COME November 5th there will be a lot of fireworks inside Saffron Lane Stadium in Leicester and it will have nothing to do with bonfire night.

At 6pm, the Lancashire Wolverine Colts will go head-to-head with the London Olympians to decide the first National Champions of the new Millennium.

Last year, the Wolverines kept it close against the O's cross-town rivals, the Capitals, in an enthralling contest that finished 34-20 in the Cap's favour. In a few weeks, Lancashire will have the opportunity to recapture the Division 1 crown.

Steve Norris, Chairman of the Wolverine's Board of Directors said, "When London beat us last year, we said that they were only keeping the trophy warm for us. Unfortunately, we won't be able to revenge that defeat on the Capitals, but the O's will do quite nicely."

It is safe to say that of all the teams competing for this ultimate prize, no two teams deserve that chance more than Lancashire and London. The Wolverines have been the most successful team in the last half of the '90s, winning 33 games in five years and only losing four, three of those coming in Division 1 Finals. The two championships that the Wolverines have won came in back to back years, 1997 and 1998. London, on the other hand, were last year's National Flag Champions and Division 2 Champions.

The reason for Lancashire's instant success must be attributed to the coaching. Paul Day (who is now head coach of the senior team) took on the job in 1996 and led the Colts to the Div.1 Final that year, and in fact every year since then.

At the start of this season Day stepped down and Jim Blinkhorn filled the vacant role and once again the Youth team is competing for the top spot. Lancashire has produced a number of international quality players over the years, with 15 being chosen to represent their country in Day's tenure as head coach, while Blinkhorn has had four players pull on the Great Britain jersey this year.

As for London, they make the Wolverines, who have only been in existence for five years, look like the oldest team in the country. This is just their second season and in spite of the lack of team experience they are favourites to take their first Championship at the top flight. Like Lancashire, the coaching has played a major part in their success.

All of the O's coaches were on the coaching staff for the GB Youth Lions this summer, one of whom played professional American Football in the early 1990's before hanging up his boots. The team also has very close ties to NFL Europe, the continent's only professional league. The O's also sent Marvin Allen to Team Europe last year.

Even though the Wolverines have more rookies than veterans this year, Chip Buttery of the National Gridiron Association thinks the northern outfit can win. "If any team can pull off an upset then Lancashire can. The O's have been a big dog in a small yard in the Southern Conference but they haven't played a team like the Wolverines yet. One thing you can always say about these northern boys, they play hard!"