Birmingham Bandits represent the 2nd largest city in the UK after London. Their main rivals are the Sherwood Forest Outlaws in the Midlands. They have built a cross-divisional rivalry with the Scottish Claymores, having played them in the BFL Championship Game (2016-2018).
They play at the home of Aston Villa Football Club, who are nicknamed the Villans with a capacity of 42,573.
Birmingham hosted the 2019 Championship Game.
The team name is based on Aston Villa FC's name with their colours partly inspired by the Ohio State college football team and the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits who played from 1983-1985, with their logo is inspired by the USFL's Arizona/Oklahoma Outlaws who played from 1984-1985.
As this league began in 2015, the Tampa Bay Bandits (USFL) had not existed since the planned 1986 season and therefore they are not to be confused with the recently relaunched Tampa Bay Bandits and are inspired by the previous incarnation of this team.
As of 2020, the Bandits are the second most successful team, having made 4 consecutive appearances in the playoffs from 2015-2018 and winning the 2015 and 2016 Championship Games. However, 2020 was their first season back in the playoffs.
LOCATION
Birmingham, West Midlands, England | 2015-PRESENT |
AFFILIATIONS
SOUTH DIVISION | 2015-PRESENT |
BFL CHAMPIONSHIPS
2 | 2015,2016 |
BFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME APPEARANCES
# | SEASON | W/L | OPPONENT | SCORE | HOST CITY | VICTORY # | APP |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2015 | W | MANCHESTER DEMONS |
27-17 | LONDON | 1 | 1 |
2 | 2016 | W | SCOTTISH CLAYMORES |
31-20 | EDINBURGH | 2 | 2 |
3 | 2017 | L | SCOTTISH CLAYMORES |
23-9 | CARDIFF | - | 3 |
4 | 2018 | L | SCOTTISH CLAYMORES |
40-30 | MANCHESTER | - | 4 |
DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS
SOUTH | 4 | 2015,2016,2017,2018 |
DIVISION TITLES
SOUTH | 1 | 2015 |
PLAYOFFS APPEARANCES
SOUTH | 6 | 2015,2016,2017,2018,2020,2023 |
LOGOS
(2015-PRESENT) |
HELMETS
(2015-PRESENT) |
STADIUMS
VILLA PARK BIRMINGHAM (2015-) |