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The Arrows were formed in early 1986 and very quickly attracted in the region
of 40 to 50 potential players. Arrangements were made with the local Athletics stadium the Abbey Stadium for playing facilities to be provided and following much discussion it was agreed that
the team would adopt the nickname of the "Arrows". This was based on the fact that the River Arrow flowed at the foot of the stadium and recognising that "Arrows" was a well known local
identification. The teams initial colours were agreed to be Red and Gold shirts, Gold Pants and White helmets mainly on the use of the "Red" in Redditch.
The Arrows first game was played during April against the very experienced
Birmingham Huskies. The 0-60 scoreline whilst appearing horrific was actually misleading, the majority of the Huskies points coming on mistakes made by the Arrows inexperienced players for whom many this
was their first ever game. On reflection the game was probably too early for the team who could have done with a few more weeks training. In fact such was the rush to stage the game that the teams
uniforms only arrived on the morning of the match. The Arrows subsequently played a representative team from the Coventry Bears and achieved their first victory running out 18-16 winners. The
team then embarked on a series of friendly's throughout the summer which provided the team with the much needed playing experience. The highlight of this was the staging of the first ever home game
against the Wolverhampton Outlaws. The game which was played following the local carnival, during which the Arrows had taken part, was an outstanding success with a crowd in excess of 2000
attending. The game itself was a tense affair with the result in question until the last few minutes where upon the greater experience of the Outlaws saw them through. This inaugural season ended
with another fixture against Wolverhampton which this time saw the Arrows gain revenge with a well deserved 30-12 win. Based upon this success the team then applied to played competitive league
football the following season.
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