Downpatrick Saints line up for gridiron action

Downpatrick Saints line up for gridiron action

24 February 2021

A SPORT which has seen a steady increase in interest on these shores is American football — and Downpatrick has its very own team.

The Downpatrick Saints were formed in 2019 by a small local group of fans. The sport is a huge draw across the world, and whilst it has traditionally struggled to catch the imagination here in the same way, it is slowly building a committed following.

It is a tough task for any sport looking to break ‘the big three’ of Gaelic football, soccer and rugby. However the Saints have found that two of them — rugby and Gaelic football  — have been a big help.

American football lends itself to Gaelic and rugby players and that is something the Saints hope they can capitalise on in the next few years and continue to establish their place on the district’s sporting landscape.

Head coach Ryan Flynn says that there was a core group interested in developing an American football team in the town, and they built from there.

“We started to put a club together in 2019,” he said. “There was at that stage a strong interest across Ireland in trying to create a new American football league - and we wanted to be a part of that.

“In that year, American Football Ireland were creating a new league called ‘The Glas Bowl’. They were in search of new teams to compete in the new league which would work as a second division to the pre-existing Emerald Bowl. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to set up a team.”

American Football Ireland is the National Governing Body for the sport and is responsible for all aspects of the game.

American Football Ireland‘s activities are many and varied, and include the organisation and promotion of all amateur domestic national competitions across both contact and non-contact versions of the game.

It is also responsible for the organisation and promotion of the national teams in international competition, the promotion of the game to people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities and the provision of opportunities for their engagement and development, as well as the regulation of the game on-and-off-the-field of play through oversight of its rules.

American Football Ireland is recognised by Sport Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sports. It is also in the process of becoming an associate member of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF).

Ryan said he was pleasantly surprised to find a strong nucleus of players ready to go when the Downpatrick club were getting off the ground.

”We were lucky in that the initial group of players were there — a group of friends who were really into their American football, had played a bit — and we were able to have the nucleus of a team in place,” he remarked. “I have kept pushing the idea of this club to American friends in order to keep the interest high and potentially new players to keep coming to us.

“Since then it has been brilliant. Every year the group has expanded to what we have now — probably 20 players.”

It definitely appears to be the case that the sport here has to be pro-active in attracting new players. For many, the idea of playing American football perhaps has not occurred to them, and that is where teams like the Downpatrick Saints have had to take the initiative.

“Certainly some of the players that have come to us from other perhaps more traditional sports in Ireland have plenty of transferrable skills that can be put to great use for American football,” said Ryan.

“We, like all other sports, have been affected by the impact of coronavirus on our ability to play our games. Ordinarily our season would run from August until November,” said the 25 year old who works in communications for South Eastern Regional College. 

“However the interest in the sport in Northern Ireland just continues to develop, I would say in a way which is not rapid, but quick enough that it will probably be more sustained.”

Ryan tells of how he first began to fall in love with American football from across the Atlantic.

“I first began to get into the sport through the NFL around 2013. I am a supporter of the San Francisco 49ers. The Downpatrick Saints, however, consists of supporters of many different teams in the league such as Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints and Arizona Cardinals.

”Until the Saints were born though, it would have been tough to get any real first-hand experience of the sport for anyone around here.

“However it is a sport which has seen interest in it grow over the past four or five years. I have been to NFL games in London, and even when you consider that before it would not have been such a huge game in the UK, it is definitely getting bigger.

“People are flooding to get to those games when they come to Wembley. You see people now who hold ‘Superbowl’ parties. In terms of us as a club, trying to ensure that we are around for a long while into the future, attracting players, and fans, they are all encouraging signs.”

For anyone who wants to know more about the Downpatrick Saints, or keep up with their activities, you can visit their Facebook site at www.facebook.com/Downpatrick-Saints-American-Football-Team.