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The Belfast Knights is an
American Football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
team and Ireland's longest running American Football club, formerly Carrickfergus Knights. Founded in 1993 by Eddie Kelly, the Knights have been National Champions 3 times, in 1997, 1998 and 2002 and have competed in 9 of the 15 championship games. Their current coaching structure consists of Adam Devenney as head coach, Spencer Mcdowel as
offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...
co-ordinator, Simon Devenney as defensive co-ordinator and Adam Devenney as special teams co-ordinator.


History


1994

In the Knights' inaugural season, they reached the All-Ireland Championship, but were narrowly beaten by the Dublin Tornadoes, 21–15.


1995

The team reached the All-Ireland Championship again and were beaten, once again, by the Dublin Tornadoes, this time more convincingly, by a final score of 44–12.


1996

The '96 team were destined to struggle from the start of the season with so many people leaving the team at the one time. However, despite this large setback, they reached the semi-finals and were defeated by the eventual champions, the Dublin Lightning 3 – 0 in double overtime.


1997

1997 saw founder, Eddie Kelly retire from running the team. His position was taken by Errol Maxwell. In the preseason games for 1997, it was clear that the team, with its new assignment of players were going to make a promising impact on the league that year. The Knights only lost one regular season game that year and they went on to win Shamrock Bowl XII by beating the Dublin Bulls 21–0.


1998

1998 saw the team unbeaten (two ties with the Dublin Tigers though!) and win the Shamrock Bowl for the second consecutive time by defeating the Tigers 22–14 at Carrickfergus Rugby Club on Sunday 30 August. The team made history in May by playing an American NCAA rated team (Maranatha Bible Baptist College) for the first time.


1999

The '99 team were defeated by the Dublin Tigers 22–6 in Shamrock Bowl XIV.


2001

With veteran linebacker Mark Harris installed as coach, the '01 Knights won the reformed league (now re-structured as the IAFL) with a record of 5–1. They contested Shamrock Bowl XV against the Dublin Rebels led by Brian Dennehy, but were beaten by the greater experience of the Rebel side. The Dublin Rebels won by a margin of 28–7.


2002

The Knights won the Shamrock Bowl for the third time in their history in 2002. After finishing runner's up in the league to the UL Vikings, they faced them again in Shamrock Bowl XVI, played at UL Sports Centre in Limerick. The Knights beat the severely weakened Vikings team by a record margin of 66–0.


2003

The '03 team qualified for Shamrock Bowl XVII as League Champions, where they matched up against the Dublin Rebels. The match was played at Old Suttonians Rugby Club in Dublin and the home team took the Championship with a 24–12 scoreline. 2003 also saw the Knights travel to Belgium for the Charleroi Cup, having qualified as the previous year's Shamrock Bowl winners. There, they finished in 3rd place, with the Dublin Rebels winning their second successive tournament.


Season By Season IAFL records

, - , colspan="6" align="center" , IAFL , - , 1994 , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ?? , , Runner-up – Shamrock Bowl IX , - , 1995 , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ?? , , Runner-up – Shamrock Bowl X , - , 1996 , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ?? , , ?? , - , 1997 , , ? , , ? , , ? , , IAFL League Champions, , Champions – Shamrock Bowl XII , - , 1998 , , 6 , , 0 , , 2 , , IAFL League Champions, , Champions – Shamrock Bowl XIII , - , 1999 , , ? , , ? , , ? , , ?? , , Runner-up – Shamrock Bowl XIV , - , 2000 , , 0 , , 0 , , 0 , , No League Play , , N/A , - , 2001 , , 5 , , 1 , , 0 , , IAFL League Champions, , Runner-up – Shamrock Bowl XV , - , 2002 , , 4 , , 2 , , 0 , , 2nd IAFL, , Champions – Shamrock Bowl XVI , - , 2003 , , 5 , , 1 , , 0 , , IAFL League Champions, , Runner-up – Shamrock Bowl XVII , - , 2004 , , 6 , , 1 , , 1 , , 2nd IAFL, , Runner-up – Shamrock Bowl XVIII , - , 2005 , , 5 , , 2 , , 1 , , 3rd IAFL, , Beaten Semi-finalists , - , 2006 , , 6 , , 2 , , 0 , , 2nd IAFL , , Beaten Semi-finalists , - , 2007 , , 3 , , 4 , , 1 , , 3rd IAFL North, , – , - , 2008 , , 3 , , 5 , , 0 , , 2nd IAFL North, , – , - , 2009 , , 6 , , 2 , , 0 , , 3rd IAFL, , Beaten Semi-finalists , - , 2010 , , 6 , , 2 , , 0 , , 3rd IAFL, , Beaten Semi-finalists , - , 2011 , , 6 , , 2 , , 0 , , 2nd IAFL, , Beaten Semi-finalists , - , 2012 , , 2 , , 6 , , 0 , , 3rd IAFL North, , Beaten Semi-finalists , - , 2013 , , 3 , , 4 , , 1 , , IAFL North SBC , , Beaten Quarter-Finalists , - , 2014 , , 3 , , 5 , , 0 , , IAFL North SBC , , Beaten Quarter-Finalists , - , 2015 , , 2 , , 6 , , 0 , , IAFL North SBC , , – , - , 2016 , , 5 , , 3 , , 0 , , IAFL North SBC , , Beaten Quarter-Finalists , - , 2017 , , 5 , , 3 , , 0 , , IAFL North SBC Champions , , Runner-up – Shamrock Bowl XXXI , - , Totals , , 81 , , 51 , , 6 , colspan="2",


Knights Individual Awards


Knights MVP


Knights Offensive Player of the Year


Knights Defensive Player of the Year


Special Teams Player of the Year


Knights Rookie of the Year


Knights Most Improved Player


External links


Official website

IAFL official website
{{IAFL American football teams in Northern Ireland Sports clubs in County Antrim 1993 establishments in Northern Ireland American football teams established in 1993