Prince William tries American football – and gains plaudits for ‘unbelievable arm’

15 October 2024, 19:29

Prince William tried American football on Tuesday afternoon, gaining praise for his throwing arm.

Youngsters shouted “what a throw” as acting quarterback William lobbed the ball across the pitch to his teammate on Tuesday morning.

Children from Birmingham, Manchester and London gathered to play NFL flag, the non-contact version of American football, at Kennington Park hockey pitch, south London, in the community event.

It was organised by NFL Foundation UK which supports people aged 12 to 20 by giving them access to the “fast paced, inclusive and easy to access” sport.

William told Phoebe Schecter, GB women’s flag football captain, that he played American football on the beach in summer when he was younger, but shrugged off his sporting ability and said “I try my hand at most (sports)” though “not very well”.

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Ms Schecter disagreed, and later said: “Honestly, Prince William was great – his arm strength is unbelievable, when he let that first ball rip I couldn’t believe it.

“Honestly I think if we had better receivers around we would have had multiple touchdowns happening, but his ability to take control of the offence, going into a completely unfamiliar territory really, calling the cadence, receiving the ball, doing a hand-off at one point, making those tactical decisions – it was phenomenal.”

She gave the prince technical tips including “embracing your inner Shakira” by moving the hips.

After some coaching on how to throw – from young girls as well as Ms Schecter – he put two balls in the net during a drill.

The children and Ms Schecter cheered and gave him high-fives as an onlooker shouted “that’s good coaching”. William stood in the crowd and laughed “that’s my NFL career”.

Louis Rees-Zammit, a Welsh rugby star-turned NFL Jacksonville Jaguars player, only scored one.

He later told PA: “I mean (William) can throw the ball, he can throw the ball a lot better than me, so thankfully in my role I just have to run and catch, so I don’t have to throw the ball – I got one in so he definitely beat me”.

UK-based NFL representatives Will Stone and Henry Hodgson gave the prince an American football to take home to the children.

William thanked them and said: “Never go home empty handed, that’s a crucial motto. They will love that, we’ll do some practising at home – see how many windows I can smash.”

NFL flag will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles games.

William said the Olympic flag football games “will be amazing” and “I hope it gets a lot of coverage – that everyone sees”.

As the children continued to play on the pitch, he added: “It’s so good to see all the women getting more involved in it.”

Ms Schecter later said: “When we teach kids who are, say, year four, year five, and upwards, it’s the young girls that really shine because they’ve not been in a football academy their whole lives.

“So they come into it and show those leadership skills, they’re telling people what to do, where to go, they’ve got all these great values that are part of the sport and it’s just really quite beautiful to see.

“There’s so many opportunities, where it’s playing for your national team, travelling with clubs, or, you know, LA 28 Olympics – that’s a huge opportunity for everyone, it’s endless.”

NFL Foundation UK is the league’s first international charity organisation and is celebrating its three-year anniversary.

London groups HR Academy, Connect Stars, and Big Kid had teams at Tuesday’s event, as well as Solidarity Community Association in Bolton and Birmingham’s Saathi House.

More than 20 million people play NFL flag across 100 countries and the NFL’s official flag football programme is currently played in more than 650 UK schools, involving more than 60,000 boys and girls.

American football has an increasing presence in the UK with NFL London games taking place at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

New England Patriots will face Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.