Uprising FC 2026 AFL Season Review
We began our 2026 AFL campaign way back in late February with a game scheduled to take place against East Enders FC. Unfortunately, our would-be opponents that day were unable to field a team therefore we were awarded with a 3-0 win!
With our first game not going ahead, our first on field action came on the 10th of March against Eagle Claw FC which resulted in a resounding 10-0 victory! With the score only 2-0 at half-time, we produced a fantastic display of attacking football in the second period and scored a further 8 goals which on another day could have been more!
Uprising scorers: Leon Whyle (18, 55, 64, 85), Jaiden Fleming (36,), Kashawn Senior (49, 62), Kemari Gumbs (52, 90), Rushane Brooks (70,).
Game 3 was against Sugar George Attackers FC on the 21st of March which turned out to be a real ding dong battle with us ending up on the wrong end of a 3-2 scoreline! Our opponents took the lead in the 16th minute only for Leon Whyle to equalise just six minutes later. Early into the second half, Kashawn Senior put us 2-1 up only for Attackers to draw level in the 77th minute. As the game wore on, it looked like both teams would have to settle for a share of the spoils. However, deep into injury time, former Uprising player Tajay Johnson grabbed a winner for his side to break Uprising hearts!
Just three days after our first defeat of the league season, we got back to winning ways in real style with an excellent 7-0 win over Diamond FC! The game was over as a contest after just 25 minutes as we roared into a 3-goal lead before adding two more before half-time. Two further goals came in the second half to round off a pleasing performance!
Uprising Scorers: Leon Whyle (4,67), Kashawn Senior (10, 25, 36), Kemari Gumbs (45,), Rushane Brooks (86,).
It would be nearly three weeks before we took to the field again with our opponents for our fifth game of the season being Spartans FC. Before the game we were given the welcoming news that both Cardinae ‘Booker’ Rennie (striker) and goalkeeper Shemor Browne were eligible to play again following a suspension received whilst on international duty. With Shemor taking his place in goal, our Player/President Tre Gumbs could take a well-deserved rest after deputising for our regular number one custodian! Not a natural goalkeeper, Tre performed admirably in the games that he played! We got off to the perfect start in this encounter against Spartans when Booker found the net after just four minutes! Despite going into an early lead, we were pegged back in the 21st minute and then went a goal behind just before half-time. Credit must go to the lads though due to battling hard and getting back on level terms through Kashawn Senior in the 66th minute. However, try as we did, we just could not get that all important winner! Final Score 2-2.
Game six of the league campaign came by us taking on Lymers FC who had made an impressive start to the season. In what was a tight game, we were on the end of a 1-0 defeat courtesy of a goal scored by Jabari Williams close to half-time. The second period saw us enjoying plenty of possession, but despite creating several good chances we just could not get that equalising goal!
A few days after suffering our second defeat of the season, we managed to get back to winning ways in style with a comfortable 6-1 win over West End predators. We started the game very quickly and were a goal to the good after just two minutes through Leon Whyle! We doubled our advantage courtesy of an own goal on the half hour mark and went into the half-time interval with a 2-0 lead. The game was over as a contest in the 52nd minute when our opponents conceded another own goal. Three further goals came within the space of three minutes close to full time courtesy of a brace from Leon which completed his hat-trick and a strike from Booker. Our opponents to their credit got a goal back deep into injury time which ended the scoring for the evening.
Just four days after our 6-1 triumph over West End Predators, we came up against the 2025 AFL Champions; Roaring Lions in what turned out to be the game of the season up to this point! Despite starting the game well, we found ourselves 2 goals to 0 down inside the first 30 minutes. Our opponents took the lead in the 21st minute through a very unfortunate own goal from Dajaun ‘SK’ Jacobs with them doubling their advantage six minutes later through Christon Williams. It looked as if we were in for a long night, but we rolled our sleeves up and took the game to Lions! We got a goal back shortly before half-time through Booker and then got back on level terms in the 62nd minute courtesy of a superb strike from Leon Whyle. It would be fair to say that we were now the better of the two teams but despite our best efforts we could not quite force a winner and were made to settle for a share of the points.
Our ninth game of the season was going to be another tough test for the lads as we took on Docs United! We saved our best performance of the season for this one, never looking in any trouble during the 90 minutes, and came away with a comfortable 2-0 win! Goals on the night coming from Leon Whyle in the first half and a strike from Booker in the second period!
Next up it was another meeting against the 2025 AFL Champions Roaring Lions. In what was another brilliant game and a great advert for football in Anguilla, we were again made to settle for a share of the points with the game ending 1-1. We took the lead early on through a debut goal from Rondell Austin before our opponents hit back shortly after which ended the scoring for the night.
Our 11th game of the season was another tough one as we came up against Docs United who we had recently beaten by 2 goals to 0. Despite going into the game with much confidence and taking an early lead courtesy of an own goal, we could not repeat our heroics of our previous game against Docs as we ended up being on the wrong end of a 4-1 scoreline! A game to forget!
We were able to put the disappointment of the defeat to Docs behind us in our next game against East Enders FC thanks to a Leon Whyle goal in the 52nd minute which helped us to a slender but deserved 1-0 win!
Our first game in June was to be against the surprise package of the season Lymers FC who were enjoying a campaign that saw them competing towards the top end of the division. We knew we would be in for a tough game due to losing narrowly against them earlier on in the season, and a tough game is exactly what we got. We got off to a terrible start and found ourselves 2-0 behind after just 17 minutes courtesy of a brace from the Lymers talisman Jabari Williams. We found a way back into the game shortly before half time via an own goal and then Jaiden Fleming made the game all square in the 62nd minute. We threw everything we had at our opponents for the remainder of the game, but we were unable to get that all important winner with the game ending 2-2.
Next up was a game against a much-improved Diamond FC who we had beaten 7-0 earlier on in the campaign. We took the lead in the 17th minute through Rondell Austin and despite creating further chances we could not get that all important second goal which would have gone a long way to making the win safe. Due to this, Diamond stayed in the game and levelled proceedings eight minutes from time. With no more goals in what time was left, it meant that we were made to settle for a second successive draw!
Eagle Claw were our next opponents with the season coming towards an end. We had beaten them 10-0 earlier on in the season and when we took an early lead in this game courtesy of a 14th minute goal from Leon Whyle, it looked likely that we were on our way to a much-needed victory. However, someone once said that football is ‘a funny game’ and Eagle Claw came back to win the game 2-1. This was undoubtedly our worst performance of the season!
Following the disappointment of the result against Eagle Claw, we managed to get back to winning ways just four days later with a 5-2 win over West End Predators. Despite going a goal down early on in proceedings, we roared back with goals from Isaiah Isaac (2), Chadwick Samuels (2), and a strike from Leon Whyle.
Our penultimate game of the season was against Sugar George Attackers FC who we had lost narrowly too in a titanic tussle earlier in the season. This game also proved to be a tight affair with us going down to a 1-0 defeat with the only goal of the game coming in the very first minute of play.
We came up against Spartans FC in our final game of the 2026 AFL season in what was a must win for us if we were to stand any chance of finishing in 4th place thus enabling us to qualify for the Super 4’s competition! In a tight first half, Isaiah Isaac put us a goal to the good in the 27th minute of play with us maintaining that advantage as the game went into the second period. Spartans then got back into the game with them levelling the scores in the 47th minute before we regained the lead 14 minutes later courtesy of a goal from Booker! Eight minutes from time, Spartans were awarded a penalty which was taken by the scorer of their goal, Tarique Jackson. We could ill afford conceding a second equaliser so close to the end of time and due to the heroics of our goalkeeper Shemor Browne we were able to maintain our lead due to the young custodian producing an excellent save! We managed to hold onto our advantage to claim a vital three points!
Despite this important win, we still needed our closest rivals for that fourth-place finish, Lymers FC to be beaten by the recently crowned champions Sugar George Attackers FC. For much of the game it looked like we would receive that favour due to Attackers holding onto a 1-0 lead with a goal scored in the 12th minute. However, deep into injury time, Lymers struck an equaliser to break Uprising hearts which meant we would finish in 5th position!
Season Statistics:
Games Played: 18: Wins: 8, Draws: 5, Defeats 5.
Goals Scored: 48, Goals Conceded 23.
Average Goals Scored Per Game: 2.66.
Average Goals Conceded Per Game: 1.2.
Most Goals Scored in a Game: 10 v Eagle Claw.
Most Goals Conceded in a Game: 4 v Docs United.
Most Appearances: 17 – Leon Whyle.
Top Scorer: Leon Whyle – 15.