Chiefs fans from America, London enjoying team’s visit to U.K.

Mike and Rachel West have been Chiefs season-ticket holders for 15 years. When they heard the Chiefs were surrendering a home game to play in London, they weren’t necessarily thrilled.

“A little bit, yeah, because we felt like we were giving up a game, giving up home-field advantage,” said Mike West, 42, of Springfield. “I think everybody felt like that.”

But then, they decided to make the best of it. This winter, they decided to make a vacation of the trip, using a “whole bunch” of airline points they’ve been saving up.

By Saturday afternoon,they were already prepared to deem the trip a success. Along with approximately 400 other fans, they attended the Chiefs’ pub party on Friday — where the team bought fans free beers — at The Admiralty in Trafalgar Square.

And on Saturday, they attended the the NFL Fan Forum, where fans of teams all over the NFL — several jerseys were represented — got to interact with Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, former Chiefs greats Christian Okoye and Will Shields and former Lions greats Barry Sanders and Lomas Brown.

“It’s been amazing,” said Rachel, 43.

Both came away impressed with the football knowledge of the fans abroad. While some in the crowd were from the United States, plenty were from England and other countries.

“I think the NFL base here, and seeing the fans here, makes it better,” Rachel said. “You think you’re coming over here to a bunch of fans who know nothing about football. And that’s not true. We’ve met some fantastic people that are Chiefs fans that are from here. I mean, how do they pick a (favorite) team?”

They’ve heard some interesting stories about that. One guy told them he became a Chiefs fan in the early 2000s when the Trent Green-led offense was dominating football.

“And one of the other guys that we met last night said he became a Chiefs fan when the Packers went 15-1 and he listed to the one (on the radio) where the Kyle Orton-led Chiefs beat the Packers, and I thought that was hilarious,” Mike said.

Steve Power, 44, has an interesting story about that. About 16 years ago, Power, a native of Manchester, England, who attended the Fan Forum in his red Jamaal Charles jersey, met a girl from Kansas over the internet. At the time, he liked American football, but didn’t have an interest in any particular team. Then he visited her.

“Once I went watching the Chiefs at Arrowhead, that was it,” said Power, 44, who lives near Manchester. “I’ve missed three games in 16 years, now. I don’t ever miss a game.”

Darren Weatherall, 39, is a Chiefs fan from Birmingham, England. He started watching the NFL about eight years ago, and made the trip to the Fan Forum in his Charles jersey with his partner, Michelle. He admits he used an interesting method to pick his favorite team.

“I love the color red,” Weatherall said. “I looked at Arrowhead, as well. It’s an amazing stadium, it just looks great. I follow Nebraska, as well. The college. So go Big Red.”

Darren and Michelle both have tickets to Sunday’s game, just like the Wests, who could not be having more fun.

And while they’re not sure they would return if the Chiefs did, with the NFL recently announcing its desire to expand its International Series outside of England, they would consider going elsewhere if the Chiefs went abroad again.

“It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” West said. “But if it was a different country we hadn’t seen, we probably would.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 12:13 PM with the headline "Chiefs fans from America, London enjoying team’s visit to U.K.."