With the Super Bowl coming up later this week, Brig caught up with the president of Stirling’s own American football team, Joe Hall.
While Joe is currently club president, he previously held the roles of both fundraiser and secretary.
American football has been rapidly growing in popularity across Europe, and Joe says that while it is “a very complicated and complex sport, it’s very analytical, very tactical, and once you get into it, it’s very hard to pull yourself back from it; you get very easily invested.”
Recent Success
The Clansmen are currently undefeated in 2026, having scored over 100 points while only conceding seven, and they are heading off into the playoffs at the start of March. They compete in Division One Scotland, where they play teams such as Edinburgh University, Edinburgh Napier, and Glasgow University. Once they enter the playoffs, they will play against teams from Division One North and Division One Midlands.
What Does Being A Clansman Entail?
So, if becoming part of the Clansmen sounds like something you are interested in, Joe explains what your week would look like. “You are expected to go to the gym three times a week, of your own accord. On Wednesdays, [we] have a field session followed by a film analysis session. Then on Fridays [we] have a film analysis session followed by a field session. On Saturdays, we have a team gym session in the high-performance suite, and Sundays are typically game day.
“Game days are exciting, game days are fun. It’s usually an early start, so we’ll start at like 10am… go down and set up the field, so get the goalposts out, down markers, chains, dress the sideline. Then we’re out for walkthroughs at 11am, just trying to get into a wee bit of a flow, have a wee stretch, and then back into the changing rooms and out for about 12:20 for full warm-ups and contact, and then the game at about 1pm.”
Why Should You Join the Clansmen?
When asked why someone with no prior experience should consider joining the Clansmen, Joe said that “joining the team gives you a sense of discipline and commitment that I never had in any other sport. I’ve played quite a few sports in my life, but American football made me commit to a process and commit to bettering myself.”
Joe came back to this concept of discipline when discussing how being a Clansman has prepared him for the wider world. He said that “there’s a lot of sacrifices… I’ve learnt that once I commit to this, I’ll reap the rewards. So in everyday life, if you commit to your work, or you commit to relationships, then you’re going to reap the rewards.”
The biggest lesson Joe has learnt from being a Clansman is to believe in himself; he said that “there’s things you learn and you achieve within American football that you would never think possible – ever. To have the life experiences that I’ve had, and a lot of the guys on the team have had, just from playing the sport, you don’t get it anywhere else, it’s really fun.”
Joe went on to add that “it gives you such a tight knit group of friends that I never had before. I’ve got friends that will be with me for the rest of my life having joined the American football team.”
Joe would encourage “people who feel lost, or like they’re not pushing themselves to their full extent, or feel like they want a new challenge in life, or want to go and make new friends,” to join the Clansmen. They “are a very encouraging sport, and [they] love seeing new people down, because a new person down means another person who can share the experiences of the sport. Maybe they go and tell a friend, and the sport continues to grow, which is ultimately everyone who has been around the team’s goal… to keep encouraging people and keep growing the sport.”
Image Credit: University of Stirling.
Student journalist and Sports Editor for Brig Newspaper
