The Scunthorpe Alphas are 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 wit ...

club based in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an Industrial city, industrial town and unparished area in the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an es ...

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Bart ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

that competes in the BAFA National Leagues NFC 2 South. The club play their home games at

Quibell Park Stadium Quibell Park Stadium is a stadium in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, owned by North Lincolnshire Council, primarily used for athletics, cycling, and American football. The stadium consists of a velodrome, an athletics track, and a sports f ...

and were formed in late 2018 by a consortium of coaches and former players who had previously played together at other local sides. In formation the Alphas became the second American football team to represent Scunthorpe following the Steelers who folded in 1990. The Alphas were made full BAFA members in October 2020 and will play in Division Two for the 2022 season.

History

The Alphas were formed in 2018 by a consortium of coaches and former players who had previous links to the

Sheffield Giants The Sheffield Giants are an American football team based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, that competes in the BAFA National Leagues NFC 1 South, the second level of British American football. They operate from Sheffield Olympic Legacy ...

, Lincolnshire Bombers and

Doncaster Mustangs The Doncaster Mustangs are an American football based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England who compete in the BAFA National Leagues NFC 2 South, the third level of British American football. They play their games at Wheatley Hills Rugby U ...

, namely founding members Warwick Grosvenor, Alex Robson, Nick Tomaszewski, Mikey Gray and Iain Heron Stamp. The club had become the first team to represent Scunthorpe since the 'Scunthorpe Steelers' who folded in 1990. The Alphas added American

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Derek Yenerall, formerly of Premier League team Bristol Aztecs to their roster for their debut season and played their first game against Etone Jaguars (formerly Coventry Jets) on the 3 August 2019, losing 16–12 in Nuneaton. The Alphas brought American Football back to

for the first time in 19 years when they hosted the Northants Knights on 15 September 2019, in attendance was a crowd of over 400 people. In February 2020 in preparation for their second season, the Alphas appointed former

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a ...

player William Walker Jnr as their new Offensive Line coach. Walker had played under

Louis Oubre Louis Byron Oubre, III (born May 15, 1958) is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons during the 1980s. He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners and ear ...

at McDonogh High School and alongside future

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 ...

players Joe McKnight and Delvin Breaux. The Alphas were made full BAFA members in October 2020 and will play in Division Two for the 2021 season. BAFA representative Warren Smart commented ''"BAFA believes that General Manager (GM) Warwick Grosvenor, aided by Assistant GM Nick Tomaszewski and the Alphas management and coaching squad, has established a sustainable, dynamic and competitive club"''. The Alphas made their debut in part of the make-shift 2021 season, with BAFA announcing that the three-tier format would be suspended for one season and replaced by a localised division in order to minimize travel. Scunthorpe were placed in the BAFA Central East with the Nottingham Caesars, Lincolnshire Bombers, Northants Knights and South Lincs Lightning. The Alphas won their debut BAFANL game with a 10–3 victory over the Lincolnshire Bombers with Deivydas Merkelis scoring Scunthorpe's first ever League touchdown.

Youth Team

The Alphas introduced several levels of Youth team football in 2020 and in turn appointed former

Great Britain Lions The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...

youth coach Richard Scott as their new U19 Head Coach. The Alphas will also run a U16 team with coaches Ryan McEntee and Patrick Galvin on board to work under coach Scott. In 2022, Scunthorpe Alphas saw the selection of 2 members of the Scunthorpe Alphas selected to represent the Great Britain U17s Team in LT Dominic Norbron and WR Jay Robinson.

Stadium

The Alphas play their home games at

, the former home of the Steelers. Quibell Park is a purpose-built athletics and

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from tw ...

velodrome stadium that has an American football field in the centre. The Alphas also use the adjacent field for practice making the Quibell Park complex their home for both training and match day.

Coaching staff

Roster

Season records

Honours

* BAFA National Leagues : NFC 2 South Champions - 2022

References

External links

Scunthorpe Alphas Official Website
{{British American Football BAFA National League teams American football teams in England 2018 establishments in England American football teams established in 2018 Sport in Scunthorpe