NFL Star Jason Kelce Tries Rugby With London Amateur Team

Amateur rugby players in East London got the shock of their lives when they arrived for a Wednesday training match and found themselves facing a Super Bowl champion.

Jason Kelce, the recently retired Philadelphia Eagles center and seven-time Pro Bowl selection, joined London's Old Streetonians Rugby Club for a friendly against Hackney RFC. The 38-year-old is learning different sports for his YouTube channel and decided to give rugby a proper try.

Hackney prop Dave Lewis had no idea what was coming. "We got a message from our club captain saying our local rivals were coming down with two ex-NFL players," Lewis told BBC Sport. Within minutes of kickoff, he found himself tackling the 6-foot-3 former champion.

"I handed him off at one point and put him on his back," Lewis laughed. "I hope they release that footage because I'll be dining out on it forever." The celebration was short-lived. "He just got back up and absolutely smashed me later on when he had the ball."

Former Harlequins and England prop Joe Marler taught Kelce the basics before the match. The NFL star struggled with rugby's intricate rules at first, getting penalized for picking up the ball from the wrong position. But his football instincts translated surprisingly well to the pitch.

Full-back Peter Scott noticed Kelce's raw power immediately. "His leg drives were sensational," Scott said. "It felt like three people would hit him and then he would go for another 20 meters." The team used Kelce as a number 8, where his explosive strength made perfect sense.

The Ripple Effect

What happened after the final whistle shows why community sports matter. Kelce and his former Eagles teammate Beau Allen followed the team to a local pub, put their cards behind the bar, and spent hours chatting with players. They even participated in the club's initiation ritual, singing a song and downing a pint with everyone else.

Old Street chairman Will Gilgrass said both NFL stars fully embraced the rugby culture. "They were very good value in the pub afterwards," he said. For a few hours, Super Bowl champions and amateur rugby players were just teammates sharing stories over drinks.

Kelce is in England to commentate on Sunday's NFL game between Philadelphia and Jacksonville at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But Wednesday's match gave dozens of local players a story they'll tell for years. "It's a nice little story being able to say we played rugby against Taylor Swift's brother-in-law," Scott joked.

The rugby community proved once again that sports can bring anyone together, no matter how different their backgrounds.