Thanks to their Dad’s obsession with American sports, I don’t think my children realise that American Football and baseball are actually not as widespread here in the UK as they are over in the US.
So it was really cool to find out that NFL is actually one of the fastest growing sports in the UK, and is picking up quite the fan base. Subway® sponsor the NFL London Games, and last week I was invited along to watch Subway® present the UK NFL Flag Tournament.
What is NFL Flag?
The NFL Flag tournament, also known as the Summer Bowl, is a day long festival of American Football. There were over 1,000 children aged 8-11 participating in the ‘flag’ (non-contact) national football final.
NFL Flag provides children with the opportunity to get involved with the UK’s fastest growing sport and take part in regional tournaments. Summer Bowl is then the culmination of these regional tournaments and it’s a fantastic day with kids from all over the country competing to be crowned the winners!
This aerial photo of all the NFL Flag participants that were there on the day goes a little way to illustrate the scale of the NFL Flag programme, presented by Subway® -Over 10,000 kids in the UK have already taken part
So, what was the NFL flag like?
I was actually quite taken aback to see SO MANY children who are clearly seriously into NFL. I just didn’t realise it had a huge fan base here, which is great news for my kids who are getting increasingly into the sport. The teams were mixed, too – it’s not just for boys!
Sam participates in an NFL fantasy league every year. It provides a big talking point amongst our friendship group, and naturally our children became interested, asking Sam each morning how he was fairing in the league. This provided the vehicle for their interest in American Football, and I’m so pleased to have discovered the NFL Flag programme presented by Subway because I hadn’t realised this opportunity existed for my children to play NFL in the UK.
Otto is STILL obsessed with this giant American football (I’ve actually had to print out a copy of the “big ball” to stick above his cot).
There were even some NFL players in attendance (Josh Lambo, Kyle Emanuel, Jared Cook, Mack Hollins, Neiko Thorpe, and Jurrell Casey). The lunchtime highlight was watching the special guest stars of American football eating a giant Subway® sub, as you do!
How can you get involved with NFL Flag?
Did you know you can get your own child’s school involved with NFL Flag?
Send this link to your school and ask them to register their interest now! http://www.nfluk.com/news/specialfeatures/article-1/Register-your-school-to-play-Flag-Football/c4c6df2a-9e4e-4302-a06b-350f3069eb27
And for all the subway fans amongst us, Subway® always have great offers on, check out their latest Kids Pak in stores now – and look out for an NFL themed Kids Pak coming in September!
Thanks to Subway® for inviting us to watch the Summer Bowl, we had a great time! This is a paid partnership in return for blog & social media coverage.
3 comments
Thanks for the tip! Our school would be interested to hear about this – I bet my son would love it.
Thanks for sharing this I will have to let my husband know. He is obsessed with NFL and Subway and just getting the kids into sports so ticks all the boxes x
I didn’t think that NFL would be well known amongst children over here but 1000 is a pretty impressive number. It’s good to see that many kids are involved in sports and I’m sure that they all had a fantastic time. Also how big are those subs?! They are huuuuge!