US sport: Hail Marys and home runs take off in NI

From Hail Mary passes to home runs, American sports have become part of popular culture.

On this side of the Atlantic, they are no longer just watched by sports fanatics on late TV.

Even Taylor Swift fans have started to take an interest in American football after news of her courtship with the Kansas City Chief's player Travis Kelce.

But some people in Northern Ireland are doing more than just watching the sports.

Dave Gray joined baseball team the Belfast Northstars in his late teens and remembers a very different view of the sport then.

"Back then, you would still have police checkpoints and I can remember being stopped," the 42-year-old said.

"They would open the boot to find two baseball bats and I had to explain I was actually going to practice."

Formed in 1996, Dave said the club had a nomadic period playing in various parts of the city before a purpose-built facility opened at Hydebank in 2016.

There was a drop-off coinciding with the decline of baseball in the US but the club now has two baseball teams as well as a softball team.

Dave said the resurgence came with the new home for the club as well as the creation of a little league to give young people a path into the sport.

"It is a great sport for people of all abilities, if you are willing to learn, try your best and most importantly have fun; you are welcome."

There has also been an increase of those who play cricket and hurling trying out the sport.

"I love football but I was never going to run out at Windsor Park. I play hockey but I was never going to represent Ireland," said Dave.

"Through baseball though I have been able to represent Ireland in international competitions."

American football is a contact sport which is like a chess match with shoulder pads - the strategic element is just as important as the physical skills.

There are 11 players from each team on field and games are played in four 15 minute quarters.

The purpose is to move the ball towards, and ultimately into, the opposition's end zone to score a touchdown.

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding.

The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases.

Inline hockey is a variation of hockey played on a hard, smooth surface, with players using inline skates to move and ice hockey sticks to shoot a puck into their opponent's goal.

Manny Bell joined the Craigavon Cowboys American football teamback in 2005, after seeing a flyer in a shop window.

"I have family in Minnesota and I had watched some colleges teams when I visited in 1997," he said.

"I was always into sports but I was a really big boy, I was like 25 stone.

"I wasn't very physically fit but I knew American football suited."

At Manny's first session, there were seven men, four shoulder pads and three helmets.

"We didn't actually get to play our first game until 2008.

"Most of the players tended to be relative of the guys who had played in the past or coaches children."

However, Manny said this created a real family atmosphere with him even getting some of his family involved.

"I didn't envisage the league building the way it has… I tried to leave a few years back but I just missed it too much.

"It's great to see the development of the league from what it was, maybe six or seven teams up to 20 odd teams."

Jo Buchannan joined the Cowboys aged 18.

Coming from a rugby background, he can remember hearing a lot of misconceptions about the sport.

"The intensity in every play is much higher in American football, plus in rugby you can only tackle the person with the ball or in a ruck, but in football you can get hit at any time," he said.

"The pads are also a big misconception, when you get hit because they are all connected it reverberates and you can feel it all over your body."

As well as rugby, Jo said a lot of people who play Gaelic football have moved into the sport.

"I never played the sport, but from what I hear it is a big commitment and many of them move into the American football as family and jobs take priority."

Belfast may have the Giants, but Bangor is home to Chiefs who take to the rink on wheels.

The Bangor Chiefs inline hockey team was established in 2004 and 29-year-old Michael Creane has been there since its inception.

"Almost 20 years ago, I was watching the Giants and obviously ice hockey wasn't that accessible at the time," he said.

"My mum had found that the club was having an open day, took me along and been involved ever since then."

At that time, the Chiefs were playing on wooden boards on concrete floor, but would go on to find a home in the Wigwam roller rink.

But it was destroyed in a fire almost ten years ago.

They're now based at the the Eddie Irvine sports complex.

Michael played both forms of the sport but settled on inline.

He said the lower cost of equipment also made the inline sport more accessible.

"It's quite a fast sport, it's competitive, it's physical," added Michael.

"It's the kind of sport you don't retire from.

"We are a very open club. If you have played at a high level before you are welcome, if you have never touched a pair of skates before your more than welcome."