AMERICAN Football has arrived in Hereford and its new full contact team are looking for players and a defensive coach.

Hereford Stampede who play and train on the Greyhound pitches at Hereford Racecourse established itself two years ago as a Flag American Football team, which is non-contact with less players. The team reached the playoffs on both occasions.

After gaining a grant from Sport England, Hereford Stampede gathered enough equity to invest in the equipment needed for running a full contact team.

Now the team are preparing for their first associate year but need between extra players to fill the squad requirment of between 35 and 40 players.

"The idea was to get people interested for the first two years and now we have moved onto full contact," said head coach, Paul Kent.

"It's a summer sport but we have been training since we started in October as we are a new team and have been teaching a lot of the guys have never played before.

"We have got to do an associate year where we will be assessed by the British American Football Association. They will be testing us to see if we are suitable and can play five games which will be three at home and two away

Starting from May the club hope to play one game a month during the summer in the view of making it into the National League next season which is split into north, south, east and west regions.

A rookie day is being held next Saturday (March 24) at Greyhound Rugby Club from 11am for people who haven't played the sport before.

"It is a massively growing sport and is one of the fastest growing in the country, added Kent.

"Because it is a difficult sport to run teams come and go and you need 35 people for a team as if you have 11 to 13 it's just not possible and NFL rostered teams have 53 players in their squad.

"Some people just like to put a helmet and pads on and run into people. However, we also need running backs who are quick and want to dodge being tackled so it is a sport for every shape and size."

The club train at Hereford City Sports Club on a Wednesday evening between 7.30pm and 9pm under the floodlights and then between 9.30am and 12.30pm on a Sunday morning.

They will also be hosting the Bristol Apache in a joint practice on March 18 from 2pm.

Hereford Stampede are also searching for a defensive coordinator to help them in their associate year and beyond.

"Ideally we want somebody who knows about the sport but we will help coach them and the main thing is their commitment and time, added Kent

"Ultimately we need them to make both training sessions and we can show them the rest. If they are willing to learn then they don't have to be an expert or have previous experience."

For more information email: headcoach@herefordstampede.co.uk or search Hereford Stampede on Facebook.