Where the Blood Bowl is Spicy!
Loughborough Students’ Union playing host to the first Home Nations on 29 - 30 June 2024
Late last year I was selected for the first time to play for Team Scotland in Athens at the upcoming Eurobowl X. This coupled with watching Purplechest’s One World One Blood Bowl (OWOBB) special episode on the Team England Captain elections led me to come up with the idea of the Home Nations Bloodbowl. Home Nations would give coaches real-world competitive practice for Eurobowl whilst leaning into the cultural and sporting elements of the Rugby Union tournament dating back to 1883 and offering the winners bragging rights.
With the Home Nations Bowl (invitational) and Open we had 120 coaches descend upon Loughborough University for the weekend where I promised that the Blood Bowl would be spicy - and I wasn’t wrong!
The Bowl
The Bowl had six teams; the four Home Nations, Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, an invited nation, Team Malta and the Barbarians to be captained by Purplechest, selecting coaches from anywhere on the planet - one world one Blood Bowl after all! PC did not disappoint assembling a team that had coaches from as far afield as the US (JLeav), Germany (Candlejack) and noted coaches from Scotland, England and Wales who on another day could easily be selected to play for their respective Home Nations.
Going into the tournament the mighty Team England captained by KFoged were the hot favourites for the Bowl and they were in no mood to disappoint when they kicked-off by putting Wales to the sword with an imperious 6-2 win. The Barbarians fancied themselves to be the disruptors of the natural order. So when Team Scotland beat the Barbarians in round one it was an unexpected upset and a definite setback for PC who had the tournament win firmly in his sights.
Fast forward to round three Team England were the only squad of the six on two wins and they had drawn the Barbarians! A win and they’d be almost out of sight with the tournament pretty much locked up, and the Barbarians would be slain. This match-up had some big individual games; Kfoged vs AndyDavo, PeteW vs RickWreckless, Malmir (of Fumbbl fame) vs The Rake and the Battle of Purple; PurpleGoo vs PurpleChest!
It came down to the match of the Purple’s to decide the tie. Goo failed a 4+ jump to score on his drive so had to stop PC from scoring on his drive. A draw would mean a drawn round favouring England for the tournament. So when Goo sacked the ball carrier for the briefest of seconds it looked possible, but a favourable scatter and 6+ catch on a Big’Un meant PC’s drive was still alive! PC held his nerve to drive home the score taking the win 1-0 and the round! End of Day one in the Bowl and we had England, Wales, Scotland and the Barbarians all on 2-0-1 ensuring that Day two would be tense.
Morning of Day two, Team England chastened by the Barbarians were in no mood to show mercy against the Auld Enemy and swatted Team Scotland aside 5.5-2.5 taking the inaugural Calcutta Cup to put their tournament back on track. Wales lost to Malta in a close match and the Barbarians smashed the Irish 6-2 to catch up on England’s early heavy scoring. Going into Round five it was a shootout against England and the Barbarians with England having to overcome Malta and the Barbarians facing the Welsh.
RickWreckless delivering an Imperial Nobility one-turn touchdown to help deliver a big team win against Team Ireland
The last round saw Ireland looking for their first win in the tournament against Scotland in the Centenary Quaich. After a tough weekend they were going home with the wooden spoon come what may, but Raging82 will have been relieved to see the Irish take the win 5-3 to save some pride with their only win of the weekend.
At the top of the table the Maltese ran England close, but narrowly lost to KFoged’s mighty men 3.5-4.5. If the Barbarians were going to realise their mission of denying England the title they were going to need to rack up a big score against Wales. They duly obliged winning the tie 6-2 and they took the inaugural Home Nations Bowl on tiebreak by a single coach point!
Home Nations Bowl Winners - The Barbarians! L:R Hankok, Sann0638, JLeav, AndyDavo, PurpleChest (Cpt.), Malmir, Candlejack, RickWreckless, BB_Jock (TO)
The Open
On the other side of the tournament the Home Nations Open was no less spicy with 18 squads and representation from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Malta for the national squads amongst an array of established teams like the Hakflem Globetrotters.
It was Tactics and Theatrics who took an early lead through the first two rounds beating Pitch Invaders in round two whilst Team England, the favourites, stumbled, drawing with the Globetrotters (Blue). However it wouldn’t be until Round four that would see Tactics and Theatrics face Team England in an almost winner takes all scenario. England took the win 3-1, but this was a hard fought battle on all four boards.
Tactics and Theatrics, Open Runners-up, face off against Pitch Invaders in Round 2
Team England ended up seeing out Round five and they took the tournament win by one point over Tactics and Theatrics whose only slip was to the eventual winners. Team Northern Ireland, a newly formed national squad, captained by Padster, had chosen the Home Nations to be their first official tournament. They had a great showing achieving a credible third place finish recording a notable win against the Globetrotters (Blue) and a closely fought draw against Team Wales.
Just one point further back were three teams joint equal to round out the top six - honourable mentions to Hakflem Globetrotters (Red), Team Scotland and the Pitch Invaders making for an incredibly tight tournament with squads taking points off each other all weekend. See the full results on Tourplay for the Bowl and the Open.
Home Nations Open Winners: Team England
L:R Geggster, Thulean (Cpt.) NippyLongskar, Scouseboy, BB_Jock (TO)
Whilst the Blood Bowl was spicy this tournament was about camaraderie as coaches from the four corners of the Home Nations and from further afield came together to enjoy the game and each other’s company, including packing out the curry houses in Loughborough on Saturday night.
Thanks go to Wobert, my co-conspirator, with his vast experience, ensuring that my first tournament went without a hitch. I had a blast organising the tournament and from speaking with many of the coaches in attendance they did too! The Home Nations II is planned to go ahead next year in Loughborough on the first weekend in July where teams will be back to fight for the honour and bragging rights. Will Team England take the title or will the Barbarians under a new captain defend their title?!
Tickets are expected to go on sale sometime this September. Make sure you don’t miss out on the Home Nations - where the Blood Bowl is spicy!
Home Nations Winners:
Bowl Winners - Team Barbarians Open Winners - Team England
Bowl Runner-up - Team England Open Runner-up - Tactics and Theatrics
Bowl Best Individual - AndyDavo Open Best Individual - Scouseboy
Most Touchdowns - SaltySeaWench Most Casualties - Nickson104
Best U18 - Nightsword Stunty Cup - StuntedBrain
Best Painted - El_Spoonio
The Home Nations II - it's getting hot in here
The Home Nations II is in the works and set to take place at Loughborough Students' Union next year on 5th - 6th July where the Blood Bowl is set to get spicier as the Open grows to forty teams and Team France and Italy look to join the Bowl Invitational to give us the Six Nations! Tickets for the Open go on sale on Sunday 8th September at 10am (BST).
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This article first appeared in the NAF Tournament Director's July 2024 Blog
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