Schoolteacher Ambrose Griffiths has to explain to his students why he arrives for work battered and bruised.

The 24-year-old from Shipley, a teacher at Keighley College, plays corner back for the Yorkshire Rams American football team - and is basically responsible for flattening the opponent's wide receivers. But this doesn't always go to plan.

Griffiths is still a rookie in his first year with the Rams, who play in the British American Football League First Division at Westgate Redoubt's amateur rugby league in Wakefield.

Also in the team are Andy Hewitt, a systems analyst from Wilsden and Stuart Jones from Keighley.

Unlike soccer and rugby, there are hordes of substitutes clamouring on the touchline to get on during games.

"We have 55 in our squad and the games are 11-a-side," said Griffiths, who had to shell out £250 for equipment including his helmet and body padding. "But it will last me for the ten years I plan to be playing," he said.

"You get a few bumps and bruises. When I turn up at school bruised, my students want to know what has happened!"

The Rams lost their first game of the season against East Kilbride but then beat Chester Romans.

Fans don't exactly flock to the ground - it is mainly family and friends who provide support.

Manager Keith Clarkson said: "The sport is becoming popular again after its heydays of the late eighties and early nineties.

"The Rams climb a few more rungs of the Gridiron ladder each season.

"2002 was our most successful year to date, losing just one of our regular season games, away to our old foes the Nottingham Caesars. We'd had a good influx of new players and they came on well, mixing with the veterans to produce a well balanced team.

"As the season progressed we became more excited about the prospect of reaching the play-off with a chance to get through to the final, but no-one dared say it!"

The Rams won the Division Two Northern Conference and won the play-off games to reach the Division Two final at Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield.

"The only drawback was that we were to play the Division Two Southern winners, the Norwich Devils, who beat us in the play-offs the year before," said Clarkson.

The Rams did lose but only in the last two minutes and they still gained promotion to Division One.

With a number of rookies in the team - and an introduction to top-flight football against one of the powerhouses of British American football - the East Kilbride Pirates. It was a tough baptism. The Rams lost 72-6.

"But there wasn't one downhearted player on the field, the rookies learned from it and it made them better players," said Clarkson.

The second game was against the Chester Romans, and the Rams won 14-12 and had three touchdowns disallowed!

The Yorkshire Rams are currently seeeking sponsorship.

They can be contacted via their website - www.yorkshirerams.co.uk