Today I had the privilege of finally going to my first ever NFL game since the league came to Melbourne to start of the international games of the season.
Since this was my first time ever seeing an NFL game, and the first time a NFL game has ever been in Australia, I’ll be going through my 5 biggest takeaways from someone who saw the game live
Let’s get into it!
1 - It Wasn’t A Rams Home Game
This one was obvious before the game started. On the previous Saturday I went into the CBD to get a Cam Ward jersey from the NFL Store, and from then it was completely obvious that while the Rams officially are the home team, the 49ers are the team with the much larger fan base
Despite the game being a week away, the 49ers had plenty of things running in the CBD, including a cheerleading competition, murals and most importantly a large amount of millennials rocking 9ers jerseys
When the actual game started, it was obvious who the stadium was going for. The Rams were booed on the walkout (Apart from Davonte Adams) while the 49ers exited to a ovation
While some of this comes from the fact that the 49ers actually imbrased the city, but also because the 49ers are just way more popular with the generation that is now having kids and telling them who they should support
So while it’s not completely the Rams fault, coming to the country sooner would of helped
2 - A Large Range Of Jerseys
And when I say large, I’m not exaggerating.
Before I even entered the stadium, I had seen at least one jersey from every single NFL team. While obviously the Rams and 49ers had the most jerseys, you’d be surprised to see the other teams with large amount of jerseys
Unsurprisingly the Patriots, Seahawks and Cowboys had a large amount, but what really shocked me was that the Broncos, Panthers and somehow the Titans had the most amount of jerseys. No I’m not lying on that Titans part, I saw an insane amount of Titans jerseys, maybe 15≈ during the game not including myself
In contrast, the Commanders, Texans and Buccaneers had the least amount of jerseys spotted. I’m not even joking when I say this, but I saw more Bobby Boucher jerseys than Buccaneers jerseys. I saw 6 Bobby Boucher jerseys if you are wondering
The players on the jerseys also were hilarious to see, here are some of my favorites
Blake Corrum (Rams)
Kyle Juszczyk (49ers)
Mark Sanchez (Jets)
Tyler Lockett (Seahawks)
Mincah Fitzpatrick (Steelers)
Courtland Sutton (Broncos)
Carson Wentz (Eagles)
And my favorite by far
Ryan Tannehill (Dolphins)
3 - Aussies really couldn’t care less about chants
The whole game the scoreboards were trying to get the crowd to do the Rams House chant and all the other chants you’d expect to hear at an NFL game, but pretty much no one did anything
Part of this was because people didn’t want to cheer for the Rams, but most of it was just because that kinda stuff doesn’t work in Australia
The stadium was still loud enough though so that wouldn’t of made a difference, so don’t expect to hear much about this in the mainstream media
4 - Jet Lag Absolutely Made A Difference
This is all I’ll talk about the actual game by the way, that stuff is something we can focus on later
The Rams looked tired out there. Apart from Kyren and Quinten Lake, everyone on the Rams roster was playing like they were on pretty much no sleep - wait that’s right, they were!
I find it absolutely stupid that the literal home team decides it’s a perfectly reasonable idea to do nothing in the country in your going over to, and treat it as a business trip instead of a way to get 100k+ new fans
The 49ers did it perfectly. They explored, but still kept it a trip for a game with enough balance of work and fun. The Rams exposure of Australia was Melbourne Airport
And the Rams wonder why they were booed…
5 - Giving Us Cardboard Cards Was A Horrible Idea
As a nice way to start the game, everyone’s seat had a colored card taped to the seat, and when the coin toss happened everyone held them up to make 2 NFL logos, the American flag, Australian Flag and Melbourne NFL Game text
This all went well until around 5 minutes left on the 4th quarter
Since it was a blowout and people were getting a little board, a few guys ended up turning their cards into paper planes. Those few guys turned into a row, then a bay, then after a minute or so it was the whole stadium trying score more points than the Rams did
Spoiler alert - we succeeded
Security had no chance. When you have 100k people all throwing paper planes, it’s pretty hard to stop it. Gave us some amazing videos though
And if you heard on the broadcast random booing, it was because someone picked them up. If you heard cheering, it’s because we got one on the field
Never change Australians, never change
Some smaller takeaways
Ya’ll really don’t have many sound effects. If I hear Maad City one more time today I swear
Probably the only time I’ve seen the line for the men’s bathrooms longer than the women’s
Tried kicking a field goal and doinked it
Surprisingly good at cornhole
The game had the most bland weather of all time. No clouds, no wind, no heat, no cooling. Just weather
Easier to see the ball than I would of thought
Saw the guy throwing the T-Shirts dome a broncos fan in the head
American hot dogs look disgusting
I can see why you guys love ranch
Heard some Americans complaining about having to walk to the stadium from the train station because there was no parking at the stadium
Didn’t see any kicker or punter jerseys
Saw someone bring in a rotisserie chicken bag to put his stuff in, as the NFL only allowed clear bags into the stadium
Apparently you guys don’t sing songs at your sport events according to Kyle Shanahan?
What the fuck is a chop block
Official attendance was 100,021. That means that 3 people bought tickets, but didn’t show up
The NFL field is tiny
Those are my thoughts on the inaugural NFL Melbourne game! I would love to hear what it was like from an outsider who saw the game on TV instead of in person
Enjoy!