Broncos – #46
2001 – Present
In 2022 Jimmy will be playing with the Grangemouth Broncos in the BAFA Premier North
In 2019 Jimmy was a member of the Broncos team who were 2 points from the Britbowl final. They ended their league season fourth place in the UK.
In 2018 Jimmy was one of the Five Man team who won the BAFA National Plate in Manchester. That result effectively place them in 8th place in the UK rankings.
Jimmy Thomson began playing American Football in 1987 after seeing the Clydesdale Colts playing a demonstration match at a village Gala Day. He joined his nearest team, the Lothian Chieftains, as a running back. After two years, he moved to the Forth Valley Generals, the club that would eventually become the Grangemouth Broncos.
In 1994, Jimmy played his last tackle football game against the University of Stirling Clansmen, a team he now follows very closely. He is quite proud of the fact that he helped seal the win by running in a two point conversion in the dying seconds of a close game.
In 2000, he was invited to help coach some kids playing a new version of American Football, 5-on-5 Flag Football. It didn’t take him long to realise he still had the skills to play this non-contact version of the game. To say this gave new life to his sporting career is an understatement.
Since the Broncos Senior team first took to the field in 2001 Jimmy has played in all but a handful of the Broncos games.
In 2005 Jimmy was voted the SFFA Senior Coach of the Year AND the Senior Player of the Year.
In 2007 Jimmy travelled to Sestola in Italy as a reserve for the Great Britain team at the European Championships. He played in a friendly match against Germany there and later in the year played against Ireland in a tournament in Belfast.
Jimmy stepped back from his role as an assistant coach in 2019.
Jimmy has also featured a number of times in competitive matches for Scotland through the years. In his last few games for the national team, he was one of a number of undefeated players in the Home Nations competitions from 2009 to 2012. He is still a coach with the HNC Chieftains (effectively the Scotland team).
Asked if he will eventually give up playing Flag, he replies, “I am still having way too much fun. If it stops being fun, then maybe. But only maybe.”
As at 09/02/2020
Senior Games | Scores | ||||||||||
Played | Won | Lost | Tied | TDs | XPs | 2XPs | Pick 6 | Safety | 2pt Ret | Points | |
Broncos | 360 | 242 | 114 | 4 | 140 | 65 | 1 | 1 | 913 | ||
Colts | 27 | 8 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 25 | ||||
Fillies | 5 | 1 | 4 |
Until 24/06/2018 was the All Time Points Scored leader for the Senior team. He remains the all time leader in games played (Club and Senior)
BAFA Senior League
2019 – Fourth place at National Finals.
2019 Premier North first seeds at British Finals
2019 Premier HNC – Champions
2018 Premier Plate Winners – Member of the 5 man team that won the competition
2018 Premier HNC – 3rd Place
2017 BAFA HNC Central Winner – Second Round in Post Season Play-Offs
2016 BAFA HNC South Winner, British Quarter-Finalist
2015 BAFANL HNC South Winner, British Quarter-Finalist
2014 BAFANL HNC North Winner, British Quarter-Finalist
Tournaments
2019 Granite City Quaich Winner
2019 Big Bowl (Frankfurt, Germany) – 21st place
2018 Big Bowl (Frankfurt, Germany) – 26th place
BAFA Pre-Season Challenge Cup – Runners up
2016 Granite City Quaich – Runner Up
2016 Fight Like a Girl Charity Tournament – Winner
2016 Flagging New Year – Winner
2015 Six Flags Tournament – Winner
2014 Nuola Winter Classic Tournament – Runner Up
2009 Cobras Superbowl Tournament Runner up
2007 Fair Play Bowl Runner Up
2005 Pyros Summer Bowl – Winner
2004 Thanksgiving Bowl – Winner
2003 Raptors Thanksgiving – Winner
Club Awards
2018
Grangemouth Flag Football Comedy Award 2018
2016-17
Broncos NFL Fantasy League Winner
2015-16
Broncos NFL Fantasy League Winner
2008
Senior MVP
National Flag Awards
2005 – SFFA Senior Player of the Year
2005 – SFFA Senior Coach of the Year
4x Division Winner with the Broncos (2014-17)
3x National Quarter Finals with the Broncos (2014-16)
NuOla Winter Classic Tournament Runner Up with the Broncos January 2014
Flagging New Year Winner 2016
World Record Holder after completing the 26 hour Flag game in 2012
Currently Club Chairman
National and International
Scotland
Multiple wins in Scotland v England Internationals as coach and player
3 times Home Nations Champions as a player (2009, 2010 and 2011)
Home Nations Winner as a coach 2012 (and Home Nations Fair Play Award after coaching Barbarians team)
HNC Chieftains
2019 Super Fives winner as an assistant coach with the HNC Chieftains
2018 Super Fives – assistant coach with the HNC Chieftains
Two times Super Fives winner as a coach in 2017 with the HNC Chieftains
Great Britain
Played in competitive game for GB against All-Ireland in International tournament in Belfast.
Played for Great Britain in two friendly matches – Germany (2007), Ireland (2013)
Member of the Great Britain Staff at the 2011 European Championships in Thonon Les Bains, France
Member of the Great Britain Staff at the 2013 European Championships in Pesaro, Italy
Assistant Great Britain Coach at 2014 World Championships in Grosetto, Italy
Assistant Great Britain Coach at 2015 European Championships in Madrid, Spain
Assistant Great Britain Coach at 2016 World Championships in Florida, USA
Assistant Great Britain Coach, but didn’t travel, for 2017 European Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark