Game Summary and Match Report

Weathersfield Raiders 7 Nama Bullets 0 – Two teams of American Servicemen from the United States Air Force in Europe (USAFE) Football League in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Greece and Italy, played a Charity Match in aid of the Northern Ireland branch of the Forces’ Help Society and Lord Roberts Workshops at Ravenhill, home of Ulster Rugby on 17 November 1954. 6,000 to 7,000 were in attendance.

The game was scoreless in the first half, but in the fourth quarter, the Weathersfield Raiders, playing in yellow, scored the winning touchdown, as George Cross, the Raiders centre from Rhode Island, hauled in a 22 yard pass from his own 41 yard line by Quarterback David Washington from Florida, side-stepped an opponent, turned inwards and dashed over the line. Jim Wilcoxen, from Ohio, had no problem kicking the conversion for one point, making the score 7-0.

The Nama Bulllets, to their credit, did not give up, and did their best to pull the game out of the fire, but their Quarterback, Bob Hallum, from Tennessee, failed by inches on repeat plays to Charles McNinch (Ohio) and Charles Thompson (Alabama). The game ended 7-0 to the Weathersfield Raiders, and they were mobbed at the final whistle by their own bench, and crowds of boys looking for autographs.

At Ravenhill Belfast	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Nama Bullets	0	0	0	0	0
Weathersfield Raiders	0	0	0	7	7

Team	Scorers	Score
	1st Quarter
	No Scoring	0-0
	2nd Quarter
	No Scoring	0-0
	3rd Quarter
	No Scoring	0-0
	4th Quarter
WRD	George Cross 59 TD Pass from David Washington (Jim Wilcoxen 1xpt kick)	7-0

References

Newspapers

[1] Anon. (1954) . “Photo caption”. Northern Whig. 18 November 1954. pg. 6.

[2] Anon. (1954) “6,000 spectators – Raiders beat Bullets at Ravenhill” Belfast Newsletter, 18 November 1954, pg. 7.

Past Editions of the Northern Whig and Belfast Newsletter areavailable to view online at the the British Newspaper Archive at: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ which is a subscription service.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Richard Declan Mulcahy.

About this document

Researched, compiled and written by Enda Mulcahy for the

Eirball | Irish North American and World Sports Archive

Last Updated: 14 November 2020

(c) Copyright Enda Mulcahy and Eirball 2020

You may quote this document in part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the authors. All Rights Resereved.