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North East woman to represent Great Britain at American Football for first time

A North East woman has spoken of her pride at being selected to represent Great Britain at the American Football European Championships for the first time.

Toni Heal, from Billingham, started playing American Football six years ago, after noticing a women’s team was looking for players. She said she has “never looked back”.

Toni said: “At the time, it was seven-a-side, it is now nine-a-side, so the sport has grown in those six years. I have always been into sports. I have done MMA, kickboxing, netball, and dancing.

"I did not understand the game, but it was worth giving it a go. The team had a trial day, and I have never looked back since.”

She now plays for and is the chairwoman of the Teesside Steelers, who have 25 players on their roster.

Toni is also chairwoman of the Teesside Steelers (Image: SARAH CALEDCOTT) Toni, who is also a sales assistant for a furniture company, said she did not know there was an opportunity to play for Great Britain when she first started playing.

She told The Northern Echo: “It was just something I enjoyed doing. I was actually scouted just before Covid, and people from the British American Football Association (BAFA) and coaches would come to the games and watch. Covid hit, and they started doing open trials, so your coach would have to put you forward.

“They would do two or three camps where 170 women would descend on one area and have a full-day training camp, and then they would be whittled down from there.”

She said she has made the training squad every time she has trialled and made the reserve squad twice.

But this year is the first year Toni has made the first team. She said: “It was never something I set out in my mind, that I wanted to play for Great Britain, I didn’t even know it was a thing until I had been playing for about two years.

Toni has made the Great Britain squad for the first ever time (Image: SARAH CALEDCOTT) “I spent four years trying to get into the squad, so I have done a lot to get to where I am.”

However, it is not cheap to represent your country at the European Championship’s. For one gameday, a one-night stay and food, the total cost is £395.

Toni explained it used to cost £175 as BAFA subsidised the costs for players, but this year is unable to.

She said: “The funding has been cut across the board, I don’t know whether they had some kind of funding or sponsorship that they have been able to pass down to the players, which they have not got this time around.”

Toni, who has her Level One coaching badge and coaches at Durham University, has been selected for Great Britain’s game against Finland, in Coventry, and an away game in Spain. She expects the game against Spain to cost a lot of money.

Toni in her Teesside Steelers kit (Image: SARAH CALEDCOTT) “We haven’t been given the final figure for the Spain game, but I am expecting, with flights, travel, hotel and food for a weekend to be between £800 - £1,000," she said.

“Especially if one game in England, with one night stay, food and game day is £395.”

BAFA have organised a GoFundMe, with a goal of £10,000. All money raised will go back to the women who have been selected to play for Great Britain to help subsidise costs.