Football, or as we call it in the UK, American Football. This mainly because most of the world has what Americans call soccer, called football, hence the name American football, or Gridiron Football.
However, You’ll be glad to know for the purpose of this article I shall refer to the game as football as frankly I’m now confusing myself!
American Football In The UK
Football first hit UK tv screens reguarly in 1982 with a weekly highlight show (although we did get brief Superbowl highlights before then). The show was broadcast for an hour on Sunday afternoons just before the current weeks games took place and very quickly gained a cult following. I remember watching at just 16 years old. Those were the days of Coach Landry, Dan Marino, Joe Montana and a young English kicker for the Atlanta Falcons named Mick Luckhurst. Through Luckhurst the Falcons quickly gained a sizeable following in the UK along with the Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys who still remain my team to this day, 32 years on.
It was only a matter of time until a game was played in the UK and in 1983 a series of exhibition games were announced at Wembley, including a pre-season game in 1986 between the Cowboys and new British favourite team the Chicago Bears who featured one William Perry aka “The Fridge” in their ranks. The growing number of UK fans were charmed by Perry and the Bears now joined the list of popular teams. The games continued for a few years more and Satellite TV started showing live games in 1994 for the very first time. It was at this point that British fans lost interest in pre-season games and despite the London Monarchs and Scottish Claymores in the new World League, British fans yearned for a regular season game to be played at Wembley. After the stadium was re-built the NFL now started to seriously discuss the idea of a regular game at the new Wembley after it re-opened in 2005.
It was in 2007 that British fans got their wish when the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins played the first regular season game at Wembley. The game sold out in minutes and over 80,000 people filled the world famous stadium however there was a problem. In the early days of the New Wembley there were great problems with the pitch and just three days after that 1st game the England soccer team played Croatia in a vital European qualifying game. Played in heavy rain the pitch made the game difficult for both sides and an unlucky bobble caused England to lose the game. It was obvious that the NFL was here to stay and the pitch had to be vastly improved.
Over the years the pitch has become near perfect and in 2013 the NFL awarded a seconnd regular season game a year to Wembley. Again both games sold out quickly and with the game now huge in the UK a third game was awarded for the 2014 season with the expected huge ticket sales. On November 9th the Cowboys are here to play London’s adopted team Jacksonville, a game which I have tried and failed to get tickets for. With the Cowboys in town the atmosphere is surely going to reach a new high and demand will again increase for football in the UK.
So what of the future? It’s no secret that Wembley, the NFL and even the British Government are discussing the posibility of a London franchise. It most certainly could happen but should it? In my opinion no it shouldn’t. Faced with the costs of a full season the average fan simply would struggle to afford it and unless the team was winning interest would wain. Far better in my opinion to keep it special and have three games a year and maybe a couple of college games at other UK venues too. Together with the excellent live tv coverage on three channels that should keep the British fan more than happy.
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