Quarterback to Chambers!

According to the BBC, sprinter Dwain ‘fast but cheats’ Chambers is once again aiming for a career in the European League Of American Football, having previously bandied the idea around during his ‘break’ from athletics. And you can’t blame him for making the move considering the reaction to his comeback from his Team GB running colleagues.

American football’s a great sport to get involved with, although its popularity here has waned since its 1986 heyday, when it bagged six million UK viewers. I can remember it being a big enough thing for my dad to take me and my brother to watch an exhibition match… in Gateshead.

My brother enjoyed it and got himself an obligatory giant foam hand, which ended up stuffed in his cupboard, irritatingly falling out every time I went rootling for his replica hand grenade.

But I thought that watching in person wasn’t as good as watching on Channel 4, because it had none of the NFL glitz and I wasn’t tucked up cosily in bed. Instead there was zero atmosphere, empty seats and the whiff of dourness, which is exactly as I’d imagine the current European League to be.

Although from the sound of things – Chambers isn’t going to get to experience it anyway. A spokesman for NFL International said that although Chambers was quick, he just doesn’t know enough about “the nuances and tactics” of the game. Yeah, that and he’s a dirty cheat.