Birmingham Lions Expect Crowd Of 3000+ For 'XpLosION' Vs Kingston Cougars

We look forward to one of the biggest events on the Britball calendar...

One of the hardest challenges British American football faces when trying to promote itself is the lack of a game day experience for fans. The Birmingham Lions are trying to address this with their annual ‘xpLosION’ showcase, which takes place this Saturday.

Held every year on the nearest home game to Guy Fawkes’ Night, xpLosION brings fireworks, cheerleaders and beer to a crowd of over 3000 on the University of Birmingham’s on-campus Bournbrook pitch, which is flanked by a steep grassy bank that simulates a tiered stand. With noisy students and locals packed in shoulder-to-shoulder on the hillside and along all four sides of the pitch, visiting teams are faced with an intimidating wall of fans unrivalled anywhere in the British game.

“It’s a sort of Friday Night Lights kind of feel, with about 3500 people around the pitch,” says fourth year defensive back Sam Jeater. “The atmosphere is fantastic, for me it doesn’t get any better for British football – you don’t see many crowds that size outside of Wembley even for the National Finals - and with everyone cheering for Birmingham, since it’s the university’s team, it’s really, really good. On Defence the noise is amazing. On offence they’re trying to get everyone quiet so they can get set, but on defence it’s great.”

The large crowd are hoping for an explosive game, and you wouldn’t look past this weekend’s opponents, the Kingston Cougars, to provide one. Birmingham may have won 47-0 over Imperial Immortals in their opening game, but the newly promoted Cougars started life in the Premier League by beating Hertfordshire Hurricanes, the championship runners-up, 26-13 on Saturday.

Great Britain student athlete Jeater said: “We don’t know much about them but we’re expecting a tough game. As the years roll by the division will get stronger and stronger as the cream rises to the top, and I think Kingston are going to be difficult.

“I’ve played with some of their guys at Great Britain and they’re tough athletes who are going to give us a tough game. We’re hoping to come out on top in front of our own fans – we haven’t lost at xpLosION in years, certainly not in my time, so we expect to win but we’re certainly not taking them lightly.”

“It’s a sort of Friday Night Lights kind of feel, with about 3500 people around the pitch” - Sam Jeater, Birmingham Lions

Michael, a second year Cougars player, said the team is looking forward to the challenge, and refuses to be intimidated by the environment.

“As a team, we try not to let things we can’t control affect us. The crowd that will be present on Saturday in Birmingham will certainly be above and beyond what we are used to, but we will do our best to focus on the game and our execution.

“The chance to line up against a team like Birmingham in their backyard and to experience an event like Xplosion is both exciting and daunting. It will be a giant test for this Kingston team and will definitely be a gauge to how we measure up with the great teams in university football.

“Regardless of who we are playing and what they have done in the past, if we make mistakes, we put our team in a bad position. Hertfordshire is a great program with great coaches and great players. It was a big challenge to compete with such a strong team for four quarters.

“We don’t concern ourselves with the score. We try to play the same way regardless of what the scoreboard says. The statement we made to anyone outside of our coaches and players does not concern us either. We understand, as a team, that we made a lot of mistakes Saturday and we need to work hard to correct those mistakes.

“All we aim to do is put our team in the best possible position to be successful. The score takes care of itself. Certainly we hope that the game we play Saturday doesn’t resemble Birmingham’s 47-0 victory [over Imperial Immortals in their first game], but we are focusing on the mistakes we made last week and doing our best to rectify them.”

xpLosION is the standout game day in the UK and a great showcase for university football, and this Saturday’s 4.30 kick off promises to be a match worthy of the hype.

Photos by Bec Edwards