British Collegiate American Football League

The British Collegiate American Football League (BCAFL) was an American football league consisting of players from various colleges and universities in the United Kingdom.

In 2007 it was succeeded by the British Universities American Football League.

The league officially began in the 1985–1986 season with 4 teams, with founder members Newcastle Skolars, led by Mike Rea, and Hull University, and celebrated its 20th anniversary with 37 teams competing the 2005–2006 campaign. The final season was contested by 39 teams, with some teams consisting of players from more than one institution.

Throughout its existence, BCAFL was plagued by the fact that some of its teams played at a vastly higher skill level than others. During its final years the British Student American Football Association (BSAFA), who was responsible for the operations of BCAFL, made great strides towards competitive balance; increasing the skill level on the field and expanding the game throughout the UK. However, after extended public disagreements with the policies of the games governing body the British American football Association(BAFA), the BAFA dissolved the BSAFA with all the teams being forced to transfer to the new British university American Football League (BUAFL).

BCAFL largely followed the rules of American college football (though there were restrictions on the number of North American players allowed on the field at any one time). As opposed to the conference and "bowl game" set-up used in American college football BCAFL divided itself into two conferences and used a season-ending playoff system, similar to the NFL (however, it should be noted that below the Bowl Subdivision of Division I, the NCAA uses a season-ending playoff system to crown national champions). At the end of an 8-game regular season, 16 teams would advance to the playoffs (the playoffs expanded from 12 to 16 teams in the 2004–2005 season), with the 4 division champions and 4 "wild card" teams from each conference participating. The playoffs culminated with a championship game, called the "College Bowl" which features the champions of the Northern and Southern Conferences.

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