The flag football ad from the NFL

There are many interesting facts about the Super Bowl but one that stands out to us here at WAGIS is the fact that there isn’t a women’s equivalent.  A little initial research suggests that there are women and girls who play football but it hasn’t had the same investment as men’s football (we plan on doing more research into this).  This isn’t a problem unique to America nor football as we know, but women’s football is soooo under the radar in the US (where the sport originates let’s add) compared to women’s soccer and even women’s rugby which has just announced a new league (more to come on that). 

Anyhoo, just as rugby has a version called tag rugby which involves less physical impact, football has flag football, a sport which we’ll see at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.  This is played by boys and girls, men and women but only eight states have sanctioned it as a high school varsity sport for girl – it can be played elsewhere but it doesn’t have a varsity (college) pathway.  The NFL’s ad which pitched women against men (with the women coming out victorious) was to encourage other states to embrace flag football.  It was fantastic to see female flag footballers being depicted on screen as strong and competitive – a great encouragement to other women and girls to try it out.

The Dove ad

Dove have been in the news quite a bit recently and for all the right reasons!  The brand sponsored a special edition of the iconic sports mag, Sports Illustrated, featuring ten young female athletes and then, following on from last year’s Super Bowl ad about body confidence, this year’s had the same theme.

Featuring a little girl running down the sidewalk, the ad described how aged three, this little girl thought her legs were ‘unstoppable’ whereas aged 14, she’d find them unbearable.  The ad concluded with the all too familiar stat that 50% of girls drop out of sports because their body type has been criticised. 

A reminder to think about what we say and the language we use and it poses the question, do we even need to be discussing body shapes and types?

These ads were about girls in sport but there was also a reminder for women to have their breasts checked regularly to avoid breast cancer.  Lots of positive and thought-provoking messages targeted at women and featuring women. 

There’s a great woman or in this case women.  Jalen Hurts, the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterback has a team of women managing his affairs.   

Nicole Lynn is Hurts’ agent.  She was the first black woman to represent a draft pick in 2019 and in 2020, she became the Eagles’ QB’s agent.

Chantal Romain is an NBA executive (yep different sport, basketball) and she makes up one half of Hurts’ media relations with the other half made up by Shakeemah Simmons-Walker.  Simmons-Walker has lots of experience too having worked for ESPN and the Knicks.

Rachel Everett has helped make Jalen Hurts one of the NFL’s most bankable stars and then finally, Jenna Malphrus, is his senior client manager. 

This team of women show that Jalen Hurts is a real women-in-sport’s ally and in such a male dominated arena as the NFL, it’s so great to see.

There should be a female coach, just as the Eagles have!  Autumn Lockwood is the first black woman coach to win a Super Bowl.  She is their associate performance coach.

She joins other female NFL coaches such as Jennifer King (offensive assistant, Chicago Bears) who also made history as the first black woman to be an NFL coach (Washington Commanders) and Sarah Hogan (chief of coaching staff, Washington Commanders).

And how could we forget the female celebs who were in attendance at the Super Bowl including Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift.  Swift’s romance with Chiefs’ Travis Kelce is credited with attracting a young female audience to the sport in the last year. 

And this year, we even had legendary tennis champ Serena Williams as part of the famous half time show.  She was crib dancing alongside half-time performer Kendrick Lamar.

Phew.  Football in the States may be male dominated but women and girls are making their presence known.  Here’s to 2026 in San Francisco and perhaps one day, a male and female Super Bowl double header? In the meantime, congrats to the Eagles – great game!