Following the conclusion of some ongoing discussions on the interim management structure for Flag Football, in the interest of transparency we are happy to update the community on a number of items as follows.
Head of Flag and the Flag Football Advisory Committee
In our previous announcement we noted our intent to restructure our internal Flag Football operations to create greater transparency, collaboration and provide a more diverse input into the strategic development of Flag Football in Britain whilst reducing the dependency on volunteers for operational tasks.
In line with this, we are pleased to announce the creation of an advisory committee for Flag Football (iteration 1 below). Given their qualifications and overlap between existing internal roles and those of the new committee we are pleased to announce that Jed Lewis Brookes and Richard McEwen will be the first two appointments and will fill the Flag Officiating Advisory roles on the committee. They will also remain part of the internal rules committee function for BAFA. As we wish to treat this opportunity as a hard reset for the sport and the roles differ from the operations of the current commission there will be no other automatic carry over and further roles, will be opened up for application in the near future in phases until all roles are filled.
Kyle Taylor has advised us of his intent to leave the organisation and make room for a new Head of Flag Football. In the short-term, Kyle will act as a caretaker, overseeing the operational aspects of Flag Football and transition to the new committee structure while he progresses towards fully phasing out over the next eight to ten weeks. In the meantime, to ensure there is no disruption to the delivery of Flag Football, the BAFA board will have full strategic and commercial oversight of all key operational, logistical and financial decisions.
As the role of Head of Flag football is a critical one for the future success of our sport, this will be one of the first key hires that our new CEO will be involved in following their appointment.
NFFL & Youth Flag Football Competition
To provide consistency and due to crossover of resources while the existing Flag Commission phases out, we have requested that Catalyst – an education, development and delivery organisation for Flag Football – run and manage the 2024 National Flag Football League and end of season events to ensure some stability whilst we remain in a state of change.
In addition, as was the case in 2023, the board have nominated Kenny Bello to once again run Youth Flag Football which will remain under BAFA control during the 2023/2024 cycle.
Tender for future Flag Football Competition Management
The opportunity to tender for Flag Football competitions (commencing with the opening of the WFFL membership period in June 2024) will go live next week with an open invitation to tender and an overview of next steps and the selection process, which will be managed through the BAFA board. The conclusion of any decision should be expected in May this year.
The British Flag Officiating Federation
We will also be working in partnership with Catalyst in a shared effort to improve the quality of the game of Flag Football through the creation of the British Flag Officiating Federation, an organisation dedicated to the development and administration of Flag Officials across Britain.
Regional Programme Suspension for 2024:
Although we’ve made headway with rebuilding the regional element of our Flag Football offering over the last two cycles to create an intermediate platform between domestic and GB play, the Olympic announcement forces us to review and potentially rethink our performance pathways within the game. This review will be the responsibility of a performance director, the appointment of which is now also on hold until our new CEO is in place.
This is the start of a new journey for Flag Football in Britain, and we fully anticipate that we will need to evolve as the landscape does and we intend to remain agile as we progress through that journey.
