1992 – today
The History
How a group of students with no kit built a five-time national champion.
Chapter 1 · 1992–1994
In the Beginning
The University of Hertfordshire American Football Club began in November 1992. Matt Coppinger, a first-year student who had just won the BYAFA national youth championship with the Southend Sabres at Saffron Lane, Leicester, asked the Students’ Union about starting a team, and sabbatical officer Lester Bunn told him to collect signatures. Within three weeks 150 students had come to a meeting in the Communal Building, later the Music Centre.
Chapter 2 · 1994–1997
Developing a Team
For the first BCAFL season the club made Chris Cook, a former Warwick offensive lineman who had come across a training session by chance, its head coach, with Jez Brown as player-coach on defence. The league debut, at Surrey in the Southern Conference’s Eastern Division, ended 60–0, with Dan Bartram throwing an 81-yard touchdown pass to Colin Brown and Danny Croucher running for two scores. A week later, at a home ground missing a goalpost, John Funnell and Croucher scored on the ground and Bartram hit Colin Brown for a long touchdown as the Hurricanes beat Bath Killer Bees 18–6.
Chapter 3 · 1997–2000
The Three-peat
Newly elected chairman Asy Ho was influential in bringing Beau Riffenburgh to the club in 1997. The former Cambridge Pythons and GB Bulldogs head coach attracted Jim Messenger as defensive coordinator, Surjinder Johal to coach the running backs and Phil King the offensive line, while Matt Coppinger, who had helped bring Riffenburgh and Messenger to Hatfield, returned to coach the linebackers. The Hurricanes went 8–0 and conceded 8 points all regular season. Mark Zaki and Vincent Fremont both rushed for 1,000 yards, which the club records as a first in league history, and linebacker Mika Ahtinen, in his only season, was BCAFL Defensive Player of the Year.
Chapter 4 · 2000–2007
The Messenger Years
Many of the three-peat veterans had gone by 2000–01, but Jim Messenger’s team still won the Eastern Division at 6–1–1 and beat UEA 68–0 in the playoffs, Dean Mason scoring six touchdowns, before losing 14–6 to Oxford, the eventual champions. 2001–02 was a rebuilding year (4–3–1), with former linebacker Steve Dennis now defensive coordinator. Tony Groden played both ways and was voted BCAFL MVP, and Herts beat Birmingham and an unbeaten Surrey before losing the Southern Conference final 14–9 at Oxford.
Chapter 5 · 2007–2012
BUAFL Champions
In 2007 the BCAFL was replaced by the British Universities American Football League (BUAFL). That year the University awarded Jim Messenger an honorary Master of Science degree in recognition of his achievements with the Hurricanes and in developing the sport in the UK. His staff for the new league included defensive coordinator Simon Hatcher and three members of the 2004 title team, Adam Camp, Aston Ellington and Matt Meyer, who coached the receivers, running backs and offensive line.
Chapter 6 · 2012–today
The BUCS Era
In 2012–13, when American football became an official BUCS sport, the Hurricanes went 8–0 in South Eastern A and won their fourth straight conference title, their fifth in six years, sealing the top seed with a 35–0 win in which Ben Johnson, in his first season of football, broke an 80-yard touchdown run, Oleg Khimey had three sacks, Dom Gould forced and recovered a fumble for a touchdown, and veteran receiver Dom Husbands won his fourth conference title. They reached the national final again and lost 17–13 to Birmingham Lions in a weather-delayed game at the John Charles Centre, Leeds, on 20 April 2013.
Timeline
1992
In the Beginning1994
Developing a Team1997
The Three-peat1998
College Bowl XIIWon 16–7 v Leeds Celtics
1999
College Bowl XIIIWon 7–3 v Loughborough Aces
2000
The Messenger Years2000
College Bowl XIVWon 20–6 v Leicester Lemmings
2003
College Bowl XVIILost 17–22 v Stirling Clansmen
2004
College Bowl XVIIIWon 27–6 v Staffordshire Stallions
2007
BUAFL Champions2012
The BUCS Era2012
BUAFL National FinalWon 37–19 v Birmingham Lions
2013
BUCS National FinalLost 13–17 v Birmingham Lions
2015
BUCS National FinalLost 6–46 v Stirling Clansmen
2019
BUCS National FinalLost 13–57 v Leeds Beckett Carnegie