Words by our resident NFL observer Ben Moore.
Let me take you back to 1994, I have just got my hands on a Sega Mega drive and a game that came with it, EA sports double header. This was my first sample of American Football.
Blocky pixelated players throwing an orange block up the field and delivering what at the time was crunching tackles but were just a mass of colour colliding. But wow, it had me hooked.
It wasn’t until 1998 that I watched a game on the TV, Super Bowl XXXII the Green Bay Packers Vs Denver Broncos, a mixture of giants of men smashing into each other, smaller agile guys weaving through tackles and then the show piece for me were the throws from the Quarterbacks to a receiver down field. I didn’t really care who won I was just drawn into the spectacle of the event.
None of my friends had any interest in it, so it would just become a yearly thing for me watching the Superbowl not really having a team that I would religiously follow but enjoying the final battle of the NFL season.
Now fast forward to 2013 Myself and two friends decided to go to a NFL London game. It's the San Francisco 49ers vs the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley. The atmosphere was incredible. Just arriving and getting off the tube at Wembley Park to hordes of NFL fans, every team were represented. Everyone was having a superb time, sections of the crowds were throwing a football around, divisional rivals just hanging out. There were the sounds of Team’s chants ringing in the air, with cheerleaders, team bands and mascots preforming throughout the crowds.
I had been to football games at Wembley before, but nothing had felt like this. Everyone was there to watch two NFL teams go at it, without too much care for allegiances.
Once inside the stadium the noise was immense, explosive plays on the field, enormous hits and it was an incredible mass of people caught up in a party atmosphere and watching superstars battle it out. You had rival fans sitting next to each other just having the best time joking and celebrating their teams play. I had never experienced comradery like this at an event before.
I decided the following year I would pick my team from a game we watched, landed on Atlanta Falcons (a now painful decision in hindsight). Under the encouragement of a few drinks, we decided to dress up for the games if we have no affiliation to a team.
We started going as referees, causing a general nuisance at the tailgate, throwing flags, calling joke fouls on the people around us. Since have dressed as various things trying to relate to one of the team’s state or name. We got our 15 mins of fame dressed up in Tiger suits Onesies for a Bengals vs Rams game. Everyone knew the Bengal’s didn’t really have much of a chance of getting a result, but we were celebrating every little yard gained, and we erupted when they got into the end zone.
Final score Rams 24 – Bengals 10.
This year tickets were like gold dust; it was Green Bay Packers first venture over to the UK with their loyal Cheesehead supporters. And how I wish I had been there; it was an immense game where the Packers dominated the first half only for the Giants to come roaring back and claim the victory.
We managed to secure tickets for the final game – the Jags vs the Broncos at Wembley. With both teams not having the best start to the season, this became a real dog fight. Jags dominating the first half, but the Broncos and QB Russel Wilson took the fight to the Jags in the second half, with some long aerial plays and some hard running to take the lead. They held on for the victory after securing a last-minute interception.
With talks in the works, could we see a London NFL Franchise soon?
