History 2002
2002 saw the club split to form two teams, a 12s-14s Junior Flag team, and a 14s-16s Junior Kitted team. Ian Nicolson took on the role as Flag Head Coach, whereas Geoff Leigh took on the role as Kitted Head Coach. Paul Mather stayed with the club, now as Club Manager.
The teams expanded quite quickly with the kitted team growing to 13 players, and the flag team growing to 10 players, mostly through word of mouth.
2002 Cadet Flag
In April of 2002, two of the kitted team, Joe Eastham and Peter Simpson, approached Paul Mather as to whether they could start a cadet team up and coach them at Holy Cross. Six short weeks later, the ‘mini-Bucs’ had their first training session on 1st June 2002. Cadet football is for players from 7 to 11 year olds, and this was the first major venture for the Bucs at this age level. The team trained for one hour every Saturday morning for four months, with the Bucs also recruiting their first ever female player. In October 2002 the mini-Bucs entered their first ever tournament at Wirral Youth Bowl 2 against cadet teams from around the Wirral. The mini-Bucs won the tournament, going 4 games undefeated. The team only had 4 players, and so the game was played as 4-a-side. The 4 Bucs players, including Matthew Mattinson, Lawrence Quinn and Robbie Marshall, played 4 games both ways without a break but still managed to be the best team on the day.
2002 Cadet Flag Roster
Players
Dean Mattinson
Matthew Mattinson
Rachel Hull
James Hull
Lawrence Quinn
Anthony Brierly
Robbie Marshall
Coaches
Peter Simpson Head Coach
Joe Eastham Assistant Coach
Carla Mather Adult Supervisor
Paul Mather Club Manager
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2002 Junior Flag
The flag team enjoyed enormous success in 2002, with Ian Nicolson taking the team by storm, and competing at the highest level straight away. In May, the team entered its first full tournament and came close to beating then then British Champions the Leicester Eagles. In July of 2002, four of the team had trials for Great Britain Under 15s, with Dominik Gough representing GB in Barcelona in September, in the Euroflag Championships. In October the team won the Harmony Bowl Championship at Junior Flag level.
2002 Junior Flag Roster
Players
James Mather
Lewis Grady
Oliver Whaite
Dean Banks
Sam Dunn
Mike Stephens
Adam Taylor
Lee Grimwade
Dominik Gough
Coaches
Ian Nicolson Head Coach
Paul Mather Club Manager
2002 Junior Kitted
The kitted team started off playing flag to gain experience before donning helmets and shoulder pads in May to train as a fully kitted team. After months of training to get used to playing the game, the team narrowly lost to St. Peters Pumas in the Chorley Bucs first ever kitted game. In October the team had their first victory against Don Valley Vipers at the Harmony Bowl.
2002 Junior Kitted Roster
Players
Jamie Willets
David Mead
Richard English
Nik Haywood
Joe Eastham
Peter Simpson
Nicky Brierly
Shane Fern
Paul Roberts
Robert Finch
Nicholas Webster
Kevin Rushton
Adam Williams
Kurt Clemence
Coaches
Geoff Leigh Head Coach
Alex Dunn Assistant Coach
Paul Mather Club Manager
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