English football fan group brings fun and flag suits to the Super Bowl scene
What started as a way for a British brothers to bond over American football and remember the family patriarch has brought them more fun and laughs than they could ever have imagined.
And now, they’re on their way to the Super Bowl.
The NFL Lads, a group of football fans from the UK, is led by Peter Scrivener and Gary Wright, two gents who are biological half-brothers but consider each other — in their words — “full blood.”
Scrivener and Wright adopted their passion for football from the family’s dad, John Scrivener, and made getting to games a priority when he passed away.
“I got into this as my dad was a ‘Fins fan, and when it first came over here on TV, I used to watch with him,” Wright said in an interview from England earlier this week. “I had to go (to games in London) as it was like Dad there watching it with us both.”
Although the brothers attended games together before the start of the NFL Lads, the group didn’t form until they went to a Cowboys-Jaguars game at Wembley Stadium in 2014, something their late father had always wanted to do. They showed up to the game dressed as Cowboys, wearing big chaps and massive hats to support Scrivener’s favorite team.
There, they met other fans with the same passion and kept in contact after the game. From there the group took off, attending as many NFL games in London as possible decked out in wild, game-themed outfits.
Fast forward to today, the group now has about a dozen tickets to the NFL London games at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, partying and posing for photos with scores of fans from all over the world during the course of a game day. Wright says the Lads have gone from just chatting over WhatsApp to attending each other’s big life events.
“We chat all the time, we meet up throughout the year, we’ve been to weddings and birthdays,” Wright said. “We had some good and bad times. We are all there for each other.”
Although the Lads have been together for about five years now, they are just starting to get a wider following. Scrivener said the group’s Facebook page had only 600 likes in December 2018 but jumped significantly to where they are now – 27,000 likes. He credits their popularity to their jaguar print suits, worn for London games featuring Jacksonville.
“We started wearing them and got a lot of attention, started meeting a few players and (British NFL reporter) Neil Reynolds, and it just grew from there,” Scrivener said. “People started wanting to interact with us, whether it was just for a drink or sit with us in the stadium.”
The jaguar print suits may be what the Lads are best known for, but it’s just the beginning with their crazy outfits. For the most part, the group dresses to support the club designated by the NFL as the “home” team. Their Instagram page shows various outfits ranging from full-on pirate gear to American flag suit jackets. For Super Bowl weekend, they’ll be sporting the American flag print and NFL Lads accessories.
While dressing up and attending games is an integral part of who the Lads are, giving back to the fans also is important to them. Scrivener said that being able to do giveaways, providing merchandise and even game tickets to other fans is his favorite part of being a Lad in a country where American football is nowhere near as popular as soccer.
They all donate money into a pot each month to give people prizes and free gifts, Scrivener said. “We just want to give back to the NFL community and show people that haven’t watched a game what it’s all about,” he said.
Scrivener and Wright are so devoted to the sport that, while they are making the big trip to Miami, they don’t even have tickets to the Chiefs-49ers title tilt. Instead, they’ll be all about experiencing the game day atmosphere with people in Miami.
Not only is it the brothers’ first time at the Super Bowl, it’s also Wright’s first trip to America. Even better, it’s his 40th birthday celebration. Wright is excited to experience all the Super Bowl has to offer but is most excited about getting to see his favorite team’s stadium — at least from the outside. Peter, on the other hand, is psyched to watch his brother take it all in.
“It’s his first time to America as well, so it’s a big trip for him,” Scrivener said. “To see his face and his experience will be the best part.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 2:02 PM.