Hertfordshire Cheetahs
| Founded | 1986 | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference titles | 1993, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||
| Website | http://www.watfordcheetahs.com | ||||||||||||||||
| Current uniform | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
The Watford Cheetahs (formerly the Chiltern Cheetahs) are an American football team competing in the Eastern Conference of British American Football League (BAFL) Division 2, with their home games played at Francis Combe School in Watford. The senior team was first formed in 1986 and entered senior competition the following year, making them the second longest continuously competing team in the United Kingdom behind only the Birmingham Bulls. During their history, the Cheetahs have reached the division playoff final on three occasions.
History
The Chiltern Cheetahs were formed in the summer of 1986 by a group of friends based in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. With some outside help, the team developed and they played their first friendly on 30 November 1986—a 0–9 defeat to the St Albans Kestrels played at the home of Chesham United football club in front of 1800 spectators.[1] A further three pre-season matches were played after the New Year; an 18–6 win against the F14 Tomcats, a 41–2 win against the Bristol Blackhawks, and a 34–9 win against the Chiltern Panthers.[2][1] After these pre-season successes, they entered league competition in the summer of 1987, competing in the Capital League's County Division. They finished with a record of seven wins and three defeats, narrowly missing out on the playoffs.[3]
The Cheetahs moved to the British National Gridiron League the following year, but were affected by the loss of their two American coaches.[1] Despite one team in their division being banned from competition and two teams pulling out before the season began, the Cheetahs struggled throughout and lost all six of their games.[4] They performed slightly better in 1989 despite losing more players, winning three out of their ten games.[1][5] The following season, the Cheetahs were moved to the Southern Conference of the BNGL's Premier Division, but they struggled once again, finishing bottom of the four-team group with just two wins out of ten.[6]
This resulted in the Cheetahs being relegated to Division One, where they were assigned to the East Midlands Conference. They moved home once again, playing their games at Newlands Park College in Chalfont St. Giles.[7] They began the season with two ties away from home, before narrowly losing their first home game against the Stratford Tempests due to alast minute field goal.[7] Two further defeats were followed by three successive victories, with the Cheetahs eventually finishing fourth in the group.[8] 1992 saw them winning six of their games, again narrowly missing out on a playoff spot.[9]
Their first real success came in 1993. After appointing a pair of new coaches, the team won all but one of their games to win the First Division South Central Conference, claiming their first ever conference title and qualifying for the playoffs.[10] They were drawn at home to the Weymouth Renegades, whom they beat 15–8 with their three running backs each getting over 100 yards.[7] In the quarter-final, they travelled to the Hereford Chargers—after conceding 22 points in the first quarter, they were unable to recover and ended up losing 15–22.[7]
The following year, the Cheetahs switched over to the newly formed British American Fotball Association (BAFA) league. They were assigned to the Division 3 Midlands Conference, which also contained the Cambridge Cats, Colchester Gladiators and Norwich Devils, with their home games against the Gladiators and Devils being their only two wins that season.[11] The following season also saw them struggle, with two of their three wins coming as the result of the London Mets forfeiting their games.[12]
1996 saw the Chiltern Cheetahs celebrating their tenth anniversary with a friendly match against the visiting Hamlen Dragons—the Cheetahs defeated their German opponents 60–0.[12] The team were moved to the newly-formed British Senior League, where they played in the Division 3 Midlands Conference. Although they finished the season with five wins and five defeats, they recorded a number of individual records—quarterback Rob Suttling became the first Cheetahs player to pass for more than 1000 yards in a season, and safety Jay Rayner recorded nine interceptions, the highest total in Division Three.[12] The following year was one of their most successful. After a good start followed by three consecutive defeats, a run of five wins saw the Cheetahs finishing second in their group and qualifying for the playoffs for only the second time in their history. An away win against the Leicester Huntsmen was followed by a 26–16 home win over the Yorkshire Rams in the semi-final, a result secured by two interception touchdowns.[12] The team then travelled to play the Division 2 playoff final at the Saffron Lane stadium in Leicester against the Bristol Aztecs, a team who had only conceded 32 points all season, with the Aztecs winning 6&ndash27.[13]
Compared with 1997, the next few seasons were unremarkable with the Cheetahs generally finishing in mid-table. It wasn't until 2004 that they again experienced success, when they finished top of Division 2 South East with ten wins out of ten. This meant they finished at top seeds in the entire division, and so were assured of home draws. A 30–6 win over the South Wales Warriors in the quarter-final was followed by a 34–6 semi-final win over the Sussex Thunder. This set up their second playoff final, this time played at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield in front of 1440 spectators. However, they were unable to finish the season with another win, losing 16–32 to the Doncaster Mustangs.[14]
Despite losing the final, the Cheetahs were promoted to Division 1A of the British American Football League. After winning their first match against the Southern Sundevils, they struggled at this higher level and only managed to win one more of their games, ultimately finishing third out of four teams in their group.[15] However, this was still enough to gain a wild-card slot in the playoffs and they made the most of this opportunity, defeating the Staffordshire Surge and the London Blitz to gain a place in the final for the second successive season. As with their first playoff final eight year before, they played the Bristol Aztecs and lost only by a single touchdown.[16]
They didn't recover from this and lost all ten games in the following season, only managing to score 32 points.[17] They were therefore relegated back to Division 2, where they played the 2007 season in the South East Conference at their new home in Watford. They continued to struggle, winning only two of their ten games.[18]
In 2008, the team were renamed the Watford Cheetahs and were reassigned to the Eastern Conference, where they finished with a record of two wins, seven defeats and one draw.
Senior team season records
| Season | Division | W | L | T | PF | PA | Final Position | Playoff Record | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Capital League, County division | 7 | 3 | 0 | 237 | 131 | 3 / 6 | – | – |
| 1988 | BNGL, County Division | 0 | 6 | 0 | 18 | 118 | 3 / 3 | – | – |
| 1989 | BNGL, Premier Division South A | 3 | 7 | 0 | 153 | 215 | 4 / 5 | – | – |
| 1990 | BNGL, Premier Division South | 2 | 8 | 0 | 76 | 193 | 4 / 4 | – | – |
| 1991 | BNGL, First Division East Midlands | 3 | 5 | 2 | 95 | 124 | 4 / 6 | – | – |
| 1992 | BNGL, First Division South Midlands | 6 | 4 | 0 | 114 | 139 | 3 / 5 | – | – |
| 1993 | BNGL, First Division South Central | 9 | 1 | 0 | 257 | 63 | 1 / 6 | Beat Weymouth Renegades 15–8 in wild-card match. Lost 15–22 to Hereford Chargers in quarter-final. |
Conference champions. |
| 1994 | BAFA, Division 3 Midlands | 2 | 8 | 0 | 105 | 194 | 5 / 6 | – | – |
| 1995 | BAFA, Division 3 South Central | 3 | 7 | 0 | 66 | 183 | 3 / 4 | – | – |
| 1996 | BSL, Division 3 Midlands | 5 | 5 | 0 | 244 | 141 | 4 / 6 | – | – |
| 1997 | BSL, Division 2 Midlands | 7 | 3 | 0 | 367 | 147 | 2 / 5 | Beat Leicester Huntsmen 27–14 in quarter-final. Beat Yorkshire Rams 26–16 in semi-final. Lost 6–27 to Bristol Aztecs in final. |
– |
| 1998 | BSL, Division 2 South West | 1 | 7 | 0 | 54 | 300 | 4 / 4 | – | – |
| 1999 | BSL, Division 2 Southern | 0 | 10 | 0 | 42 | 267 | 7 / 7 | – | – |
| 2000 | BSL, Division 2 South | 3 | 4 | 1 | 127 | 178 | 3 / 5 | – | – |
| 2001 | BSL, Division 2 South | 3 | 5 | 0 | 171 | 207 | 6 / 9 | – | – |
| 2002 | BSL, Division 2 South | 3 | 5 | 1 | 89 | 183 | 5 / 9 | – | – |
| 2003 | BSL, Division 2 South East | 5 | 5 | 0 | 148 | 253 | 4 / 8 | – | – |
| 2004 | BSL, Division 2 South East | 10 | 0 | 0 | 235 | 60 | 1 / 6 | Beat South Wales Warriors 30–6 in quarter-final. Beat Sussex Thunder 34–6 in semi-final. Lost 16–32 to Doncaster Mustangs in final. |
Promoted to Division 1A. |
| 2005 | BAFL, Division 1A South | 2 | 8 | 0 | 85 | 217 | 3 / 4 | Beat Staffordshire Surge 18–12 in wild-card match. Beat London Blitz 9–6 in semi-final. Lost 0–7 to Bristol Aztecs in final. |
– |
| 2006 | BAFL, Division 1A South | 0 | 10 | 0 | 32 | 301 | 4 / 4 | – | Relegated to Division 2. |
| 2007 | BAFL, Division 2 South East | 2 | 8 | 0 | 107 | 283 | 5 / 6 | – | – |
| 2008 | BAFL, Division 2 East | 2 | 7 | 1 | 94 | 305 | 4 / 5 | – | Team renamed Watford Cheetahs prior to start of season. |
Roster
| Watford Cheetahs 2008 roster | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Full Backs
Wide Receivers
Tight Ends
|
Offensive Linemen
Defensive Linemen
Defensive Ends
|
Defensive Backs
Linebackers
| ||||
References
- ^ a b c d "Chiltern Cheetahs: The Early Years". Watford Cheetahs. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
- ^ "1987 League Results" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-12-14. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "1987 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-11-26. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "1988 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-11-14. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "1989 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-08-31. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "1990 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ a b c d "Chiltern Cheetahs: Early 90s". Watford Cheetahs. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
- ^ "1991 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "1992 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-11-14. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "1993 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "1994 League Results" (XLS). Britball Now. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ a b c d "Chiltern Cheetahs: Late 90s". Watford Cheetahs. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
- ^ "1997 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "2004 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2005-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "2005 League Results" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-01-02. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "2005 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-01-02. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "2006 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2006-12-20. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
- ^ "2007 League Standings" (XLS). Britball Now. 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2008-05-22.