Who are we?
We are the Great Britain Men’s and Women’s Flag Football teams. Our athletes will be travelling to Limerick in the Republic of Ireland to represent Great Britain in the IFAF European Championships from 18 - 20 August.
Why are we crowdfunding?
The British American Football Association (BAFA) has a National Programme for contact football teams (Men’s, Women’s, U19, U17) teams and flag football teams (Men’s, Women’s and soon to be U17). The National Programme supports these teams. However, currently there is no key sponsor to support our international competition. In October 2023 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be deciding whether flag football will be a demonstration sport at the Olympic Games of 2028. The signs are good that there will be a positive decision and flag football will be an Olympic Sport. What does this mean for our current crop of athletes and coaches in our two flag teams?
Image @ Matty Ozeri
With the impending decision our international federation, IFAF, are preparing for the European Championships in the spotlight of the decision makers at the IOC. Flag football has been elevated to follow Olympic practices, with an athletes’ village, opening and closing ceremonies, in-competition random drug testing and a range of other activities. Importantly the cost of staying in the athletes’ village has increased since the last tournament, held in Israel in 2019, which will no doubt be due to the cost of living rise. So, we have a pre-Olympic Sport, preparing to be an Olympic Sport, but without the typical funding and sponsorship of an Olympic Sport.
Anyone who is engaged with American Football in the UK will note that domestic and international events delivered by BAFA are funded by the playing community. BAFA National Programme are supporting the GB Men’s and Women’s Flag teams, with playing kit and entrance fees. However, until we can source sponsorship the athletes and coaches have to personally fund the rest, be this travel, accommodation and pitches at training camps in the UK or travel to Limerick, plus the cost of the athletes’ village during the tournament.
How will we spend the money raised?
We are asking you to support the Men’s and Women’s teams by donating funds which will be split equally between the two teams. Ideally we would fund the entire cost to the squads for the tournament. However, whatever you can donate would be gratefully received and will help to reduce the cost pro-rata for each player and coach across the two teams, hopefully bringing the cost back to previous years’ levels. We are trying to avoid there being a cost barrier for our athletes representing their country. Any additional funds raised would be used to support future camps in the UK, with all funds raised staying directly in the National Programme.
Image @andykeithphoto and title image
How can you follow the teams?
We are making plans to make this European Championship much more accessible for our community. We will have some travelling fans and also many more of you following the tournament from the UK. As a build-up to the event, we will be running a media campaign shining a light on our two teams, with individual spotlights on players. We have started already capturing content from our two recent closed camps and we are beginning to share these insights across various social media outlets. We will be following this with interviews and information as the format for the tournament is published by IFAF. We are in negotiations to have a media team at the tournament, providing content around the games, which will be streamed by the host nations. We plan to give you the insight into what it is like to represent GB at a major tournament; hopefully we can inspire the next generation of international flag players and build towards our Olympic ambitions.
Image @ggiffordphotos
How can you play your part?
You can help us support the GB Men's Flag and GB Women's Flag teams by:
1. Making a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spreading the word. Share on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
Any questions?
Fill in this simple form and we can get back to you with some FAQ.
https://forms.gle/zSR1GJouyVsyXEBq7