Coventry Jets and Tamworth Phoenix.