AN AMERICAN football team have made Clydebank their home for the season, and are looking for people from all backgrounds to join them on their journey.

The Glasgow Tigers were without a field or training facilities to play on after coronavirus restrictions kept the country in lockdown.

After trying closer to home in Glasgow for a place to play with no success, the team got in touch with Clydebank Community Sports Hub who were more than happy to welcome them.

Currently playing in Division One of the British American Football Association, the team are looking for volunteers for all sorts of positions, whether it’s as playing or non playing staff, no matter your age, gender or health condition.

Speaking at their penultimate practice before the season gets under way against the highly-fancied Edinburgh Wolves, head coach Ryan McCluskey told the Post: “Anyone that is up for it, we will give them a shot.

"We’ll find a space for them, develop them and put them on the park if we can.

“We’re bringing in people from Clydebank and Glasgow, from all over. And this is a great facility as well - we don’t get anything like this in Glasgow.

"It’s fantastic and the guys at the sports hub have been great with us.

“An alternative sport like this could interest Clydebank residents.

"It was huge in the eighties, and then we got the Claymores in the nineties, and it’s coming back again with the London games.

“It’s getting more popular and Clydebank have huge rugby teams so this could be another wee avenue for the people that want to try it.”

American football is still some way behind in popularity to football or rugby in Scotland, but William Clark, chair of the Glasgow Tigers, who has played the sport since that initial boom in the late 1980s, when Channel 4 first broadcast the sport to a mainstream UK television audience, believes it has come a long way since he became part of the Tigers team ten years ago.

“In terms of people participating, it’s definitely increasing.” he told the Post.

“It’s gone through highs and lows, over the past few decades and now it’s on a high again.

“More children want to get involved in flag football, part of that is the NFL in America.

“A lot of games in the UK are streamed so people get to see them, and most of them are free so that has brought a bigger audience.”

The Tigers are also looking for fans to come and cheer them on during their game days at Clydebank.

For more on the team’s schedule, and to find out how to get involved with the Glasgow Tigers, visit glasgow tigersfootball.com.