A sport aiming to take away all the kit – but none of the fun – from American Football now has another team in Nottingham.
Flag Football has many of the same rules but none of the contact you would usually see in conventional American Football.
It aims to attract people who are more into the athletic and tactical side of the sport, rather than its notoriously physical edge.
Instead of padded kit, players wear ‘flags’ around the waist on belts which are snatched away, replacing traditional heavy tackling.
There are now around 50 flag football teams in the UK, compared with almost none a decade ago.
And the Nottingham Honeybadgers have recently become the city’s second team, having moved from Mansfield.
Training at the Forest Rec, the side is now the second in town, following Nottingham Bears.
Tom Snee, who plays for the Honey badgers, believes flag football “lets players developed a real camaraderie”.
Video: How flag football is growing in the UK
Nottingham has a long history of American Football, and the city’s most successful club the Nottingham Caesars have been playing for more than 30 years.
With more people becoming interested in the sport every year, the numbers watching games have also increased.
It is hoped the sport will grow further after the NFL announced more games will be played in England in 2018.
Three London games, two at Wembley, one at Tottenham’s new White Hart Lane football stadium will be held later this year. Four NFL games were held in England in 2017.
Video: Honey Badgers player Tom Snee explains the sport
