The primary school receives the NFL team before the great game

A group of primary students was the host of the Cleveland Browns before their NFL game against the Vikings of Minnesota in London.

The American football team visited the Thrapston Elementary School in Thrapston, Northambtnshire, on Thursday as part of its school attendance program.

The teacher’s teacher and NFL Kevin Smith fan said he thought the visit had “generated 400 new fans” for sport.

The former Browns player Gary Barnidge said that the objective of the event was to teach students “how important it is to stay in school”, as well as present them to a new sport.

Smith said: “I received an email from the Cleveland Browns asking if they could come to our school to talk about their assistance program and, of course, I will say yes.

“I am a huge fan of the Cleveland Browns and for me and for children they have been a brilliant day.”

Some of the students were already familiar with American football because they play flag football, a contactless version of the game that involves the players taking a flag of the person with the ball instead of boarding them.

Some 20 children participate every Tuesday and the school is looking to enter a team in a tournament in March.

Staying in the game is the Browns program to improve school attendance.

Smith, who is also the school’s physical education leader, said: “The more you go to school, the more opportunities you will have in life, he said.

“It shows a commitment that children make friends at school that learn values ​​in school, so it is a massive treatment.”

Barnidge said he was impressed by children’s enthusiasm.

“When they entered, they were turning the towels and shouting their heads, it was as if they were back in the stadium again,” he said.

“You just see that their eyes light up, they are enjoying it, they are scaring everything, they are learning something new and that’s what it is.”