A Century of British Readings of America Through American Football: From the Fin de Siècle to the Super Bowl

Abstract

This paper examines the development of American football and the Super Bowl in the British imagination utilizing data from the British press. Divergent images of America have been present for centuries in British minds, and American football became intertwined with these images in the nineteenth century. Initially presented as a brutalized version of British varieties of football, once American football was seen live in Great Britain and it became a familiar subject on newsreels, some commentators interpreted it as a spectacle and a synonym for American life–modern, exciting, fast, and fun. Others viewed it as a threat that could undermine the British cultural heritage. The regular broadcasting of the NFL by Channel 4, including the Super Bowl live, was a watershed with the game swiftly gaining audience numbers whilst English association football was in a dour period. The increased popularity resulted in more media coverage, including negative images of unbridled capitalism, fixed games, and drug use. By the 1990s, audience numbers declined as English football was rehabilitated and American popularity waned, mainly through unpopular foreign policies. Today, many Britons regard watching the Super Bowl in the same way as a trip to Disney, an one-day holiday to a ‘foreign’ culture.