CROSSING OVER
STANDING AT the cordon ringing the pitch of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Joshua Addams catches his breath as if it were a deep ball into the end zone. It’s been a long day, with every little twitch measured, monitored and recorded on film.
Welcome to the International Player Combine. Here, athletes from across the planet hope to show enough athletic ability and potential aptitude for field craft to earn one of the limited spots in a finishing school for American Football hopefuls. Get on the International Player Pathway and they might just make it to an NFL match-day roster one day
Addams is a rugby player. In fact, as he explains to us at the touchline, he once featured in Rugby World. But having played for London Irish Wild Geese and then gone to Rosslyn Park, he was inspired by Christian Wade leaving rugby for this pathway and making it onto a practice squad at the Buffalo Bills in the NFL – that’s lethal Wasps wing and British & Irish Lion Wade. If Addams (also a running back in football terms) can catch the eye after a 40-yard dash, agility drills and reception/route running drills, maybe he could head Stateside too.
“After seeing what Christian did, I got in contact,” he says of the
