How international NFL fans pick jerseys: Chicken pox, video games and family
To clarify how he got here to be standing at Wembley Stadium in late October carrying a blue Giants Saquon Barkley jersey over a standard Scottish kilt – forward of a recreation between the Broncos and Jaguars – Kevin Eddison has to get you into the Set again 12 months 1987.
As a 14-year-old rising up in Aberdeen, Scotland, Eddison was battling a case of chickenpox. He sat on the sofa and could not sleep. The solely factor on TV late that evening in January: Super Bowl XXI between the Giants and the Broncos.
“I was seduced by Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor and all that,” he mentioned of the celebs who helped the Giants win that evening 39-20. “It just started from there.”
The NFL accomplished a sturdy five-game international schedule final Monday, which noticed the 49ers defeat the Cardinals 38-10 on the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. The league beforehand hosted three games in London – the aforementioned competitors at Wembley and two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – and additionally hosted the first-ever recreation of the common season in Germany, a 21-16 win for the Buccaneers over the Seahawks in Munich on March 11. 13.
A typical scene that related all these games: fans carrying jerseys – of each well-known and unknown gamers – from groups from throughout the league. Just a few laps across the enviornment at Wembley earlier than the Broncos’ 21-17 win on Oct. 30 was sufficient to knock any of the 32 groups off the record. On any given Sunday at an NFL stadium within the United States, you may see a handful of jerseys that do not signify both crew, however the bulk of the fan wardrobe is both within the colours of the house crew or these of the visiting infiltrate.
When the sport hits the international stage, the aesthetic could be very completely different.
“When games come here, it’s our way of celebrating our love of the sport,” mentioned Paul Jhon, a younger fan from Germany who flew to London for the Broncos-Jaguars recreation and wearing a teal Dolphins jersey with a former quarterback arrived at Wembley with Ryan Fitzpatrick’s title on the again.
Jhon began the game as an adolescent eight years in the past and has performed as an offensive lineman on an beginner soccer crew in Germany for the previous two years, however has by no means felt drawn to any explicit NFL crew. Instead, he chooses his jerseys based mostly on iconic moments caused by the gamers who put on them.
For instance, in late December 2020, Jhon watched a Dolphins vs. Raiders recreation. Fitzpatrick, attempting to steer the Dolphins to an unlikely recreation win, was yanked on his face masks by a Raiders defenseman and nonetheless managed to finish a 34-yard cross to Mack Hollins and set Miami up for a profitable subject purpose.
“He completes the shot and it was just amazing,” mentioned Jhon. “I just couldn’t resist. After this game, I immediately went online and bought the shirt.”
In the playoffs a few weeks later, when Washington backup quarterback Taylor Heinicke dodged almost the entire Tampa Bay defense on his way to an 8-yard touchdown run, Jhon placed another order, this time for a claret-and-gold No .4 jersey.
“You’re simply so caught up within the second,” he said.
At a bar called the Augustiner Stammhaus earlier this month, the Seahawks’ designated hangout spot in downtown Munich, the place was packed with Seattle fans. But even there, fans in other jerseys were part of the mix. A man named Tobi was wearing a Patrick Mahomes jersey.
“I started watching NFL really intensely in 2016 and 2017. I never had a team; I just loved the sport,” said Tobi. “I used to see Patrick Mahomes and it simply[got me]as a result of it was spectacular and it by no means let go of me. I simply began watching Patrick Mahomes go on and on and on and he (received) me.
His pal Josaph had a equally easy rationalization for why he was carrying a JJ Watt No. 99 jersey from the All-Pro defenseman days with the Texans.
“I think the player is legendary,” mentioned Josaph and was blissful concerning the atmosphere earlier than the primary NFL recreation in Germany. “His mentality, he’s such a great player. He is unbelievable. He’s one of the greatest to have played football. That’s all I can say.”
German NFL fan Josaph purchased a jersey from JJ Watt as a result of he thinks Watt is “legendary”. (Photo by Michael Shawn Dugar)
A commonality amongst many international fans, most of whom weren’t born or raised in an NFL crew’s geographic footprint, is the random nature of how they got here to assist one of many 32 groups — and finally put on considered one of its jerseys.
Georgina Sewell from Sheffield, England received a free trial of the Madden video recreation on her Xbox a couple of years in the past. When it got here time to decide on a crew to play with, she created some particular parameters.
“I worked for Disney in Florida for a while, so I knew I had to pick a Florida team,” mentioned Sewell, who got here to the Broncos-Jaguars recreation in a No. 17 Jaylen Waddle jersey. “I like blue so I knew it was Jacksonville or Miami and I liked the dolphins as an animal so I went with that. So I started watching the dolphins.”
Standing next to Sewell was her husband, Scott, who wore a No. 10 Mac Jones jersey in the Patriots’ navy colorway. Prior to 2018, he wasn’t a huge football fan, but in February of this year, he and a friend were invited to a late night Super Bowl party.
“My buddy picked the Eagles and I picked the Patriots,” Scott said. “My buddy has backed the Eagles since then, and I’ve backed the Patriots since.”
“That makes us rivals,” says Georgina, laughing.
Regardless of how they got the shirts they wear at international matches, it’s safe to assume that most of the numbered shirts represent an authentic, passionate fan base. Eddison, whose family members wife Julie is a Lions fan who lives in nearby Windsor, Ontario and wore former receiver Calvin Johnson’s jersey to Wembley last month, has been to all three games the Giants have played in London since 2017 – including this season’s 27-22 win over the Packers at Tottenham. He’s also been to three games in New York over the years, all Giants wins.
“I’m the fortunate mascot, I assume,” he said.
International fans also get points for creativity. At the Munich game earlier this month, a Seahawks fan wore a modified Russell Wilson jersey that had the former quarterback’s name replaced with tape on the back that read “2-First-Round-Picks,” a clue on the premium draft capital that Seattle was acquiring at the time, selling Wilson to the Broncos.
A Seahawks fan got here to the sport in Germany with this jersey at this time 😳
The kilt worn by Eddison? It’s partly a nod to the Giants’ particular crew duo of kicker Graham Gano and punter Jamie Gillan, each of whom had been born in Arbroath, Scotland.
“It’s cool to have that connection,” he mentioned.
It’s connections like these, and the fervour they generate, absolutely expressed throughout this season’s international games, that specify why the NFL’s progress past its nationwide borders could also be simply starting.
— Michael-Shawn Dugar contributed to this report
(Top picture of fans exterior Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: Bradley Collyer/PA Images through Getty Images)
