The Richmond Speed were one of the original 15 teams to join the inaugural 2000 AF2 season. They started off in the American Conference in 2000, before going over to the Northeast Division in 2001, then to the Atlantic Division from 2002–2003. In 2000, Richmond went 7-9 and missed the playoffs. 2001 was a banner year for the Speed. Going 13-3, they cruised through the playoffs and into the

ArenaCup The ArenaCup was the af2's championship game. For the league's first five years, it was held at the arena of the higher seeded team. However, the 2005 ArenaCup was the first to be played at a neutral site in Bossier City, Louisiana. The 2006 Ar ...

. Despite going into the game with high expectations, they lost to the defending champion

Quad City Steamwheelers The Quad City Steamwheelers were a professional arena football team. They were a charter member of the AF2 and played their home games at iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. The team was founded on September 1, 1999 when the Quad Cities was ...

. In 2002, the Speed proved that they were not a one-time wonder, and went to the playoffs again. This time, they were out by Week 1, thanks to the

Cape Fear Wildcats A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

. Back-to-back post-season losses was too much to handle, as in 2003, they went 6-10, last in the Atlantic Division. The Speed folded after the 2003 season, leaving Richmond without indoor football until the 2005 arrival of the AIFL

Richmond Bandits The Richmond Bandits were a professional indoor football team based in Richmond, Virginia. They were a charter member of the Atlantic Indoor Football League. In 2005, the Bandits defeated the Erie Freeze to win the AIFL's first-ever American Bo ...

Season-by-season

, - , 2000 , , 7 , , 9 , , 0 , , 5th AC , , --, , - , 2001 , , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 1st AC Northeast , , Won Round 1 (Richmond 67,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

60)
Won American Conference Championship (Richmond 51,

Tennessee Valley The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Car ...

50)
Lost ArenaCup II ( Quad City 55, Richmond 51) , - , 2002 , , 13 , , 3 , , 0 , , 2nd AC Atlantic , , Lost Week 1 ( Cape Fear 58, Richmond 47) , - , 2003 , , 6 , , 10 , , 0 , , 5th AC Atlantic , , -- , - !Totals , , 41 , , 26 , , 0 , colspan="2", (including AF2 playoffs)

Notable players

Shayne Graham Michael Shayne Graham (born December 9, 1977) is an American football coach and former placekicker. Graham played 15 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech. He made his professional debut in Ma ...

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

kicker who played in one game during the 2000 season.

References

External links

Richmond Speed on ArenaFan.com
{{Af2 Defunct Sports in Richmond, Virginia Defunct af2 teams American football teams established in 1999 American football teams disestablished in 2003 American football teams in Virginia 1999 establishments in Virginia 2003 disestablishments in Virginia