Established | 2014 |
---|---|
Based in | Newcastle |
Home stadium | Druid Park |
Head coach | Matt Long |
League | BAFA National Leagues |
Division | Division One NFC |
League titles | NFC II North - 2016 |
Current uniform | |
The Newcastle Vikings are an American Football team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. They were formed in 2014 and play their home games at Druid Park.
The Vikings were founded in 2014. They completed their associate period, playing games against the Yorkshire Rams, East Kilbride Pirates and fellow associate team, the Leeds Bobcats.
In the summer of 2014, they announced a partnership with the nearby Northumbria University's American Football team, the Mustangs, which saw a number of Viking coaches join the Mustang staff.
They were accepted into the league in 2015, and were placed in the newly formed BAFANL Division Two NFC North. The Vikings played divisional rivals the Glasgow Tigers in their first competitive match, coming away with a comprehensive 46-8 win.
Their logo is a stylised Norseman, inspired by that of their namesakes, the Minnesota Vikings.
The Vikings home jersey is primarily white with a black trim, and red numbers. Their away jersey is reversed, being primarily black with a white trim. Their game pants are black, and their socks are red. Their kits are currently manufactured by Nike.
The Vikings play their home games at Druid Park, known for being the home of Gosforth RFC. The multi-purpose stadium has a modern synthetic pitch, and a capacity of 2,500.
In 2014, the Vikings launched a schools programme which has attracted over 250 cadet level players, while five youth teams were either formed or joined the Vikings' satellite programme this year. The North Durham Knights, Darlington Steam, Cramlington Phoenix, Washington Predators and the Team Valley Cavaliers have all played at least one fixture internally and provided players for the Vikings BAFANL Youth team.