Alumni - Once a team member in Oxford, always part of the team!

Our history of American Football and Oxford University(ies) goes back to the late 1980's, and stretches on to the present day. Read a short version of that history below. More information on our Alumni activities will appear in the future.

History of the Oxford Combined Universities Cavaliers American Football Club

American football started at Oxford in 1988, and in the first two years the flag football team defeated Cambridge in the Varsity Bowl.

In 1990 Oxford became fully kitted, and they again defeated Cambridge, in the first fully kitted Varsity Bowl. The next year the Cavaliers joined BCAFL. That first year, they recorded an impressive 6-2 record, good for fourth place in the Southern Conference and a playoff position in the first round of the playoffs, they were defeated 28-0 by eventual College Bowl VI champion Southampton.

With the departure of Coach Jerry Jones and a number of quality players, the Cavaliers dropped to 2-6 in 1992-93, including losing for the first time in the Varsity Bowl. Led by new coach Greg Crease and halfback and BCAFL offensive player of the year Julian Horne, Oxford rebounded in1993-94, finishing with a 5-3 record.

After losing their first three games in 1994-95, the Cavaliers frequently playing with only 13 players -rebounded to finish 4-3-1, just missing the wild-card position for the playoffs.

The Cavaliers had one of the nation’s great passing attacks in 1995-96, as Ryan Millsap threw a dozen touchdown passes. However, that season and the next they could not generate the consistency to have a winning record.

The next two seasons the Cavaliers worked on finding the formula to turn the team around. While struggling to find wins, the Cavaliers were no pushovers under Head Coach Phil De Monte. Prior to the 98-99 season relentless recruitment enabled the Cavalier to gain the wildcard playoff spot behind running back Brian Myers and a tough wishbone offense. The Cavaliers were knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual College Bowl XIII winners Hertfordshire Hurricanes in a close but controversial game. A strong foundation was now laid and the ‘New’ Cavaliers program was off and running.

The 1999-2000 season saw the Cavaliers win the Central Division title for the first time in the teams history with a win over the Birmingham Lions, on the last day of the regular season. The playoffs saw the Cavaliers defeat the Bath KillerBees, overcoming an 11 point half time deficit, winning 46-38. The Southern Conference title was played against the Hertfordshire Hurricanes, and again the Hurricanes knocked the Cavaliers out of the playoffs.

The 2000-2001 season saw the Cavaliers drop the first regular season game to the Cardiff Cobras, but it was all Cavaliers for the rest of the season. The Cavaliers again won the Central Division, beat Birmingham and Hertfordshire in the playoffs, only to meet Loughborough in College Bowl XV. The Cavaliers came from behind in what many people call the best ever College Bowl ever played.

The 2001-2002 season saw the Cavaliers again win both the Central and the Southern Conference, only to lose to the Loughborough Aces in College Bowl XVI. After two straight visits to the College Bowl and major personnel changes, many expected the Cavaliers go through the inevitable rebuilding year during 2002-03. However Phil De Monte in what was thought would be his final season as HC of the Cavs, put together a team brimming in self-belief and went on to win the Central division for the fourth consecutive year, losing Birmingham in the playoffs. With the departure of the most outspoken coach in the league, it was never going to be an easy task for new HC Simon Dale to take over the reigns.

Coach Dale was a member of the College Bowl XV winning side and knew what it takes to make a football team in the gritty world of UK college football. The inevitable rebuilding year occurred with the young Cavs winning their opening game, but going on to play a host of strong teams, including eventual champs Hertfordshire and finishing 1-7 in 2003-04.

2004-05 brought new coaches and a return to the Cavaliers winning ways. OC Tim Watton revitalised the Oxford Offense and combined with the traditionally hard-hitting Defence and equally aggressive Special Teams, the Cavaliers recorded a 6-2 season ending with a wildcard playoff appearance. The season’s story was one of doing just enough to come out the right side of several epic games against Bath and Aberystwyth and a good way for Coach Dale to bow out at the end of the season as work moved him to pastures new.

Coach Marshall then picked up the reigns hoping to move the Cavaliers into a consistent winning force to be reckoned with in years to come, but problems off the pitch affected performances on the field and wins were elusive in league matches with a 2-6 record recorded in BCAFL games (though 2-0 against expansion teams in associate matches). 2006 saw Phil De Monte return to the Cavaliers from his adventures in Ireland and resume leadership of the Cavaliers and ended with a move to the British Universities American Football League in time for the 2007-08 season.

2007-08 saw the Cavaliers play with a potent passing game led by former Georgetown QB David Fajgenbaum using TE Stuart Lowe and WR Ducan Robertson. Dennis Cook and Drew Janes led the ground game. Richard Conroy and Dan Czasznicki led the Cav’s defense

2008-09 saw the Cavaliers go through a large rebuilding year as the team was lead by 7 veteran players. The Team went 1-7 with one touchdown difference losses to conference rivals such as Reading, Warwick, BNU and Plymouth. The Cavalier’s sported one of the BUAFL’s best defences last year with an outstanding rookie linebacker core led by veteran Richard Conroy and an experienced defensive line and secondary.

The final season for the Oxford Combined Universities Cavaliers came in 2009-10 when the last year of multi-institution eligibility was allowed by the league, who had mandated teams be split up after this season. The year started off strong with a signature hard-nosed defence lead by Head Coach De Monte supported by an aggressive and fast paced offense run by Asst. HC Marshall, taking a dominant win over league newcomers Worcester 35-0. But the challenges increased from there on out and a series of exciting and often close games (especially the shootout at UWE) culminated with Oxford closing the books with a losing record after a long and storied history

Under team rules, the club was disbanded, and a decision was made to retire the Cavaliers name and use it as the focus for a joint Alumni Association, supporting the two teams to rise from the ashes - the Oxford Brookes Panthers, and the Oxford University Lancers. OBU were able to retain most of the players and equipment and continued to play in the 2010-11 season and beyond in BUAFL, whilst the Lancers have begun work to rebuild with a planned return to league competition in 2012-13.

Assorted Video Histories...

Below are some videos of past Cavalier teams and activities. 

If you have any notes, records, photos, video, newspaper clippings, etc, related to the Cavaliers, please do contact the Lancers as we'd love to keep the memories alive for the 300+ past members.