Bristol Packers

Last updated October 03, 2019

The Bristol Packers was a British American football team which existed during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the city of Bristol, England. They played the majority of their home games at Cribbs Causeway, the home of Clifton Rugby Football Club, and also played some home games at Whitchurch Sports Stadium, St Bernadette's Rugby Club and Keynsham Rugby Club. The team folded at the end of the 1991 season after failing to record a single win that year, and suffered the death of a player on the field.

Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km² (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island, and the ninth-largest island in the world. In 2011, Great Britain had a population of about 61 million people, making it the world's third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of Great Britain, and together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, form the British Isles archipelago.

American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.

Bristol is a city and county in South West England with a population of 463,400. The wider district has the 10th-largest population in England. The urban area population of 724,000 is the 8th-largest in the UK. The city borders North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, with the cities of Bath and Gloucester to the south-east and north-east, respectively. South Wales lies across the Severn estuary.

History

The team were formed after the Bristol Bombers folded in 1986. The team was owned and initialised by the late Mike Wilkinson. The Packers ended their first season in 1987 with a 10-0 record in the Budweiser League Division One South-Western Conference, taking the conference championship. Their first season was to be the highlight of the team's existence, and a rapid decline culminated in the team ending its fifth, and final, season without a single win. The Packers ended their brief existence after the 1991 season when the club folded. This final season was also marred by the death on the field of Fullback Ronnie Barnes during a game with the London Ravens. His shirt number, #33, has been retired by all American football teams in Bristol in his honour.^[1]

The team's overall record in league and playoff games was 26-27-1.

This period of the late 1980s and early 1990s was the peak of popularity of American football in the United Kingdom, and in Bristol in particular. Over this time a total of six teams played in Bristol,^[2] each competing with the others for spectators and players, making it difficult for any of the teams to thrive. The six teams were the Packers and Bombers, as well as the Bristol Pirates and Bristol Blackhawks which both folded in the early 90s. The Bristol Aztecs and Bristol Bullets have lasted into the 21st century, and are both still active, along with the formation of the Bristol Barracuda who entered the BUAFL in 2007-2008 season.

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea separates Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom's 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi) were home to an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.

The Bristol Pirates are a Minor League Baseball team in Bristol, Virginia, USA. They are a Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League. As of October 16, 2013, they are owned by the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Bristol Aztecs are a British American football team based in Bristol, England, at the Stoke Gifford Stadium of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, Bristol, which is also the base for a number of other sports teams such as Bristol City W.F.C..

There was a Bristol Packers club shop in the St Pauls area of Bristol, which sold club merchandise.

St Pauls is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, situated just north east of the city centre and west of the M32. It is bounded by the A38, the B4051, the A4032 and the A4044, although the traditional southern boundary before the M32 used to be the Frome. In the early 18th century it was laid out as one of Bristol's first suburbs.

Colours

The team played in green and gold uniforms, the same colours as their namesakes the Green Bay Packers.

The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, dating back to 1919, and is the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team based in the United States. Home games have been played at Lambeau Field since 1957.

League record

Season	Division	Record
1987	Budweiser League Division 1, South-Western Conference	10-0
1988	Budweiser League Premier Division, South-Western Conference	8-2
1989	Budweiser League South-Western Conference	2-8
1990	NDMA Southern Conference	4-6
1991	NDMA First Division, Southern Conference	0-9-1

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References

↑ "Hall of Fame". Bristol Bullets. Archived from the original on 22 August 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2007.
↑ "The Complete List of Britball Teams". Britball Now. Retrieved 4 January 2017.

"Bristol Packers". Britball Now. Archived from the original on 14 December 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2007.

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[1] "Hall of Fame". Bristol Bullets. Archived from the original on 22 August 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2007.

[2] "The Complete List of Britball Teams". Britball Now. Retrieved 4 January 2017.