RB/LB

WR

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Hometown: Peterborough

Experience: 1 Year

#56

Hometown:

Experience:

#72

Hometown: Nottingham

Experience: Rookie

#85

Hometown: Bury St Edmunds

Experience: Rookie

#93

Hometown:

Experience:

#20

Hometown:

Experience: Rookie

#33

Hometown: Cambridge

Experience: Rookie

#1

Hometown: Bury St. Edmunds

Experience: 8 Years

Uni team: Swansea Titans

#69

Hometown: Huntingdon

Experience: 2 Years

#92

Hometown: Bury St. Edmunds

Experience: 2 Years

#9

Hometown:

Experience: 2 Years

Uni team: Bath Killer Bees

#7

Hometown:

Experience: 2 Years

Uni team: Anglia Ruskin Rhinos

#91

Hometown: Cambridge

Experience: 4 Years

Uni team: Anglia Ruskin Rhinos

#13

Hometown: Cambridge

Experience: 8 Years

Uni team:

#73

Hometown: Cambridge

Experience: 2 Years

Uni team: Anglia Ruskin Rhinos

#63

Hometown: Norwich

Experience: 3 Years

Uni team: UEA Pirates

How did you get in to football?

This is not only how, but I can tell you exactly when. The evening of January 15^th 1978, 11.15pm. I was a young lad still living at home doing what most young lads were doing in bed at that time… No, not that! I was listening to Radio Luxembourg 208 under the bedsheets! But whilst trying to tune in on my little radio I stumbled across AFRTS. What’s that? I’ll tell you. It’s the American Forces Radio and Television Service. And at the aforementioned time, Superbowl XII between the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos had just kicked off. My main experience of sporting broadcasts in those days was David Coleman and Jimmy Hill on Match of the Day, hardly exciting. But when this appeared! Wow! I was hooked, and I stayed up listening until the end of the game, not knowing the rules, or who the teams were. What transpired was that the team I found myself leaning towards during those 3 or 4 hours, the Dallas Cowboys, ended up winning and were crowned World Champions! This was the sport for me!

How did you start coaching?

As with most coaches I had a playing career before coaching. Quite a long one! The last few years of playing, because I had those games under my belt, I was helping to guide the rookies and younger players, and became a player/coach. Or that’s what I thought. Knowing what I know now, I wasn’t a coach, I was just someone who knew a lot about football and loved to pass it on. When playing days ended for me, I took to coaching position groups, all on offense, and for the only team I ever played for, the Norwich Devils. Sadly, after helping to form them back in 1984, the team folded in 2010. That’s when I took a year out to recover, reflect and rue the fact that another team didn’t exist within earshot of Norwich.

What’s the defining moment of your coaching career so far?

It was a day in 2012, after my time out, when I was approached by Nick Rockell, well known in Britball circles, and my ex-HC, and title winning HC at that. He asked if I wanted to help coach the students at his current HC job at the University of East Anglia. By this time I was ready to get back into it, and jumped at the chance. I listened, watched, learned, bugged him for information all the time, and eventually, I got it! He left the team after 3 years but he’d made me see what it took to be a proper coach. And as it was coaching young athletes and students I looked at it with an extra sense of responsibility. From then on I’ve been treading my own coaching path, trying to see how far I can get, how successful I can be, and how successful I can help others to be.

How do you approach coaching?

By following the examples of Coach Rockell mentioned above. Coaching is an opportunity to affect someone else’s life for the better, or if you aren’t careful, for the worst. I strive every day to ensure its the former.

What are the most important things to you in coaching?

I guess that’s my coaching philosophy:

1. I want to provide a meaningful and enjoyable experience to my athletes and coaches, to provide them with the opportunities for physical, social, emotional and mental enhancement that will lead each of them to become a good and productive person on and off the field. To instil a discipline and work ethic in them that will help them enhance their talents and life values through sport.
2. To give them the coaching and information they need to help them progressively improve from session to session. That would mean improvement as a player and as a person, in the hope that they one day will want to pass it forward.
3. I will ALWAYS coach players to play within the rules and regulations, and will expect them to treat all opponents and officials with the respect and moral behaviour that they would wish for themselves.
4. I will succeed or fail on decisions that I make myself, based on two things – my own personality, and the knowledge gained so far by learning from, and studying others.

Tell us about your best game as a player.

I don’t know how you would define ‘best’. I was blessed to have many game winning scores and performances under my belt, both as a QB and as a RB, but one game that stands out in my memory is an away game at the Carterton Wildcats. It turned out we were a better team altogether, and after 5 minutes of the 3^rd quarter, with us winning handsomely, our stats man informed me and my team mates and coaches that I’d just broken 300 yards rushing. Well it was a really hot sunny day, and the lure of a cold Budweiser and a juicy burger was too tempting, and we agreed I could call it a day and let someone else ‘have a go’. I watched the rest of the game, which we won, from the sidelines wearing shades, and a big hat, and with my bare feet loving the feel of the warm grass beneath them. On the trip home, a sheepish stats man came towards the back of the coach to inform us he’d made a mistake and that it was only 297 yards.

I hated that stats man.

What college or pro team do you support, and why?

America’s Team: The Dallas Cowboys, see above.

Which NFL coaches do you respect and why?

Respect them all really, lots of them have qualities I like, which are probably very similar to mine. I love coaches that push the boundaries or are innovative in their play calling, like Andy Reid, Jon Gruden or Sean Payton, but also the more studious and laid back guys like Don Shula, George Seifert and Bill Walsh from years gone by.

Favourite NFL player, past or present?

Deion Sanders, the best ever at his position, ‘nuff said!

Are you superstitious about football? How?

Not in the least. However, I have worked with several coaches who are, and they did all manner of weird and wonderful things “until we lose”. If it makes them happy, and doesn’t break any team rules, and doesn’t offend anyone, carry on.

As a player, I did things every game that I wouldn’t class as superstitious, more sensible. Ensuring my body, uniform and equipment was in prime condition, and I looked the part!

That’s pride!

What are your goals for the 2021 season?

I told the HC when I gladly took the job when offered it, that I want to build an offense that not only would get us promotion to the Premier, but that would help us first and foremost, compete, and eventually, be successful there. Whether that would mean winning a title remains to be seen, that’s a tough ask. But certainly, to establish the team in the top tier, to allow us to build on that for the future.

What are your goals in your coaching career?

To continue on my chosen path to be as successful as life will allow.

For the players, to instil in them a winning and ambitious culture, to enable them to be as good as they can be.

And for my fellow coaches, I would hope to be as big and as positive an influence on them, as my mentor was on me.

#64

Hometown: Huntingdon

Experience: 3 Years

Uni team: Anglia Ruskin Rhinos

#79

Hometown: Kelso, Scotland

Experience: 3 Years

Having been a player for 11 years on the Offensive Line at Centre Ben Abbott is no stranger to Britball, having started his playing days at Coventry Jets and Warwick Wolves University, Ben then lead the effort to co-found the Coventry University Jets who have since gone on to become a very competitive University team and is now honoured in their Hall Of Fame.

He then went on to play numerous seasons with the Peterborough Saxons, he has been to 4 Britbowl finals but only managed 4 runners up medals, since playing Ben has held coaching positions with the Saxons youth team DC, Northampton Uni OC, Coventry Uni OL and now the Cambridgeshire Cats Ass DC, Ben plans to use his extensive knowledge of offensive schemes and systems to assist the Cats defence in shutting down opponents.

I started playing American football way back in 1990 for the Newmarket Hornets as both a Defensive Tackle and Offensive Guard. After a couple of years the Hornets folded and I moved to the Cambridgeshire Cats. After breaking my arm playing in 1993 I returned for the 1994 season where the Cats won the National title in the British National Gridiron League division 3.
Following promotion to division 2 the Cats repeated the feat of the previous season and won the division 2 title. I continued to play for the Cats until 2005 when I moved to the East Midlands Saxons as a player and started my coaching career as the Offensive Line Assistant Coach.
After 2 years with the Saxons my very good friend and mentor Coach Bob Shaw decided to accept the Offensive Line coaching position with the newly formed Cornish Sharks based in Newquay! Bob persuaded me to play for the Sharks for the 2007 season and I clocked up thousands of miles playing in every game. At that time the Sharks became the first team to qualify for the playoffs in their first year in the league.
In 2008 I played for the Bedfordshire Blue Raiders and continued to develop my skills and knowledge as the Offensive Line Assistant Coach.
In 2009 I returned home to the Cats as the Offensive Line Coach and continued to play in that position. In 2011 had the privilege of becoming the Head Coach of the Cats. I had 3 seasons as H/C while continuing to play until injury forced me to retire in 2014 at the grand old age of 55! After taking some time out I have been the Offensive Line Coach for the last 2 years.
I stepped down as Head Coach of the Anglian Ruskin University team after 5 years with the team at the end of the 2017/18 season. I’ve been privileged to have played with and been coached by some of the best athletes in both the UK and America where I was fortunate enough to be selected to play in 3 Minor League Hall of Fame All-stars teams in Las Vegas, Miami and Dallas.
I’m still passionate about developing players to play on the Offensive Line, because without an effective Offensive Line you don’t have any offense and you won’t score. If the big guys don’t win their battles in the trenches then our Running Backs don’t have holes to run through and our QB doesn’t have the time to pass the ball.

#75

Hometown: London

Experience: 4 Years

Uni Team: Cambridge Pythons

#61

Hometown: Ipswich

Experience: 20 Years

Uni Team: APU Phantoms/ARU Rhinos

Hometown: Birmingham

Experience: 10 Years

Uni Team: Anglia Ruskin Rhinos

I started playing football in 2004 for University of Sunderland Kings/Spartans on both Defensive and Offensive Lines; playing predominantly on the DL over 4 seasons.

After a couple of years away from Football I was invited to join the Peterborough Saxons where I started my coaching career as the Defensive Line Coach under Mike Fears and Head Coach, Chris Wallis. In my second season I took over as Defensive Coordinator: a position I held for two seasons with the Saxons, including the 2012 season where the Saxons were undefeated through the regular season.

I moved up to Assistant Head Coach for the 2013 season before taking a year away from Football, returning in 2015 as the Special Teams Coordinator for the Peterborough Saxons, where I stayed until the team folded.

Joining the Cats in 2017 was a challenge and opportunity too great to pass up and I was honoured to be able to join such a storied and successful organisation. In 2022 I was asked to take up the role of Head Coach on an interim basis, a move that was made permanent at the end of a successful campaign that took the team to the Division 1 national final.