A steady decline
Despite the apparent growing popularity of the sport over the last decade since the birth of the NFL international series in 2007, recent figures have actually shown a rapid decline in people playing the sport in this country since said year.
A year before the Wembley regular season games came about back in 2006 there were around 45,500 people participating in American football in some way, shape or form in the UK. 10 years on and there are now only 28,600 people playing the game in this country.
What's probably more worrying to the people trying to promote the sport in the UK is how much the numbers have spiked up and down in the last decade, with people seeing the sport in a love hate sort of way in regards to playing it themselves.
For example in the 2010/11 season numbers of participation were below 20,000, which was a decrease of close to the same number from the previous season, but obviously figures have risen back up above and currently just below the 30,000 mark.
Picture credit goes to 'galleon news.com'
Are the stats misleading?
Do the stats actually reflect the reality?
The figures in the first section perhaps portray the participation of the sport in this country in a bad light because there so inconsistent, but is it fair to make this assumption.
I spoke to British Universities and Colleges sport events coordinator, Simon Cruise and he told me the figures were somewhat misguidng. Cruise told me: " The participation numbers have actually been really bolstered since we (BUCS) made American football a sport in 2012." Cruise added: "Since we introuduced the BUCS points system to the American football teams we've seen a steady incline of teams joining the league."
Cruise then concluded: "The figures might be a bit shaky because what is actually measured as partcipation, is it playing in sanctioned leagues like ours or throwing a football around in the park. I would imagine any fall in numbers would be at the youth/junior levels."
Cruise has a point to a degree as no other university sport has seen as much growth in participation as American football has over the past five years.
Video credit goes to 'Dbl coverage' on YouTube
What can you actually play?
What's out there to play in the UK?
There are many different types of American football to be played at different levels in a competitive fashion. The UK's goverining body for the sport is the British American football association (BAFA), they run the national leagues for adults, under 19's and under 15's for both the full contact and shorter sided flag versions of the sport under the mantle of the BAFNL. It's improtant to note all levels of the sport in the UK are mixed sex apart from the individual women's competitions.
You also have the already mentioned BUCS leagues, which are designed specifically for student football and for teams in further and higher education to compete against each other across an academic year. We also have women's football where players from student and community backgrounds can play 5 a side and full sided contact football as well as 5 a side flag football.
Finally there is something called the city series where student and community based teams can compete in 5 a side full contact games in events across various cities in the UK.
Picture credit goes to 'footballinternational.com'
But why?
What do the stats really tell us?
The figures do tell us that participation numbers have not got back up to the 45,000 mark they were at in 2007, so the question is why when we've heard so many positive things about where the sport is going in the UK.
One simple answer could be the distinction between watching the NFL and actually playing the game yourself, there is no real reason to be a link. If there is one though, it's most likely a negative one because people spend more time watching than playing and perhaps they look at themselves and go: "I don't look like the guy on the screen, I wouldn't be able to do this safely." That's at least my opinion anyway as my lack of size has always put me off even trying the game in fear of getting hurt.
There are more logistical things to consider as well such as the cost and uniquness of the equipment in terms of it being hard to find. Also it's not free to watch the sport under your Sky Sports subscription and it's really expensive to go to one of the Wembley games, you might have to set aside playing for one season in order for you to attend a game eithier here or in the USA because it's too expensive to do both in such a short space of time.
In conclusion the stats and figures are a bit worrying, but the reality is promising and the reasons why are acceptable and common among any new venture.
Picture credit goes to 'digital.vpr.net'
