Marcus Fung flies down the pitch, arms clasped around a ball, as he attempts to score for his team. Moving left and then right, he dodges opponents who are trying to peel away the flags dangling from his waist.
The 15-year-old Hongkonger is playing flag football, a sport with the same amount of thrill and competition as rugby or American football but a far lower risk of injury.
Marcus is among a growing number of youngsters in the city picking up flag football, which is set to debut as an Olympic sport in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“This is just an amazing sport. It’s a fast-growing sport, and it’s also very fast-paced, and it’s for anybody, no matter if you’re really strong or if you’re really fast, you’ll fit in,” Marcus said.
Why kids are choosing flag football
Marcus is part of a youth flag football group called OTT Flag Football, which started in 2023. The academy offers team classes and private training sessions.
Aldo Legarda, co-founder of OTT, noted that Marcus was the very first student to join the academy.
“We started with just one student, which was Marcus, and it grew from there,” he said. “We currently have 20 to 30 students coming every week to our training sessions.”
Marcus thinks flag football is growing because it is safer than similar sports.
“People might think that [rugby or American football] is a very dangerous sport. You can get hurt a lot because you get tackled,” he said. “But then flag [football] is a non-contact sport, and the main goal is to prevent you from getting hurt while being able to still enjoy [it].”
According to Legarda, the sport is easy to pick up because it does not have much of a learning curve, making it appealing to newcomers.
“There’s a position for everyone, basically: running, catching or pulling a flag. Those are the core requirements,” Legarda said.
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Unlike American football which has pads and helmets, flag football also requires very little equipment, making it a more accessible activity.
Another unique aspect of flag football is that boys and girls can play together since it is a contactless sport.
Thirteen-year-old Annabel Chow has been playing flag football with OTT for a year. She signed up because one of her friends was already involved.
“A lot of us [girls] who play are from the same school,” said Annabel, who attends Hong Kong International School.
One of her proudest moments was when she managed to grab Marcus’ flags, a move which limited the amount of time he had to throw the ball as the quarterback.
“[Marcus is] better by a lot,” she said, adding that it “felt really good” to get his flag.
A debut Olympic sport
When Marcus heard that flag football would debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics, he was optimistic about the sport’s growth.
“People ... [will try] to find a way to play the sport, seeing if they can make the Olympics,” he said, adding that it would be a natural way to advertise the sport.
Annabel noted: “It will grow in popularity because normally, when people see something on TV, they go, ‘Oh, I want to try it.’ And when they do, they’ll probably like it.”
Jay Ma, president of the Hong Kong American Football Legion, agreed that the Olympics was one of the “biggest pushes” in boosting the sport’s popularity.
“The sport being added to an official Olympic sport definitely has helped us out a lot, not just in Hong Kong, but internationally, just bringing the awareness about flag football,” he said.
Ma shared that the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics could also be exciting for young players.
“Thinking about all the kids today growing up having the dream to be able to have a chance to compete in Olympics – I think that’s huge.”
Ma hopes this rising popularity can also convince the Hong Kong government about the importance of the sport, which would make it easier to access field space.
“Hong Kong being such a small city, obviously real estate is a big problem,” Ma said. “We’re slowly getting the government [to] recognise flag football as an official sport.”
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Challenges now and ahead
The Olympics announcement has also diversified interest in this sport, according to Jonny Kuilderd, who is OTT’s head coach and the president of the flag football division of the Hong Kong China Gridiron Football Association.
“Before, in Hong Kong, it was a majority-expat sport,” he said. “In the last three years, it’s about fifty-fifty now with the local community, which is from the Olympics.”
Annabel hopes to see more girls joining flag football.
“[In OTT] there’s definitely a lot more boys than there are girls,” she said, noting that she only knew about six other girls who played with her.
“But also ... the more popular it gets, the more people will play. So, there’ll be more girls.”
Legarda said the youth team was working to bring more girls to try the sport through camps at schools and other youth programmes.
“When their interest level is there [and] they’re into it, they find that they’re not at a disadvantage, and they can do everything that the boys [can],” he said.
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Stop and think: What makes flag football a more appealing sport than American football or rugby?
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Why this story matters: As flag football is set to debut as an Olympic sport in 2028, it is also becoming more popular in Hong Kong. However, it still faces hurdles in accessing field space, improving gender equality in student teams and receiving recognition from the city’s government.
