Rugby, football, netball, hockey and cricket have held a monopoly on kids’ sport for years, but flag football is challenging the status quo.
Registrations for the non-contact version of American football have more than quadrupled in Canterbury over the past five years – and the momentum shows no sign of slowing.
Canterbury Flag Football junior and youth co-ordinator Craig Cowles has been at the forefront of this rapid growth and sees a bright future for the sport in New Zealand and internationally.
“When I took over the junior and youth programme five years ago, we had less than 40 juniors and now we’re getting up to about 180 currently. The growth has been huge,” Cowles said.
Canterbury’s junior flag football competition, featuring 18 teams, runs from January to April, with games held on Friday nights at Marshland Domain.
Flag football is similar to rippa rugby, a game for young rugby players, usually aged 5 to 7.
In flag football, the players wear belts with flags attached to their hips, and defenders stop plays by pulling an opponent’s flag instead of tackling them.
The game is fast-paced and carries a lower risk of injury compared to rugby, making it an appealing option for kids and parents.
Cowles said the accessibility of the sport is a big reason for its surge in popularity.
“It’s not expensive to start up, you only need a few flags and a ball. The ideal thing is that both boys and girls can play together, and different ages can play together too,” he said.
“The exposure of the NFL on TV, kids playing Madden on the PlayStation and the addition of flag football to the 2028 Olympics is also helping to pique a lot of interest.”
After winning the Youth Flag Football national championship in Wellington late last year, a year 7-8 team from St Andrew’s College represented New Zealand at the Youth Flag Football world championships in Orlando, Florida.
St Andrew’s is one of 65 New Zealand schools that have flag football as an official school sport.
After being invited by USA Football, New Zealand will send under-15 and under-17 boys’ national teams to make their debut at the 2025 USA Football Junior International Cup in Los Angeles in June.
