Santa Clara (United States) (AFP) – The NFL pushed for years to get flag football into the Olympics, transforming its all-star Pro Bowl game into a showcase of gridiron’s tackle-free variation, and even shoe-horning it into Super Bowl week for the first time this year. “I think it’s one of the hottest sports in the world,” boasted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who played a key role in accelerating the game’s successful entry into the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. “We’re seeing it on a global basis. And I think actually the Olympics are going to be a lot of fun, because it’s going to be a real competition.”
Indeed, since NFL owners last May voted 32-0 to let their players participate, the league’s biggest stars are now jostling for a chance to represent Team USA in two years’ time. New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye on Wednesday told AFP it would be an “honor” to participate. Yet this week’s Pro Bowl — a traditional season-ender that pits the top players from the NFC and AFC against each other in semi-serious competition — was hardly an advert for flag football’s bona fides. Despite the presence of top-tier stars like Joe Burrow, Jared Goff and Ja’Marr Chase, the game quickly descended into farce. At one point, injured Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons drove his mobility scooter onto the field, to the delight of the official broadcast’s excitable commentators.
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It raises the thorny question of whether NFL players are truly serious about playing flag football at the Olympics — and whether they should, given the US already has a serial championship-winning amateur flag team. “I know I’d be honored and proud to play. But there’s a lot of players that probably go before me,” recognized Maye.
The flag football drive is part of the NFL’s major push to capture new markets, encouraging young women at home and fans around the globe who might be put off playing the sport’s more violent popular form. Flag is most noticeably different from regular football in the way tackling is performed — yanking a flag off the ball-carrier’s belt, rather than bulldozing them into the turf. Snatching these dangling fabric tags is itself a unique skill that dedicated flag footballers practice endlessly. “I struggled pulling flags. I struggled with the contact rules,” Team USA cornerback Mike Daniels, who played football at college before switching to flag in 2022, told The Athletic. It is typically played with five players per side, on a smaller field. Quarterbacks must release the ball within seven seconds. Ball-carriers cannot jump to avoid being tackled. “I struggled with the spacing. I struggled with the speed of the game. I still struggle with the IQ of the game,” added Daniels.
Still, NFL players interviewed by AFP this week were adamant their professional colleagues would be best-placed to represent Team USA, in a sport for which anything less than gold would be a national embarrassment. “Their skill sets are the best in the world,” Patriots linebacker Chad Muma told AFP. “You see it every single Sunday…the types of catches, the types of defensive interceptions. It’s something that we work at every single day.” By contrast, most specialist flag footballers have day jobs.
Still, with flag football growing in popularity, particularly overseas, even the NFL’s biggest legends are showing interest. Tom Brady recently announced he will return to the field to play in a global flag football event in Saudi Arabia this March, dubbed the “Fanatics Flag Football Classic.” Current NFL stars including Saquon Barkley and Christian McCaffrey are scheduled to appear. Sean Payton and Kyle Shanahan are lined up to coach.
It seems competition for those coveted Olympics spots will be intense. “Who’d turn down the chance to be an Olympian? That’s pretty sweet, right?” said Patriots linebacker Jack Gibbens. “If I could do anything in the Olympics, I would do it. It could be any sport. I’d try water polo.”
© 2024 AFP
