Green Bay Packers fans from Wisconsin, to nobody's surprise, make London their own
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LONDON – You can be forgiven for wondering if anyone stayed behind in Wisconsin this weekend, so prevalent are the state's Green Bay Packers fans wandering the streets of London.
They. Are. Everywhere.
And on Friday night, a particularly large number of them, most of Event USA's tour group of 750 members, gathered for a cocktail party at Banking Hall near the Bank of England, many after having visited Paris on Thursday.
"The whole city has been like this. We are not seeing a lot of blue," Cindy Suplinski of Green Bay said. "We got here early Tuesday. It's a beautiful city."
The Packers are scheduled to play the New York Giants (thus the mention of blue) at 8:30 a.m. (Central time) Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And it is true, if Giants fans are here in numbers, they aren't hanging around central London.
Event USA of Ashwaubenon kept people busy all week, providing access to such sights as Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the London Eye, and, as mentioned, an excursion to Paris.
"We've had people coming in every day. This will be the first time they've all been together," Steve Nickel of Event USA said. All their tours sold out well before this weekend.
Surprisingly, with hundreds of Packers fans congregated in one place, only two were wearing cheeseheads at Friday's party, one of whom was Sue Behnke of Peshtigo. It was a badge of honor, but also a bit of an annoyance when she wore it around London.
"We got stopped by everybody and they wanted to take pictures with us," Keith Behnke said.
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Dave McRoberts' father, Robert, played one game at fullback for the Packers in 1944. He was a 5-foot-10, 250-pounder out of the University of Wisconsin-Stout. One game wasn't much, he didn't even start, but it was enough to make him a Packer.
For his part, Dave, who lives in Kenosha, would be glad to see the Packers play in London again.
"These people are nice," he said of the host city's residents.
Not everyone is from Kenosha, Kaukauna and Kewaunee County. Hannes Hirschfeld and Sophie Römer of Magdeburg, Germany, taking in the sights from the London Bridge, were London and Packers veterans. Hirschfeld has been to London twice and and Lambeau Field twice. He's a Packers fan because his father was. Why his father was is not known, but no longer matters.
"He's a really big fan," Römer said of the younger Hirschfeld. She is as well. "If I didn't like it, I wouldn't be here."
Fredrik Swedborg of Luleå in northern Sweden would like to go to Lambeau Field someday. He had planned to when COVID-19 hit and disrupted everyone's plans. But he's more than glad to see the Packers in London.
"I've been longing for this for a very long time," he said, sporting a Packers cap near the London Bridge.
As he is with many fans, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was responsible for Swedborg's love of American football and the Packers in particular. He and university friends would watch American football on TV and Rodgers' usual excellent play did not escape his notice. That hooked him.
Alex Jadin, a Green Bay native now living in Prior Lake, Minnesota, selects a Packers road trip every year with friends. Coming to London was a no-brainer. It's his third time in London, so he knows the best places.
"We've been waiting 15 years for the London game," he said.
They were in Arizona last year, which broke a 12-game road-trip losing streak.
Sharon Powell and Patty Schumacher, both of Milwaukee, were pleased to be in London.
"We wanted to do different venues and this popped," Schumacher said.
"I would go to a different country next year," Powell said, even though both admitted it's harder on the players than the fans.
"We've been meeting Packers fans from all over the world," Schumacher said. "We met a family from Hungary that are Packers fans."
There were lots of reasons to come to London, said Rob Hanawitz of Kaukauna.
"I think just that it was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience," he said, "and we're old enough if the Packers come to Europe again we might not be included in that anymore. And it's a first-time thing, too, for the Packers to go overseas. That was sort of cool."
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 from Wisconsin make London their own
