How We Were Formed

It all started in 1991 when Pat Megginson started a two touch team called the East Midland Renegades. In 1992 the name changed to the Haven Renegades as the River Haven was next to our pitch. We played the North Notts. Wildcats (now Doncaster) and lost 26-0. We played two games in 1993; we again played the Doncaster Wildcats beating them 6-0. We travelled north to play the St Joseph Cardinals and beat them 32-2. 1994 saw us play in the first ever flag football game against a much stronger St. Joseph's team and lost 52-12. We played Doncaster twice and again we lost 38-6 and 12-0. 1995 saw a new era of the team. We changed our name to UCLA so we could make our Peterborough players feel at home. It stands for the Union of Cambrigeshire and Lincolnshire Areas. Our first game of the new era was against the 3rd place youth team the London Olympians and we won 18-6. We played the national champions the Doncaster Wildcats and lost narrowly 20-18. We walked over Newark and Birmingham scoring more than 28 points each time. New Rookies stole the headlines this year with Mark Barley leading the Rushing charge, Craig Mansfield proved a solid tightend and Rufus Grooby played a vital part in the country's best defense.1996 saw our first year in a Youth League with Mark Barley stepping in for the under-aged Simon Bamford at quarterback and was outstanding. Chris Henry was having a fantastic year at wideout and running back. He even stepped in to throw five touchdowns against Peterborough. Adam Regan took over Chris' receiving roll late in the season producing 110 yards against Steel City with a 72-yard score in which the Renegades won 56-26 and Simon Bamford had 256 yards passing. The Renegades finished 3-5 on the season ahead of the local Peterborough Centurions.1997 started well when they beat Steel City 50-0 behind a great rushing performance from Mark Barley and another 273 yard display from Simon Bamford. UCLA's performances up until the Peterborough game were very inconsistent. The Peterborough Centurions were hunted down by a very strong UCLA team 18-14. We won both games over Fen and Ipswich to finish 5-1. We will now be in the play-offs for the first time at Youth level where we are expecting to beat the Doncaster Wildcats. Unfortunately we lost 12-2, but as a young side we will be back next year. 1998 Proved the most successful year in club history. We started the season with a strong 68-6 win over the newly formed Milton Keynes Pathfinders. We opened our season with a strong victory over Fen (Cambridge). After two further victories against Steel City and the Hull Rockets conceding, the next game was against the defending national champions the Brighton B-52s. Down 20-6 at half time, the Renegades fought back hard to clinch a 34-20 victory. We won our next game 46-0 against the Hull Rockets and we eventually lost both of our games to the Doncaster Wildcats. This meant that we had to travel to Brighton for a chance to play in the finals. We were leading 20-6 when Brighton fought back hard to tie the game at 20-20. Into OVERTIME, Brighton got the ball first and went down to our 1-yard line where Jim Blach stopped them on a fourth and goal. This meant that we had to go the length of the field to win. This we did !!!!!!! A 1-yard sneak gave us a 26-20 victory in overtime. This could well be the best youth game ever!

The 1999 season has turned into a perfect season so far for the Renegades. We have many new but experienced players and the old ones want another shot at the finals. Our season began well with a friendly victory against the Steel City Warriors. The next challenge was a tough away game at Brighton. Brighton were as good as ever but somehow, UCLA managed to scrape a 19-12 victory. Our next game was a trip to Sheffield to play Steel City. Our main aim was to not concede any points. We won the game 28-0. The Hull Rockets were forced to concede, as they were unable to travel to us. We faced a tough Fen side the following week and we only had 13 players of which 8 were fit. We took an 18-0 lead thanks to Adam Regan who scored on two reverses and an option pass. With nearly every player playing out of position we were stretched to the limits and held on for a 18-16 win. Steel City then faced a full strength Renegades side and we took a 48-0 half time lead. This gave us the chance to introduce the rookies into the game and we won a convincing 60-0. A trip to Hull was left us to complete the regular season, when we got to Hull we found out that it was covered in 3 inches of sewage water but that was no problem for us. We stuck to our game plan and it paid off with a 62-0 victory thanks to a hat-trick from Adam Regan and a 4-touchdown display by rookie Gordon Muddiman.

We now face a tough Fen side in the playoffs…………