Oxford Saints marked their 25th anniversary with three days of celebration.

Originally called the Oxford Bulldogs, the club was founded by Steve Abbott after he watched the Super Bowl between the Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins on Channel 4 in January 1983.

Since then they have become firmly established in the British American Football League, winning divisional championships in 1995 and 2006 and five Conference championships.

They were based at Oxford City's White House Ground for their first season, before its closure led them to move to Oxford Rugby Club's Southern Bypass.

Renamed Oxford Saints in 1990, they moved to Oxford Stadium in 1992, staying there for five years before returning to their current home at Oxford RFC.

Many former players, officials and supporters attended the weekend's celebration, which began with an informal gathering on Friday.

However, there was also great sadness as Saints former team owner Roger Hedges died last year.

A bench was dedicated to Hedges on Saturday.

And, in the evening, 250 people attended a function when the huge contribution he made was recognised when he was posthumously inducted into the Bulldogs/Saints Hall of Fame.

Hedges formed part of the inaugural group of inductees, who included several players from the first Bulldogs team which played in the 2003/4 season when they were the South West Division champions.

Among them were Abbott and the team's first head coach, Pete Cole.

In his message to the club, Cole told members what started as a bunch of rag tag individuals getting together in Cutteslowe Park in 1983 had turned into one of the UK's most successful American football teams.

Cole, a teacher and high school football coach from New Jersey, was in Oxford on a year's sabbatical, when he came across the "formative" Bulldogs team.

"I fully expected to spend a quiet year in Oxford, but somehow I was 'talked into' coaching the guys," he recalled.

"We had a successful first year in the inaugural American Football League, and the rest is history."

Former Bulldogs and Saints quarterback Bob Johnson, who guided the team to the first of their two national titles, also sent a message of congratulations to the team from his home in the USA.

Saints rounded off their celebrations with a game against Gloucester Banshees on Sunday.

And the appalling weather didn't spoil the occasion as Saints ran out easy 32-6 winners with many players enjoying the opportunity to play in unfamiliar positions.

Chris Taylor bagged a brace of touchdowns, with Brian Myers, Andrew Day and Ben Saunders also crossing the Gloucester line.

Adam Newman added two extra points.