The ultimate American sport

“The ultimate American sport” was how the NFL was sold to me by a friend when I first arrived in Atlanta for University just over 8 years ago. When I asked “Why?” I realised from the glee on his face that he had some form of witty retort ready: “Because it involves the taking of other people’s land by force.”

Over the past 8 years, I think I have probably used that same line on every occasion that I’ve been sitting with Americans and the NFL has come up in discussion. Most laugh, some look stern. On occasion I’ve received a lecture about my lack of appreciation of what the US has done for the world. It’s during that lecture that I drift off into my subconscious and replay Niall Quinn’s audacious chip over the Stockport County goalkeeper from the late 90’s in my own head.

I’ve never been a big fan of American Football. Similar to Ice Hockey, there was never a big market for it in North-East England. However, Sunday’s success story at Wembley shows that I am in the minority. For those that missed what happened, The New England Patriots destroyed The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 3rd regular season game in as many years to be played in London. The turn-out for the game was very high indeed, with only a few of 86,000 seats not taken.

There’s even talk of playing more regular season games on foreign shores over the coming years, with locations as far flung as China being discussed. This is a far cry from the time the NFL tried to branch out into Britain when I was a kid. As far as I can remember, this was limited to petrol stations giving away commemorative glasses with purchases, so parents would be bludgeoned into filling up there to appease the shrieks of their offspring. I distinctly remember being gutted when my San Francisco ‘49ers glass got smashed. Not that I could name a single player from the squad from the mid 1980’s.

Perhaps the success of the past three seasons will lead to more games being played overseas. Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady had a wonderful game on Sunday and he said he would be interested in playing abroad again, as long as they get a bye the week after. However, European NFL fans shouldn’t get too excited just yet – the Pat’s head coach Bill Belichick was skeptical over whether teams would want to commute as far as Europe to play. Although a nice idea for fans abroad, the prospect of regular games being played in Europe is being viewed among playing and coaching staff the same way as the proposed “39th game” in the English Premier League: Great news for the money men, hard work for the players.