London Olympians About Us Page

The London Olympians are more than just the most successful American Football Club in the UK of modern times, as part of the re-building year of 2008, the Olympians aim to bring the sport of American Football more accessible to the youth of South London. The club's future endeavours lie in it's heartland of SE26 and the surrounding areas. That is not to say the Olympians door is closed to others, the club welcomes all newcomers, athletes, veterans and those with ambitions of playing at a higher level. The club also aims to increase it's supporter base and become an integral part of the sporting community.

In 2009, the Olympians return to competition in the British American Football League, BAFL, in Division II. You are most welcome to join us for the journey. To show how serious these ambitions are, the Olympians have already implemented a programme since February 2008. These plans are for real, not just on paper and online. The team is based at the National Sports Centre, at Crystal Palace- come down and see for yourself.

In return for your commitment, you will get a great team spirit, a chance to play sport at a competitive level, a chance to prove something to yourself, as well as the rare opportunity of hearing some really bad jokes, seriously, the Olympians goal is return to it's heyday of 1997-2006. This time you will be at the heart of it, a new team, a new identity, but an old Olympian spirit, one that never dies....

The London Olympians.

Home grounds location - map

BAFA Structure

American Football in the UK

American football has been in the United Kingdom for 98 years, the first game was played in front of a 4,000 strong crowd between USS Georgia and USS Rhode Island, USS Georgia won 12-0. The beautiful game was played throughout WWII and after by American Servicemen and they continue to make up the core of Americans playing the game today.

The domestic game began in 1982 when Channel 4 began showing the NFL, young men in the audience decided they wanted to emulate their heroes and the first British team was born in Hyde Park one Sunday morning, The London Ravens. The first game played by two British teams took place in October 1983 between the London Ravens and Northwich Spartans; The Ravens won 48-0. In the summer of 1983 Wembley stadium was hired out for an exhibition game between Minnesota Vikings and St Louis Cardinals, 30,000 fans watched the game and this spectacular event became the annual American Bowl.

At this early stage of the sport in the UK several leagues were formed (British American Football Federation, American Football League United Kingdom, United Kingdom American Football Association), then in 1985 Budweiser recognised the potential of the UK market and announced that they would sponsor the top flight The British American Football League (BAFL), unfortunately BAFL was not to last long and collapsed in 1986, the remaining teams all joined UKAFA to produce one league of 102, this was split into 3 divisions (The National division, the Premier Division and Division One) This was how the structure of the sport stood until 1988 when Budweiser announced it was only going to sponsor the National Division, this forced the formation of 2 new leagues, The Combined Gridiron League, which consisted of mainly Budweiser Premier and Div1 teams and The British National Gridiron League.
1989 saw Budweiser pull out and Coca Cola replaced them in 1990 sponsoring what was now known as The National Division Management Association. The CGL folded leaving 2 leagues NDMA and BNGL. Lance Cone, Head Coach of The London Ravens started up BAFA (British American Football Association), this body was recognised by the NFL and still stands toady as the governing body for American football in The United Kingdom. 1990 also saw the NFL put up a cash package to aid in the training and coaching of kids and in 1991 start the World League, a professional league that played in Europe with 2 teams in the UK (London Monarchs and Scottish Claymores)

The 90’s saw a steady time for British American football with merger in ’93 of NDMA and BNGL to form The British Senior League which ran until 2005when it re-branded itself and became BAFL, British American Football league, and that is the league in which The Olympians play in today.

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