Last Sunday, Saints fans from around the world gathered to watch their team play against the Vikings in London. The game was part of the NFL’s International Series—a set of regular season games played abroad. While the Saints ultimately lost in the last few seconds, the game was a unique chance for Whodats from New Orleans and Europe to meet and cheer on their team together. We teamed up with the London-based reporter Jonah Goldman Kay for the story.
This story has been lightly edited for length and clarity
Goldman Kay: It’s an unusually sunny Sunday at the Tottenham stadium in London, and normally the place would be packed with Hotspurs fans in Harry Kane jerseys. Instead, it’s full of Whodats from London, Austria, and even Hungary — not to mention New Orleans.
For the second time, the Saints have made their way across the pond to face off in one of the NFL’s International Series games. The games started in 2007 as a way to raise awareness about American football in the UK, and it’s caught on.
For Saints fans from New Orleans, it’s a chance to take a trip abroad, while supporting their team. Kendra Mitchell came with her husband and a group of 12 other friends to see the game.
Kendra: We follow the Saints heavy. And so we figured this would be the perfect time to be able to take the European trip and support the Saints at the same time. Of course as Saints fans, we definitely gravitate to other Saints fans. So we go to Saints parties and NFL things that they put together for us. We came out to support it.
It’s also a chance for Brits and Europeans to get exposure to American football, a game many of them had only ever seen on TV.
Florian: Football is getting bigger and bigger in Europe and especially in Austria, it's getting bigger and bigger.
That’s Florian Rührlinger, an avid supporter of the Panthers—a team he chose because he liked how they played in the 2016 Super Bowl. He’s also a player on the Styrian Bears, his local American football club in Graz, Austria.
Florian: We have I think about 30 teams for teams in four divisions.
Football in Austria has grown significantly since the Austrian Football League was founded in 1984. Today, the AFL is one of the best football leagues in Europe.
Florian: Football is a sport for everyone. You need every kind of player. And The best part of football is that everyone gets integrated.
But as far as what Florian likes more about the game…
Florian: There is not that...competition. It’s all for the team. And especially for us, for the Bears, it's a family game.
For some Brits, particularly those who support rival soccer teams,
being in the Tottenham stadium was a bit strange.
Mark: It’s a good stadium, I won’t lie.
Mark, a West Ham fan
Mark: But we're rivals, right. We’re rivals. And they lost yesterday. And we won. So I'm good with that.
Others, like Alex, who roots for Arsenal, Tottenham’s biggest rival due to the teams’ proximity in North London, were a bit more blunt
Alex: We were hoping to see a tour of their trophy cabinet but just realized it’s empty.
And if these British fans were hoping for an exciting game, the teams certainly delivered. The Vikings came out hot, scoring a touchdown on their first drive. And while the Saints started off a little slower, they eventually took the lead, causing the game to come down to kicks.
The Vikings' Greg Joseph kicked the go-ahead field goal to give the Vikings the lead with less than 30 seconds to go. But when it was time for the Saints' Will Lutz to kick from the 61-yard-line, with just 2 seconds on the clock, the football double doinked off the post and fell out, leading to a 25 to 28 Saints loss.
Saints fans took the loss well, though. Rey, from the 7th ward:
Rey: The Saints have always played like that. Spectacular when they win and spectacular when they lose. Who dat!
And it’s not stopping anyone from celebrating.
Terry: Party, party, party. We’re going to Paris on Tuesday.
In London, I’m Jonah Goldman Kay.
