A team of athletic students from Ealing Fields High School recently represented the United Kingdom in a nail-biting game of flag football against Germany.

The 9 schoolgirls, from years 7 to 9, sailed to victory on the NFL field at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, in October. The game is a form of ‘American football’, or Gridiron

Ealing Fields, winners of the inaugural New York Jets and Chicago Bears NFL Girls Flag League that launched in west London in March, beat German team Stadtteilschule am Heidberg, with a final score of 12-6.

Both sides also attended the 2023 NFL London Games match, Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Buffalo Bills, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, 8 October as special guests, with Ealing Fields on the field as part of a guard of honour for the participating NFL teams.

Humble winners

Martyn Tootell, head of PE at Ealing Fields, in Little Ealing Lane, said: “We had an amazing experience at Tottenham. The girls worked very hard for their victory and remained humble too.”

The New York Jets and Chicago Bears NFL Girls Flag League Championship was held in May, featuring 120 girls aged 12-14 years old, from 12 participating teams. 

Councillor Kamaljit Nagpal, the council’s cabinet member for a fairer start, said: “This was such an exciting opportunity for the girls, huge congratulations to everyone that took part. It’s fantastic to see young people getting involved in sport, especially ones that are not traditionally practiced in all schools.”

Starting young

A number of students at Ealing Fields get a taste for NFL after playing it for the first time in primary school. Little Ealing Primary School has a team that were taken to Las Vegas to play earlier this year.