For Nick Folk and Austin McNamara, there was a very special visit to be made before they represented the New York Jets against the Denver Broncos in London on Sunday. In the build-up to the game, the NFL stars made sure to swing by Stamford Bridge for a stadium tour, bringing back memories of a childhood filled with football.
The capital has long been a second home for NFL games, while people may not know that in 1997 Stamford Bridge was the home stadium for the London Monarchs - an English-based American football team that competed in NFL Europe.
Those worlds collided last week when Folk and McNamara came to SW6 for a private stadium tour. They visited the dressing rooms, walked out of the tunnel to see the pitch and had photos with the Club World Cup trophy – which was of course lifted by the Blues at the Metlife Stadium, home of the Jets.
At 40 years old, Folk is an experienced placekicker who first played in the NFL in 2007. But it was his grounding in soccer that got him accustomed to kicking balls, be they circular or oval.
‘My dad was born in Austria and came over to the States when he was four years old, and playing football was the first thing we did,’ Folk tells us.
‘Soccer was my first love. I played all the way through high school, until I was about 17 or 18. I actually had more soccer scholarships than American football ones. So I have been a proper football fan for a long, long time!
‘When I was young I had a bunch of energy and played in midfield. Then I got taller than everyone so I moved to defence. And then we couldn’t score any goals, so I started playing forward. Then at the very end of my career I was back to defence. So I was all over - except for goalie!’
Folk reveals he was not the best soccer player in his family though, with his middle brother having a trial at Chelsea back in the early 2000s when he was 13. It is no surprise he found his trip to the Bridge so inspiring.
Unlike Folk, 24-year-old McNamara is just starting out on his NFL journey having signed for the Jets earlier this year. But the punter shares plenty in common with his more senior team-mate.
‘I played football growing up from about five to about 13, and it was definitely my first love, my first sport,’ McNamara says. ‘It got me into kicking and punting in American football which is what I do now.
‘I grew up on soccer, World Cups, I would watch it all. I don’t play any more, obviously, but I enjoy watching it and I enjoyed playing it. My dad coached me throughout so those are great memories we have. I was a left mid, sometimes a forward, but at that age you kind of play everywhere and I just loved to run around.’
McNamara smiles. ‘This has been a dream. This is my first experience of a soccer club but it’s a great set-up, a great facility. You can absolutely persuade me to support Chelsea! I will get a jersey and go all in and support Chelsea from here on out!’
The night before visiting the Bridge, the Jets duo watched England beat Wales at Wembley, a stadium Folk had already played at, back in 2015, and calls a ‘soccer mecca’.
As a seasoned fan, who now loves watching his sons play the game, Folk is well placed to compare America’s most popular sport with England’s.
‘Being a kicker, it’s an easy crossover for me,’ he says.
‘The athleticism you see on an American football field and on a soccer field are very similar, especially in some of the skilled positions we have.
‘If you watch a receiver run around, he has a lot of footwork that could be very translatable to soccer. Then your punter kicks the ball long like a goalie would.’
While the Jets would be narrowly edged out by the Broncos 11-9 in north London on Sunday, Folk still made his mark, scoring three field goals. But at Stamford Bridge, a few days earlier, he was dreaming of a different type of conversion.
‘I would love to score a game-winning penalty kick! Obviously, I have kicked so many American footballs in my life, it is part of my job, but to take a game-winning penalty would be so fun. It would be more nerve-wracking, for sure, but I would love to do it.’