Sports question for our United Kingdom members

This question is in regards to American Football in the UK.

I heard on our local radio sports program this morning, that the University of Oklahoma (OU) football program is actively recuiting a kid from the UK to play the position of Linebacker (defensive position) in American Football. i did not catch the kids name or town and have not yet found an official story on this on the net yet.

Now I know that there is a National Football (American) Professional league in Europe. I don't follow it enough, but I know most of the players are American's who are trying to make it in the US NFL.

Anyways, I found it interesting OU is recruiting this kid for two reasons.

1) Is there American youth leagues or High School (college I think you call it) leagues in the UK? I didn't think American Football was that popular there. The kid would have to be very good, by US standards, I would think because:

2) The University of Oklahoma is one of the PREMIER university football teams in the history of the sport. They recurit from all over the country, and have one of the highest winning percentages in the country. I could see a kid in the UK if he wanted to play american football going to a Junior College, or Division II team....a kid from Europe being recruited by OU, (or USC, Alabama, Notre Dame, Ohio State, or some of our other premier teams) to play as a scholarship player would be a great achievement or honor. I don't know if any other schools are looking at this kid (if OU is probably someone else is or will too).

I guess my question is what is the state of American Football in the UK?? There must be a decent program somewhere for the kid to get linebacker position skills good enough to warrent attention from a school (or schools) of that caliber of the sport.

A few links on Oklahoma Football for any of our friends across the pond if your interested.

www.soonersports.com

en.wikipedia.org...



BOOMER SOONER!!!!!! RAH OKLAHOMA!

reply to post by SrWingCommander


I don't know much about American Football.as i only follow the real thing lol

Here is a link to the chap you are referring to:-

www.bbc.co.uk...

I must admit growing up in the UK I never played or heard of anyone who was playing American football, it was just football (soccer) or rugby. A few years ago my girlfriend at the time said her school kids were being taught it once a month.
Saying that, she did teach at a special school and a lot of these type of programs exist to help the children.
On the whole I'd say American football is steadily becoming popular due to the once a year game at Wembley.
Here's a couple of useful links.

www.nfllondon.net...

www.bafa.org.uk...

The town I live in has their own team and a few schools nearby teach it as part of their sports I believe.

Chester Romans

reply to post by SrWingCommander

1) Is there American youth leagues or High School (college I think you call it) leagues in the UK? I didn't think American Football was that popular there. The kid would have to be very good, by US standards, I would think

Yes, as far as I'm aware there is.

A couple of years ago now I was at "Britbowl", which is the UK rquivalent of the Superbowl as it was held here in Doncaster at the Keepmoat stadium which I live nearby. As well as the big game between the top 2 teams in the UK from that year (I believe It was Coventry vs one of the London teams, maybe a team called "London Blitz" if I remember right) there was around 4 or so other games being played that day (and there was some games the day before too), most of which were from younger teams - around teenager level in fact.

I've never personally encountered these "youth leagues" myself however, but after seeing the top young teams from the different parts of the UK face off at Britbowl in various different games, I'm pretty sure there's active leagues around the UK. There must be for those teams to face off in the Britbowl final after all.

I guess my question is what is the state of American Football in the UK??

Outside of the Unites States and Canada, the UK is probably the biggest place in the world for "American Football." I know there have been some pretty big signings, particularly for some of the London teams, and I know my local team has a few pretty talented American players as well.

I've seen a few of the UK games shown on tv as well, particularly the yearly Britbowl which is shown on Sky Sports.

Hope this answers your questions.

American Football = Glorified Rugby with PPE

Not a fan of 'soccer'/Football Ye' know, Foot on ball **Cough cough** American "Foot"what ball?

Im a big fan of Rugby, which is allot like American football, you guys should watch it i bet you would enjoy it

I know there is some places where you can get in a team to play American Football over here in the UK, but its a very small scene. The scene is getting bigger down south though, London ways.

reply to post by alldaylong


Thanks for the link. I don't think that is the same kid as the one in the link now lives in Georgia, and the article says he is looking at the University teams in the area of the SE so he can be close to family.

It seams our coach just traveled to the UK to see this kid. Good story nonetheless.

Scottish Claymores, beyond that I know nothing of UK based American football its just Rugby for sissy's lol

reply to post by n00bUK



Actually, there is quite a bit of kicking in american football, often decieding games in the last moment. But the kicking is a set piece part of the game and not something fluid like in soccer (er football in brit speak!).

I have watched (and even played or attempted to play LOL) Rugby. Fun, but I like the strategy of American Football, which was in part designed to be a minature war game, and it's strategy, to a degree, was based of Napoleonic type tactics. Essentially, it developed right after the American Civil War, mostly in colleges and universities, as a combination of soccer and rugby with a unique American flair. Early games were more like ".brawls with a ball". The current and standard form today developed in the early 1920's. Game film from games back in the late 30's strongly resemble what's played now.

Originally posted by trustnothing
Scottish Claymores, beyond that I know nothing of UK based American football its just Rugby for sissy's lol

Sissies!!!!!

\Well we have to pay for our health care, its not provided by the government...yet. We figure it's best to wear armor to prevent the injuries/bill LOL....

It used to not be played with the helmets and pads.....but President Teddy Roosevelt demanded more stricter rules and some protective equipment during his administration.....too many players were getting KILLED....literally.

Even today, we have some fatalities...mostly due to heat stroke as the game is most popular in the American South and Mid and South West....were the season starts in late August when the temps are around 105 degrees plus....that would be what 43+ C or so for you guys....

since americans learnt they suck at soccer, and football (soccer) is an english game, they decided to change the rules.

because they hate anything english, and want desperately to separate themselves from their heritage, like spelling colour without the u or driving on the opposite side of the road, they made modifications to the english football game.

first, they decided it takes to much skill to dribble around opposing players with their feet, so they said what the f-ck, lets pick it up with our hands and run with it. a clear violation of the rules punishable by ejection.

then they realized it was stupid to keep running into a net with a ball. so they got rid of it all together. since there was no net, a goal keeper was pointless.

they added tackling because it was near impossible to take the ball away from someone.

once they added tackling, the game was extremely boring because no one was scoring. they added the forward pass to speed up the game. by speed up i mean it takes 3-4 hours for a game now, instead of the 6-7 hours it used to take.

and they crown a "world" champion every year for a game they only play and that has absolutely no interest or following anywhere outside of n. america.

reply to post by randomname


Bitter are we, maybe I am reading "tone" into this were it isn't....????


Wow....my question was about the state of youth American Football in the UK....I am aware most UKers don't like it.....I didn't ask for a play by play of drivel. Everyone else provided some great answers with some good natured fun.....but you know, anything to turn it into an Anti American tirad. Maybe you were just being goofy and I missed it????

I could go on about how I think soccer is for the timid and weak, as slamming into each other basicly trying to kill each other is more difficult.

By the way, I (and most early American"s) ethnicity is German, not English.....Dang right they were trying to seperate themselves from English heritage.

reply to post by randomname


You're so wrong! American football didn't come from football it evolved from rugby.

wiki.answers.com...

www.bafa.org.uk...

Hey, that was a good site, looks like the sport is more popular there then I would have thought.

Good discussion!

reply to post by SrWingCommander


You are welcome



The History of American Football can be traced back to The British games of Football and Rugby:-

en.wikipedia.org...

The history of Baseball can be traced back to The English game of Rounders:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Hockey came from The English Public Schools:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Basketball was invented by the British_American James Naismith:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Britain also invented the games of Tennis, Table Tennis and cricket amongst others.

Originally posted by SrWingCommander

Originally posted by trustnothing
Scottish Claymores, beyond that I know nothing of UK based American football its just Rugby for sissy's lol

Sissies!!!!!

\Well we have to pay for our health care, its not provided by the government...yet. We figure it's best to wear armor to prevent the injuries/bill LOL....

It used to not be played with the helmets and pads.....but President Teddy Roosevelt demanded more stricter rules and some protective equipment during his administration.....too many players were getting KILLED....literally.

Even today, we have some fatalities...mostly due to heat stroke as the game is most popular in the American South and Mid and South West....were the season starts in late August when the temps are around 105 degrees plus....that would be what 43+ C or so for you guys....

You know I was just kidding, yes American football is pretty brutal, always struck me how with all that armour on and yet the knees are so exposed, screw that frankly.

My fav movie about american football was "Any given Sunday" its seems someone put the whole thing on youtube here, so folks feel free to watch it
www.youtube.com...

Here is another good wiki article on college (university) football, showing it's orgins in primarily rugby.....

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by alldaylong
reply to post by SrWingCommander

 

You are welcome

The History of American Football can be traced back to The British games of Football and Rugby:-

en.wikipedia.org...

The history of Baseball can be traced back to The English game of Rounders:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Hockey came from The English Public Schools:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Basketball was invented by the British_American James Naismith:-

en.wikipedia.org...

Britain also invented the games of Tennis, Table Tennis and cricket amongst others.

And Scotland invented the modern game of football *back of the net!! news.softpedia.com...

I thought it interesting that last nights college national championship featured 15 or 21 points came from field goals (kicks).......for those that said there were no kicking. The two teams previous game had all points scored by field goals, not touchdowns.

Soccer is the most corrupt sport in the world. It's full of cheaters, fixed games, crooked officials, divers and fakers.

And I'm not even going to get into the fact that the majority of games are extremely boring. And yet, the Brits love the game for some reason and that's fine. But why do you have to come on here and insult American football with your weak "why is it called football when you use your hands?" argument?

Soccer has a "throw" in. Why do you call it football when there is a "throw" in? How can a game be decided with a "hand" ball like when Thierry Henry cheated against Ireland and in the last World Cup with the Argentinian? There are criticisms on both sides.

Live and let live. I'm Canadian and ice hockey is the fastest, toughest, most exciting sport in the world bar none. You Brits don't play it too well but that doesn't mean I hate you. Why can't we just all get along and enjoy our sports without insulting the others?