THE HISTORY OF THE BUCS UK - 1992 TO 1996 For 1992, we made the decision to increase the membership fee but to include a Bucs UK shirt with it. This solved the problem of Phil being stuck with unsold supplies of shirts and proved to be one of the best moves the club ever made. The American Bowl game at Wembley that year featured the Redskins and 49ers, but more importantly, featured a whole host of fan club events arranged by myself and Nick Barnes of the Atlanta club. We lost again to the Steelers club at touch football but this time I threw three touchdowns instead of interceptions, but the Bucs UK team won the American Football quiz competition, defeating the Redskins, Seahawks and London Olympians on the way. For the record, the other three members of the team were Gary Botteley, Richard Chester and Gareth James, with Phil Jones proving to be no use at all apart from drinking more than the rest of the club. Phil, his brother Mark and their respective other halves, were part of many club members at the two season-opening wins under Sam Wyche in 1992. Phil was asked to address 5,000-odd Buc fans at a pre-game rally whilst a little the worse for drink, and asked everyone to "Give me a B, give me a U, give me a C, give me a K, give me an S - what have you got?" Err, the Milwaukee NBA team and a dyslexic Bucs UK fan to be honest! 1992 also saw the launch of the Bucs UK Fantasy Football League. I had read an article about the subject in a magazine the previous November and had drawn up plans for a club league almost overnight. 10 franchises took part in that first season and it was so small and insignificant to the highly-detailed and specialised league we run now. But of all the things the Bucs UK had been involved in, the FFL is the one that has always given me the most pleasure and long may it so continue. Charles McRae Day September 1992 brought the 75th issue of the magazine and the news that Bucs' offensive tackle, Charles McRae, would be visiting the UK the following spring and was happy to meet up with club members. McRae Day arrived the following February and around 50 people gathered at Phil Jones' home in Congleton to meet the former first round pick and his wife. First Down ran a full-page feature on the event and all concerned had a really great time. 1993 saw the arrival of the infamous Bucko's Column in the magazine. This was a monthly piece, written by myself under an assumed name, that took a satirical look at the game. You either loved it or hated it, but seeing as I wrote it, there was no way it was going to stop overnight. Around three years later, I ran out of ideas and Bucko disappeared - he will return again one day, I promise! June 1993 saw Gary Botteley appear on ITV's game show Busman's Holiday but with about as much success as the Bucs were having under Sam Wyche. The final American Bowl game between Dallas and Detroit proved to be a disaster and Wembley was only half-full leading to no more pre-season games being scheduled in the UK. The magazine continued to grow thanks to weekly press releases being sent by Rick Odioso and Scott Smith of the Bucs, and the first appearance of Nick Pugliese occured with the initial appearance of "Pugo's postcard from the Bay", a weekly piece from The Sporting News. Sam Wyche offered to let the Bucs UK design a play to be used by the team, and the winning three entries were sent across to Tampa for inclusion in the 1994 Buccaneer playbook. We ran a Buccaneer Mastermind during 1994 and Gary Botteley took the honours ahead of Rob Shaw Jr and Keith Burrows. It was also the year I got married and over 50 members of the club contributed to a pair of wonderful wedding presents. Phil Jones was the best man, Gary was one of the ushers, and all three of us wore Buccaneer orange cravats for the occasion. I travelled across to Tampa in October 1994 on a delayed honeymoon and again was invited to meet the players at One Buc Place and watch a training session. The Baltimore Bucs? Late in 1994, Hugh Culverhouse died and speculation began as to the future of the Buccaneer franchise. A trust ran the team through 1995 until the sale of the franchise had gone through, but stories were rife that Peter Angelos who owned baseball's Baltimore Orioles, was going to buy the team and move them to Maryland. Eventually the sale of the Buccaneers went through to the Glazer family but the future of the Bucs in Tampa Bay was still far from secure. May 30, 1995 was a sad day as Bob Timoney passed away in Clearwater. Bob was the life and soul of their Bucs booster club and all those people who met him, got to know what a wonderful person he was. The Bucs UK decided to name its Buccaneer of the Year after Bob, the award being given to the person who most summed up his spirit and enthusiasm for the team in that period. Sky Sports had begun broadcasting in the early 1990s and in 1995, the Bucs were finally shown live in the UK for the very first time. Naturally we lost to the Bears, and again later in the season to the Packers, a game livened up by Keith Webster holding up a copy of There's Always Next Year on screen in a blatant attempt to win the club's Writer of the Year Award. Either way, the membership exceeded 80 for the first time in the club's history. The World League returned in 1995 and the highlight was the Bucs' Casey Weldon playing for Barcelona and acknowledging a TD pass to the club's contingent in the stands. The Moon on the Mall In 1996, I was approached to do some work for The Big Breakfast on the London Monarchs and was also writing for Extra Point having met Steve Careford the previous season at a game against the Claymores. The monthly get-togethers at The Moon on the Mall began, this probably being the best years of fan support for the game in this country. All the UK fan clubs would meet at the London venue, and the only time I ever pulled a sickie from work the next day came after one great night with Steve and Darren Conway of the Bears' fan club. The magazine was full of stories about the potential funding of a new stadium which would secure the franchise in Tampa Bay. This came about in 1996, the first year under Tony Dungy and the 14th straight losing season for the Buccaneers. And to be the last. The Glazer family also announced plans to change the orange and white colours and Buccaneer Bruce logo. "These colours must definitely stay" wrote one John Davies in the letters page of There's Always Next Year. September 1996 came probably the biggest change in the history of the magazine when I downloaded my first story from the internet. No more re-typing every word from other articles. Suddenly a whole new world opened up and the content and appearance of the magazine changed almost overnight. Nick Pugliese of The Tampa Tribune became an honorary member of the club and I made another TV appearance on a quiz show called "Sports Anorak of the Year". My specialist subject was naturally the Bucs, but I was beaten into second place by the eventual series winner answering questions on the England soccer team.