Andy Keith
Digital Media Officer
My journey with Flag Football started back in 2017 after a few years playing the fully kitted side of American Football (helmets and shoulder pads). I wasn't enjoying playing kitted but also wasn't ready to give up the sport entirely.
Aberdeen Flag Football Club has been around since 2003 and are one of the longest established Flag Football organisations in the country.
Today we are a 365 day a year club competing in both tiers of the British American Football Association (BAFA) National Flag Football League (NFFL), with our Premiership side, the Oilcats, and our Division 1 side, the Silvercats. The NFFL, which is made up of around 70 teams across the whole of Britain and is made up of mixed-gender teams, typically runs from April to September.
The club is entering our first ever all-Women's team into the BAFA Women's Flag Football League this season, making us the home of the only Women's team north of the central belt in the UK. This is a really exciting milestone for the club and something we've been hoping to do for a long time.
We're also running Friday Night Flag over at ASV every Friday night over winter for anyone who wants to join in on playing Flag without the commitment of joining a nationally competing team.
A game is made up of two halves of 20 minutes played on a field about half the size of a normal full-sized American football field. Each team has five players on the field at a time. Each player wears “flags”, tags attached to their belts. Points are scored in the same way as the kitted game, scoring touchdowns by moving the ball into your opponent's endzone, either by running it or throwing/catching it. Defenders aim to stop this by tackling players with the ball or intercepting passes.
Getting into the details and the strategies is where the game can get interesting. There's something very satisfying about running a well-executed play, with all five players on the same page. I've always loved team sports and the camaraderies you can make. Watching the team grow and playing a part in that is really rewarding. But honestly, selfishly, nothing really beats catching touchdowns!
My favourite day came in last year's playoffs down in Manchester. It was a scorching day playing in 30 degree heat and we had a tough slate of games against really good teams. We won our first game of the day, which meant our reward was a matchup against the defending National Champions the London Smoke. We didn't win that game in the end but it was a really high-level and close game right to the very end, which no one expected us to really compete in. We ended up playing five games that day, the maximum possible number. We finished 6th in the country and the team spirit and general vibes of the day was really high. The most fun day of Flag I've ever played.
I have also been working with the Great Britain national teams as a photographer for a bit over a year now. I felt there'd been a real lack of coverage regarding the GB Flag teams over the years and in the build up to the European Championships last year I tracked down the email address of the people in charge and told them why that should change and why I should be the person to do it! After working at a training camp I ended up securing a media pass for the Championships in Ireland and have been working with the team ever since, travelling to camps in England and Prague, the Euros in Limerick and World Championships in Lahti, Finland. And our Women's team did win the Euros by the way!
You can see a bunch of those pictures on my site: andykeith.photo
If you're interested in trying Flag, find your nearest team and try it! The sport is going through a big surge in popularity across the world after the announcement it will be included in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 so whether you're a casual fan of the NFL, looking for a new hobby or think you could make the Olympic squad there's never been a better time to get involved. The sport is inclusive with teams of all ages, sizes and experience levels. Feel free to get in touch with me or the team at @aberdeenflagfootball on social media.
