NFL...Battles on a foreign field

 

 

 It was on October 28^th 2007 that the first NFL regular season game was played at Wembley Stadium, London, a rain drenched clash between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants in front a capacity crowd. The success of that initial game and the continued support of the fixture by the paying public as meant an increase to two regular season games in 2013. 

 

This London International Series offers a fabulous opportunity for any American visitors to tie in a visit to England’s capital city and see their beloved NFL team in action on a foreign field. The 2013 season offers up the Jacksonville Jaguars against the San Francisco 49ers, perhaps one of the most supported teams in the UK due to the Joe Montana/Steve Young phenomenon when NFL first hit the British shores back in the early 80’s thanks to Channel 4's TV screenings. With Jacksonville now committed to a four year programme of games at Wembley, it will be interesting to see how their support grows with the regular attenders at the International Series games. Will British fans will stay loyal to their existing teams or adopt the Jaguars as their own? Also scheduled for 2013 is the much anticipated game between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers, a fixture that I’m sure will have the “terrible towels” out in force considering the Steelers considerable following around Europe.

  
 

So what can any guests from the USA expect from a British NFL experience?
  

Since the original game in 2007 each subsequent year as seen further developments in pregame events ranging from Cheerleaders appearances across London, Saturday night musical events, open air film showings, NFL rallies and the Tailgate event on the day of the game.
The NFL rally at the iconic tourist attraction Trafalgar Square, as become a regular occurrence on the Saturday afternoon before the game. A free to anyone event, offering live performances from bands, related entertainment from the corresponding teams such as Drum lines, appearances from players and coaches of both teams, Q and A sessions with past stars of the game and of course, the ever popular Cheerleaders. The crowds are large with a mixture of ardent NFL fans and just the curious passing through.

 

The “Tailgate Party” on the Sunday morning prior to the game, held in the shadows of the impressive Wembley stadium, is free to all match ticket holders. This event is not what most Americans would normally expect from a Tailgate experience, they probably being used to its stadium car parks full of home town fans and their smoke billowing barbecues. Instead it is an official NFL run event with an array of attractions such as exhibitions, hands on games, NFL related entertainment , live music and past stars usually from the competing teams . In turn there are a number of beer tents, food outlets and merchandise stands spread around the large site designated to the event. The gates usually open at 11am and the numbers who attend are vast, demonstrated by the large queues at most of the attractions. There is a great atmosphere however with fans of all 32 NFL teams in attendance, a colourful spectacle of AFC,NFC, Collegiate, European and British team shirts on display all mingling together.

 



 

The game atmosphere itself is very different to a normal regular season match up, the International Series games so far have generally tended to have the so called away team having the biggest support . Therefore, despite attempts to rally the fans to back the home there does seem a “ Superbowl game” atmosphere where a large number of the crowd just want to see a close, well fought , skillful game with little sign of the fervent partisan behaviour shown when their own team is playing. However, this doesn’t distract from what is a wonderful spectacle played in a well equipped modern stadium in front of a 80,000 plus crowd who are full of excitement and anticipation.
 

Whatever the rights and wrongs are of Roger Goodell's International Series ambitions, the interest in the NFL within the UK as grown substantially since the introduction of the regular game experiment, now an annual event with ticket sales taking off as soon as they are released. With the UK fans knowledge of the game increasing ten fold and the interest in American Football widening across all age groups it seems inevitable the International Series will continue. Although my sympathies do lie with the American fans whose team loses a home game each year, the occasion does give them an opportunity to visit the great city of London and see a very different take on their beloved game.