Giants come to London...

The good people of London were shocked this weekend.

"Giants?" They asked. "Battling Dolphins?"

Expecting something from a Godzilla movie (or possibly an episode of The Goodies) they dutifully lined up at the new Wembley Stadium and watched NFL legends the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants battle it out for... Well, I'm not quite sure.

What the American Football match was FOR was not important. What was important was that two legendary National Football League teams had crossed the Atlantic for a groundbreaking grudge-match on British soil.

It was a trial run, to see if the NFL could successfully make the transition from an American institution to a global phenomenon. Two of the greatest football teams in American history were matched against each other (both the Giants and the Dolphins have won two Superbowls) and the reaction was carefully gauged, to see if a future European transition might be successful.

And what was the reaction?

Curiosity. Confusion. A certain amount of ridicule.

American Football is such a spectacle in comparison to British sports. The armour and uniforms. The cheerleaders and half-time shows. You really do get your money's worth at an NFL game, but I suspect the British mentality will never quite gel with the concept.

Soccer (what we Brits call football, because you play it with your feet) dominates the sports scene. It'll take more than a few burly Americans to knock that institution off it's pedestal. And rugby? The closest comparison to American football?

Well, in Europe we joke that American Football players get modelling contracts, while rugby players wind up with cauliflower ears and broken noses. While the games themselves are quite similar, the way they're played is very different.

American footballers are larger, stronger and more powerful - able to perform astounding feats of speed and strength during the very short 'plays' of the game.

Rugby players, on the other hand, are tough and fast, but those attributes are tempered by stamina and grit. An American football game gets stopped and started many times, giving their athletes a chance to catch their breath. Rugby players just keep on going.

Rugby is a brutal, but unpretentious game. There are no cheerleaders or fancy costumes. It's toned down and much more in keeping with the British mentality. Like very small children, we Brits are overstimulated when confronted with the pomp, ceremony and showmanship of the National Football League of America.

So while I admire the American sport and the incredible athletes who play it, I don't think it will ever catch on in England. On the surface of it, we're too reserved and self conscious to enjoy the spectacle of an NFL game - and if we secretly did, we'd all be far too snobbish to admit it.

The Giants won 13-10 against the Dolphins in yesterday's game.

Channing Crowder, defensive back for the Miami Dolphins, admitted he wasn't aware that people spoke English in London - proving conclusively that a football scholarship from the University of Miami isn't really all that academically impressive.