NFL to London? Might be sooner than you think...

Over the last few years I have become addicted to a sport that is somewhat foreign to most members of the British public.

On February 4th 2007, I was sat in a very cramped hotel room in Kent with two good friends of mine, Daniel Smith and Ian Purvis. Their names are somewhat irrelevant to the story but it’s nice to metion your friends.

Anyway, we flicked on the television that night to find that Super Bowl 41 was preparing for kick off. Between the three of us we had watched about 10 minutes of American Football in our lives, which mainly consisted of flicking through the sports channels during the advert break of something else we were watching. Despite this, there was nothing else on and we decided to watch it.

Prior to this occasion I saw American Football as a dull, stop start game that was built around advertising breaks. I also assumed it was only popular in America because of the high scores, which Americans can’t seem to live without. However, a mere 20 seconds into the game, my entire perception was transformed.

I remember it vividly, it was the Indianapolis Colts against the Chicago Bears in torrential rain in Miami. At the time I had no idea which team was better and who was likely to win. The Colts kicked off, long down the pitch and it was caught by a Bears player who I thought was called Heston. Turns out his name was Devin Hester and he was the best kick returner in the league. That of course meant nothing to me. Nevertheless, Hester proceeded to run 92 yards for a touchdown to give the Bears the lead, which is apparently the earliest first score in Super Bowl history.

This amazing moment hooked me in instantly. Being British, forever the fan of the underdog, I choose to go to bat for the Indianapolis Colts. As it turned out, the Colts went on to win the game comfortably by a score of 29-17. Unbeknown to me at the time, the Colts were in fact the favourites and their Quarterback Peyton Manning is considered one of, if not THE best player in the entire NFL. Despite finding out that rather than an underdog supporter I had in fact gone down a potential glory hunter route, I started my love affair with the Colts that has continued to grow.
Peyton Manning holds the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl trophy in 2007

Through watching games and playing countless hours of Madden NFL on the PlayStation and the Wii with my younger brother, I developed an understanding of the rules to a point where the stop start nature of the game ceased to bother me and the tactical plotting of a team driving up the field became enthralling. I also began to realise why the sport was so popular. The fact that it lasts so long with a number of breaks makes it ideal for a social gathering. While Association Football (I call it that as I refuse to say Soccer and so use any method, however long to avoid this) requires full attention for 90 minutes, with American Football you can engage in conversation between plays and it becomes a social day out.

Anyway, my love of the sport is causing me to digress.

The point of this article is to look at the growing popularity of the NFL in Britain.

Since 2007, Wembley stadium has hosted one regular season NFL game every year, all of which have sold out extremely quickly. This alone shows that appreciation for the game is increasing in these hallowed lands.

Due to the success of these games, murmurs are being made over the Atlantic Ocean that not only could there be more regular season games in London every season, but Wembley may even play host to probably the greatest sporting spectacle after the World Cup, the Super Bowl. Not only that, there are rumours arising that in the not too distance future, a London based franchise may emerge and compete in the NFL.

Pipedreams you may think, but in recent weeks the NFL have hired Lord Brian Mawhinney as a special advisor to NFL International. Now us Brits will know Mawhinney as a former Chairman of the Football League, stepping down this year after seven years at the helm.

This is a significant move for the globalisation of the NFL and with Mawhinney’s ream of contacts in British sport, it seems that this appointment surely pushes us ever closer to a London link with the NFL.


Speaking to NFL.com, Lord Mawhinney said:

‘I would be disappointed if there weren’t some things I have learned in the alst seven or eight years being the executive chairman of the Football League in this country that would be beneficial to NFL International as we build a solid foundation for the future. We’re at the very beginning of the relationship and I’ve had just one long in-depth meeting and another one is planned in a couple of weeks’ time and we will build on that in the future.’

It seems that there is real positivity in this move and you have to feel that with a Brit with Mawhinney’s level of standing in British sport, there has to be some level of thinking towards a London franchise, or at the very least a London Super Bowl.

If you ask me, the popularity of the Wembley matches so far shows that the stadium will easily sell out the Super Bowl and a crowd of 90,000 would go into the top five attendances in the history of the event. Not a statistic to be sniffed at.

American sports journalist Jason la Canforna is convinced that 2025 Wembley will have hosted at least one Super Bowl and he is certainly not the only one. San Francisco 49ers owner John York, whose team will take part in October’s Wembley match said ‘I’m not sure what till happen first, a Super Bowl over here or and NFL team, but they both seem likely to happen.’

Given the fact that in the next ten years London will have hosted an Olympics and maybe even a World Cup, the infrastructure for hosting such an event will be firmly in place and hopefully by then, proven to be successful. Not only that, if American Football continues to grow as it is currently, it will become almost impossible to ignore a London Super Bowl.

Could Wembley be a future Super Bowl venue? Don't rule it out.

I for one would welcome it with open arms as the opportunities for us Brits who share a love for the game to go to a Super Bowl in the current system are almost non-existant. What does remain to be seen however is if I would feel obliged to switch my allegiance to a London franchise if it was ever formed.

What it might do is give Brits a first hand example of the advantages of a salary cap, the mandatory University education of players and a far more fair and balanced trading system.

Oh also, while your at it America, can you send Wrestlemania our way? Cheers.

Paul the Psychic Octopus

I wasn't going to do another blog this week, but I had so much fun with this topic that I thought I'd share it.
Here is an article I submitted for the JERSEY EVENING POST ahead of the Germany v Spain semi-final.

Move over Nostradamus and make way Mystic Meg, there’s a new psychic in town and he’s got the track record to back it up.

I have to be honest; even I am considering throwing the towel. Sometimes something happens that forces you to take a look at yourself and consider your ability in your profession. This has never been clearer than being put to shame by an Octopus.
Paul the Octopus or Paul Oktopus as he is known at home is a two-year-old with penchant for correctly predicting the results of German football matches.
Despite being born in Weymouth, England, Paul decided the grass was greener, packed up his bags and headed for Oberhausen, Germany, where he now resides at the city’s Sea Life Aquarium.

Allegedly, when Paul was captured, his captors attempted to boil him. Not taking too kindly to this, Paul reached out and turned the gas off. It was this that got people thinking that he could be special. Although quite why it was decided to test him on his football predictions above all things is still a mystery.
For reasons unknown, at the start of the European Championships in 2008, Paul’s keepers decided to test the cephalopod mollusk was presented with food in identical containers, one marked with the German flag, the other with their opponents on that day, Poland. Paul opted for the German box and the nation chuckled as Germany ran out 2-0 winners.

Paul succesfully predicts that Germany will get past Diego Maradona's Argentina

In the second game, Paul decided on a change and treated himself to the contents of the box marked with the flag of Croatia. Later that evening, Croatia recorded a 2-1 victory against their German counterparts. People began to take notice.
Paul went on to successfully predict five out of the six German results during the tournament and became a national treasure. The only result he got wrong? He plumped for his adopted homeland to beat Spain in the final. Fernando Torres proved him wrong.

Two years on, the prediction machine is at it again. Paul has now impressively correctly picked the winner in all five of Germany’s games in the World Cup so far, including the unexpected loss to Serbia.
In the second round, despite hailing from Weymouth, Paul backed Germany to beat England in the last 16. Irritatingly he was proved right. That’s right, even an octopus foresaw our demise.

The eight-legged oracle breaks English hearts ahead of the crucnh Last 16 encounter

If you had entrusted your hard earned cash with Paul and backed each of his predictions with a crisp £20 note, you would now be enjoying a profit of £213.60.
On Monday, photos were released of Mr Oktopus choosing to claim his meal from the Spanish box, ahead of Germany’s semi-final clash with Spain. However it was yesterday revealed that the photo was a hoax and was in fact the image of Paul choosing Serbia earlier in the tournament, with a Spanish flag replacing that of the Baltic nation.

The real prediction was made this morning and the mock-up artists were proved right as Paul did in fact opt for Spain to be victorious in the quest for a Final berth. If Paul's performance in making his prediction is a sign of what is to come on the pitch then we’re in for an end-to-end thriller. He teased the crowd by lingering at the German flag before heading for the Spanish box, much to the despair of the watching German media.

After fake photos emerge on the internet, Paul makes his real prediction and chooses Spain

Only time will tell whether the eight-legged oracle will continue his winning streak, but it seems as if Die Mannschaft will be hoping to utilise his talents for many tournaments to come. However, with a life expectancy of less than five years, it looks like this particular clairvoyant may have to hang up his crystal ball following the closing ceremony.

Turns out gambling really is for suckers...(*sigh*)

The English Rose Rediscovers Pride

In a week where English hearts were broken by our woeful footballers, a local boy and his golf clubs have been making their mark on America.

Justin Rose, the 29-year-old who was raised in Hampshire, last night won the AT&T National hosted by World Number One Tiger Woods. Despite a late wobble, the North Hants boy done good captured his second PGA Tour title in a month while the host languished 14 shots behind, labouring to a tie for 46th place.

What makes the victory that little bit sweeter is that the event is held traditionally on the 4th of July weekend, celebrating America’s independence. There was no home celebrations as the man from little old England ambushed the event and lead from day two to the finish.

It’s been a rollercoaster career for Justin Rose since he burst onto the seen at Royal Birkdale in 1998, when, as a 17-year-old amateur, he finished in a tie for fourth place after holing out from 80 yards at the final hole.

Teenage Rose soaks in the atmosphere after holing out on the 18th in 1998


From there he turned professional almost immediately and proceeded to miss his first 21 cuts on the European Tour. Things could only get better and they eventually did, as the young man earned victories four victories during 2002/2003 to move into the World’s top 35. In 2004 it started to go wrong again and he slipped out of the top fifty and by mid 2005 he wasn’t even in the top 100.

In 2006 Rose started to find some form and ultimately won the Australian masters, his first title for four years. He continued to improve and despite lost in a playoff at the 2007 BMW PGA Championship he moved into the top twenty of the World Rankings for the first time, and by October had reached a new career high of 12 and became the top ranked British golfer.
In his biggest achievement to date Rose won the European Tour Order of Merit title in 2007 after a nailbiting end to the Volvo Masters, which he claimed in a playoff. By now he was the World number 6 and the top-ranked European golfer.

After excelling in his first Ryder Cup, Justin’s form deserted him once more and he has spent the last year trying to recapture his spark and finally find some consistency in his game that would keep him in contention regularly rather than yo-yoing up and down the rankings.

Rose had not won on the PGA tour in 161 starts before the first week of June this year, when he stormed to victory in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, when he held off the charge of youngster Rickie Fowler to pop his American cherry. Then, in his next appearance only a matter of weeks later, Rose worked his way into a third round lead of the Travelers Championship at TPC Riverside, before self destructing to finish ninth.

After the holing the winning putt at last month's Memorial


I am more than willing to let him off the hook on this one though. His final round began two hours after England were bitch slapped into submission by Germany at the World Cup. If he is anything like the rest of England, he’d have nervously put away four or five pints during the game and then spent a good portion of his time before hitting the range shouting and swearing, working himself into a mood far removed from the calm and confident golfer that he is.

So a week later, when he set off on his final round at the National with a four shot lead, he was determined to make amends and see this one out. By the turn everything looked Rosey (ha…..) as a superb iron shot left him with a tap in eagle at the ninth hole to lead by five. It was his first eagle of the year, quite a surprising statistic really for someone in the World’s top fifty.

What followed was a typical display of an Englishman giving his supporters palpitations. Rose had not registered a three putt in 275 holes as he walked onto the tenth green, but proceeded to do so at both ten and eleven – like buses ey – as his nearest challenger Charlie Wi closed the gap to just two strokes. For those of you who can’t appreciate the three putt fact, it’s similar to a football team going ten games without conceding and then getting five put passed them in consecutive games.

Anyway, a late surge from Ryan Moore meant that Rose had to make a par at the last to claim his prize and he duly did, tapping in from two feet for the victory. Two wins in three starts after going so long without winning – what did I tell you, buses – he will surely now be spurred on to a great season.

Rose claims his second title in a month at the AT&T National


The hottest form golfer on the planet at the moment, Rose is intending to return to Europe for the rest of the summer to stake his claim for a place in Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor in September, who will be looking to wrestle the trophy back from their American counterparts. Rose was one of the top Europeans at the last Ryder Cup at Valhalla, chalking up three points, including a win against World Number 2 Phil Mickelson in the singles.

Time will tell whether Rose decides to experience another car crash season that sends him plummeting out of the top fifty again, but for the time being he is bang on form, just in time for this month’s Open Championship at St Andrews. Is it time for Justin to capture a major?

If he keeps this up it just might be.