The Celebrations in Sheffield and Swindon will always be remembered, the league champions story began well before those memorable games.


The Wildcats went into the summer of 2025 knowing a few key pieces of their roster were already signed up, Chris Jones; Glenn Billing and Tyler Plews to name a few. However, the first new face of the summer came almost immediately after Coventry weekend last year when Ben O’Connor was announced as a Wildcat. The next major arrival was Owen Griffiths from the Manchester Storm.


As ever, the import quota would be key for the Cats. New faces Tyler Watkins and Logan Vande Meerakker were added alongside Tomasz Malasinski and news the Cats fans all wanted was the confirmation that Ryan Wells also agreed to return to Swindon.


Going into the new season it began with a successful training weekend and pre-season. Wins against the Bison and Tigers ensured a split set of pre-season results before the Cats secured a big four point weekend to start the season with wins against Solway and Hull.


More wins came against Romford, Sheffield and Hull before dropping our first point of the year on the road to the Phantoms, losing in overtime. As we pushed closer to Halloween more memorable games occurred with a big 7-1 win against Basingstoke, before a 3-1 win in the first South-West derby of the year against Bristol at the Link Centre.


As the news broke in the first half of the season that Aaron Nell would be retiring at the end of the season, the objective of the league title continued to be the main goal for the team as we rolled into the festive season. Attendances over the Christmas period shot up, sell-out after sell-out but the Wildcats suffered their first back-to-back defeat of the season losing to MK and Bristol.


The December highlight was a 10-1 demolishing of the Solway Sharks, and the final game of 2025 saw a 5-3 win against the Pitbulls at the Link. Moving into 2026, the cup semi final saw Leeds and Swindon renew their knockout rivalry with the Knights securing the 3-0 win at home which saw them through to the final.


From then on, it was all focus on the league title. Aaron Nell boosted the ranks with Caden Villegas flying in from Texas and immediately made an impact with 5 points on debut in a 9-1 win over the Tigers. At the end of January, a freak injury to Ben O’Connor would see him miss the remainder of the season as the Cats began to map out the path to the trophy against the Steeldogs.


The Steeldogs had been having an impressive season, and almost all Swindon fans had circled the game on the 28th February as being an important one in the title race. Few knew how important that game would be on the morning of. Permutations and calculations had been done, a win in Yorkshire would seal the title. Chris Jones, one of the longest serving players, etched his name into history with an OT winner at 61:56 securing Swindon’s first National League Title in over 20 years.


The following weekend saw the trophy lift in Swindon, where the now confirmed retiring Sam Bullas lifted the trophy in front of a sell out in Swindon.


The class of 25/26 became heroes in a town who had been known for being close, but not close enough. Not anymore. The League Champions of 2025/26.


Written by Ben Callaghan