Even After NFL Game Abroad, Londoners Still Not Sure What a “Jaguar” Is
LONDON — The NFL has been doing its best to expand the league into international markets, primarily by setting up a games abroad a few times a season. This weekend the world saw Philadelphia take down Jacksonville in Wembley stadium with a score of 24 to 18. It was a fairly good show for those native to London attending the game, and is always a neat opportunity for those across the pond to experience American Football. But one element of the competition was still not clear to the mostly British crowd by the end of the game: what exactly a “Jaguar” is.
“What in the ever living f*** is that?” one fan asked us as confused attendees began exiting the stadium. “I’ve never seen anything that looks like that in my life.”
One often takes various cultural idiosyncrasies for granted. It’s certainly easy to forget that most British people have never heard of a Jaguar before, let alone encountered one. This knowledge gap is made very clear when speaking with people from the area.
“I get that it’s from the jungle or whatever, but it looks like some kinda made up vampire cat. I’ve seen cats, even owned a few, but that thing is from another dimension.”
The stadium actually booed the Jaguars in disapproval as they took the field, and some mothers shielded the eyes of their scared children. Even after the game, many fans simply didn’t seem to realize that jaguars are real animals.
“I teach third grade and this is the kind of creature my students will draw,” said one fan we spoke with. “Obviously it’s a fictitious animal, but it’s still sort of hard to believe. There are probably more realistic options out there.”
Perhaps in the future the NFL will consider using teams that are more familiar to London natives, such as the “Patriots” (a flashback to early colonialists) or the “Redskins” (a flashback to imperialist brutality and genocide). Regardless, American Football will continue to spread outside of the U.S. and bleed into cultures far and wide.
