Green Smoke

By Nic

An Ealing Victory is what I’ve titled this, a play on the works from the studio of yesteryear that produced Ealing Comedies. Classics such as The Man in the White Suit and after watching the superb display by The Girls in the White Uniforms (see what I did there?), I also wanted to try to get in as many ‘football-esc movie title connections’ as possible from that era such as ‘A Run for your Money’ or ‘Touch and Go’ but it wasn’t going to work. The Flag Football I witnessed in West London on May 22^nd 2023 certainly did work and it was marvellous! I’ll get back to this is in a moment though…

By now you would’ve read the article I wrote prior to this one entitled ‘What’s the game plan?’ and in it I mentioned that the Flag Football in Ealing was something I wish I could’ve gone to with family and I have been told that the Jets took note of this, confirmed by the fact that Nick Mangold tweeted a response. It might have already been on the cards that the Flag Football championship final was open to the public, but if it was the case that the Jets took note of what I wrote then much credit to them and I feel blessed to follow a team that listens to the fans and actually wants to improve the engagement with them. I thank the New York Jets again for the opportunity to witness it, taking the time to discuss the article with me and I very much look forward to further events in the future.

The inaugural championships took place at the Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club in West London and was the culmination of six weeks of games leading up to it, consisting of two divisions (NY Jets and Chicago Bears) with six teams in each. It was a beautiful, warm sunny evening, BBQ & Ice Cream were available to the participants with Jets 2004 draft pick Erik Coleman in attendance along with the delightful Phoebe Schecter and Bears alumni, Shaun Gayle. I went along with my better half who of course wore a Raiders jacket… prompting Erik to tell us a very touching story of when he played for Gang Green and that his late father would wear a Jets jersey to games but would always wear his Raiders jacket over it. Silver & Black through-and-through, just like my Kimmi.

As the sun was setting over the capital the final between Ealing Fields and Beaconsfield was about to start, I overheard a young lady comment to her elders that she “should’ve been in the Jets league as the Bears are rubbish” and that tickled me. We were invited to stand right next to the playing field which added to the excitement and enjoyment and I let out a lone Jets chant as they were kicking off to which people probably thought me barmy, but that’s what we Jets fans are, isn’t it?

“Did she score a goal?” one mum asked me following an Ealing Fields TD, they’re still learning the game and that’s the beauty of Girls Flag Football, people who would’ve not ever considered following American Football are taking an interest and you would never had guessed from the superb quality on the field that some of the girls hadn’t even played the game before it all started six weeks prior. They played with so much enthusiasm and passion and eventually after a thrilling game, Ealing Fields from the Jets conference took the W to become champions. They received a gorgeous looking trophy, medals and Jets mini helmets too.

They now go on to play against Germany’s champions in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium during one of the London Games weekends. Good luck ‘Fields’!