Irish schoolchildren are not stuck for choices when it comes to team sports, with Gaelic football, hurling, soccer, basketball and rugby all vying for players. A new option has entered this crowded arena – the National Football League’s (NFL) flag football.
A pilot programme ran last year in Irish schools and was deemed a success. This year, 60 schools are engaged (35 primary and 25 post-primary) with 4,500 children involved.
The NFL, one of the world’s richest and most powerful sporting organisations, has announced plans to roll out flag football starter kits to 900 post-primary schools on the island of Ireland with support from Sport Ireland and American Football Ireland.
The NFL hopes to grow participation to 50,000 Irish students within two years. Unlike the sport it is based on, flag football only needs five players and, crucially, is a non-contact sport. Players do not need helmets and pads. Instead of tackling, they stop opponents by pulling off a flag or ribbon tied around their waist.
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The NFL brought its A-game, as they say in US sporting parlance, to Thursday’s launch at Kingswood Community College in Dublin. Merril Hoge, a former Pittsburgh Steelers player turned commentator, and Efe Obada of the Washington Commanders were in attendance.
Obada’s back story is inspirational. The 33-year-old was born in Nigeria and abandoned as a child in London, where he lived in numerous foster homes.
While working in a warehouse aged 21, a friend encouraged him to try out for the London Warriors American football team. Soon after, he was signed by the Dallas Cowboys. He has since played 72 games in the NFL, mostly for the Carolina Panthers and the Washington Commanders.
“I had a better chance of winning the lottery 10 times and getting struck by lighting 100 times than this actually happening,” he said of his improbable rise.
American football has never had a higher profile in Ireland than it does today. The recent Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Iowa State and Kansas State was a sell-out at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Following on from that, the first regular season NFL game in Ireland, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings, takes place at Croke Park on September 28th.
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An estimated 600,000 people tried to buy tickets for the sell-out game, with reports of hotels charging multiples of their normal rates for that weekend.
Speaking at the flag football event, Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan warned the hotel sector not “to rob people up to their eyeballs”. He said it would reflect poorly on an industry “looking for everything and anything” from the Government in the next budget.
“They’d want to be very careful as a group going forward before this game to show their sincerity about keeping costs down,” said Mr O’Donovan. “I think that would cloud our judgment about the sector going forward. There is a temptation when people come to town to gild the lily, but it is a really stupid thing to do and it doesn’t go unnoticed.”
