With the Springboks’ recent topsy-turvy form, you probably cannot blame some South Africans for looking at alternative oval-ball sports.
The closest most South Africans get to American football is by playing it on PlayStation or watching Hollywood movies.
A group of Benonians, however, are looking to change that and are striving to get the gridiron sport off the ground in their own backyard.
Meet the Silverbacks, a group of 15 or so players who gather every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon at Benoni Northerns Sports Club for a social game of five-versus-five flag football.
Flag football is a version of American football in which the basic rules are similar, but instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier to end a down.
The Silverbacks play monthly friendly games against the Pretoria Mustangs (based at the University of Pretoria) and the Tsakane Chargers (a development team in the township of Tsakane, near Brakpan).
According to Silverbacks founder and organiser Gavin Thompsett, the team is in the process of reviving the defunct South African American Football League (SAAFL), which existed in the 1990s.
Their dream is to one day see full contact American football played in the country again.
They hope to create a similar league in Gauteng to the sevens or 10s rugby tournaments that are played in Cape Town.
The Silverbacks have attracted some attention from the USA through their Instagram page Silverbacks_FB, with the Indoor Football League (IFL), a professional indoor American football league, expressing an interest in helping the locals grow the sport and identifying local talent.
They will need the support to if they want to get the full contact game up and running, as the cost of equipment is extremely high – a helmet alone will set you back around R2 000, while the full kit amounts to almost R9 000 per player.
“There has been a lot of interest and excitement from the guys overseas,” Thompsett said.
“They all watch rugby and know how hard us South Africans are.”
In the meantime though, Thompsett and Silverbacks co-ordinator Luke Rautenbach are simply trying to generate interest around the sport and get more curious individuals playing flag football.
“There is a lot less contact in flag football,” said Thompsett.
“When a receiver runs with the ball, he doesn’t get the snot tackled out of him as the defender just pulls his flag out.
“We are keen to get more guys down to grow the sport, and there is no fee to join us.”
If you are interested in getting involved with the Silverbacks, email Thompsett at thompsettgavin@icloud.com
Did you know?
Gary Allan Anderson (born 16 July 1959) is a former National Football League (NFL) placekicker.
The Parys-born Anderson was the first South African to appear in a NFL regular season game.
Anderson played in the league for 23 seasons with six teams.
He spent the majority of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but is also known for tenure with the Minnesota Vikings.
As a member of the Vikings in 1998, Anderson became the first NFL kicker to have a perfect regular season, successfully making every field goal and point after touchdown during regular season play.
* information from Wikipedia
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