The clocks have gone back, the nights are drawing in and the biggest season of student football is about to get underway tonight.

Week 1 of the BUAFL season sees some cracking match ups as teams look to start the season with a win to build momentum towards achieving a play off berth in February.

In the Border Conference the Spartans will be hoping that thrashings from Geordies is confined solely to the confines of the soccer pitch whilst the Edinburgh Napier Knights will be looking to be the first team to beat the Glasgow Tigers in over a year of regular season football.

The Northern Conference sees a mouthwatering clash between the Leeds Celtics and the Sheffield Sabres and whilst it is too early to make definitive predictions on which teams will be hoisting silverware aloft at the end of the season, the outcome of that game could go a long way to determing Conference champions. At the same time, the MudDogs from the Northern Conference will take on Tarannau from the South Western Atlantic Conference in a spicy Welsh derby.

In the MAC the bragging rights for Leicestershire are up for grabs as the Longhorns look to punch a hole in the hull of Loughboroughs Fast Boats and in the SWAC new boys the Bath Spa Bulldogs will be tested by the fast developing Demons team from Exeter.

In the Thames Valley and South Eastern Conferences there is an all new league affair as the Regents travel to the Burners whilst student football stalwart Phil De Monte will take his Panthers to Royal Holloway to tangle with the Bears.

Before all of that, the back to back undefeated champions the Birmingham Lions will host Carnegie in the biggest game in British student sport - xpLosION.

The event kicks off at 18:00 hours with live commentary at the venue from BBC Sports Neil Reynolds.

Getting to xpLosION: https://www.sport.bham.ac.uk/

BAFA Director for Student Football Andy Fuller expressed his excitement at the prospect of the new season. It is great to have the season finally start tonight and I have no doubt that xpLosION will again prove to be the greatest spectacle in British student sport this year. Our thanks go to the staff at Birmingham who work so hard to promote our sport.

Beyond that, 60 teams will be in action over the next two weeks and we have another 15 waiting in the wings, seeking to develop or strengthen their programmes. Our teams, their coaches, their committees, their student unions, the community clubs who support many of them make me very proud this weekend. I cannot thank them enough for their tireless effort and commitment in recent months and both Caleb and I wish them the very best of luck for the season.