Flag soccer, a non-contact model of American soccer, is quickly catching on within the UK with a surge within the variety of colleges concerned and participation numbers set to hit 100,000 by 2026.
Fuelled by an lively marketing campaign by the New York-based NFL to encourage younger individuals in Britain to strive the much less violent various, groups with names such because the Northants Geese, the South Coast Spitfires and the London Fruit Bats are experiencing rising demand.
Faculty PE lecturers have reported elevated curiosity amongst kids pushed partly by the sport’s rising international profile in addition to dad and mom’ considerations that rugby and full-contact American soccer pose too nice a threat of mind harm. This yr, 343 colleges entered occasions for the UK NFL Flag Nationwide Championship, a 78% annual improve.
“Within the final three years it has gone berserk,” stated Jay Taylor, who based the Fruit Bats flag soccer membership in Ealing, west London. “Flag soccer has an opportunity of sticking right here, as a result of there may be nothing prefer it.”
The profile of flag soccer has additionally been boosted by the Worldwide Olympic Committee’s resolution to incorporate the game for the primary time on the 2028 Los Angeles Video games and by the NFL’s change of its end-of-season showpiece Professional Bowl match from full contact to flag.
It’s one among a number of fast-growing new sports activities within the UK that embrace pickleball, a model of brief tennis utilizing a strong bat that has develop into vastly standard in California and is now catching on from Cornwall to Newcastle. Padel, a cross between tennis and squash beloved {of professional} footballers, can be spreading with the previous Wimbledon champion Andy Murray amongst these opening courts.
Flag soccer is a model of the sport by which defenders make “tackles” by grabbing a cloth “flag” hooked up by Velcro on each participant’s belt fairly than the sort of crunching bodily assault that folks, and docs, more and more concern could cause long-term mind harm. As an alternative of 11 absolutely armoured gamers on the pitch for both sides, 5 to seven take the sphere in simply shorts, T-shirts and trainers. The ideas of the sport are the identical: the offence attempting to advance the ball by a sequence of pre-planned performs whereas the defence tries to cease them.
The Fruit Bats have already got 70 gamers aged 14 and beneath. In contrast with soccer, which is performed by greater than 3.3 million kids, the possibilities of success are larger. A major draw seems to be the NFL’s annual invitation to the most effective college groups to compete in a world event in Florida.
Taylor stated the NFL and a number of other of its skilled groups have been additionally fast to help colleges and golf equipment by providing balls and flag belts. The Jacksonville Jaguars have been selling “Jag Tag” within the UK for a number of years. This yr the New York Jets, owned by Donald Trump’s former ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, and the Chicago Bears introduced an growth of their women’ tag soccer league within the UK.
Jacob and Leia, each 11, are members of the Little Ealing main college workforce that gained the nationwide title this yr and are as a result of compete on the February 2025 NFL Flag World Championships in Florida.
Leia, who performed her first sport when she was 10, stated: “I by no means knew the game earlier than. You get to run way more and there’s a playbook which is kind of enjoyable and the quarterback will get to determine what play we do.
“You want to have the ability to bounce excessive, get into house, watch the ball, run quick and dodge gamers.”
Jacob added: “It is advisable to ensure you pay attention nicely and actually perceive what you might be doing.”
Amid the college’s success, the PE instructor Bobby Behzadi stated he had been inundated with a “ridiculous” variety of gamers eager to hitch subsequent yr’s workforce, their curiosity boosted by the potential of a visit overseas. However a part of the recognition is the vary of roles on every workforce suiting individuals with completely different strengths.
“Pace helps, however the thinkers can get into it too,” Behzadi stated. “It’s a sport of cat and mouse. There’s a number of resolution making and exploiting and discovering weaknesses within the opposition defence. Now we have individuals who won’t be the quickest runner however have good arms and might play quarterback.”
