# Chester Romans

The Chester Romans are an American Football team based in Chester, Cheshire, England, who compete in the BAFA National Leagues NFC 1 South, the second level of British American football. The club operate from Cheshire County Sports Club and were formed in 1986, making them one of the oldest surviving teams in the UK. They are five-time Divisional champions and operate an affiliated youth team called the Flintshire Romans for ages from 8 to 19.

## History

The Romans were founded during the week of Super Bowl XX at the Handbridge College, and played their first game of full kitted football in September of that year, beating the Rotherham Redskins 38-25.
They spent their formative years in the Budweiser League, but did not achieve much success and in the late 1980s, moved to the British National Gridiron League, where they made their first play off appearance in 1989 and made them again in 1994.
In the 1995 and 1996 seasons, the Romans relocated to Wrexham, Wales, achieving mixed success. In 2001, they changed their to the Cheshire Romans, before reverting to the Chester Romans in 2002.
In 1999, The Chester Romans defeated the Tiger Bay Warriors at Saffron Lane to become Division II Champions.
In 2014, former NFL player and Sky Sports pundit Cecil Martin held a training session with the Romans. 2015 saw a league realignment, and the Romans were placed in the Division 1 NFC South division, where they lost their opening game to the Nottingham Caesars 28-23.
The Romans were placed in NFC2 for 2018 alongside the Halton Spartans, Morecambe Bay Storm, Carlisle Sentinels and Furness Phantoms. The opening game of the season saw the Romans greet geographical rivals, the Halton Spartans to the CCSC, with the Romans winning 30-0. This was followed by a 0-1 win via forfeit as the Carlisle Sentinels withdrew for safety reasons. The reverse fixture saw the Romans win 41-0. The Romans marched to a 77-0 victory at home to the Morecambe Bay Storm, and a 46-18 victory of the Furness Phantoms. The Romans visited the Select Security Stadium to play the much improved Spartans, which ended in a disappointing 6-6 tie. The final two games seen the Romans close out their regular season with a 0-44, and 12-30 victories of the Furness Phantoms and Morecambe Bay Storm, respectively. The successful regular season placed Chester as the #2 seed in the playoffs.
Chester began the post-season stage at home to the Lincolnshire Bombers, which ended in a dominant 47-6 victory. This, then saw the Romans greet the Staffordshire Surge. The Romans booked their place in the NFC 2 final with victory.

## Logos & Uniforms

Up until the end of 2018 the Romans played in a Red jersey. However with the start of the 2019 season they started to wear their new kit which is a White Jersey. They continue their main sponsorship partnership with Hickory's Smokehouse, Chester.

## Home field

The Cheshire County Sports Club is a multi-use sports facility in Chester. There are both grass and artificial turf pitches for use in a variety of sports. The facilities serve over 5000 visitors each year.

## Season Results

| Season | Division | Wins | Losses | Ties | Divisional Position | Playoff Run |
| 2016 | NFC 2 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 2nd | Semifinalists |
| 2017 | NFC 2 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 2nd | Quarterfinalists |
| 2018 | NFC 2 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 1st | Finalists |
| 2019 | NFC 1 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 5th |

## Roster [WIP]

| Offense Captains 73 Mike Thompson 81 Rory Mansfield Quarterbacks 10 Byron Ward 16 Richard Hakeman-Ellison 1 Spencer Burkhill Running backs 8 Nathan Jewkes 42 Alex Martin 18 Nadgy Khirat 11 Luke Campbell 12 Jack Oneill 30 Joe Lloyd-Jones Wide receivers 1 Jake Cooke 7 Alex Baldry 8 Nathan Jewkes 13 Benji Freese 14 Arron Powell 17 Steff Jones 34 Ash Wainwright 81 Rory Mansfield 82 Jamaine Bernard 86 Alan King 87 Yotam Berant 88 Tom Morley Offensive Lineman 64 Alex May 65 Joe Fraser-Taylor 66 Tom Payne 69 Jake McBride 70 Thomas Conlan 71 James Spencer 73 Mike Thompson 75 Alistair Hill 78 Fahd Jadoon 79 Rob Pugh | Defense Captains 50 Nigel Clarke 54 Matt Macaulay Defensive Lineman 11 Alex Williams 42 Jake Hamdy 53 Danny Cotton 60 Ryan Edwards 68 James Williams 74 Rhys Urbonas 90 Rob Tyler 93 Connor Curry 94 Ollie Elwood 95 Alex Lowry 98 Simon Mapletoft 99 Liam Shone Linebackers 3 Matt Hydman 4 James Hudson 19 Jonny Green 27 Oliver Jones 36 Jack Detlaff 37 Josh Collins 38 Tom Flame 40 Rhys Ellis 48 Milan Cabrnoch 50 Nigel Clarke 52 John Brady 54 Matt Macaulay 56 Matt Foulkes | Defensive backs 2 Seb Sansom 16 Harrison Holt-McHale 20 Lewis Coppack 21 Sam Moscrop 22 Tom Crawford 24 Samson Mclean 25 Stephen Macauley 26 Cai Danks 28 River Nuttall 29 Luca Guzzo 30 Cynan Anwy 31 Jacob Eckl 32 Andrew Jones 33 Gregg Baxter 85 Richy Ridley 43 Samson McLean |