With the 2010 season just days away, take a look at our new player recruiting video. Those who were there that day, will recognise the footage from the last game of the 2009 season – a victory over the St. Albans Kings.

Sound ON, turn it up, maximise the video window and enjoy!

UPDATED:

Well done everyone that played day – it was a great way to end the season.

For those not there, Sharks beat Kings 60-12 in a very good natured game. Thanks to St. Albans for making the trip and being good opponents.

The regular season is now complete, and the Sharks finished with a 11-3 record. This leaves us either 2nd or 3rd in the table, subject to the Eagles/Rebels result next week. If we finish 2nd, the Sharks will be going to the playoffs.

Whilst we only played 1 league match on the day, we crammed a lot into that 40 minutes.

For a start, the Defense was awesome. The Kings completed 2 long passes to set up their only scores on the day, but other than that the Sharks D completely stifled the opposition. Full credit goes to the D, they controlled the game throughout, letting the Offense rack up the points.

And score we certainly did, notching up 9 TDs  on the day. What was notable about this game though, was that the 9 TD passes came from 3 passers – Neil Henderson, Martyn Emmens and Gary Robinson (me) – a first for the Sharks. (And I use the term ‘passer’ very loosely in my case!). Well done to Martyn, throwing 3 TDs and 0 picks in the quarter of a game after he replaced Neil.

Leading receiving on the day was Pete Steel with 3 TD/1XP, followed closely by myself and Simon Merton with 2 TDs apiece. Another notable first for the season was a TD catch from QB Neil Henderson – third time lucky for me throwing the ball in a game (though I still reckon the other two were TDs!).

Another amusing highlight from the game were the two interceptions that Bruno ‘stole’ from his teammates – the first stripping the ball from Josh on a pick and the second jumping in front of a shouting Dave. Good natured jesting followed – check the upcoming video for Dave’s expression! – but you have to love Bruno’s single minded focus on both plays.

The final player stats tables are now available.

Thanks to everyone that came to the BBQ afterwards, hope you enjoyed yourself. I’d like to do it again sometime, but I reckon I’d go for ‘real’ burgers next time!

This Sunday (23rd) the Chichester Sharks will host the St. Albans Kings and Kent Exiles in their final games of the 2009 BAFL Flag Regular Season.

The games will be played in Oaklands Park, Chichester, beside Chichester Festival Theatre. There will be changing facilities available.

View a map here

There will be three games for the Sharks on the day – two of which are against Kent to make up a previously postponed fixture.

The playing order is as follows:

Exiles at Sharks (Kings ref)
Kings at Sharks (Exiles ref)
Sharks at Exiles (Kings ref)
Kings at Exiles (Sharks ref)

Kickoff is at 11 a.m. sharp and all Sharks players are to arrive for set up and warm up at 10 a.m.

All three games are important to the Sharks – we need to win each of them and rely on the London Rebels to drop one of their remaining games, if Chichester are to make the playoffs.

(First off, apologies for lack of updating on the website recently: moving house and work have kept me very busy)

Last Sunday saw the Chichester Sharks travel to St. Albans to face the home town Kings and league new boys Hampshire Thrashers.

The Sharks, coming off a disappointing loss to the Eagles the previous fortnight, were eager to get back on track for their run at the playoffs. Reassuringly, the team were back on form as they notched up two very encouraging victories.

On a very warm, sunny day, the Sharks played their two matches back to back having refereed the Thrashers victory over the Kings in the first game.

In what became a pattern on the day, the Sharks and Thrashers were pretty even for the first half of the game. The turning point came when the Sharks showed their experience with a quick snap that caught the unsuspecting Thrashers off guard. With the Hampshire players discussing the next play in the middle of the field,  Sharks QB took the snap and fired the ball to an uncovered Scott Wilson, who took the ball the length of the pitch for the game breaking score.

From that point, Chichester were in control and the game ended 27-12 to the Sharks.

Chichester are unbeaten against the Kings, but a strong showing from a larger St. Albans squad in a pre-season friendly earlier this year gave the team good reason to be cautious going into the game.  That wariness was well founded as the Kings came out confident and aggressive, resulting in a 2 scores apiece tied ballgame at the half.

The Sharks looked the stronger team in that half however, as the Kings scores came from a short field and a couple of missed tackles. Those mistakes weren’t repeated in the 2nd half as Chichester dominated the rest of the game. The final score was 41-13.

Well done to all the Sharks players who traveled to St. Albans – it was a very impressive team effort, with everyone contributing. All three matches were played in good spirits, with our opponents making it an enjoyable and friendly day.

The results of those two matches take the Sharks to 3-1 and 2nd in the league table behind the 3-0 Leicester Eagles.

Season results so far:

Chichester Sharks 31 – 14 London Rebels

Chichester Sharks 13 – 42 Leicester Eagles

Chichester Sharks 27 – 12 Hampshire Thrashers

Chichester Sharks 41 – 13 Kings

Hopefully I’ll be able to update the player stats from these four games shortly.

Well done again everyone – please feel free to add comments about the matches.

Here is the first video from Devon – our victory over the St. Albans Kings.

Kings Part 1

Kings Part 2

I’d forgotten about Ric’s endzone dance…it’s something ‘special’.

And here is the film from the Devon game. Unfortunately, there is a bit where part of a drive is missing as the battery ran out. By the time a new battery was in, we’d scored – and it was my score that was missing!

Dogs Part 1

Dogs Part 2

There are many great plays in both videos – on O and D – so well worth taking a few minutes to watch.

I’ll be updating league tables shortly, plus compiling the leading scorers table.

There were touchdowns aplenty in Devon on Sunday, as the Sharks took on and defeated both the St. Albans Kings and the North Devon Dogs.

There were 222 points scored in just 3 matches with an average of 74 points a game – which is just incredible.

Well done to all the Sharks that went on Sunday, it was an awesome team effort, especially considering the heat. The final results were as follows:

Sharks 61 – 0 Kings

Dogs 100 – 6 Kings

Sharks 43 – 12 Dogs

Dayle had set us the target of two shut outs to aim for and whilst we didn’t quite achieve that we came very close – to concede 2 scores against the Dogs after watching them rack up 100 points against the Kings in the 2nd game, was an impressive feat.

Not to mince words, the Defense was outstanding on Sunday. Whilst its not so easy to attribute stats to D as it is to O, the 12 points in 2 games says it all. Whenever our D was on the field, it meant the opposition were frustrated. Even the Dogs potent O could not find its way through our pack with any consistency. Well done to all that took the field on D and credit to Dave and Dayle for their scheming and coaching.

Not that the Offense didn’t do their part, mind you. 104 points in 2 games is none too shabby! Neil threw 13 TDs on the day, to 7 different receivers. And we even had a rushing TD! (which was the Poppy play – gets the a Play of Day nomination from me – was a thing of beauty to watch – though I reckon I could have taken that in myself!)

Stats vs Kings: (TDs are receiving unless stated)

Neil 6 TD, 7 XP

Ben 2 TD receiving, 1 TD rushing, 2 XP

Pete 2 TD

Simon 1 TD

Gary 1 TD 2 XP

Sean 1 INT TD, 1 XP

Neil 2 INT (1 TD)

Tom 1 INT, 1 XP

Ricardo 1 XP

Stats vs Dogs: (TDs are receiving unless stated)

Neil 7 TD, 1 INT

Ben 3 TD, 2 XP

Pete 2 TD, 2 Sacks, 1 Safety

Gary 1 TD

Ricardo 1 TD, 1 XP, 1 INT

Sean 1 XP

Simon 1 XP

Dave 1 INT

Congratulations to both Ricardo and Simon for getting on the score sheets for the Sharks. Ricardo played some blinding, aggressive defense and also racked up a TD and 2 XP on the other side of the ball. Not so sure about the endzone dance though – looking forward to reviewing the game film on that one!

Simon, in his first action for the Sharks, proved his hands still have it, catching several key passes, along with a TD and an XP. Nice play guys.

Commiserations go to Tom, who got off to a great start against the Kings, but ended up damaging his fingers whilst batting away a ball. Tom unfortunately then missed the remainder of the games whilst being checked out at the local A&E. Hopefully, Tom will recover quickly and be back on the field soon.

I’m hoping to get the video sorted over the next few days, so please check back to watch that. I’ll also be writing a report up for the local paper. In the meantime, please feel free to add your own comments about Sunday below.

See you all Sunday