Many Packers fans couldn't get tickets for London game, but that didn't keep them from partying with other fans
LONDON – Green Bay Packers fans at the U.K. & Irish Packers Group watch party at Hippodrome Casino shared similar conflicting feelings Sunday, and that was before the Packers lost 27-22 to the New York Giants.
As Packers fans always are, they were delighted to be around other Packers fans, but many of them were ticked they had to be there instead of at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium watching the game in person.
More: Green Bay Packers lose first game outside U.S., fall to New York Giants 27-22 in London
Tickets, controlled by the NFL, were scarce, with teams getting a very limited number to disperse to their fans. The Packers conducted a drawing to determine which season-ticket holders could then vie to buy tickets. Barring that, fans could try to buy tickets at the general online sale, which also had limited tickets. Hotspur Stadium holds 62,000 people, so it already was starting at a disadvantage to Lambeau Field, which holds more than 80,000.
Mukwonago residents Kris Webster and her husband, George Shields, did their best. They were up at 3:30 a.m. on the day of the sale, but still ended up 75,000th in line.
Rebecca and Stephen Lewis of Wales were in worse shape, entering the queue at 120,000.
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"I'm just so sad for the people here," Shields said of European Packers fans who were boxed out of finally getting to see their team play.
If you were to be banished somewhere to watch a game, the casino wasn't a bad place. It had three extra-large TV screens surrounded by two smaller ones on each side, and more were in the back of the room. And one screen, off to the side, in deference to local mores, carried a real football game, aka soccer match.
Stephen O'Brien, founder of the group was there by choice. He had several tickets but gave them away. "I'm a martyr to the cause," he half-joked.
O'Brien has seen the Packers play many times at Lambeau Field. Every year he leads a group to Green Bay during the season. This year, they'll get a twofer, attending the Nov. 13 game against the Dallas Cowboys and the Nov. 17 game against the Tennessee Titans.
The Packers coming to London was a boon to his fan club, which has more than 14,000 Twitter followers and nearly 2,000 members in its private Facebook group.
"It's exploded," he said. "As a fan club, it's been 10 years of hard work. It's so much easier when someone does the promotion for you."
The Hippodrome watch party was one of two hosted by the group. The other, arranged after the first sold out, was a mile north at Bloomsberry Lanes.
Not everyone was from the U.K. or Ireland. The United States and Australia were among the other countries represented.
Daniel and Danielle Wong got equal doses of good and back luck. The Sydney, Australia, residents had planned to be in London on vacation at this time and the game dropped into that slot. That was the good news. The bad news was tickets were too expensive, but they heard about the watch party and chose to attend.
"We came to see the game and be around other Packers fans," Daniel said, a sentiment echoed by Stephen Lewis, who said they wanted to soak up the atmosphere.
Webster was that one person in every group who makes the atmosphere interesting with unrestrained cheering and clapping, and just generally urging her team on.
"If we are at home and it gets bad, I go to another room. I can't watch," she said.
Webster and Shields' daughter and son-in-law live in London, giving them a place to stay.
"We were at the game (against New England) on Sunday," he said, "and now we are here."
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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: Packers fans who could not get tickets gathered to watch the game
