Hello to the Welsh Blood Bowl Community, recently I was chatting with our very own Welsh Blood Bowl NAF Rep and discussing our upcoming trip to Hungary and I was forward planning with him for the end of year Welsh Blood Bowl Annual Review, during which he had mentioned a number of you would like to receive more updates from the National Team, and so here we are ready for news from the team.
I’ve asked around what sorts of things should be covered and I will do my best to keep things interesting and give the community what they want.
I will assume nothing and therefore I will start at how this years team was picked, this years team was the last team that used our old qualifying system the TWEQL (The Welsh Eurobowl Qualifying League), in TWEQL the top 3 tables from the previous Eurobowl in Athens automatically qualified for Malta and Orcster, Nonumber and myself took these places, the next 3 spaces went to the coaches highest in that years TWEQL who were available for Hungary, these 3 coaches tournament results, their top results submitted over the course of the 2024 from Jan 1 to Dec 31, the coaches who took these slots were Andy Davo, Jayward and Dementor. These 6 coaches then voted to elect a Welsh Captain and Nonumber won this vote. Nonumber than was able to pick 2 Captains picks to round out the squad, this was made simple this year as there were 2 more coaches who had the same win percentage at the end of 2024 in the TWEQL as the 6th auto pick and therefore Nonumber decided they has earned the right to play for their nation and so Joeseph and Bertmac were added to the squad. Nonumber appointed me as his Vice Captain and the team selection was done, accommodation and flights were booked and now came the serious stuff of selecting races and practice.
Nonumber also looked at the Europen team and Rubick, jimmy_dreambeard, Nickson and SCS_Sam were selected with Rubick appointed as Captain.
Fast Forward a few months to the Home Nations which Nonumber wasn’t able to attend so I stepped up and we performed well, defeating Ireland and Scotland and having narrow losses against England, Poland and eventually winners Italy. When I returned home, I was contacted by Nonumber who let me know that due some real life stuff he would not be able to go to Hungary this was a bit of a bombshell but totally understandable as real life comes first, as Vice Captain I took the reigns and asked the squad to see if anyone wanted to throw their hat into the ring for Captain, I was honoured when they unanimously told me I had the job.
My first job was to look at all the things that needed to be done and first and foremost was to promote from the Europen team. Rubick was the obvious choice with his previous Bowl experience from Portugal and had the highest ranked coach from the Open Squad and he accepted the promotion to the Bowl Squad, this obviously gave 2 more issues a gap in the Open team and a new Captain was required. I also needed to appont my Vice Captain for me there was only one choice as he had acted as my Vice Captain at the Home Nations and so I appointed Jayward to the postion.
The Open team also had an obvious choice as due to illness Rubick had to drop out of the Home Nations Open and Nickson stepped up as Captain and so he was offered the role which thankfully he took, I then told him right away he needed to find a replacement for the squad and after a few days he had managed to get the current Waterbowl Champion in the Squad and LloydWhite66 completed the 12.
Eurobowl Squad:
- gcoleman76 – Captain
- Jayward – Vice Captain
- AndyDavo
- Joesph
- Dementor
- Orcster
- Bertmac
- Rubick
Europen Sqaud:
- nickson104 – Captain
- Jimmy_dreambeard
- scs.sam
- Lloydwhite66
I should also mention and thank RIckWreckless and Lord Bonan who also stepped up for the Home Nations for coaches who were otherwise unavailable, both these coaches earnt their places using the same TWEQL system.
Find out more on the Team Wales page.