200,000 people participate every week, and the flag football is aimed at the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Flag football has gradually become one of the favorite sports for young people. Photo courtesy of respondents

Since the beginning of this year, in many football fields in the city, such as Shilibao Football Field, Dongfeng Sports Park, Fangzhuang Stadium, etc., rugby players with waist flags are often seen training or competing. In an interview with the Beijing News reporter, the staff of several venues introduced that since the beginning of this year, the activities of flag football have gradually increased.

This phenomenon is not unique to Beijing. In Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu and other places, flag football has gradually become popular, and even it is difficult to get a ticket to participate in activities.

Jia Hengxuan, senior director of NFL China, said that the popularity of flag football was expected. He believes that the sport is ready for an outbreak.

In 2003, NFL, which just entered the China market, began to promote flag football through its brokerage company. Jia Hengxuan, senior director of NFL China, told the Beijing News reporter that at that time, NFL mainly held training camps for coaches and referees and organized middle school students’ leagues in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Harbin.

In 2007, after the NFL China office was formally established, it adjusted its business development, from the initial offline activities to broadcasting the game content on the media platform. During this period, NFL China gradually formed a system in the flag football match. Jia Hengxuan introduced that in 2008, NFL cooperated with more than 50 colleges and universities such as Tsinghua, Peking University and Fudan University, and set up a football club with flag. By 2015, the NFL’s flag football tournament in China covers primary schools, junior high schools, senior high schools, universities and public groups, with more than 300 teams participating at most.

Although the promotion strategy has been adjusted, in Jia Hengxuan’s view, waist flag football has the potential to become an "explosive" sport. Now, after nearly 20 years of promotion, when the number of domestic players, coaches and referees reaches a certain level, the conditions for the outbreak of this sport already exist.

Through the analysis and positioning of China market, NFL China readjusted its strategy last year, and its focus of work was further tilted towards flag football. Since last year, NFL China began to look for opportunities to promote this sport, restarted the "Apple Seed" program, and continued to train coaches and referees in some cities. By organizing competitions, the champion team will have the opportunity to participate in international competitions. Jia Hengxuan introduced that NFL China plans to build a rugby pyramid in China in five to ten years.

There are 200,000 players participating in flag football every week in China. Photo courtesy of respondents

With the spread of social media, the flag football has been warming up gradually since the second half of last year, and the number of people participating in this sport has increased significantly since March this year.

Compared with the situation that it was difficult for many players to play in teams before, the flag football has now turned into a situation where players often can’t grab the places to participate. A person in charge of the club once introduced that as long as the activities are sent out in the community, the full amount will be registered in a short time. Jia Hengxuan introduced that there are now 200,000 players who participate in the flag football every week in China.

According to the statistics of NFL China at the beginning of the year, there are about 45 national flag rugby communities and societies, and about 150 community and off-campus training institutions. Now every day, clubs or related training institutions for flag football are established, and the number of related communities or institutions may have increased geometrically.

Although flag football has become popular in many big cities, in Jia Hengxuan’s view, the domestic market is still in its infancy, and there is still a certain gap compared with some countries in Europe, North America and even Asia. Take Japan as an example. In the 1980s, Japan began to promote flag football, and in the 1990s, flag football was included as an elective course in primary schools. According to the data of Japan Rugby Association, at present, one third (6,700 schools) in Japan offer flag football courses.

In addition, in addition to the participants of flag football, sports equipment is also a short board. It is understood that at present, major sports brands have not launched rugby series products on the official website in China. Players can only buy them through purchasing or cross-border e-commerce, and a pair of professional rugby shoes with a price of 200 to 300 yuan abroad is basically sold in China. Thousands of dollars.

Equipment is an important part of the sustainable development of sports. The lack of sports equipment market has greatly increased the threshold for players to participate in this sport, and also restricted its popularization and development. Jia Hengxuan revealed that in the past, NFL China had communicated and planned with some brands and manufacturing enterprises, and many brands and enterprises began to pay attention to and invest in the China waist flag football market.

Two years ago, the 2022 Birmingham World Games announced the addition of the flag rugby project. From July 7 to July 17 this year, there will be eight flag football teams from the world’s highest level, both men’s and women’s, appearing in the World Games for the first time. "As an entry in the 2022 World Games, flag rugby will officially become an international sport." Troy Vincent, executive vice president of NFL in charge of game operation, said in an interview with the media.

In the eyes of many people in the industry, it is only the beginning for the flag rugby to become a competition of the World Games, which also means that the sport has a better chance to enter the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. In the past 40 years, badminton, beach volleyball, trampoline and other events have taken the World Games as a springboard. Under the circumstance of successfully entering the Olympic Games, it is quite possible that flag football will become an official event of the Olympic Games.

Earlier, in an interview with the media, Jia Hengxuan once said: "The International Rugby Federation is working hard to promote the establishment of the flag rugby project in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The NFL is fully supporting them. Although the Olympic addition is a huge project, for now, everything is going well."

Whether flag football can become an official event of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games is still unknown, but considering that universality is one of the reference standards when the International Olympic Committee chooses new events, flag football that wants to enter the Olympic Games will inevitably need more support to promote and popularize.

Beijing News reporter Wang Jisong

Editor Han Shuangming

Proofread Lin Zhao