Flag football - Ireland's fastest growing women's sport - is to be an Olympic sport

Matches in a new league for the fastest growing women's sport in Ireland taken place at Belfast Harlequins rugby club this weekend.

'Flag football 'which is similar to tag rugby is the non contact version of American football and will be an Olympic sport for the first time in Los Angeles in 2028.

In the sport tackling is not allowed. Instead flags are attached to the ball carrier’s belt - one on each side of the waist.

When a player manages to pull one flag from an opponent, the game stops and another play begins - the same as a player being tackled in American Football.

The rules are almost the same, the only difference is that the physical contact is almost non-existent.

There are four opportunities (downs or pulling-off of the flag) to cross the midfield. Once you cross the midfield there are four more opportunities to reach the end zone and score a touchdown.

If a team succeeds in reaching the end zone they score 6 points and have the option to add a further 1 or 2 points with an extra play or “conversion”.

Ireland or the Irish Wolfhounds are keen to put down their marker on qualification for the Olympics.

“It's played by five on each side with offence and defence and you tackle a player by pulling their flags like in tag rugby," Wolfhounds Head coach Alan Barnewell said.

“And the goal is to score a touchdown by throwing the ball or run the ball into the opponent's end zone.

“And the goal of the defence is to stop by making a flag or making an intersection.”

And there is the incentive of a potential place in the 2028 Olympics for those playing.

“All of a sudden we're coaching towards an Olympic sport in 2028 in Los Angeles, which is really exciting," he added.

“So the girls are hyped talking about their Olympic tattoos already.”

Captain Helen Smyth said: “When we heard the news, everyone was over the moon and then we were like, Right, how do we get there?

“We don't know what the process is yet, the qualification process and everything, but world rankings will definitely come into it.

“This summer, we've got the World Championships, so hopefully we'll perform well there and move up the rankings and then that will help us and then hopefully find out a bit more about what the qualification process will be.

“But that's definitely the goal for everyone, I think.”

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