Palace for Life and New York Jets bring London's first girls' flag football league to south London

Crystal Palace's charity Palace for Life has teamed up with the New York Jets to expand the Jets NFL Girls Flag League in south London, in what the charity says is the first league of its kind in the capital. A $100,000 grant from the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation funds the move, adding eight new schools to the league. When games begin in spring 2027, more than 40 schools and over 450 girls are expected to take part. The eight schools - Orchard Park, Langley Park School for Girls, Sedgehill Academy, Orion Eden Park, Hayes Park, Carshalton High School for Girls, Orion Ravensbourne and La Retraite - each receive league uniforms, practice jerseys, flag football equipment and travel support for fixtures. Ninety pupils and teachers from the eight schools marked the launch with a training clinic at Crystal Palace's academy, run by the Jets. For most of the girls it was their first go at flag football, a non-contact take on American football. The appeal is reach. Palace for Life chief executive Mike Summers said offering something different from the charity's usual football sessions could "inspire girls we might otherwise miss". The timing helps too. Flag football is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, with more than 20 million players across 100 countries and women's and girls' participation growing fastest. It makes its Olympic debut at LA 2028 - which means a girl picking up a flag belt in Croydon this spring can see a route all the way to the top. For the sport for good sector, the model is the story: a Premier League club foundation, an NFL team and a family foundation combining money, equipment and school links to open a brand-new route into sport for girls.