In brief
- More than 100,000 people attended the NFL's season opener in Melbourne.
- Nearly half the crowd was expected to be tourists from interstate and overseas.
More than 100,000 fans from across Australia and abroad flooded the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday to watch the San Francisco 49ers thrash the Los Angeles Rams 27-7 in the NFL's first-ever regular-season game in Australia.
With the match kicking off at 10am to line up with US prime time, one Rams fan at the MCG described it as the earliest he'd ever been up for a game.
"The atmosphere, I love it, but it's kind of quiet," he told SBS News. "You know, back home it would usually be a bit crazier, with both teams going at it."
"But Melbourne is beautiful, I love it," he added.
Another fan was adding Melbourne to a list of 43 overseas stadiums he'd visited. His white jersey was embroidered with patches representing each country, with a small green patch featuring a cluster of koalas to represent Melbourne on the bottom left.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"I've been to every stadium in the world where the NFL plays," he told SBS News. "It's my first time in Australia, and I love it, everyone is so nice and inviting and helpful."
"I flew all the way in from Miami, Florida, two days ago, and I'm going home tonight. I just came to witness this amazing stadium and the great people of Melbourne."
Friday's game was the first of a four-year deal between Australia and the NFL, but with no guarantee a game will be played here every year, thousands of overseas fans made the pilgrimage.
A sea of red, white, blue and yellow filled the MCG, with a sold-out crowd of 100,022 fans, including thousands of visitors from the US. Almost half of spectators were expected to be from interstate or overseas, according to the state government.
Los Angeles resident Nancy Gakere took advantage of the opportunity for a holiday, stopping over in Fiji on the way to and from Melbourne to break up what could have been a 16-hour direct flight.
She said the journey was more than worth it, especially as the 49ers, pegged as the underdogs, pulled off a surprise rout.
"Everything was just great; honestly, we couldn't have planned it any better," she told SBS News.
"When this away game happened to be in Australia, we thought, why not? And we booked the trip as soon as tickets came out in April, so we have been excited about it for a while."
"And being 49ers fans, we were not the favourites, so we came in with low expectations, and winning was a nice surprise."
Gakere said that staying in Brunswick, in Melbourne's north, had made the trip economical.
"Other than the Uber from the airport, we have just been taking the tram in and out of the city to sight-see, trying food, the bars, walking around and exploring," she told SBS News. "And we went to the Great Ocean Road, which was our main tourism activity."
SBS News spoke with three 49ers fans donning vibrant red jerseys and flat caps in front of the stadium before the match.
"This is amazing," said one.
"We're just so excited; 49ers fans, we're joyous all the time. It's a gathering for us. We do it every year, we just get to do it overseas this year," another fan said.
"Thank you, Melbourne, thank you, thank you. And thank you for the hospitality," another in the trio chimed in. "I was getting on the train this morning, and I was going the wrong way, and this guy pulled me on my jacket and said, 'No, you gotta go that way! The stadium is that way!'"
"Amazing people," the third friend said. "We love the hospitality, food, coffee, oh my gosh, everything has been so amazing. The trip down under has been surreal, thank you guys, we appreciate it."
Consequences of California time for the Rams
In the weeks leading up to the event, popular discussion centred on the two California-based teams' wildly different approaches to navigating the long flight and 17-hour time zone difference to Melbourne.
To the dismay of many Australian commentators, the Rams had jetted in just the morning before, with flights booked straight out after the game.
Whether the decision to keep the Rams on California time affected the team's prowess will be debated. But reigning MVP quarterback Matthew Stafford and star off-season acquisition Myles Garrett were undoubtedly bested by their San Francisco counterparts, who arrived a week earlier to acclimatise.
"Just so proud of this team. Hey, we embraced going to Australia — 15-hour flight, we're here the whole week. It was a grind, but we did it," said 49ers tight end George Kittle.
The Rams entered this new NFL season as the clear favourites to win a Super Bowl being held at their SoFi Stadium home in Los Angeles in February, with a formidable defence bolstered by Garrett.
But the giant crowd packing into the MCG — the seventh-biggest ever for a regular-season NFL game despite an unusual morning kickoff time to accommodate US television audiences — skewed toward San Francisco.
"I love when they [Rams] came out and they were booing. We was out here for a week. We enjoyed the city. I don't think you can fly 16 hours and be ready to play," 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel Jr. told Channel Seven.
— With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press
For the latest from SBS News, download our app and subscribe to our newsletter.
