BAFA Timeout – Opening Day schedule

We are now less than two weeks away from the start of the British American Football season, and it promises to be one of the best yet.

Last year’s BritBowl XXVII champions the London Warriors will be looking to retain their crown and start their season in week two with a visit to the Sussex Thunder. They finish the season with a home match against their fierce rivals, London Blitz, in week fourteen.

The Colchester Gladiators, winners of the National League last year will be cutting their teeth alongside the country’s elite teams for the first time in well over a decade. They have to wait until week four to begin their 2014 campaign, with a trip to the South Wales Warriors.

This year there are 58 teams in the league with the addition of the London Hornets in the National South East Conference.

The National League has had a bit of a shake up and there are now five Conferences, with each team playing a ten game season.

More teams split into more Conferences will surely add up to more excitement.

The Premiership format is the same as last season with the 20 member teams split into two conferences of ten teams each.

Both divisions will play over a 17-week season which ends on 17th August, but the action kicks off on April 13th.

First scheduled fixtures for April 13th

PREMIER NORTH

Gateshead Senators v Doncaster Mustangs

PREMIER SOUTH

Berkshire Renegades v Cambridgeshire Cats

NATIONAL NORTH WEST

Staffordshire Surge v Chester Romans

NATIONAL MIDLANDS

Lincolnshire Bombers v Shropshire Revolution

NATIONAL NORTH

Dundee Hurricanes v Aberdeen Roughnecks
Clyde Valley Blackhawks v West Coast Trojans
Glasgow Tigers v Edinburgh Wolves

NATIONAL SOUTH EAST

Bury Saints v Essex Spartans

NATIONAL SOUTH WEST

Swindon Storm v Farnham Knights
Cornish Sharks v Gloucester Centurions

All fixtures are subject to change.