_Gateshead Senators are pleased to announce their partnership with Monkton Stadium for the 2012 season. The Senators will play and train at Monkton Stadium commencing early January in preparation for the 2012 Season which begins in April .Club Secretary David Wilson commented "We are delighted to have secured Monkton Stadium as our home ground we would like to thank Gateshead Stadium for their support over the last 20 years however we feel the move to Monkton will allow us to create more of a game day experience for our fans that will include amongst other things covered seating, merchandise stands and a game day BBQ . We are also hopeful that we can unearth some new talent in the South Tyneside area we are constantly looking for new players coaches and helpers for both our Junior (15+) and Senior teams anyone interested in joining the organisation can come along to training every Sunday at Monkton Stadium from 1100 until 1400 or for more information email david.wilson@gateshead-senators.co.uk

Over 80 players turned out Sunday at Gateshead Stadium for the final Rookie day of 2012 Coach Marshall commented " we are delighted at the number of Rookies who have taken the time to come along to the tryout , we will now look to evaluate the players further over the coming weeks and integrate them into practice with the returning players starting next weekend"

Gateshead Senators are looking for new members to join our organisation for the 2012 season to fill the following positions;

• Coaches ( experienced preferred but not essential)
• Gameday Staff to include Ball Boy, Water Boy,Chain Crew and Statistician (Match day fee will be paid)
• Video Staff (Match day fee will be paid)

The position of Video Staff may suit a student looking to gain experience in this field. All video equipment will be provided however experience of video editing software would be an advantage.

To learn more about joining the Senators for the 2012 season contact Coach Wilson at david.wilson@gateshead-senators.co.uk

This weekend saw the National Leagues end of season AGM, with it came the announcement of the restructure of the BAFL National Leagues for the 2012 season.
Gateshead will again line up in Division 1 North but will face some new opponents this coming year, Last season's basement club Manchester have dropped into Division 2, In addition the Trio of East Kilbride Pirates, Yorkshire Rams and Doncaster Mustangs will form part of an extended Premier Division in 2012.
The New look Division 1 North will again feature clashes against the Merseyside Nighthawks whom the Senators defeated on the road, but lost a close thriller at the International Stadium to close out the 2011 season.
The West Coast Trojan's will join Division 1 following their Bowl Game appearance at Crystal Palace in 2011, in addition the National Semi-finalists Shropshire Revolution whom the Trojans defeated en route to Britbowl will also join a new look conference.
Old foes the Nottingham Caesars and Lancashire Wolverines  resume battle with the Senators, the clubs have a long history of classic encounters and will be keen to lock horns again in 2012.
Completing the re structure are the former National Champions, The Coventry  Jets, who have dropped down from the Premier Divison following a tough season which culminated in the resignation of Head Coach Gerry McManus.  McManus led the Jets to EFAF Cup campaigns and National Titles, but a tough win less campaign  in 2011 see's the Jets look to rebuild in Division 1 this coming season.

DIVISION 1 NORTH 2012                                      PREMIER DIVISON NORTH                       
Gateshead Senators                                            East Kilbride Pirates                                 
Lancashire Wolverines                                        Birmingham Bulls                                      
Nottingham Caesars                                            Tamworth Phoenix                                      
Coventry Jets                                                       Doncaster Mustangs                                   
West Coast Trojans                                              Yorkshire Rams                                           
Shropshire Revolution                                         Leicester Falcons                                                                         
Merseyside Nighthawks.                                                                                                             


Fixtures for the 2012 Season will be released in January.

The Senators continue to invest in their Coach Development programme and would like to congratulate the following Coaches who have recently passed their Level 1 British American Football Coaches Association qualification . The following will be joining the Senators as Assistant Coaches in 2012

Neil Jopling
Matthew Long
Craig Million
Gavin Stewart

The Senators held their Annual Presentation Awards evening on Sunday 30th Oct. Special guest Olympic Bronze medalist Tony Jefferies was on hand to present the Players Player awards on  behalf of the club.

The Senior Team Awards were presented to  

Gavin Barr              Offence
Ben Forster            Defence
Ross Elliott            Coaches Player
Shaun Groves         Players Player
Neil Jopling            Rookie of the Year
Coach Hume          Clubman of the Year ( for his work with both Senior and Junior Teams)

The Junior Team Awards were presented to

Evander Harewood          Offence ( Club record 36 TDs in 2011)
Russell  Corker               Defence
Mo Ramadan                  Coaches Player
Kris Barr                         Players Player
Sherief El Shekankery     Lineman of the Year
Matt Sanders                  Rookie of the Year
Andrew Harris                 Big Mik award


Coach Marshall commented " It was great to see so many Players, Parents and Supporters at the Awards evening we would like to pay special thanks to the following people for their hard work help and support in 2011 Rob Chambers (Team Photographer), Lyndsey Elliot (Media and Game day) Barry Mould (Game day) . We look forward to seeing how our Rookie intake and graduating Junior players perform in 2012 , we have a number of exciting announcements to make in January that we feel will benefit the Club tremendously both on and off the field".

The Senators commence pre- season training on Sunday 8th January in preparation for the 2012 season which commences in April.

Senators lose out to Blitz in Final

London Blitz Juniors 44  Gateshead Senators Juniors 14.

Senators Juniors travelled to the Britbowl Junior Final in London on Sunday 25th September to take on the Southern Conference champions London Blitz.

Despite being outnumbered in squad size by 2 to 1 the Senators kept the game close at the half before the Blitz took control of the game in the second half coming out worthy winners and capping of an undefeated season with the Britbowl Junior trophy.

Senators won the toss and elected to receive. With the first possession the Senators advanced two yards and nearly gave up a touchdown after a wayward pitch. QB Evander Harewood  punting on 4th down to their own 43. The Blitz offence starting their first drive with good field position

The Blitz wasted no time in going to work, a 20 yard TD pass to WR Charlie Joseph started the scoring after the Senators had kept the Blitz to a 3rd and long.

On the next drive the Senators picked up a first down behind runs from Matt Gawne and Evander Harewood but a penalty then destroyed the drive with Harewood again being forced to punt which landed at the Blitz 13.

A fumbled snap by the Blitz on the first play after the punt following some great work by James Turvill quickly saw the Senators back in possession . QB Evander Harewood wasted no time on 2nd down running the ball in for the score from 11 yards out. The extra point was missed leaving the score now 8-6.

The Blitz quickly replied, penned in their own territory and on 3rd and long RB Henry Weaver took the ball off tackle with a 75 yard run for a TD. The kick was no good. The score was now 14-6 Blitz.

The First play of the second quarter saw a Senators fumble by Jack Reynolds.  The Blitz got the ball back and immediately tried a long ball to Charlie Joseph which was well defended by Jonny Naylor, more good work by the Senators D forced the Blitz into a 3 rd and long the Senators D forcing the Blitz RB to fumble the ball which was recovered by Russell Corker who ran the ball in 40 yards for a touchdown. Harewood slotted the extra points tying the score at 14-14.

The Blitz  however were in no mood to lie down and worked their way down the field well with a thirty yard pass to Jacob Gardner that nearly got picked off by Kris Barr and Andrew Harris, then on 2nd and goal quarterback Ivan Mills-Lamptey ran the ball in from the ten for a touchdown. The conversion attempt was missed bringing the score to 20-14 Blitz.

After the Senators were unable to move the ball the Blitz again took over throwing the ball 70 yards downfield with Enoch Hankombo catching the pass. The score was now 26-14 Blitz after another failed conversion.

On the resulting drive the Senators got to the Blitz four yard line with no timeouts left and 16 seconds to go. The Senators opted to run the ball but came up short leaving the score 26-14 Blitz at the half.

The second half started poorly for the young Senators first losing key personnel Paul Richardson and Victor Osomo to injury then a long energy sapping drive from the Blitz, saw Frederick Opong-Asiama run the ball in from 4 yards out for the score. The Blitz were now up 32-14.

More bad luck found the Senators in the 4th quarter with Evander Harewood clearly on the ground the Senators QB was adjuged to have fumbled the ball giving the Blitz the ball back on the Senators 5 yard line a quick pass saw the Blitz increase their lead to 38-14 with a run by Henry Weaver on the next possession giving the Blitz their final score of the day the game ending 44-14.

Coach Wilson commented "We had a great weekend at Britbowl and would like to thanks Drew Anderson and the rest of the CLOC team for organising the event. The Coaching staff were obviously disappointed with the result but we cant question our players attitude and commitment which was first class, the Blitz are a very talented team with some outstanding athletes , they are the benchmark for Junior teams to aspire to, we would like to congratulate Coach Henry and his staff on their unbeaten season and Bowl victory.
The planning starts now for 2012 we look forward to seeing our junior recruits playing for the Senior Team and hope that we see a lot of new faces at our 1st Rookie Day on Sunday 16th October."

Gateshead dropped to 1 – 2 record for the season after they lost a close game away to the Rams in Yorkshire 17 – 6. Click here to read the match report.

Senators Seniors record their first win of the season at home 32-27 against Manchester Titans. Click here to read the match report

Senators Juniors lose 32-12 @ Leeds Bobcats both teams are now 1-1 on the season.