The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh and latterly sharing home games with Hampden Park, Glasgow. In ten seasons of NFL Europe play, the Claymores reached the World Bowl on two occasions, with victory in World Bowl '96 but defeat in World Bowl 2000. Their name derives from that of the Claymore, a double-edged sword historically used in Scottish clan warfare. One notable player was Gavin Hastings, a Scottish rugby international who was used as a place kicker in 1996.
The Claymores experienced several notable swings in fortune during their ten years. Their World Bowl-winning season of 1996 was the league's first worst-to-first turnaround: having finished 1995 with a 2–8 record and no wins at home, the 1996 Claymores went 7–3 in the regular season and won all their home games. Equally remarkable was the contrast between their first home games of the 2003 and 2004 seasons. In week 1 of the 2003 season, the Claymores defeated the Berlin Thunder 62–31 – the highest scoring game in NFL Europe history – but in 2004 their home opener was a 3–0 defeat at the hands of the Amsterdam Admirals, tying the record for the league's lowest-scoring game.
History In 1992, the World League of American Football was put on hold by the NFL, with the intention of restructuring the league to become completely European-based. As a result, the three existing European teams in Barcelona, London and Frankfurt survived to be joined by three new teams, and in 1994 it was announced that Edinburgh had been awarded one of them (along with Amsterdam and Düsseldorf). The Claymores were assigned former Arena Football League coach Lary Kuharich to be their first head coach, but just days before their first game against Rhein, Kuharich was dismissed and replaced by former Boise State head coach Jim Criner.
1995 season
The Claymores' first roster included five players sent to the club from the NFL, including quarterbacks Matt Blundin from the Kansas City Chiefs and Lee Williamson from the Houston Oilers; as with all World League teams, it included seven "national" players, including wide-receiver Scott Couper.Scottish Claymores Roster 1995 The Claymores played their first-ever game in Edinburgh on 9 April 1995, a 19–17 loss to the Rhein Fire (Coincidentally, the Claymores' three worst seasons (1995, 1998 and 2004: all 2–8) would all begin in the same way: with the Claymores falling to week 1 defeat on a missed field goal. In the other 7 seasons, the Claymores started 1–0). The team's first win came two weeks later, 20–14 over the Galaxy in Frankfurt. Six straight defeats followed however, including a 31–0 shutout to the Amsterdam Admirals and an overtime loss to the Fire, before winning the final game of the regular season 22–9 against British rivals the London Monarchs.Scottish Claymores Team Results 1995
The Claymores finished bottom of the six-team division with its 2–8 record. Criner used four quarterbacks over the course of the season; Blundin, Williamson, Terry Karg and a brief outing for Jim Ballard. The team's offensive leader was Siran Stacy, who rushed for 785 yards and five touchdowns, and caught receptions totalling 324 yards. Allan DeGraffenreid also made 624 receiving yards and four touchdowns. Attendances were around the 10,000 mark to begin, but slumped as low as 6,800 for the final home game of the season.Scottish Claymores Statistics 1995
1996 season
The Claymores made an aggressive marketing push for the 1996 campaign under new general manager Mike Keller, which even included bringing in former Scotland Rugby union captain Gavin Hastings as a placekicker. Criner's 1996 roster featured an increased number of signed NFL players. Quarterback Steve Matthews (like Blundin, contracted to the Chiefs) opened the season, but when returnee Jim Ballard showed greater consistency coming off the bench to replace an injured Matthews in week seven, Ballard would get the nod for the remainder of the season.Scottish Claymores Roster 1996 Starting 1996 where they had left off 1995, the Claymores opened with an overtime victory over the London Monarchs, followed up with home wins against the Barcelona Dragons (23–13) and the Amsterdam Admirals (21–14). Despite defeat away to Rhein the 3–1 start propelled the Claymores into a mid-season showdown with the unbeaten Frankfurt Galaxy on 11 May, where under WLAF rules the winner would advance to the World Bowl as hosts. A 20–0 win meant the championship game was coming to Edinburgh. The Claymores ran out the regular season with a 7–3 record to top the division. On 23 June, the Claymores again faced the Galaxy in World Bowl 96 at Murrayfield. The hosts rode three touchdown passes from Ballard to game MVP Yo Murphy and held off a late rally to win 32–27, thus completing the WLAF's first worst-to-first turnaround in front of a crowd of 38,982.Scottish Claymores Team Results 1996
Siran Stacy was again influential in offense, with a nearly identical haul to his previous season's; 780 rushing yards and 317 receiving yards, for nine touchdowns. Sean LaChapelle was a thousand-yard receiver but forced out of the World Bowl with a groin injury, while Yo Murphy managed five touchdowns on the season. On defense, safety George Coghill picked five interceptions, one returned for a touchdown. Coghill also forced a Galaxy fumble from the opening kickoff in the World Bowl, with all-round special teams player Markus Thomas returning the spilled ball for a touchdown; he also led the team in tackles, and caught one pass on offense. Safety James Fuller shared Coghill's total of five interceptions, while defensive tackle Jerold Jeffcoat – brother of the Dallas Cowboys' Jim – had five sacks on the season.Scottish Claymores Statistics 1996
1997 season Scotland's 1997 season opened with a 16–3 victory in Amsterdam, followed up by back-to-back defeats and closing out the first half of the season 3–2. Two more straight wins improved World Bowl prospects, but a narrow 10–9 defeat to the Monarchs in the penultimate week left the Claymores needing a victory in Barcelona against the Dragons – however, they were trounced 46–18 and finished the season 5–5, surrendering the second World Bowl spot to Barcelona in the process.Scottish Claymores Team Results 1997
Quarterback time was shared between the San Francisco 49ers' Dave Barr and the Miami Dolphins' Spence Fischer (who doubled as occasional punter).Scottish Claymores Roster 1997 However, they managed just four touchdown passes combined while throwing 10 interceptions and sharing 31 sacks. Siran Stacy completed another 785-yard rushing season with four touchdowns; Yo Murphy was the leading receiver with 559 yards and two touchdowns; only he, Scott Couper and Allan DeGraffenreid completed touchdown passes on the season. George Coghill again led the defense in tackles.Scottish Claymores Statistics 1997
1998 season A much-changed 1998 roster saw World Bowl-winning quarterback Jim Ballard back in Scotland after missing 1997; however, two of the team's offensive leaders from the previous year, Siran Stacy, and Yo Murphy, did not return.Scottish Claymores Roster 1998 Jim Criner led his team into the opening game in Barcelona, where kicker Gary Parker missed what would have been a game-winning field goal from 31 yards, the Claymores losing out 19-18. Three more defeats followed in Amsterdam (26-3), at home to the Fire (20-10) and at the now-England Monarchs (14-10), with the first win of the season only coming in Week 5, 30-10 over the Dragons. Their 1-4 start made World Bowl qualification very unlikely; their week 6 defeat to the Fire (perfect to this point in the season) sealed their fate. The side slumped to bottom of the division, finishing 2-8.Scottish Claymores Team Results 1998
The new-lock backs and receivers failed to match previous seasons' yardage figures; leading rusher Carey Bender made 441 yards, while Chris Miller topped the receiving statistics with 34 receptions for 527 yards. In total the Claymores managed just twelve offensive touchdowns in ten games, punting the ball 53 times.Scottish Claymores Statistics 1998
Off the field, it was a troubled season for Scotland in the now rebranded NFL Europe League, where leaked information that a third German team was to be founded to add to the already successful Fire and Galaxy sparked concerns the Claymores may be closed down: eventually however, it would be the England Monarchs who would be replaced by the Berlin Thunder, ending the Battle of Britain rivalry series tied at 4-4. It was also during the 1998 season the Claymores played at Hampden Park in Glasgow for the first time, a week 8 loss to the Galaxy (originally, the Glasgow game was scheduled to be the week 10 visit of the Amsterdam Admirals at Firhill Stadiumfirhill for gridiron thrills, claymores.com).
Four home games played in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow.
1999 season For 1999, Scotland were allocated Carolina Panthers quarterback Dameyune Craig,Scottish Claymores Roster 1999 who opened the season with a narrow 21-20 win over the Rhein Fire, rushing for the winning touchdown himself late in the fourth quarter. The Claymores then hammered the league's newest team, the Berlin Thunder, 48-14, Shon Bell catching two touchdown passes from tight-end. An overtime loss to Frankfurt followed; but by the time Scotland had returned to Frankfurt in Week 6, winning with a reverse of the 42-35 scoreline that the Galaxy had earned in Week 3, Scotland were 4-2 and in contention to reach World Bowl VII. However, the team then collapsed to four consecutive defeats, two of them back-to-back against Amsterdam, and finished ahead of only Berlin in the final standings.Scottish Claymores Team Results 1999
The side's leading rusher in 1999 was Jesse Haynes, with quarterback Craig contributing 50 rushing attempts and 3 touchdowns. Haynes totalled eleven touchdowns, seven rushing and four receiving. Yo Murphy returned to the Claymores with four touchdown catches (and an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown) but the leading wide receiver was Donald Sellers, who totalled 931 receiving yards for seven touchdowns.Scottish Claymores Statistics 1999
Although the Claymores finished the 1999 season with a losing record, there would still be a historical moment: Craig would throw for 611 yards in the road victory in Frankfurt, a record passing total in professional American football. The helmet and number 2 jersey Craig wore that night are on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.Dameyune Craig display opens at NFL's Pro Football Hall of Fame, NFLEurope.com
Three home games played in Edinburgh and two in Glasgow.
2000 season
The 2000 Claymores were fronted primarily by Kevin Daft; a 32-year-old Siran Stacy was on the roster for 2000 but had very little playing time.Scottish Claymores Roster 2000 Like previous seasons, the Claymores opened positively with opening wins against Amsterdam and in Frankfurt. A 42-3 demolition of the Berlin Thunder sent the Claymores to 3-1, but with World Bowl qualification in the balance, the Claymores strung together three big late-season wins; with defeat over the Fire at Hampden on 10 June secured a World Bowl finale between those teams. Scotland led 7-3 when Aaron Stecker went over with a 36-yard first-quarter rush, exchanging field-goals for a 10-6 halftime lead. Pepe Pearson scored the second half's only touchdown for the Fire, leaving Rob Hart to attempt a game-tying field goal with eight seconds left; it sailed left, and Scotland lost World Bowl VIII in what turned out to be Criner's last game as head coach as he would depart for the XFLScottish Claymores Team Results 2000