At 7:30 pm on Friday, on a football field next to Vientiane City in Jiulongpo, members of the Chongqing THU flag football club were training. At present, the club has 5 activities every week, and the quota for each game must be competed for. Last week, the club added new events.
The most popular sports at the moment include Frisbee and flag football . Both sports are fermented on social media and are developing rapidly offline. Outdoor, niche, fashion, and social networking, these two sports that are closely related to each other, are quickly out of the circle.
has been developed in Chongqing for many years, and suddenly became popular this year.
What is flag football? "Simply put, it is a simplified version of American football ." Zhang Shuangyi, head of the Chongqing Rangers Rugby Club, introduced.
Flag football does not have protective equipment and does not allow hugging or pushing. During the game, the offensive team needs to score a touchdown with the ball within a limited number of times, while the defensive team needs to pull down the flag on the belt of the offensive player holding the ball. , so that the opponent's attack is blocked, which is a bit similar to tearing off the name tag in a variety show game. "Collisions were avoided during the competition, and the techniques and tactics were relatively simple, making it easier for the public to participate and more interesting." Zhang Shuangyi told upstream news reporters.
Some people were playing rugby in Chongqing as early as 2008. “At that time, an international rugby team was also established, mainly to play with foreigners who came to Chongqing and students from the international departments of universities. Later, they joined There are more and more people in Chongqing, and we have also started to carry out flag football since 2017. "Originally, in our club, flag football was mainly used for training for children," Zhang Shuangyi said, but this year. More and more adults want to join flag football teams. "Our first group of 500 people has been filled up, and now we have started the second group." So, everyone discussed setting up a separate Chongqing THU flag rugby club to meet the new sports needs.
Registration is a matter of competition, and the proportion of women is high
Just like Frisbee, registration for flag football now requires competition for a spot.
Take the THU flag football club as an example. Initially, the team only held activities on Thursday mornings. “Because there are more than 30 people in one event, there are many people who want to participate, so they need to compete every time.” Zhang Shuangyi said. At present, the club has been increasing the number of activities and also has specially arranged training sessions for the women's team.
Participants formulate a field with AA, and then study and train under the leadership of the coach. In Zhang Shuangyi's club, the members are between 20 and 50 years old, and young people make up the majority. "The ratio of men to women is half to half. Sometimes during training, there are more girls than boys when signing up for training."
According to Zhang Shuangyi It is planned that the club will be more systematic in the curriculum to allow participants to maintain interest and stick to their sports habits, and then participate in competitions. "We will go to Chengdu to participate in competitions, and will also organize flag football competitions in Chongqing in the future, so that Everyone has a better platform.”
Due to the increase in the popularity of flag football, clubs have also been established.
There have been complaints that Frisbees have taken over football fields. However, this is not the case. Some football fields are even used because of flag football. Flag football is even more popular.
Chongqing Youqiu Biying Sports Culture Communication Co., Ltd. currently owns 15 football venues in Chongqing, most of which are five-a-side stadiums. “There are fewer and fewer people playing five-a-side football now, which makes our previous operations still appear. There have been some difficulties, but this year flag football and Frisbee have become popular, and there have been more bookings." Li Jinqiu, the company's relevant person in charge, told an upstream reporter, "This also gives us more confidence, and we are now actively working on it. Go get the venue."
In addition to getting more venues, the company has also established a flag football club. According to reports, the number of people participating in the training has reached 2,000. At the same time, the company has also added Frisbee events, with about 15 activities held every week, and the number of people is about 300.
and Frisbee are related. It’s no surprise that flag football is so popular.
The popularity of flag football can easily make people think of Frisbee. In fact, the two are related, so they became popular at almost the same time. The two projects
are highly similar in gameplay. According to reports, the predecessor of the current mainstream Ultimate Frisbee is called "Frisbee Football". Upstream news reporters interviewed practitioners, participants, and venue operators of these two projects, and came to similar conclusions: There is no confrontation between these two sports, they are relatively safe, simple is easy to learn, and is quick to learn, and beginners are very easy to use. You can get started quickly and feel a sense of accomplishment easily. At the same time, different ages and genders can compete in the same field, which also lowers the participation threshold for the competition and increases the social aspect.
This month, CCTV Financial Channel also reported on the popularity of flag football. The report mentioned that ease of entry and high interactivity may be the reasons for the popularity of this sport.
Chongqing Social Sports Guidance Center talks about the popularity of Frisbee: It does not require professional sports equipment, facilities, venues, nor strong physical confrontation (contact with the body is considered a foul). From this point of view, Frisbee is highly universal and suitable for a wide range of people, which is the basis of its popularity.
In addition, industry insiders also believe that people’s exercise habits and needs are now stronger, which has also promoted the popularity of these two sports. “Nowadays, people pay more attention to their own health. At the same time, through contact with nature, To improve their health, many people began to choose outdoor sports. "
" is inseparable from the popularity of social platforms. "Incubation"
How did you come into contact with this sport? When upstream news reporters interviewed flag football and Frisbee enthusiasts, many people responded with the same answer - Little Red Book.
Open Xiaohongshu and search for flag football. You can see more than 10,000 shared notes. According to reports, the number of flag football note releases experienced explosive growth in March this year, and in May, the number of releases increased 2.7 times compared to in March, and the number of searches for flag football increased hundreds of times. The same is true for
Frisbee, which was included in the "Top Ten Life Trends in 2022" report by Xiaohongshu. According to data provided by Xiaohongshu, the number of releases of Frisbee-related content in 2021 increased 6 times year-on-year.
Niche, fashionable and social, these two sports are highly consistent with the user profile of Xiaohongshu. According to upstream news reporters, Xiaohongshu attaches great importance to these two projects. Since the beginning of the year, Xiaohongshu has had a large number of "blockbusters" about Frisbee, and this project has quickly gone out of the circle.
The same goes for flag football. According to reports, the first Chinese social media account for flag football of NFL, the world's largest professional football league, has been settled in Xiaohongshu. Currently, Xiaohongshu has also established a flag football league, attracting more than 60 clubs across the country to join.
Upstream news reporter Bao Jing Photo provided by interviewee
