Wait, I thought this was a football blog?
I know, but hear me out. This isn’t the football you’d usually expect to see here. Just bear with me.
For fans of the NFL, of which there are quite a few in the U.K and Europe, the annual visit to Wembley (and more recently Spurs) is an occasion to be celebrated and enjoyed. It’s a festival of colour, and pretty common to see people dressed as large purple vikings or wearing giant blocks of cheese on their heads. A fan since 2007, my first live experience watching the NFL was in 2012, when the legendary Tom Brady led his Patriots to a dominant 45-7 win over the St Louis Rams.
Brady is somehow still playing a decade later, now in Tampa Bay. The Rams don’t even play in St Louis anymore (having relocated to Los Angeles). With that in mind, I was overdue another visit, and when my brother-in-law pitched the idea of us attending this year, it was an offer too good to refuse.
So it came to be that on a day when I could have been at Arsenal watching the leaders of the Premier League demolish Nottingham Forest, I found myself at Wembley instead, to see the Jacksonville Jaguars take on the Denver Broncos.
Together with my young nephews, the four of us arrived in London the Saturday before the big game, so we could soak in the atmosphere around town. Altogether we made a colourful group: my brother-in-law Matt was supporting his beloved Jaguars, but his sons had opted for the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers respectively. I completed the set with my support of the San Francisco 49ers (always faithful to the bay, baby).
Our first stop was Wembley Stadium itself, as the boys had never been before. We visited the dedicated NFL store, where Matt finally purchased a Jaguars jersey, and the boys were able to pick up some trinkets adorned with their team’s logos.
From there we caught the tube into central London to browse more NFL gear, and even saw a few of the Jaguars players signing autographs in JD Sports. We slowly drifted south until we found ourselves in the bustling Horse & Guardsman, the official Jaguars pub for the weekend, and met a few of the Jags cheerleaders. We finished the night at the excellent Passyunk Avenue for mind-blowing cheesesteaks and good times. All in all a very successful first day.
We were up early Sunday morning and were soon strolling down Wembley Way (or Olympic Way as they want it to be called). There were fans of every team all around us, and naturally Jaguars and Broncos fans were well represented. A huge part of the charm to these international games is the way fans from every team in the league show up in their colours. Before finding our seats we made a final visit to the huge underground NFL marketplace, where a retro-inspired 49ers satin jacket was too tempting for me to ignore. It might’ve hurt my wallet but it won my heart.
Pleased with my purchase and equipped with a hot dog and beer, I settled into my seat to take in the luscious green turf of Wembley. Matt did a great job with our tickets; we had a spectacular view! Before long the pregame pyrotechnics and national anthems were over and the game got underway.
After the Patriots’ impressive but stunningly boring blowout victory of 2012, all I wanted between the Jags and Broncos was a closely fought game. Thankfully they delivered, and the result was in jeopardy right to the end.
Both teams began the day with losing records and neither side had had much to celebrate up to this point in the season. Regardless, getting to see Russell Wilson and Trevor Lawrence battle it out on the field was a lot of fun. It wasn’t always pretty, but watching them work was captivating from where I was perched.
The man who stole the show was Jags running back Travis Etienne Jr. The 23-year-old broke off some huge runs on his way to a career-best 156 yards rushing, along with a touchdown. Unfortunately for Etienne, Matt, and the rest of the Jags fans at Wembley, the Broncos took a late lead with just over a minute left in the game that Jacksonville couldn’t recover from. Trevor Lawrence threw a game-ending interception shortly after that sealed the 21-17 victory for Denver. The crowd clad in orange erupted around us and they ultimately deserved the win.
86,215 fans (the largest crowd ever for an NFL International Series game in the U.K) filed out of Wembley under the floodlights, having enjoyed a tense affair between two teams desperate for a turning point to their season. Matt, myself, and the boys all loved the experience, and will definitely be returning again in the near future.
Sure, the ball is a funnier shape than we’re used to, and they don’t kick it very often.
But it’s a great day at the football nonetheless.
Day At The Football 