Flag football ready to take off in S’pore ahead of 2028 Olympics

Crouched down and eyes locked as they face one another in a horizontal line on a field, there is eager tension in the air as 10 men eye an oval-shaped ball while awaiting the go-ahead for the game to start.

What looks like a game of touch rugby to passers-by at the Ai Tong School field is actually flag football – a non-contact variant of American football that is gaining traction in Singapore.

It may be a niche sport but interest in flag football has been gathering steam after it was revealed in October as one of six new sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Not many people know this but Singapore has a flag football national team – formed only in July 2023 and consisting of about 20 locals.

Singapore Flag Football Association (SFFA) executive officer Stephen Gonzalez said: “Initially, we wouldn’t even get 10 people showing up. So essentially it was like, let’s just go out here and throw a football around for a few hours. Maybe run a few routes, and that’s basically it.”

In 2014, as interest in the National Football League (NFL) grew, SFFA was able to set up an eight-week league season that ran thrice a year. Before every new season, a draft process is used to reallocate the pool of about 80 players into four different teams.

The league, played in an eight-on-eight format, is an important platform for local players to get match experience.

National flag footballer Nathaniel Tan, 22, said: “When I first started, I wasn’t really that experienced, so I didn’t have much playing time. Everyone was really competitive but I stuck to it."

They then formed the national team to compete in the inaugural Asia Oceania Flag Football Championships in Kuala Lumpur in October. British expatriate James Rosewarne, who has played in the SFFA league since 2018, volunteered to coach the team.

Tan said: “Other countries had years of practice and many selections before they formed their teams, while for us it was just getting to know each other every Saturday before we headed off for the tournament. Even during the games, we were still figuring out what each other does and our different playing styles.”

In 2024, the national team will be back on the international stage at the Aug 25-30 Flag Football World Championships in Finland alongside 23 other nations.

SFFA also intends to register as a national sports association so that the national team can qualify for, and compete in, major events such as the SEA Games and the 2028 Olympics.

A Paris debut would be a dream come true for the national athletes.

With the Los Angeles Games five years away, Gonzalez hopes more locals will pick up the sport. “These are very early days for us and it’s definitely going to be an uphill battle. But do we want to send a team to the Olympics? Absolutely. Yes."