Sunderland Kings

Sunderland returned to the British Collegiate American Football League (BCAFL) in 2004-05 season after being out of competition for five seasons. The Kings have had a rough tenure in the league, with only one winning season and no playoff appearances in eight seasons. The Kings are now reorganized and set to compete in the BCAFL Northern Conference's exceedingly tough Eastern Division.

The team was known as the Sunderland Werewolves between 1992 and 1997. In its time the team went through a number of changes, including several change of team colours (Blue & White, Blue & Gold, and finally Black & Yellow).

At the end of the 1994 season saw the retirement of the teams' Head Coach and founder, Ian Wilton. Frank McParlin was appointed as head coach, he had years of game experience and new defensive strategies. He also brought along two other new coaches: Robert Lakeman & Keith Lakeman.

This new sport at Sunderland was still in its infancy and year after year recruitment of new players seemed an uphill struggle. After the strain on the clubs' finances, development, growth and even facilities became too much, a decision was made to pull out of BCAFL, hopefully to rectify some of the problems that had affected the team.

For a couple of years the situation hardly improved, until the coaching staff approached the University and asked if they could attend the 2000 fresher fayre themselves to rebuild the American football Team. This was granted and so the coaches set AbOUT planning a new team, with a new team name, colours and logo. A committee and team were set up and to work together with the coaches and try and rejoin BCAFL.

Scrimmages and games were played over the next couple of years against teams already in the league and senior league teams. In the 2003-2004 season, the Kings were re-entered into BCAFL. The team managed to play all their fixtures over the season, finishing 1-7.

The 2004-2005 season saw Sunderland gain their first sponsorship and with a burst of fresh energy they took the bull by the horns. They recorded their first winning start to a season in their history but a mediocre spell at Christmas saw the team enter the break with a less than expected table position. They finished the season 2-5-1 record.

After the season ended a few changes were made. After 13 years of faithful service Frank McParlin, Rob Lakeman and Keith Lakeman stepped down as coaches. A new Head Coach was appointed in the form of David Nimmins who has had a long football career ranging from college to international level.