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Sandwich Technician

AJ Handley-Rowe AJ Handley-Rowe - 10th November 2021

Baltimore Ravens – The NFL team taking flight in the UK

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Baltimore Ravens - The NFL team taking flight in Manchester

Manchester might soon have a new favourite football team – but it’s not necessarily what you think.

The NFL is becoming increasingly familiar to British sports fans. Games in London have become an annual fixture, American football has found a growing audience across the country, and now one team in particular is building a passionate following here: the Baltimore Ravens.

You may have seen the purple jerseys at watch parties around the UK, or heard fans talking about the ‘Flock’.

But who exactly are the Ravens, and why are so many British fans getting behind them?

To understand the Ravens, you have to go back to 1996.

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The city had previously been home to the Baltimore Colts, but the franchise famously relocated to Indianapolis in 1984, leaving behind a huge hole in the city’s sporting identity.

More than a decade later, NFL football returned, when Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell moved his franchise to Baltimore (unusually, leaving the Browns name behind in Cleveland, and launching a new franchise in Maryland).

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Baltimore Ravens training
Baltimore Ravens training
Manchester has been hosting Baltimore Ravens watch parties
Manchester has been hosting Baltimore Ravens watch parties

Baltimore’s new franchise needed an identity, so it was put forward to the fans, who settled on Ravens after Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem, The Raven. The team’s mascots are also called Edgar, Allan, and Poe.

The Ravens played their first regular-season game in September 1996, beating the Oakland Raiders 19–14.

And they didn’t have to wait long to become one of the NFL’s most formidable teams.

The defining moment of the Ravens’ early history came in the 2000 season.

Led by a ferocious defence featuring future Hall of Famers such as linebacker Ray Lewis and safety Rod Woodson, Baltimore powered through – and then dominated – Super Bowl XXXV.

The MT&T Bank Stadium
The MT&T Bank Stadium
Baltimore Ravens cheerleaders and mascot
Baltimore Ravens cheerleaders and mascot

The Ravens had their second Super Bowl triumph 12 years later, when quarterback Joe Flacco led the Baltimore Ravens to a dramatic victory over the San Francisco 49ers. It was the final game, and a fairytale ending, for Ray Lewis’ legendary career.

If Ray Lewis helped define the Ravens of the 2000s, Lamar Jackson has become the face of the modern franchise.

Drafted in 2018, Jackson quickly established himself as one of the most exciting players in American football. He’s arguable the perfect introduction to the sport if you’re discovering American football for the first time.

So, why should Manchester care about Baltimore Ravens? Part of the appeal is the football itself.

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The Ravens have traditionally built their identity around toughness and physicality. There is a sense of personality about the franchise too, from the purple colours and the raven imagery to the passionate ‘Flock’ of supporters.

Ravens fans have been gathering in the UK for years, with regional meet-ups and watch parties taking place around the country, including in Manchester. The UK Ravens community continues to organise events where fans can watch games together, whether they’ve followed the team for decades or have only just discovered the NFL.

That’s perhaps the best way to understand the appeal of the NFL in the UK.

You don’t need to fly to Baltimore to experience it. Find a watch party, grab a purple jersey, learn the rules as you go and join the Flock.

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Featured image: The Manc Group

Team behind award-winning cocktail bar Stray to open second Manchester bar

Daisy Jackson Daisy Jackson Team behind award-winning cocktail bar Stray to open second Manchester bar

The team behind Manchester’s award-winning cocktail bar Stray have announced a second bar is on the way.

Bar Dos will be an all-new neighbourhood bar, promising to be the ‘tearaway younger sibling’ of Stray.

You can expect everything from pints of Stella to refined cocktails, plus DJs all weekend long.

Set to open very soon, with a September launch pencilled into our diaries already, Bar Dos will be joining a couple of other big names in a new building on Great Ancoats Street.

They’ll count Proloco and Osma as neighbours once all three ventures are up and running this year.

Stray first opened at Mackie Mayor back in 2023, and shot into the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars just over a year later.

Bar Dos will open in Manchester in September
Bar Dos will open in Manchester in September
Bar Dos is the second site for Stray
Bar Dos is the second site for Stray

There, it occupies a beautiful corner unit with huge windows, and an outside terrace, perfect for sipping on their best-selling cocktails like their tomato vine margarita and their Fanta Limon (a boozy version of everyone’s favourite balcony tipple).

Now ready to launch a second site, the team will soon open Bar Dos, which will be a late-night, music-focused neighbourhood bar.

DJs already announced, along with renowned artists who have curated playlists, include Space Afrika, Chunky, Private Joy, Konnie Kon of Children of Zeus, and Stray residents Rhod Parry and Stu Richards.

Bar Dos will open on Great Ancoats Street this September.

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Featured image: Supplied

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Team behind award-winning cocktail bar Stray to open second Manchester bar

Team behind award-winning cocktail bar Stray to open second Manchester bar

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The people's voice of Greater Manchester

The people's voice of Greater Manchester.
Our aim? To make sure you’re in the know, entertained and educated on what’s happened, or what’s happening, in our great city.

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