BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE OFFICIAL SITE

Sheffield Sabres

University football was founded in Sheffield in 1989, with the team starting life as the Pirates before quickly becoming the Sheffield Zulus.

1991-92 saw the Zulus record their first winning season at 5-3 including the club’s first win, 20-8 against Lancaster. The following year, the Zulus built on their success, losing to Leeds in round 1 of the playoffs.

The 96-97 season would mark a temporary end to football in Sheffield, as the Zulus had their worst season on record, an 0-6-2 unwinning season, and the team did not compete for three seasons in the BCAFL, from 1997-2000.

The Sheffield University American Football team was refounded by Damian Marshall in 2001, and rechristened the Sheffield Sabres, wearing the traditional Sheffield University colours of Navy and Gold.

The 2005-06 season, under the leadership of HC Jake Treen, and OC Al Wilson, saw the forming of Air Sheffield, a pass heavy, exciting brand of football. Using veteran Paul Musker, at quarterback, and an impressive receiver corps, the Sabres went on to score 222 points on their way to another 5-3 record, including a 62-0 win against Leicester Longhorns and a 66-16 win against Paisley Pyros, the biggest win, and most points scored in a game respectively.

The Sabres once again struggled in a playoff match, bowing out to Northern Conference Champions, UT Cougars, 46-12.

The Sabres have two retired numbers to date: Damian Marshall #6 (founder of the club), Jake Treen #28 (long time player and coach of the Sabres).

As Zulus, the club boasted the services of Rob Hart, barefoot kicker of the Scottish Claymores, who set a league record of 139 successful consecutive extra point attempts.

The Sheffield Sabres have made the playoffs 5 times in their history, but are still yet to win a playoff match. In 2006-07, they were North West Division Champions.

The University of Sheffield was founded in 1905 as one of the original six red-brick universities and currently has over 25000 students.

The Arts Tower, built in the 60s is the tallest building in Sheffield and has the world famous Paternoster to reach the top.

Sheffield was the Sunday Times University of the Year in 2001 and has consistently appeared as one of their top-30 institutions. Just three universities nationally have more than Sheffield''''''''s 30 top-rated subjects for teaching excellence and only five have a greater number than the 35 subject areas at Sheffield deemed to have conducted world-class research in the most recent ratings.

Notable alumni include Eddie Izzard (comedian), Carol Barnes (former newsreader), Sid Lowe (newspaper journalist), David Blunkett (politician), Richard Roberts (Nobel prize winning geneticist), Sir Hans Krebs (Nobel prize winning biochemist), David Davies (former FA Chief Executive), David Wetherall (footballer), Professor Noel Sharkey (Robot Wars analyst)