WOMEN’S flag football in Swindon is on the rise with teams from the town set to take on their South West rivals in the near future.

Swindon Storm have recently started running sessions for female players in the town, with attendance levels increasing week on week, while teams have already been established in Gloucester, Cheltenham and Bristol.

Storm head coach Steve Bennett has been impressed with the standard of play so far and, with the help of his Flag Leader coaches, is excited the club will soon be getting involved in matches.

“The BAFA is really pushing the women’s game at the moment and it’s one of the fastest growing university sports, so this is a great way for people to get involved with the sport,” he said.

“We have some good funding behind us and this is a good opportunity to expand our coaching ranks and to get more people involved in a family environment and create a family feel.

“We’ve had 20 different women try the sport so far which is good, but ultimately we would like around 40 women playing in three different teams around Swindon and North Wiltshire.

“The exciting development is that Cheltenham and Gloucester have just started a flag team each so there’s three in very close proximity as well as another one in Bristol.

“That means we’re not far away from, a matter of weeks, organising a proper tournament which would be fun for everyone.

“There will be some experienced flag coaches there to help and give advice, and I’m meeting with the Cheltenham head coach to give her some advice on setting up a team.

“I’ve made her a pack full of all the documents you need to get things going, with all the policies and things, so hopefully they can really get going soon.”

The next flag session is this Saturday at Greenbridge Road, starting at 10.30am and running until noon.