AMT GRIDIRON is a website administered by Alex Thomas and dedicated to my love of American Football since being introduced to the sport in 1988, and been a life long San Francisco 49ers fan ever since but you can learn more about how I got introduced to the game here.
The picture below is my Dad and I at the 2016 London Game at Wembley Stadium.
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LEAGUES |
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| COLLEGE FOOTBALL | ||
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| MY LEAGUE | ||
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| PRO LEAGUES | ||
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| FAVOURITE TEAMS |  |
toronto argonauts |
CFL |
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San Francisco 49ers |
NFL |
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Houston Roughnecks |
UFL |
| SEMI-PRO LEAGUE | ||
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GFL BOWL (FORMERLY GERMAN BOWL) |
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| DEFUNCT LEAGUES | ||
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ALLIANCE OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL |
2019 |
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NFL EUROPA WORLD LEAGUE OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL |
1995-2007 1991-1992 |
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UNITED FOOTBALL LEAGUE |
2009-2012 |
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UNITED STATES FOOTBALL LEAGUE |
2022-2023 |
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UNITED STATES FOOTBALL LEAGUE |
1983-1985 |
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XFL | 2023 |
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XFL | 2001 |
| WHEN LEGENDS RISE BY GODSMACK | ||
Both the USFL (2022) & XFL (2023) merged to form the United Football League for the 2024 season.
12 JUNE 2024 |
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2024 UFL CHAMPIONSHIP | |
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 BIRMINGHAM STALLIONS |
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 SAN ANTONIO BRAHMAS |
12 OCTOBER 2024 |
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2024 GFL BOWL | |
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 Potsdam Royals |
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 Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns |
17 NOVEMBER 2024 |
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111TH GREY CUP | |
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 Toronto Argonauts |
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 Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
22 DECEMBER 2024 |
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2024 BFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME | |
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 MAnchester demons |
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 LONDON MONARCHs |
20 JANUARY 2025 |
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2025 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP | |
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 8 Ohio State Buckeyes |
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 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish |
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ABOUT ME |
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The above photo is me at my very first game at the American Bowl '91 at Wembley Stadium.
I was born in South Shields in the north-east of England and raised in Cleadon Village not too far away. Of course, being from Geordie land (as it is known), football has always been the main topic of discussion and by football I mean soccer so there is no confusion. The home of my brother's favourite team Newcastle United ('Magpies') and my cousin's favourite team Sunderland AFC ('Black Cats').
Growing up, I was no good at sport and just never saw the point of it plus I was never given the push by the teachers to excel at it. At school, I would always hang out with my best friends Kevin Hayter as well as later also with Tony Mitchell. I remember playing cricket was one of our favourites because we would either play it at school itself where there was a club house where we would all hang out whilst waiting to bat or once we had played our innings. We would often just play as little as possible just so that we did not have to play cricket. I do remember day dreaming whilst waiting to catch the ball and suddenly a player had hit the ball and it just landed in my hand without even trying. Everybody could not believe that Alex Thomas had won the game and as much as I was happy about that, all I was worried about was my hand which really, really hurt.
During cross country, we would just walk the entire course and laugh at the others who had to impress in front of the teachers like a certain Bobby Newton. Maybe, I was put off sport because of all of the show offs. When we finally go close to the teachers, we would run as fast as we could and then as soon as we were far enough away we would return to walking. I think we must have been 12-13 years old maybe younger so roughly late 80s-early 90s.
Sometimes I did try and excel such as at rugby and I remember one time when I was given the ball and I ran pretty much the full length of the field and was ready to score when the coach told me to pass the ball and it just so happen it was the king of rugby who went on to score and get all the praise. Nothing was said about the fact I had assisted him. It just so happened that this boy played for the county so it was all about raising his profile so if I did not have to play rugby then we had to do cross country and ironically preferred that because we spent a lot of the time just hanging out.
The day I came home with muddy football boots and kit was the day my folks knew that I had played a game but honestly they were glad that I did not because it meant less washing and the worst thing in the world for me was cleaning muddy boots.
My main achievement was playing for Newlands School (now known as Newcastle School for Boys) rugby team against Chorister School in Durham. Secretly, I cannot remember why I was included but nonetheless I was happy because it was an achievement. We barely had any training, had no real idea what we were doing except to score tries and win the game. I remember just trying to prove I could tackle a player which I could but that did not help us win the game.
Final score: 78-0 to Chorister School.
The following day, I sat in assembly hoping to hear about the 'greatest game' ever played but it was scratched from memory except mine.
HOW I BECAME A FAN OF AMERICAN FOOTBALL
Now during all of this sporting fun, I got interested in American Football when it was really huge in the late 1980s, as my cousin introduced me to the game. It was in the 'glory' days when games were broadcast on Channel 4. My cousin wanted me to get into a sport and then southeasternretly follow his favourite soccer team Sunderland AFC. We used to go to Poundstretcher (a discount UK store) and buy packs and packs of these cardboard NFL shirts attached to a keyring and I think my Dad still has them in the loft and I had loads of them. Since then I have loved American Football for over 30 years.
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| CANDLESTICK PARK (SAN FRANCISCO, CA) |
OLYMPIC STADIUM (MONTREAL, PQ) |
SKYDOME (TORONTO, ON) |
In so doing, I have become a life long fan of the San Francisco 49ers and got the chance to not only visit San Francisco but also visit the 49ers former home of Candlestick Park. In 1997, I was lucky enough to visit Canada and my first exposure to Canadian football teams such as Montreal Alouettes' Olympic Stadium and the Toronto Argonauts' SkyDome, now play at BMO Field. Up to this point, I had not heard of the game but I am an avid follower of it now.
In 1991, I attended my very first game at the old Wembley Stadium called the American Bowl '91 between Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles. Buffalo Bills won 17-13 and I have supported them since. It was such a great day out and that was in the days when the tube did not even reach Wembley Stadium but thank goodness it is easier to get to games with much improved transport links.
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| WEMBLEY STADIUM (LONDON, ENGLAND) 1923-2000 |
WEMBLEY STADIUM (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2007- |
The following year I saw my first 49ers game at American Bowl '92 when they played Washington Redskins. That was another close affair and the 49ers won 17-15.
Since then I have attended the NFL International Series games at the new Wembley Stadium in 2007, 2008, 2013 and 2016.
PLAYING UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL
In 1999, I briefly played American Football for the University of Sunderland as a member of the WearWolves (Wear being the River Wear nearby. We played on a playing field up the road from the university campus, which was run down and seen better days. It was great fun and even had a player who had gone to a US university but never knew which team and never thought to ask.
However, I never got to play games against other universities and the team soon dispanded as a lot of players were going to be entering their 3rd year and would not be able to play due to exams and not enough players to field a team. Recruitment for players was always a struggle.
Sorry no photos!
I graduated with a 2:1 in BA (Hons) in Media Production (TV & Radio) in 2001, unfortunately I have not played American Football since but still love to follow the game as much as possible.
Note: The Wearwolves returned to play in the British Collegiate American Football League (BCAFL) for the 2004-2005 season as the Kings before changing to the Spartans in 2008-2009) in the British Universities American Football League (BUAFL).
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| MY BEDROOM - circa 2001 | NFL mugs |
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INTERCEPTION CARD GAME |
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This card game was released in 1989 by the NFL through Waddington Games in the UK. The purpose of the game was to be the first to lose all of their cards but to be aware of the 'Interception Card' which could be used to replace any of the other cards except for the '1st Down Card'. You start with a 1st Down followed by either a 20 or 40 then 10 or 50 and then Touchdown and Punt to complete the set of the 5 teams (Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers & Washington Redskins).
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ABOUT THIS WEBSITE |
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All pages will be updated as per each league's schedules, check the individual current 'Season' pages for further details.
Teams pages include all relevant details for the history of that team including previous leagues (if applicable) including Names, Affiliations, League titles and appearances, playoff history (Division/Conference Championships, Division titles and playoffs appearances); logos, helmets and stadiums histories (current name and not previous names).
Playoffs pages include all playoffs rounds for that league including current/previous playoff appearances and the Hall of Champions.
All league pages include Division/Conference Champions including individual team pages and records. However, both the College Football Playoff and GFL Bowl only include the final results and not individual information of teams involved in these competitions.
All seasons are included for all active and defunct leagues including the BFL which has its own individual season pages as this is a 'fantasy' league and so these results are not available anywhere else, all individual playoff rounds will also be updated once final scores have become available.
However, GFL Bowl only shows the German Football League champions.
BFL, despite being my own fantasy league still requires new ideas for expansion teams.
Each league site is made up of the below:
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COLUMN 1: Main site i.e. CFL
COLUMN 2: Team logo (if applicable)
COLUMN 3: sub site as a link i.e. Playoffs
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
In order to add a new league to a website, I will need to be able to keep it up to date with the latest helmets and has an actively updated social media and website presence in order to fully support the league.
The helmet template can be found below and will need to be updated to include the following:
- Team logo
- Helmet colours including stripe (if applicable), helmet shell and facemask
N.B. only helmet details are required and not the overall uniform. If you can help with editing and providing these details, then please email then please send me an email via the link below and include '[LEAGUE NAME] Details of enquiry'.
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DISCLAIMER |
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AMT GRIDIRON ('We') began in 2002 as Mathos Football UK and various names under the 'Mathos' moniker until being permanently dropped in 2022.
We do not own any of the team, league or event logos depicted within this site, therefore we do not have the power to grant usage rights to anyone big or small and that you will need to contact these directly in order to obtain such usage rights. All team and league information, sports logos and names contained within this site are properties of their respective leagues, teams, ownership groups and/or organizations. If you would like to use any of the research from this site, please properly credit this site and provide a link back.
BRITISH FOOTBALL LEAGUE is a fantasy football league that uses teams and their subsequent logos to depict its teams and as such does not own the usage rights to these teams as they are only being used for entertainment purposes only and please do not contact this website to grant usage of these teams. The team histories date back to 2015 and are not linked to current/defunct leagues and/or teams.
New leagues will be added to this website on a sporadic basis where the information to keep the league(s) updated is readily available including new helmets and playoff results. However, I do not have the time to add every single historic league, due to the time taken to fully research and reference all available information.
I would like to thank The Helmet Project for giving me the inspiration to create the site and its continued updating of new helmets. However, I will only add new helmets and not the many alternative helmets.
If you have any suggestions for the website or would like to help edit this website or even submit your own content to be promoted via this website and its social media groups, then please send me an email found at the bottom of this page.
AMT STUD!OS is the administrator for this website, and further information on its projects can be found by clicking on their logo below.