Vikings fans in London are just like you, enjoying the start of 2024 and hoping it continues
LONDON – His father thinks he is crazy. As in: Seriously, Matt? Are you going to make the four-hour train journey south from Hessle to London for this?
Matt understands. His father is a rugby loyalist and proud man who played the sport and thinks American football is a foolish offshoot. Matt always thought that too. Why lie about it? Who were these players? Why did so many people in that other country care about that? he wondered, and one afternoon he turned on the television for fun.
The purple-gold team played against the gold-black team. There were a lot of starts and a lot of stops, and for some reason the clock was ticking down rather than up. He kept looking. For what reason? To this day, he’s still not entirely sure. The match was nearing its end and the purple-gold team had one last chance. The thrower of the football threw a pass to the right side of the screen, and the receiver jumped and not only caught the pass, but also spun around.
He sprinted forward. The announcers shouted. He raised the ball into the air and stretched his arms wide as if bowing. The announcers shouted uncontrollably. The receiver threw away his helmet. Players hugged each other. Music played. The fans went crazy. Matt couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. It was as if the joy on the screen had reached out from the television and grabbed him too. He liked this. No, he loved this.
“The Minneapolis miracle,” says Matt, “it got me.”
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He sits at a round wooden table in a modern pub in London and smiles as he reflects on the origins of his NFL intrigues. Two of his college friends who accompanied him on his four-hour train journey from Hessle, Josh and Jack, laugh.
If you had explained years ago that they would be here drinking pints and waiting to watch an American football match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, they would have thought you had picked them up with an arcade-style tap and put them in another dimension had dropped.
Now here they are, wearing Justin Jefferson jerseys, clinking glasses in the corner of this pub and rehashing how they got into this in the first place.
“It was kind of in the back of my mind,” says Jack. “I was kind of looking forward to it.”
“And you came to the game two years ago,” Josh tells Jack, “and it kind of sparked my interest in it.”
“Then we went to the pub to watch it,” says Matt.
“And there’s a guy I work with who supports the commanders,” Josh says.
“The Commanders,” Matt says, shaking his head.
“Not good,” says Jack.
“But this year…” Josh says.
Sunday visits to their local pubs helped them learn the game. The addition of an NFL-specific channel by Sky Sports alleviated their desire to further tune in. During the offseason, they watch “Good Morning Football.” During the seasons, they have coffee late in the morning to watch the primetime games.
They’re not the only ones either. In a booth a few steps away sits Ville-Pekka, a young man who flew three hours from Finland. He followed the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. When his friends kept pestering him to watch the sport where people collide on grass instead of ice, he stayed with the Minnesota team. Across the bar stands Will Harrison, who more than a decade ago was paying attention when the Purple and Gold team’s longtime quarterback threw a pass down the field that was ultimately intercepted by the Black and Gold team.
London, let’s get it! #Scol pic.twitter.com/TxAyYaj5Gj
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 5, 2024
When they all started watching, they had questions. Such as: Why would you start the game, kick the ball off and then pause for almost a minute before the action continues? To this day, some of them still have questions. Such as: Why are there so many picky rules? Do the referees have to pause the game so often? What is a holding penalty versus a good block? Why are Thursday night games so hard to watch?
Maybe they just don’t know, they say. Maybe if they were in America they would understand. Or maybe Americans see these things too. Regardless, they put aside their doubts to root for their team that is somehow 4-0.
Matt thinks this has so much to do with coach Kevin O’Connell, and how different he is from former Vikings coach Mike Zimmer.
“We even say it about football here,” says Matt, “but that overbearing style of coaching just doesn’t work anymore.”
Jack and Josh nod.
“Players need someone to encourage them instead of shouting,” says Matt.
Ville-Pekka mentions defensive coordinator Brian Flores and describes how he can’t understand Flores’ strategy.
“I just hope no one figures out how to beat it,” he says.
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They talk about Jefferson’s magic tricks as a receiver and the unexpected performance of quarterback Sam Darnold. Matt, Jack, and Josh pull out their phones to show their group text messages sent a few weeks ago when Darnold backed up and threw the ball to Jefferson, who cut across the field and ran into the end zone.
“Very happy with this start,” says Jack.
“It was really good,” Josh adds.
Matt is about to share his thoughts, but then he pauses, and his friends know what’s about to happen.
“There is still some skepticism,” Matt acknowledges. “By looking at it for a few years and also learning about the past, I have started to temper expectations.”
This comment is both affirming and revealing. The clear, resounding optimism is as important to being a Vikings fan as knowing The Miracle and Brett Favre’s interception. It’s also clear that the beauty of supporting this team extends beyond the coach and the players, the highlights and the energy; it’s also about the aspiration.
One day, purple and gold will achieve the ultimate prize. And by then, Matt might even be cheering for his dad.
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(Photo: Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)
