How did Redskins fans across the pond react to news that the burgundy and gold would be visiting London for at least one game in 2016, and possibly even another?
“An absolute dream come true,” wrote Christian Burt of London.
“Thrilled,” wrote David Morris, who lives near Glasgow.
“Utterly ecstatic,” wrote Karl Hofer, a Londoner who now lives in Ireland.
No, I had no idea there were this many European Redskins fans either.
The three men I contacted on Wednesday all became attached to the Redskins during the glory days of the ’80s and ’90s, when Washington was among the NFL’s elite franchises. Which means this would possibly be a different story if it were being written 30 years from now.
Burt, 40, started following the team in the mid-80s, when the UK’s Channel 4 broadcast NFL games. He was drawn to the team’s primary color, which matched his own football team, Liverpool. Morris, 51, decided the Redskins were his team before Super Bowl XVII. After Riggins and 70 Chip and all that, he never gave them up. And Hofer, 42, also chose the Redskins because of that Washington-Miami Super Bowl, although in his case he only saw highlights of the game.
“I was about 10 years old, and the excitement of seeing the Riggins fourth-down touchdown run was just incredible,” he wrote. “The Redskins were my team from that point on. It helped that they were on the weekly highlights show on Channel 4 regularly after that as Super Bowl champs, so I got to see a lot of them, plus I was really into Native American history so the whole image really appealed to me.
“My parents wouldn’t let me stay up to watch Super Bowl XVIII as I was too young, so I recorded it on our VHS player, all the time in a panic that the tape wouldn’t be long enough to get all the game in. (I made my dad promise to pause it during halftime just in case!) The next day I bunked off school to watch it, I was just too excited to wait until the late afternoon, I had to see it first thing. So anyway I was in tears by the end of it! I still hate Marcus Allen and Jim Plunkett with his fat cheeks to this day!”
In other words, these fans sound an awful lot like many of you. But their typical commutes to FedEx Field would be a bit trickier than yours, which is why this is such a big deal.
Morris has already seen the team in person, during a preseason trip to London in 1992 and during both regular season and playoff games in the United States. Hofer visited RFK Stadium during a trip to the States with his father, where they “raided the club shop and I battered my dad’s credit card!” And Burt has been blogging about a UK fan’s view on the team for Uncle Sam Sports. But all that is quite a bit different from seeing one, or possibly two, regular season games in person.
So their reactions this week were probably a bit more intense than that of the typical American Redskins fan.
“This is an absolute dream come true — almost a once in a lifetime opportunity — and I’m actually giddy knowing I’ll see the Redskins suit up at Wembley,” Burt wrote. “I’m sitting here at work and ever so slightly jelly legged. When ‘Hail to the Redskins’ is played out at Wembley, I’ll be like a 10-year-old who has just seen ‘Star Wars’ for the first time! Excited is an understatement.”
“Thrilled,” wrote Morris. “I’ve been hoping to see the Redskins as a team over here for some time, so very excited, as many UK Skins fans will be.”
“I heard a rumour the Skins may be in London next year but I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much,” Hofer wrote. “Was thrilled to see it confirmed, and utterly ecstatic at the prospect of two games in a week if it happens!!! I will of course be at the game (or games). Wembley has some nice memories for me as a Chelsea fan, haven’t seen the Blues lose there since it was rebuilt so hopefully I’m a lucky charm!”
Morris joked (I think?) that he’s going to start saving now to pay for both games. And he said the Bengals game should feel like a pseudo home game, since so many UK fans have adopted teams that were strong in the ’80s and ’90s, the Redskins among them. “I’d expect to see plenty of neutrals, but lots of Redskins fans,” he predicted.
Also, they all offered to buy all the beer The Washington Post’s sports staff can drink next year.
At least, I’m pretty sure that’s what they meant to write. It was implied, at the very least.
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