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America, and viewers across the world, will gather for the Super Bowl on Sunday. Twm Owen looks back 50 years to when an American Football game was the biggest show in one Welsh town.
You would expect the history of American football in Wales to start in the 1980s when William ‘the Refrigerator’ Perry of the Chicago Bears became a household name and amateurs from Cardiff to Swansea and Caernarfon to Prestatyn took to the gridiron.
But in the decade before the NFL became a fixture of the television schedule, two squadrons of Americans arrived in a rugby-mad, Welsh mining town to kick off their season.
Back your guy in the Super Bowl!
❤️ = @Chiefs Patrick Mahomes
= @Eagles Jalen Hurts pic.twitter.com/Hemk0tzb20— NFL UK & Ireland (@NFLUKIRE) February 6, 2025
The NFL wouldn’t hit British screens, via the newly launched Channel 4 and S4C in Wales, until autumn 1982 – sparking a surge in interest and local enthusiasts forming teams.
The Cardiff Tigers were followed by the Swansea Dragons, Caernarvon Centurions and Prestatyn Panthers, among others.
By 1986 the NFL would send the Bears, and ‘The Fridge’, to take on ‘America’s Team’, the Dallas Cowboys, at Wembley. At least one regular season game has been played in London since 2007.
Gridiron has found its place in the British sporting calendar, from the NFL to a niche grassroots league entering its 40th year.
