|
The start of the 1989 season saw the arrival of Dave Stanton, who had been
quarterback for the Birmingham Bulls, as Head Coach and Quarterback for the club. It is widely believed that this event turned out to be the most significant in the clubs history. Dave's
personality and style was perfect for the Arrows philosophy and attitude and it soon became apparent that it was a match made in heaven. Even now Dave's influence and presence is a major factor within
the team and has resulted in many players joining the club just because of his involvement.
The turnaround in performance from the 1988 season was quite remarkable and
saw the Arrows reach their first national final. The chase for the divisional championship was a close run affair with old rivals Wolverhampton Outlaws. Both games against Wolverhampton turned
out to be tight games with the Arrows losing 0-12 in Wolverhampton and winning 14-8 in Redditch. This resulted in the Arrows taking the title by half a game due to the tie at Burton coupled with an
Outlaws loss. The highlight of the season was a 76-6 win over Burton. In the play-offs the Arrows first met Chester and won a high scoring game 33-27. The Northern Conference game was away
to Preston Pirates who had been undefeated throughout the season and had the leagues leading offense. The game played at Deepdale, the home of Preston North End Football Club saw the Arrows totally
dominate and run out easy 42-14 winners. The team went into the National Final on a wave of optimism but came up against a very strong and well drilled Kingston Pirates side containing several
Americans. Kingston took an early lead from which the Arrows never recovered and eventually were well beaten by admittedly the better side. Despite this last game disappointed the season had been
very satisfying especially considering the problems encountered the year beforehand and led to optimism for the future.
|
