Green Smoke

By Kimmi AKB

The hall was packed with young athletes — eager, excited, and maybe just a little apprehensive — as the Jets coach stepped up to the stage to deliver the welcoming speech.

“A lot of the girls that I see here today… the skill development and improvement we’ve seen from year one until now is amazing,” he said.

And honestly, I have been so honoured and privileged to witness it myself — even if I’m technically a Raiders supporter. You see, for those who don’t know, I’m actually a Jets fan’s ‘sidekick’, and this is now the fourth annual NFL/Jets Girls Flag Football event that I’ve been fortunate enough to attend.

From the initial launch by the Jets and Bears back in 2023, the inaugural season featured just 12 teams and around 130 girls split across two divisions — the Jets and the Bears. Seeing the energy from the girls that day, under the West London sunshine, was phenomenal. The final too (played on the same day as the launch back then) was fantastic, with families from both Ealing Fields and Beaconsfield cheering the girls on.

Well-known broadcaster Phoebe Schechter was standing beside me as Ealing Fields beat their opponents 38–12. When the whistle blew, the players — and a few very excited mums — rushed the field. Phoebe and I turned to each other and exchanged a knowing smile.

“Feels like we’ve just watched the start of something special for women in this sport,” she said. And she wasn’t wrong.

That first Girls Flag League was a grassroots test for the NFL’s growth strategy, particularly for the Jets and their growing presence in London. The following year the championship moved to the home of AFC Wimbledon. Suddenly the league had grown to two conferences, 24 teams, and around 240 girls.

Yes, Ealing Fields won again — but the real victory was the growth of the game itself. Participation had doubled from the previous year and there was stronger school involvement across London. By now, a few people in the know were starting to realise that London might just have a diamond in the rough. Ealing Fields were certainly no pushovers.

By 2025 the Bears were no longer involved and London had firmly become Gang Green — a sentence I feel slightly dirty writing! I found myself watching the girls alongside linebacker Quincy Williams and running back Isaiah Davis at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Community Tennis Centre in southwest London.

It was fantastic to see the girls go through combine drills, with one coach commenting, “I’ve never seen anything like these scores from a school.” Now there were around 300 girls from 28 schools involved, and Quincy seemed to be living every play and catch with them.

Olivia Peebles was there too — the Jets’ 2024 International Fan of the Year and a self-certified draft nerd — who joked that she’d already signed a few of the girls up for the Jets. Watching them play, you could see why.

Fast forward to May and it was once again Ealing Fields who lifted the trophy, beating Turing House 34–0.

This is football for girls. And I’m incredibly proud to have watched it grow.

The programme has more than doubled in size in four years, showing just how rapidly girls’ participation in the sport is growing. The Jets have thrown their full weight behind this NFL global initiative, with Nike supporting the programme as kit and presenting partner.

So when we found ourselves once again under the sunshine on a Monday in March 2026 (seriously, we’ve completely lucked out with the weather every year), the announcement felt like the natural next step.

Thirty-two schools.

More than 300 girls.

A $10,000 grant from the Jets to launch the incredible Jets Flag Elite London programme — a pathway initiative that will give elite players the chance to travel to the United States and compete against Jets Flag Elite teams.

Even Jets linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball, who was in attendance, seemed genuinely impressed by what he saw. Watching the drills and the enthusiasm from the girls, he joked that hopefully one day his own daughter might be playing flag football for the Jets.

Four years ago, standing on that field in West London, Phoebe Schechter said it felt like we had just watched the start of something special. Four years later, it’s safe to say she was absolutely right.