Baltimore Ravens get Dutch support in London

Tottenham Hotspur haven’t taken to the turf in north London this week, but the football ground has been renamed the Football Stadium. After The Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars, it’s now the turn of the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans. They will compete against each other in an official NFL game this Sunday. Neither team has a home crowd advantage. However the Ravens enjoy a small advantage: the club has fans all over the world, including in the Netherlands.

“As soon as we heard they were coming to London we immediately booked tickets for this date,” confirms fan Klaus-Jan der Veen. “Nothing is going to come in between.”

Tennessee Titans vs. You can watch the Baltimore Ravens live on ESPN 3 starting at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Ter Veen remembers his first game for his team, the Baltimore Ravens, well. In 2017, the Ravens also relocated to London and Ter Veen attended the game with his wife. At Wembley, the Ravens lost no chance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the NFL fan met two fellow Ravens fans who would become lifelong friends.

Fans all over the world

The global fan base is unique to the NFL team Baltimore Ravens. A ‘Raven’s Flock’ of so-called supporters is not only active in the Netherlands. There are teams all over Europe, South America and Iceland rooting for their NFL team every week.

Via Twitter, Ter Veen met two football fanatics with the same club preference in 2017. “Since then, the group has grown to about fifteen people,” says der Veen. “We became very close very quickly. I officiated co-founder Frank’s wedding last year. Even when my wife passed away, the team was very important to me.

Lunch with the Ravens coach

The ‘Dutch Ravens Flock’ has a good connection with no other group of supporters, but the NFL team. For example, Dutch fans get a big box of Ravens merchandise every year.

As soon as der Wien’s wife learns that he is getting sick, they immediately fly to the States. From the Netherlands, the duo secretly arranges a meeting with the Dutch Flock team and Ravens coach John Harbaugh.

“So you see it’s much more than American football or being a fan. It has a much more social impact on your life,” says der Veen.

Over lunch with the married couple, Harbaugh looks back on his Ravens game in London, the first Ravens game Der Wien visited, in which the team fell mercilessly. “We’ll never go to London again,” Harpo said. “It was too distracting, and he didn’t like it.”

One week to adjust sea containers and time difference

Yet the Baltimore Ravens return to London, but now with more action than last time. “They already sent several shipping containers with training equipment two weeks ago. They are also in London a week before the tournament to avoid jet lag. Very different from 2017 because they arrived on Friday, played the tournament and left immediately,” explains der Veen.

The Dutch Ravens flock is with the full team and will ‘tailgate’ with the English Ravens flock before the match, as is customary before American football matches. “They’re celebrating their anniversary and we’re invited. Ray Lewis, the legendary Ravens linebacker, is there,” says der Veen.

The Baltimore Ravens could use a win against the Tennessee Titans in London. Last week it lost miserably to direct rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Ter Veen believes the Ravens could have easily won the game, saying, “If they had only caught half the passes, we would have won.”

Now the game against the Titans is vital to keep their play-off sights alive. “In the NFL, unlike the NBA or MLB, every game counts. The season is short,” der Veen argues. “Because the season is so short, you have to celebrate every win because you don’t have the opportunities.”

Laughing: “I know very well, because in addition to being a fan of the Ravens, I’m also a supporter of FC Groningen.”