Tigers Flag - Double Scottish Champions
Report C/O Glasgow Tigers
Pic C/O Andrew Wallace

The SFFA Flag Finals day took place this weekend at St Margaret's High School in Airdrie.

The Tigers were represented well, with their cadet, junior and youth squads all qualifying for the season finale.

It was the cadet squad who were first into action on a bitterly cold morning. Unfortunately for the Tigers, despite their brave and spirited performance, they were unable to secure victory in their semi final over a much older, and larger, Inverness Buccaneers side.

This set up a 3 rd place playoff against the Inverness Pirates. This time the Tigers were not outdone by their northern opponents.

This was a closely contested game but the Tigers managed to impose themselves in the second half and finish in third place, an excellent achievement for the young squad.

The Tigers Youth got off to an ideal start in their semi-final encounter with the GelnUrquhart Gladiators.

The Tigers scored on their first play of the game and never looked like surrendering their early lead. The Tigers continued to put points on the board with their high-powered offence and won the game with a comfortable 30-point victory, Tigers 60 Gladiators 30.

This meant Tigers had both their Junior and Youth squads competing in their respective finals.

The Junior Tigers were favourites against local rivals the Glasgow Hornets, having already beaten them twice this season.

The Hornets clearly had a point to prove and were much more competitive than in either of the two previous encounters.

At half time there was very little to separate the sides. The Tigers came out desperate to prove themselves the best in the country and did just that.

Their strong second half performance made sure that they were the side taking home the trophy and the title of Scottish Champions.

On the adjacent field the Tigers Youth team were engaged in an end-to-end affair with last years champions, the Inverness Rockets.

The Tigers held a 6-point lead at the half, but with Inverness taking the first possession in the second half, victory was far from certain.

It was the Inverness side that started to dominate in the second half and with less than 2 minutes remaining they had established a 7-point lead and looked like they would retain the Scottish Title.

The Tigers however showed great resolve to tie the game and prevent Inverness from scoring again.

This gave the Tigers 28 seconds and one last chance to win the game. They moved the ball down the field and were just short of the Inverness endzone with 1 second remaining.

Inverness were unable to prevent the Tigers from putting the ball in the endzone one last time to secure a dramatic 6-point victory and the Title. Tigers 53 Rockets 47.

For more information on the Tigers Flag Footbal Club visit www.tigersflag.org.uk