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An insight into women's american football from Cheshire Bears defensive lineperson Megan Delaney.(a one time roller derbyist)  A safety (around 2:58) because the QB threw the ball out the back of the end zone.  We've seen player panic in a uni game do the same and we've done similar playing rugby <blush>.

Devastated that Great Britain women's american football last night won their match against Finland but failed to win the European Championship by two points.  Towards the end our stomachs got so tight we felt ill but gratifying that Iceni Spear Victoria Ware playing defensive end for GB made such a contribution even if Pinky and Perky the commentators couldn't get her surname right.

If you become an american football referee in the UK you get paid, get expenses, have a buddy/mentor when starting, there are at least two women refs in East Anglia, and you get called sir (or sometimes ma'am).  More info on the BAFRA web site.

Women's american football gets its own Facebook album.

We arrived yesterday in Thorpe St Andrew in time for the lunch break (impressive catering) to be told it had tried to snow earlier but thankfully the rain had held off.  Women's american football team Iceni Spears were hosting the Peterborough Royals and Essex Hellcats for joint  training followed by a seven a side tournament.  In the event there weren't enough players to make two seven sides so empty slots were filled by coaches and as one player observed We've learnt more this afternoon than we would from three practices.

We found French director Céline Sciamma's film Tomboy highly involving and rewarding not least because it made the Parisian suburbs look idyllic.  So very gratifying to find a sealed copy of her later film Girlhood in the Framlingham EACH chazza.  Here the banlieue is relentlessly gritty and though Vic essentially remains trapped in her situation the opening sequence is women's american football from team Les Molosses.

After three years of watching UK gridiron we've finally realised it's college rules not NFL ... thought some of those decisions were a bit odd.

Sunday near Norwich the Iceni Spears were training for the autumn's Opal flag football series.  Flag football is no (hopefully) contact American football where you're tackled if an opponent can grab a flag from your waist.  The flags can be just football socks tucked into your waistband or like the Spears yellow streamers held in place by plastic poppers.  The Spears have an everybody welcome flag rookie day next month.

Yesterday near Norwich we watched Iceni Spears women's American football walk through some plays in the changing room and then go outside to practice in icy rain ... that's commitment.  The season long Sapphire series for women is five or seven a side.  We couldn't imagine how a sport that normally has eleven (twelve in Canada) on the pitch players per team could work with five but watching the Spears routine a play we saw that with just five everybody really has to know what they should be doing.  Looking forward to seeing these impressive ladies compete this coming weekend in Peterborough.