Life as an International 49ers fan: Discussing with International FTN Users
A look into the life of an international NFL/49ers fans - the extents to which these dedicated fans go, and how they keep in touch with a sport that is limited to the US, though that may be changing.
Life as a 49ers fan might seem tough right now. But trust me, life as an international fan: tougher. International 49ers fans are some of the most dedicated, passionate fans out there: routinely making long trips, staying up in the middle of the night, and more. While us fans here in North America have it “easy”, these guys are up at 3 AM diligently watching our 49ers. Our newest contributor, SportyMiner, who is also an international fan, decided to hold an open discussion with some of our members to talk about life as an international Faithful.
How did you get into the NFL?
NinersDom:
Got home from a family Sunday out in early teens, turned on the TV and had the option of an antiques show or two religious hymns shows. The final channel had NFL highlights. Watched occasionally for a decade. Got serious after NFL Europe.
Wide Niner:
My eldest brother used to watch it for some reason. He was a computer geek but I always wanted to do what he was doing because I looked up to him. He supported 49ers I guess because they were winning all the time in the late 80s so I naturally followed the same team. He grew out of it but I never have.
TheManjotTheMythTheLegend:
I was very young, and the day before school started Super Bowl XLIII was on the TV. I got into a lot of sports around that time and so I was just interested in this new one that came on TV. So I started watching and the game became an all-time underrated classic. That got me into football. I went for the 49ers because they were my family's team, and I finally saw them on TV when Alex Smith threw the game winning TD to Vernon Davis vs the Saints in the playoffs in January 2012.
RaikkFan:
I was a Master's student at ASU and landed for the Spring Semester in 1990. One weekend, some of the Indian students gathered over to see a different kind of football (as we were told!). Didn't understand anything for the first hour or so but the beer was flowing and I didn't care! Then one our seniors gave a rudimentary brief about the game. I only remember the TV announcers stating that Joe Cool making it totally one-sided. I was keen to know who the guy was but couldn't find out anyone from the jersey names. Finally my senior told me his name was Montana! All I remembered was most of the time SF was always in Denver territory! The game was intriguing and over the summer I learned a bit more. From the next season I started watching all 49er games and learnt all about NFL, myself. I stuck with SF, because they looked every inch the winners! After a couple of years I came back home but still followed the 49ers every season.
SportyMiner:
I found the NFL by accident. As a kid I was allowed to stay up to watch the WWF pay-per-views on a Sunday night (about 1am UK time). One February, I got the wrong weekend, but it happened to be Super Bowl Sunday so I watched that instead. Had never heard of the NFL at this point so I was in awe of what I was watching. These dudes were flattening each other; I had watched a few rugby games by then but the violence and intensity of this game was something else. The spectacle was something else and I was hooked. Watched the Super Bowl every year since (nearly 25 years) and started catching the odd highlights show here and there. Really got into it about 12-13 years ago at University and could watch a lot more games and became a Niners fan. Never looked back.
How popular is the NFL in your country? And is the game more popular than in the 90s + is NFL Europe viable?
NinersDom:
Pretty popular and more now than 90s. I loved NFL Europe. I loved travelling, the fans, how well you got to know the players/coaches and watching out for them when they got back to the US. I'd never watched preseason so much. Some of us loved it; some said it wasn't high enough quality. But it was a great developmental league for the league for players, officials and TV guys to practice. Kurt Warner wouldn't be a HoF without it.
Wide Niner:
I think there's more casual fans now just from experience of chatting to friends and colleagues. I never cared much about NFL Europe.
TheManjot:
The NFL has been growing in Australia quite a bit, I feel that the NFL has not capitalised on the Australian market as much as it should have especially recently. NFL Europe needs to be more cost effective than it was before to really be viable now.
RaikkFan:
No. Not in India. Yes, the NFL should explore the European market once again.
SportyMiner:
I missed the NFL Europe scene but in the UK NFL is getting increasingly popular (as it is in Germany, Ireland and some Scandinavian countries). We have superbowl parties, do fantasy, have sweepstakes at work - it's no longer a niche sport.
Recent reports state there are 15 million fans in the UK, with 4 million "avid" fans (i.e. People like us). That's a HUGE market for the NFL to tap in to, and I'm sure equalled in German too, which is why there's so much attention to the London Games and talk of a franchise. I read somewhere there's more registered(!) Jags fans in the UK than there are people in Jacksonville (100k).
With today's technology, I think the real NFL will forever be more important than an NFL Europe league, I think international Franchises are the way forward there. However, I would like to see the NFL sponsor/partially fund the existing American Football leagues in foreign countries and use the existing teams and structures as feeders/development for the NFL. Build the grass roots!
RaikkFan:
The League can only be in Europe as it is easier to for Teams to hop across countries and play games. Great to see that NFL is now gaining in popularity both in UK and in Germany.
NinersDom:
It was always popular in Germany - originally because the US bases there brought it with them - and there was a great amateur league. It's no surprise that NFLE ended up as a default NFLE Germany in its final seasons. It's funny that since NFL International started and they opened their NFL academies, I've seen less about UK football. I used to go and watch the London Olympians play at Crystal Palace and occasionally drove up to BritBowl (Sheffield I think) to see the UK championships.
Have you changed, or would you ever change, your allegiance?
NinersDom:
Nope. Even a London NFL team wouldn't sway me. If I didn't leave in the last two decades, it would have to be something seriously ethically wrong to make me change. I have a friend who has an AFC/NFC team. Last year, his Dolphins were 0-4 and the Niners were 4-0. We were all out for drinks the night before the London NFL game - which jersey did he wear?
Wide Niner:
No and no. Next question.
TheManjot:
Before I was a Niners fan I used to go for a random team on a game by game basis. Once I started going for the Niners there was no going back.
RaikkFan:
Always the 49ers. But I do watch the Broncos and Bills.
SportyMiner:
No.
I entered NFL fandom as a neutral and so I have a love for the game in of itself, I happily fork out and travel to London to watch the games there no matter who's playing. I'd also watch and cheer on a London team, if that ever happened.
But I'm a Niner Faithful, nothing will stop that. If I'm at Wembley watching the Niners take on the London team I'll be booing the London bastards in my Red & Gold as much as any other Niner!
How did you access information like FA, trades, and the draft before the internet?
NinersDom:
First Down, the UK's weekly football magazine. I wrote a column for them once in the early 00s on why the NFL should get more women involved in football. In the early 90s, games were only shown on satellite TV... so I remember listening to playoff games by tuning into the American Forces Radio on long wave. It was often interrupted by some weird Spanish opera singer.
Wide Niner:
Wow its weird to hear someone else used to follow NFL the way I did. As a kid I used to cycle a few miles to the news agents to pick up my copy of First Down before reading it cover to cover every week. Also managed to listen on the Armed Forces radio station through tonnes of other background noise. I used to get the live score updates through teletext. I remember when we first got hooked up to dial up Internet, the very first website I visited was 49ers.com or whatever the equivalent was at the time. It felt like Christmas. All that info that I used to have to wait to read in a newspaper was now instantly available. My parents surprised me one day with a subscription to Sky (satellite) TV because they knew how much I loved watching NFL. It was amazing.
TheManjot:
Before I started using the internet I would've been lucky to have caught any NFL news on the TV. The one time I remember seeing NFL news was the time Peyton Manning joined the Broncos, Goodell handed down Bountygate penalties, and Tim Tebow was traded to the Jets. Other than that, the Super Bowl is what gets mentioned the most in Australia, and most of the Super Bowl coverage on the news is around the halftime show.
NinersDom:
Oh yes - teletext for live scores. I did the same...
RaikkFan:
Since 1999 - From the Internet. But before that my friend used to email me the news across the League, every week. I used to get the Pro Athlon magazine for news though it was always a few months old by the time I received it. But I religiously used to devour scrap of information from it.
Do you like the Xs and Os or just watch casually?
NinersDom:
Somewhere in the middle. I’m pretty good on rules and spotting penalties. And I watch breakdowns etc but some things you only really see if you've played a game.... and other than a bit of flag football, I haven't.
Wide Niner:
I love the technical side of football. It’s one of the reasons the game is so appealing. But as Dom says, it’s just theory, having never played the sport.
TheManjot:
Having grown up around decent Madden games (topic for another time) I learnt quite a lot about the strategy around American football. I love to play chess as well and I see football as chess with a lot more movement and a ball too. Safe to say Xs and Os definitely keep me entertained.
NinersDom:
Agree with Wide Niner, the strategy is why I love the game. I love the idea of a coach’s chess match with players executing master plans and the fact that the clock adds the extra element. It’s just that I don’t always appreciate the nuances in real time!
RaikkFan:
Oh yeah I love the Xs and Os, though it was very hard (and it still is hard) to know a lot of the nuances, since it is a game I didn't play.
SportyMiner:
Very much enjoy the strategic side of the game, but I only really got into that a few years ago and my “Xs and Os” knowledge is nowhere near where I'd want it to be. I've read a few books, watched a load of YouTube breakdowns etc., I can get most of the lingo and can spot a few plays in advance when I'm watching. It's the reason I joined Niners Nation and you guys and gals, to learn more from the articles and conversations in the comments. But it's so hard to penetrate this side of the game - which leads to my answer for the last question...
What’s the biggest difference of being a fan outside the US?
NinersDom:
The time that you watch them. When I've been to the US for games, it's always slightly jarring at the end to realise it's not bedtime. Primetime is definitely not in the UK.
The other difference is at NFL International games. The crowd is full of fans from virtually every team and the bars around are so much fun with everyone chatting.
Wide Niner:
Lack of sleep. Feeling like a weirdo for watching a non UK sport.
TheManjot:
Like everyone else has mentioned, time difference is huge if you are an international fan. Here in Australia I have to get up at 5am every Monday and I have watched many games during my lunch breaks at school over the years, particularly SNF. I enjoy our time difference, as I can spend the whole morning and most of the afternoon on watching the NFL, and the evening discussing it with friends, something Americans have to wait a day for.
RaikkFan:
The time zones and the lack of sleep...going to office next day, even with only a couple of hours of sleep..eyes red and bleary. And the worst part is no one to talk to and share my excitement, whenever the Team wins.
SportyMiner:
Apart from the timezones... The biggest difference for me is not having the opportunity to grow up with American Football around you. It's so hard to explain that the sport is not part of our culture (yet). The family doesn't get together to watch Sunday games - most of watch it on our own in the dark of night with noone to share the excitement with. We didn't learn the rules and nuances as kids - we had to pick it up as we went, decipher what was happening on the field and actively seek for explanations and understanding (the Xs & Os for example). We don't have the NFL in the news, on the main TV networks or radio - we have to infiltrate online communities (hello FTN), scan the internet and make strong networks with other NFL fans in our country to discuss what's been happening.
If you ever bump into an international fan at an NFL game, website or blog please note they've had to work hard to get there and really care about football. The future is bright for the NFL internationally and it's only going to grow. I'm looking forward to it being the norm and not the exception!
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Hi guys. I'm from Brazil. It's my first time commenting here. I've been a fan of 49ers since 1984. At the time, we only had one TV channel to watch games. Also, there were few games broadcast. I knew very little about the game. But even so, I loved to watch. Montana and co were amazing. What about the 1994 team? The Fifth Super Bowl was fantastic. What a game! Anyway, even with turbulent and difficult times, I am still a fan.
So, back in the 1980’s we used to watch a tv show called Wide World of Sports. It used to show random highlights of things like downhill skiing and ice skating as well as highlights of local sports. But the thing I remember was the weekly NFL highlights—always well produced, and nearly always highlights of long TD passes with that great focus on the perfectly spiralling football. The only two teams I knew of were 49ers and Bengals, and the only footballer we knew by name was the mythical “Montanna” (and I knew Montanna was a State or somehing). He was the man who was throwing those spirals which always went for touchdowns, because the 49ers always won, and the Bengals had a tiger in a cage pacing around before they always lost to the 49ers. Those highlights are just kind of imprinted in my memory when I was growing up on a farm that I imagined was quite like growing up in Montanna.
Then, a lifetime later, in 2014, Australian media whipped itself into a frenzy when it’s best Rugby League player announced he was retiring to go and play NFL. I didnt even know who Jarryd Hayne was coz in “Mexico” (Aust state of Victoria) we know next to nothing about League. But as 2015 rolled around and our sports mad media was literally tearing its collective tube socks to shreds, Hayne announced he was going to “join” the 49ers—no mention of drafts, or 90man rosters, or cutdowns to 53 etc.
So he makes the cut and he’s with the 49ers, and my childhood memories are telling me “You love this team, remember?”. And I remember them being winners. But when I looked at season previews, no-one thinks the 49ers will win. Because by now I’ve heard of the Legend of Jim Tomsula (no mention of Harbs in Aust media). 49ers suck. So the week after the last preseason game I google “Does anyone think the 49ers can win?” And google takes me straight to NN!! What The Actual Fuck?! 😂 Germ was going Nuts. IBWT was hyped. BigMar was saying “Just give Hayne da dang ball.” (And there were a bunch of Rugby guys jackin’ for Hayne.) But I immediately fell for Bowman, coming back from injury, Kaepernick somehow magically being able to score in the first Q after all the offseason “work” (scoff) and the 7torms tweet!
So my first real niners fandom was 2015! And when the other Hayne-boys dropped off when he was waived, it didnt matter to me. Bye bye Wookie!
Now I don’t watch much Aust sport anymore at all. I just follow Niners and, to quote the Dalai Lama: “I yam happee.” 😊