Big Bowl VII, Frankfurt

Introduction

Not since the days of childhood summer camps has an event so intensely infused a few days of my existence that I have, after unpacking, been left sitting at the kitchen table in a slight daze thinking ‘did that actually just happen?’ There is often no way to articulate exactly how such events feel or why they had such an impact. We leave them to become part of our nostalgic recollection and allow our facial expressions and demeanour rather than words to do most of the communicating when recounting them. But this is a tournament report, so let me give you some of the facts of the EWP’s (Elite Women’s Project) trip to Big Bowl VII, and you’ll just have to imagine my grin and already wistful tone as you read.

The London Jaguars; pipe dream or inevitability?

Roger Goodell announced earlier this month that plans are in motion for no less than 3 London based International Series games in 2014 (including 2 home games for the Jaguars), plus increasingly unsubtle hints of a permanent franchise in the capital. It is either an exciting or worrying time to be an NFL fan, depending on your perspective.

The motivation behind the NFL's aggressive assault on the international market is not hard to fathom. They have a highly polished, highly successful, highly marketable product - but one that currently is constrained almost exclusively to one country. If they were able to gain a foothold in Europe and the rest of the world the profits and esteem for the NFL would be huge. The failure of NFL Europe caused the league to realised it needs to ship out its A-grade product if they are to achieve their goal of sustained intercontinental and even worldwide interest.