Dundee Hurricanes

The Dundee Hurricanes are an amateur American football team based in Dundee, Scotland. They are currently a non-league club, affiliated with the governing association BAFA.

Dundee Hurricanes
Established2002
Based inDundee
Home stadiumDundee North West Community Sports Club, Charlotte Street
Head coachRoss McPherson
LeagueBAFA - Non League
DivisionAssociate Club
League titlesNone
Division titlesBSL Scottish Division 2 winners 2004 & BAFL Division 2 North winners 2007
Current uniform
Home kit
Away kit

In late 2016, the Hurricanes pulled out of the BAFA leagues due to issues with low squad numbers. The Hurricanes are currently rebranding and rebuilding after an extensive overhaul of the club in 2017. The club is set to play several fixtures in 2018 with the ultimate aim being full membership of BAFA, and return to the national leagues.

Prior to 2017, since joining the league in 2003, the Hurricanes had qualified for the playoffs in four of their seasons and won two conference championships (2004 & 2007).

History

1980–2001

American football in Dundee dates back to the 1980s with the founding of the amateur team, the Dundee Whalers. Later a youth flag football team known as the Dundee Storm was created in 1992. They quickly progressed into 9-on-9 youth kitted football and met with great success, winning four consecutive 9-on-9 Scottish Youth Flag Football championships, 1 Scottish Youth Kitted Championship and reaching the semi-finals of the British Youth championship.[1]

2002–2003

Following these years of success many of the youth players became old enough to play senior football, and so the Dundee Hurricanes were formed in 2002. They immediately applied to enter the BAFL and were admitted into Division 2 North for the 2003 season. They met with initial success, recording consecutive shutouts in their first two matches against the Tees Valley Cougars and Edinburgh Wolves.[2] After that their form was less consistent but they still finished an impressive fourth out of eleven teams in their debut season, recording a 6–4 record.[3][4]

2004–2006

The club went on to build on that success during 2004, starting off in the best possible way by recording another shutout in their first match away to East Midland Saxons. They lost just twice during the regular season as they finished clear winners of the Scottish Conference. Their good form continued as they beat the Merseyside Nighthawks in their first playoff match, but they were eventually beaten in the semi-final by a single point by the eventual divisional champions Doncaster Mustangs. [5][6]

In contrast to the previous year, the 2005 season was an inconsistent one. The team began badly, losing their first three games, but that bad start was followed up by five consecutive wins. They eventually finished with a 5-5 record, which was good enough to clinch second place in the Scottish Conference and ensure they qualified for the playoffs again. Unfortunately, they failed to register any points in their quarter-final, going down 0–35 to the Coventry Jets.[7][8]

2006 was a fairly mediocre one for the Hurricanes as they finished with a 3–4 record. However, there were two positives that team were able to take – during their seven games, the team only conceded 38 points, and by virtue of there only being three teams in their conference, they finished second and therefore qualified for the playoffs again. Unfortunately, just as in the previous year they fell at the quarter-final stage again without scoring a single point, losing 0–6 to the Redditch Arrows.[9][10]

2007–2009

The Hurricanes finally enjoyed real success in the 2007 season. As part of the divisional reshuffled, the Scottish and Northern conferences were combined into a single six-team conference. After recording a number of heavy wins and finishing with nine wins and just a single defeat, they finished clear winners of their group and so gained a home draw in the playoffs. They made that home advantage count, first defeating East Midland Saxons in the quarter-finals, then thrashing the Manchester Titans in the semi-final to book a place at the divisional final against the Norwich Devils, a team who had gone through the entire season unbeaten and were strongly fancied to win. In a match played at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield and broadcast on Five, their opponents scored early and raced into a 20–0 lead at half-time. Despite a second half fightback, the Hurricanes were unable to overturn this deficit.[11] Even though they lost the final, they were still celebrating promotion for the first time in their history.[12][13]

2010–2012
Hurricanes tackle Yorkshire Rams in 2010

2013

2014

After 2013's disastrous season, the Hurricanes regrouped, rebuilt the team and opened the 2014 season with a win against Aberdeen Roughnecks.

DateHome TeamScoreScoreAway Team
13-Apr-2014Dundee Hurricanes4012Aberdeen Roughnecks
27-Apr-2014Dundee Hurricanes1219Glasgow Tigers
04-May-2014Clyde Valley Blackhawks5114Dundee Hurricanes
18-May-2014Dundee Hurricanes--West Coast Trojans
22-Jun-2014Glasgow Tigers--Dundee Hurricanes
29-Jun-2014Dundee Hurricanes--Edinburgh Wolves
19-Jul-2014Edinburgh Wolves--Dundee Hurricanes
27-Jul-2014Glasgow Tigers--Dundee Hurricanes
17-Aug-2014Aberdeen Roughnecks--Dundee Hurricanes

Season records
Season Division Wins Losses Ties PF PA Final Position Playoff Record Notes
2003 BAFL Division 2 North 6 4 0 258 128 4 / 11 – –
2004 BAFL Division 2 North 6 2 1 243 81 1 / 3 Beat Merseyside Nighthawks 71–0 in quarter-final.
Lost 12–13 to Doncaster Mustangs in semi-final.		 –
2005 BAFL Division 2 Scottish 5 5 0 152 178 2 / 4 Lost 0–35 to Coventry Jets in quarter-final. –
2006 BAFL Division 2 Scottish 3 4 0 170 38 2 / 3 Lost 0–6 to Redditch Arrows in quarter-final. –
2007 BAFL Division 2 North 9 1 0 296 117 1 / 6 Beat East Midland Saxons 14–8 in quarter-final.
Beat Manchester Titans 50–12 in semi-final.
Lost 12–26 to Norwich Devils in final.		 Promoted to Division 1 North
2008 BAFL Division 1 North 5 2 3 227 91 3 / 6 — —
2009 BAFL Division 1 North 2 6 1 133 209 5 / 7 — —
2010 - - - - - - - — —
2011 - - - - - - - — —
2012 BAFNL Division 2 North 6 4 0 180 124 3 / 6 — —
2013 BAFNL National North 0 10 0 105 381 6 / 6 — —
2014 BAFNL National North 1 8 1 133 349 5 / 6 — —

Ground

The Hurricanes play their home matches at Dundee Northwest Community Sports Club, located on Charlotte Street, Dundee.

Current roster
Dundee Hurricanes 2017 Roster
Quarterbacks
  • 13 Bruce Thomson

Running Backs

  • 5 Ben Jackson
  • 24 Liam Thomson
  • 38 James Grant

Wide Receivers

  • 1 Fraser Thomson
  • 7 Chris Taylor
  • 9 Stephen French
  • 17 Dale Murray
  • 19 Billy Mitchell
  • 23 Darren Lindsey
  • 82 Ross Marshall

Tight Ends

  • 84 Ally Kelly
  • 95 Kris Phillips
Offensive Linemen
  • 75 Jordan Harris
  • 71 Douglas Pearson
  • 68 Iman Sharif
  • 65 Stephen Tosh
  • 76 Kevin Walker

Defensive Linemen

  • 52 Conar Taylor C
  • 68 Joseph Colquhoun
  • 69 Fraser Revie
  • 74 John McKane C
Linebackers
  • 49 Adam Granger
  • 31 John White
  • 33 Gary Kell
  • 39 Nathan McGovern
  • 42 Mike Pytlowanyj
  • 44 Graham Thomson
  • 48 Aiden Barclay

Defensive Backs

  • 4 Andrew Henderson C
  • 11 Campbell Meikle
  • 15 Simon Corrie
  • 21 Robin Taylor
  • 28 Joseph Curran
  • 26 Daniel Beaton

Special Teams

  • 1-94
Coaching Staff
  • Head Coach Ross Macpherson
  • Offensive Coordinator Fraser Thomson
  • Defensive Coordinator Andrew Henderson
  • Assistant Coach Craig Denham
Sideline and ground Crew
  • Chris Thomson
  • Joan Thomson
  • David Walker
  • Stuart Nicoll

Documentary: Bend Don't Break

Bend Don't Break is a documentary being produced by Fife-based production company Buy The Ticket following the team through their 2014 season after their crushing whitewash season of 2013.[14]

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References
  1. "Dundee Hurricanes - About Us". Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 28 February 2008.
  2. "Wolves are blown away". Edinburgh Evening News. 19 May 2003. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  3. "BAFL 2003 Season" (XLS). Britball Now. 20 December 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  4. "BAFL 2003 League Standings". Britball Now. 20 December 2005. Archived from the original (XLS) on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  5. "BAFL 2004 Season" (XLS). Britball Now. 20 December 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  6. "BAFL 2004 League Standings". Britball Now. 20 December 2005. Archived from the original (XLS) on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  7. "BAFL 2005 Season". Britball Now. 2 January 2006. Archived from the original (XLS) on 10 February 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  8. "BAFL 2005 League Standings". Britball Now. 2 January 2006. Archived from the original (XLS) on 10 February 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  9. "BAFL 2006 Season Results" (XLS). Britball Now. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  10. "BAFL Leagues 2006" (XLS). Britball Now. 20 December 2006. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  11. "Bowl game glory for unbeaten Devils". Norfolk Eastern Daily Press. 24 September 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  12. "BAFL 2007 Season Results" (XLS). Britball Now. 17 November 2007. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  13. "BAFL Leagues 2007". Britball Now. 17 November 2007. Archived from the original (XLS) on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
  14. Brown, Craig. "Scottish American football flops to star in film", The Scotsman, Edinburgh, 6 May 2014. Retrieved on 6 May 2014.
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