NFL Flag’s First Scottish National Championships hosted at Stirling University

NFL Flag hosted its first Scottish National School Championships from the University of Stirling.

Children of many ages headed to the Gannochy pitches to play Flag Football, competing for a position at the National Flag Championships in England next month. 

Previously winning schools from across Scotland, including the Highlands, Glasgow, and Edinburgh qualified for the event, hoping to progress forward in the championships.

With over fifteen games played between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the championships hosted mixed events with under 11 and 13 players, giving children the chance to play for one common goal: thriving in the game.

Beneath bright skies, constant passionate participation was demonstrated by the children, giving their best shot at a spot in the National Championships at Loughborough University, hosted on July 26, 2024.

Despite Flag Football games during tournaments being typically shorter than average, each one was intense, with every individual play counting just as much as the previous.

NFL’s Head of Community and Grassroots, Dr. Chris Long says: “This is the first time we’ve had a national championship in Scotland. We’ve had smaller programs in certain areas of the country before, but this is the first time we’ve been able to have schools from across the nation competing together in multiple age categories.

“We are really excited to be ramping up not just the quality of the experience, but the number of people that are gaining that experience, hoping to provide a genuine pathway for Scotland that is its own.”

Originating from the United States, Flag Football is a non-contact version of American Football where rather than tackling another player to intercept the ball, they must remove a flag from their opponent, ending their chance of a ‘down’ and scoring points.

“Our aims for these championships are multifaceted,” says Dr. Long. “The key thing is that we want to grow the game in the United Kingdom, globally, and in Scotland especially. We hope that this will be a showcase for more schools in Scotland to look at what’s happening here today and want to add it to their curriculum and get their kids playing.

“We also hope that it showcases the pathway into our game, whether the children go on to the next round or whether they end up playing at the Pro Bowl. There are now more Scots playing in the NFL than there are other Brits at the moment, so I think the pathway is very obvious.

“Highlighting that and having the children that attended this event understand that this is a vehicle for them to get a better education and to potentially find a career on field or off-field is very important.”

Dr. Long’s role is to involve more people in the game of American Football through a playing, teaching, coaching, and refereeing capacity. He says this “stems principally around the development of NFL Flag, which is mixed-sex and accessible for anybody, making it a really good introduction point to the game.

“We need to grow our player and fan base, and develop schools and coaches. We offer a free training program to schools across the UK, providing free equipment, curriculum resources, and this tournament pathway as well.

“In the NFL Foundation we use NFL Flag as a vehicle for supporting social change and growth, running projects across the country. My aim is to use the game for good and highlight the opportunities that our sport provides to everybody that perhaps other sports might not.”

The final standings for the Scottish Flag Championships was as follows: As part of the primary team tournament, Dingwall, remaining undefeated, moves onto the next round and earns their chance to be crowned winners at the National Flag Championships.

Within the secondary team tournament, coming in as the top team in the final standings was St. David’s, winning the highest number of games in their pool. Showcasing their incredible performances in the event, both teams are officially moving on to prove their strengths against other UK Flag Football teams.

The event will be the ‘biggest yet’ as the centrepiece of the UK NFL Flag calendar, bringing together 26 primary and secondary schools from 10 regions across the UK to compete for the title of ‘National Champion.’

Traditionally stemming from the United States, a wariness of whether the game would catch on in the UK was not hidden.

Dr. Long however, explains that their mantra is to remove the barriers that come from introducing new things, like anything else: “We work very hard at removing all various barriers to participation, and that allows whoever’s engaging in the sport to get in and enjoy it. By providing thorough training to people, we remove that lack of understanding and a fear of ‘how does this game work?’

“As soon as people access the game and understand what it’s about, that fear is taken away and they take to it really quickly, so we get really excited and energised by the change in a room when we deliver a training day.”

Recently, it was confirmed that Flag Football would become an Olympic sport, making its debut at LA2028.

Able to empower athletes from a very young age and accessible for anyone around the world, Flag Football remains one of the fastest-growing sport leagues globally, with over 60,000 participants in the UK in more than 650 schools. 

Dr. Long says: “We’d love that to tip over a thousand inside the next couple of years. We added 250 schools in the 2023 to 2024 year, so we’d like to see this consistent growth in our numbers, where our aim is to have 100,000 children playing this game by 2026, and then with a view for it to be amongst the top 10 school sports by 2030. 

“We know this is a fairly aggressive expansion but we want to make sure that we’re doing that in a sustainable way, being driven forward by events such as these.

“In future, universities are a huge area of growth for us. The first touch point with American football for a lot of people in the UK is university. So how we can cater for that first experience better with flag football to go alongside the existing tackle football options in universities is very much something that we’re looking at.”

“As the game grows and opportunities develop, look for opportunities!” says Dr. Long when speaking to university students.

“The NFL is not a closed shop– it’s an open door. If you keep your eyes open, you put the work in– playing, volunteering, or going to your local club, then careers on-field and off-field are very well open.

“This is a very exciting time to be involved in NFL Flag. I encourage anyone that has an interest in it to pay close attention to what we’re doing.”

For more information on this up-and-coming sport, you can visit the NFL Flag website.

Aspiring Journalist
Fourth-year Journalism Student and Sports Editor of BRIG Newspaper at Stirling University