Green Bay Packers fans love London, even if the tailgating conditions can't match Lambeau Field
LONDON – The people of London know how to put on an American football game, but when it comes to tailgating, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is short a couple of brats.
The pregame hours of the Green Bay Packers-New York Giants game Sunday had some essential makings for tailgating: enthusiastic Packers fans, and lots of them, a beautiful sunny October day and cold beer.
But it lacked key ingredients as well: surface parking, and cars parked on surface parking, with trunks full of grills and coolers and brats and cheese curds.
There were no superfans milling about, posing for pictures, and no songs playing from the back of a pickup truck saying unkind things about the Chicago Bears. And, no, it doesn't matter if the Bears weren't the day's opponents.
Packers fans, who seemed to outnumber Giants fans pretty much everywhere, took it all in stride. They drank their beer, ordered giant hot dogs and chunky chips (really fat French fries) and hard-core mingled. It was probably the largest convergence of U.S. and European Packers fans in team history.
Erik Mohn of Bergen, Norway, experienced tailgating at Lambeau Field and other U.S. stadiums. He learned about how Packers fans tailgate on his first visit to Green Bay.
"Just to come there and see the atmosphere and all the people from 9 o'clock in the morning was just fantastic," Mohn said. "It was just the perfect start to the perfect day."
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And since Sunday did not end well for the Packers, who lost to the Giants 27-22 in a come-from-ahead defeat, a more perfect start would have been appreciated.
Packers fans did their best to hold to some tailgate traditions, like ordering Bloody Marys at 9:30 a.m. Doors opened at 9 a.m. and, within an hour, No. 8 Bar and its beer garden was filling up. Before long, is was at capacity as fans stood shoulder-to-shoulder throughout.
"I feel like this is a very Stadium View-type experience, where it's a lot of bars and not so much tailgates and cars," Steve Tuschy of Madison said, referring to the district east of Lambeau Field where bars put on game day parties that cannot be confused with the tailgating that happens in Lambeau's parking lots.
"That's probably the biggest difference, is that you don't have that experience. They don't have brats here, no cheese curds," he said, driving the final nail into the coffin.
To be fair, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium just isn't built for tailgating.
"They have underground parking (at the stadium). You're not going to do tailgating there," John Knapmiller of Door County said, pointing out a significant obstacle.
No. 8 Bar, the headquarters for Packers fan pregame activities, offered discounted beer at £6 per cup and planned live music after the game.
The bar and the neighborhood are happy to have NFL games twice a year — "We built 18 more tables (in the beer garden) just for the NFL," Leta Qoraj said — but the stadium is busy more than that. It is home to the Tottenham Hotspurs of the English Premier soccer league and hosts concerts as well.
Tailgate-like food was available from venders who populated one side of High Street, offering hamburgers and chunky chips, among other fare.
Pat Foley of Mequon had a suggestion that would put tailgating into a whole other sphere: "We all want to go to Octoberfest in Germany. The Packers should play there. That would be good tailgating."
Mohn decided Sunday was working out, even without brats and cheese curds.
"We have burgers and Guiness," he said, "so we are happy."
Contact Richard Ryman at (920) 431-8342 or rryman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RichRymanPG, on Instagram at @rrymanPG or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RichardRymanPG/.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay Packers fans love London despite tailgating conditions
