BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AMERICAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE OFFICIAL SITE

Southampton Stags

Formed in 1988 the Stags have been consistent contenders in the Southern Conference since their inaugural BCAFL season in 1989-90.

Southampton won two BCAFL titles early in their history (winning College Bowls VI & VII) and have had success of late, making the playoffs in each of the past seven seasons (with three division titles).

In 2006, the Stags finally returned to the College Bowl, defeating the UT Cougars 79-8. The final score broke Southampton’s own record for largest margin of victory in a College Bowl (71 points, breaking the previous record of 53 points, posted in the Stags 53-0 victory over Glasgow in College Bowl VI).

Following the College Bowl victory, the Stags played its first International game, traveling to Éire to defeat the Irish National Team 33-0.

2007 was a season of change for the Stags; gaining a new rubber-crumb homefield facility but losing almost the entire defence and the starting Great Britain quarterback to graduation. The rebuilding proved strong and despite having 80% rookies, the team posted an undefeated 7-0-1 regular season. In the playoffs the Stags edged out the Hertfordshire Hurricanes in the dying seconds of the first round. The following week the Stags could not repeat the feat as they lost to the Birmingham Lions 13-7 in the conference semi-finals.

In 2008, the Stags retained a large number of the previous years team and recruited heavily. They posted another undefeated regular season, winning all their games to go 8-0-0. In the playoffs the Stags remained undefeated and went all the way to the final, defeating the Staffordshire Stallions 54-20 to claim their 4th national title.

The University of Southampton has its origin as the Hartley Institution which was formed in 1862 from a benefaction by Henry Robertson Hartley (1777–1850).

Hartley was the son of a local wine merchant.[11] On his death he left £103,000 to the Southampton Corporation on condition that it was invested in such manner ‘as might best promote the study and advancement of the sciences of Natural History, Astronomy, Antiquities, Classical and Oriental Literature in the town, such as by forming a Public Library, Botanic Gardens, Observatory, and collections of objects with the above sciences’.

The university is a member of the Russell Group and of the Worldwide Universities Network.

In the most recent RAE assessment (2001), it has the only engineering faculty in the country to receive the highest rating (5*) across all disciplines.

According to The Times Higher Education Supplement, the University has the second largest research income among British universities for the physical sciences and mathematics, and the third largest research income for engineering and technology. The University places great emphasis on inter-disciplinary cooperation and on collaboration with industry. This is most evident in the University’s Business division.

Athletes for the Stags are also drawn from Southampton Solent University.

Southampton Solent University is a university of 17,000 students. Its main campus is located on East Park Terrace near the city centre. It is a centre of applied research in design and advanced technology, maritime, fine art, history of collecting, film, media and cultural studies, political and international studies, law and a broad range of business disciplines.

The university strives to work with local business and professional bodies (for example the British Computer Society and the PTC) to keep the qualifications it provides relevant and immediately useful upon graduation. The university has strong maritime courses and the student yachting team are previous world champions, finishing in 4th place in 2007.