by Tyler Arthur

Bored.
It hasn’t been a particularly exciting day. No plans, nothing to do, even less to watch.
Nat resorts to flicking between channels on the family TV, aimlessly, as we all do when nothing is on. Every station provides new hope of ten minutes entertainment… 1, nope. 2, 3, yawn.
Channel 4.
His eyes widen.
Twenty-two men, of varying shapes and sizes, wearing pads, and helmets, appear to be just smashing into one another. It is crazy.

Nathaniel’s young gaze is locked to the screen, his attention fixated on this alien sport.
Brutal, but beautiful.

That was years ago; but now, one of the UK’s resident NFL experts, Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Coombs, still has the same enthusiasm and excitement as he did in that first moment – the moment when he discovered American football.

“I turned it on by chance (in the days when watching things was less on demand, more lucky dip) and saw this day-glow, technicolour, explosive thing that I instantly fell in love with,” he recalls, fondly.

“I had no idea what was going on…”

Image courtesy of natcoombs.com, with permission of Mr Coombs.

As with many newcomers to the complex sport, he recalls that even though it was so exciting, he was initially confused.

“I had no idea what was going on – and no-one I knew at the time watched it.”

Nat, now used to be on his own, an English youngster watching ‘America’s game’ – but now, he feels much less lonely in his passion for the States’ version of football.

“Since I started broadcasting back in 2007, there has been a major shift,” Nat knows more than anyone, that the market is growing for the NFL here, in the UK. “Social media has really helped.”

Although he was able to ‘convert’ some of his friends, he suggests that nowadays it doesn’t necessarily matter if the people you go to school or work with watch and/or talk about the Sunday night matches.
“Now, games are live in this country and anyone can hop onto social media and chat away to fellow fans all over the country, [and world.]

‘That’s a major development.”

In the age of social media, we have bred a highlight culture, in all sports. This is great for American football. The ‘explosive’ nature of the NFL makes it perfect for these bitesize clips to be shared online.

Case study. Odell Beckham Jr.
If you don’t know who that is, or what he did, go on YouTube and search “OBJ catch”; that will be a good enough introduction to the sport.

It is in this highlight-heavy coverage of world events, through Twitter, and Facebook etc. that individual moments shine – and that is where people like Nat come in; with Match of the Day-esque TV shows for the NFL.

The goal of these short formats is to pique the interest of the casual viewer, but also to give a platform for new people to discover the sport – just like Miami Dolphins fan, Coombs, did all those years ago; full circle.

“Access to podcasts, and writing of all kinds online (as opposed to a weekly paper) all enables a cult/niche sport to flourish.”

And flourish is accurate, the USA’s iteration of football finds itself welcomed in London annually for a few weeks during their season, when eight teams travel to play at Wembley and Twickenham.

The NFL’s presence in the UK grows, more and more, every year.

“I think the level we’re at right now is strong,” (five games a week televised live and four games annually hosted here), “and I think we can handle more,” Nat confidently believes. “Whether that’s a team [that plays in London] or more regular season games is hard to call.”

The sport has been on a huge upward trend in interest, and now features as the main focus of Sunday nights on SkySports – as well as the aforementioned highlights shows and radio shows in the UK.

Coombs’ enthusiasm is shared across hundreds of thousands of the UK’s NFL fans – who are showing huge support whenever given the chance. The International Series filled both stadiums in London, this year.

“I don’t think anyone predicts American football will surpass football/soccer, but if it’s a top 10 sport here, great!”

As the sport grows in this country, you can’t help but be encouraged to try it, and Coombs encourages all new people to see what it’s all about.

“For any newbies watching, I’d suggest mixing up RedZone [a highly addictive way to watch, as the broadcasts jumps from game-to-game when teams look like scoring] and watching a whole game play out,” he advises.

American football is physical, exciting and fast. It isn’t easy to understand it, and it isn’t simple to play it – but give it a go! You might be surprised.
Watch the Super Bowl, throw a football around with your friends, whatever you like.

Maybe next Sunday, after the Premier League has drawn to a close, and you find yourself with nothing to do…

Bored.

Turn on the NFL, just like Nat Coombs did, and see where it takes you.

Nat anchors live NFL coverage on TalkSport2 every Sunday from 5pm, and hosts the eponymous NFL Show with Nat Coombs on Tuesdays from 10pm. You can also find his podcast here: talksport.com/NFL.

Huge rugby players dominate the professional game and have an even bigger monopoly at schoolboy level. Ross Barnett finds out whether banning contact in youth rugby is the answer to the sport’s problems.

Four-and-a-half years ago I was playing in a rugby match like no other. It was a frosty, cold Wednesday afternoon in a third XV cup game when one of my team mates broke his back in a freak rugby accident, restricting him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Ulster U19 player, Adam Hanna on his home farm in Dromore, Co Down.

That event changed my perspective on rugby and while I hold the sport very close to my heart, there are issues surrounding injuries that need to be dealt with.

Rugby players are getting bigger and heavier and recently Professor Allyson Pollock, director of the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University, advocated a ban in schoolboy scrums and tackling in an article for the British Medical Journal.

She pointed to statistics in America in which rugby related injuries were on the rise, as well as having the highest concussion rates in children per 1000. It is a striking and worrying statistic, so why do people still like playing rugby?

“I like the physical and competitive aspects of it,” answered Adam Hanna a 16-year-old Northern Irish schoolboy: “There’s a lot of respect between players and it’s a great way to make friends.”

I made the journey to watch his match to gauge the attitudes of some of the players about this issue. Afterwards, I visited his farm where he lives and works part time.

“My dad played rugby and I was part of a rugby family, so I had to keep up the tradition,” said Adam as he walked me around his 90-strong herd of cattle.

“I started playing tag rugby 10 years ago, aged 6, which taught me basic skills such as how to catch and throw a ball.”

Adam’s family is heavily involved with their local club team, Dromore RFC and travel to Kingspan Stadium to watch their provincial side, Ulster Rugby.

“If tackling was banned for schoolboys, it would ruin the quality and eventually kill off the sport that we love. I think it would be more dangerous as boys and girls would be introduced to tackling when they’re fully developed. This would lead to more injuries as they wouldn’t have the correct tackle technique.”

Although World Rugby is putting a huge emphasis on head injuries, only last week All Black international Ben Smith revealed that he forgot that his wife was pregnant after taking a knock in a pre-season game in February.

While schoolboy rugby doesn’t have the same resources as the professional game, coaches on the touchline are forced to rely on the word of the player involved to make a snap decision.

“If you are knocked out there is no way you should come back on. Even if you have to go for an HIA, [head injury assessment] I’m still sceptical as to whether the player should be allowed back on the field,” said Adam as he helped his brother prepare the parlour for milking later that night.

There are not many countries that play rugby better than New Zealand. The Kiwis implement a weight-grade system where children are teamed up with children of a similar size rather than age.

“I was never really scared for myself,” said Adam when he was talking about his feelings when he started playing rugby, “I was so much bigger than everyone else, so I had a few concerns that I would injure them!

“If you go in with the mindset that this could be your last match because of a serious injury, then I feel it increases the risk of getting injured and you won’t give 100% in the match.”

There are discrepancies between the size of players in the professional game which increased when the game went professional and upon the arrival of the sport’s first global superstar, Jonah Lomu. This is further accentuated at schoolboy level.

“I think [the use of the gym in schoolboy rugby] needs to be enforced better,” said Adam, “either everyone should be going to the gym at senior rugby [School years 12-14] or no one should be. Not everyone is of a similar build but with players equally developed I believe there would be less injuries.

“If you’re twice the height and weight of someone in your class then it won’t be safe for them, but then if you are playing people older you could be hurt. You might be physically developed for your year but not for those who are older.”

World Rugby has been increasing the spotlight on seatbelt tackles – tackle from behind where the arm of the defender goes over the shoulder of the attacker – as well as implementing new laws in relation to the scrum to prevent accidents such as the one I witnessed.

Despite this, there will always be controversy over the force and magnitude of tackles in rugby and in particular, youth rugby.

By Alice Warner

At first glance, James Cole is just a normal 20-year-old, but in reality, he’s seen more of the world than most. What’s his secret? Instagram.

James Cole enjoying his work in Hong Kong

With 400 million active users, Instagram is the perfect platform for the one million advertisers posting every day on the popular social network. One of them, James Cole is just 20 years old and earning enough money to buy himself three cars.

It all started four years ago, at aged 16, when James made a personal Instagram account just like any other teenager, taking selfies and waiting for likes and followers, but at this point it wasn’t about the money, he said: “When I was little I just thought it was fun to have more followers than everyone else.”

After he gained 100,000 followers on his personal account, he thought to himself: “This is rubbish, you’re not going to make any money on this” so he sold his personal account and created another, totally different page. Around two years ago, when James was studying journalism at North Warwickshire and Hinckley College he started earning money on his @earthfocus Instagram account: “When I first started making money off of it I would be on the way to college and I’d make £100 on the bus – it’s pretty cool.”

James owns both @earthfocus and @roamtheplanet on Instagram. Both of them have a travel feel but Roam the Planet has more of a nature theme and James is more careful about what he posts on this page: “I like roam the planet the most, it is more of a certain niche: adventure, camping, mountains, just certain types of countries. Whereas earth focus is anything that looks amazing. I’m more selective with Roam the Planet.”

James Cole’s Instagram account Earth Focus has over 2.5million followers

If you’re wondering how the accounts make him this much money, then it really isn’t that complicated. Through Instagram, James collaborates with brands to boost their sales: “Brands get in contact with me, I have ongoing partnerships with certain brands, for example, I have been working with a certain brand for two years. Right now, I have a five-month contract with them that finishes in December at $1,000 a month.

“Companies might pay for just one post or they can pay for multiple and have a package deal with me. The brand ‘Daniel Wellington’ bought a package deal for Roam the Planet, they just gave me dates for three days in November to post the images that they provide.

“My biggest contract was $4,000 for two social media campaigns for a tourism board. A regular post is a brand called ‘Tentree’ I have worked with them for two years, posting for them every month. They sell clothes but every time they sell one item they plant 10 trees so it fits in with the vibe of the page and people don’t hate it.”

James has to carefully choose the advertisers that he promotes on his page, they have to be in keeping with the genre of the page and the type of followers. Brands only get in contact with you if you have a large number of followers, as this way they can advertise to more people through one post. Earth Focus has 2.8million followers and Roam the Planet has 696,000 so you can see why James’ accounts are so popular with big brands.

Most of us only have one holiday a year to get away from the hustle and bustle of the 9-5 life, but there are many perks to the life of an Instagram travel photographer, having travel pages means James gets to see the world for free.

In the summer, he got an all-expenses paid trip to Tanzania, Africa for 10 days where he had a personal driver on a private safari and he saw no-one else for the whole week. The trip would have cost thousands of pounds. The company paid for him to go for just 18 posts. He got to see animals in their natural habitat, up close, which most people can only dream of.

James is also going to Iceland this month to see the beautiful Northern Lights.

All at the age of 20, James owns multiple cars, earns very good money and can buy himself whatever he wants: “I’ve got three cars so it’s not bad. Audi for the daily and a Land Rover just for the fun.” He still lives with mum and dad rent free, earning more money than both of them.

James’ real passion is photography, in the future he would like to go into freelance photography. He can edit photos professionally and sometimes hosts tutorials through his personal Instagram account. Doing this also helps him get the best deals, as he can take and edit the photos to a professional standard himself if that’s what the company wants.

Instagram will not last forever, his job will only last as long as the platform.