Green Smoke

By Frazer Campbell

My head was spinning; it felt like it was only the previous day that I was speaking to Tyler Conklin via chat and then Quincy Williams in London, and now there I was standing next to Sauce Gardner in the heart of his hometown, Detroit, for the NFL Draft, and it was amazing. My wife was nearby, and so were Lou and Claudio from Gotham City Crew, along with the domestic Jets fan of the year, Michelle Garcia, and her partner Ivan. I even stood next to Robert Salah’s brother, David, in the inner circle at one point, and many times I was tempted to ask each and every one of them to pinch me. It was so surreal.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Frazer Campbell, a Jets fan from the Isle of Man and one of the founding members of Gang Green UK, and if you happen to have been under a rock for a decade, Gang Green UK is a Jets fan group that’s the oldest outside of the USA, something that I and the other founding members are very proud of. We’ve worked together to create a group that promotes interaction for supporters of our New York team across the UK, with the aim of connecting fans and ensuring no Jet outside of the USA feels alone. It’s been a major success, and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved, so when the NFL announced the inaugural International Fan of the Year award and I viewed a post on one of the Jets UK social media pages in the latter part of 2023 looking for diehard fans, I took part in the question and answer survey. Questions included those about my personal life, my love for the team, what it means to me, and if I run any fan pages. I consider myself humble and recognise there were so many worthy candidates for such a prestigious accolade, and I hoped my love and passion for the team would shine through. The truth is, I never imagined I’d be selected and just hoped a UK fan would win the award.

And then it happened: I was called and told I’d won. I was the New York Football Jets’ inaugural International Fan of the Year. There was a surprise on the call as Jets’ TE Tyler Conklin appeared and took the time to have a chat with me, and that was the start of my amazing 2024 draft journey.

It was early March when I travelled to London to join the Jets at AFC Wimbledon’s stadium for the start of the second season of the London Flag Football League. I was joined by linebacker Quincy Williams, Neil Reynolds from Sky Sports, other fans including Nic from Green Smoke, and even Michael Griffiths (a favourite of my wife from the show Love Island). It was a great day where the girls did themselves proud.

Fast forward some weeks, and I am now in Detroit, standing before the NFL commissioner himself, Roger Goodell. Did I boo him? Haha, I’ll keep that between us two. He’s a really nice guy who’s certainly not worthy of the negative press he receives, and his love of the game was incredibly clear. He spoke to me about various topics, but his main ones were those of his future plans to have another regular season game week and scrapping a preseason game week. Following this, I met the legend that’s Curtis Martin, which was a dream come true. He was a really down-to-earth fellow who took the time to speak with me and acknowledge my award.

My days at the event included a backstage pre-draft tour, including the green room. I also got to walk the red carpet just before the players for a photo op and was ‘interviewed’ (really just a chat) by Annie Agar. I got to tour the building and speak with the folks in communications that deal with trades and talk to the teams that release the picks to the media.

But the main event for me was on day three, when I got to announce a pick. In my day-to-day life, I am a prison officer, so I would say I am a very confident person, and although I knew I was going to announce one, I didn’t know which one it would be, and come the day, the nervousness I felt was something I had never experienced before. It was definitely a struggle, but in a good way. Standing there behind the stage waiting to be told who we selected felt like an eternity, and when the name was finally given to me and I started to walk out to the podium, the butterflies vanished. I actually had a different speech planned, but as soon as I got on the mic, I forgot it all. I knew one thing though: I absolutely knew I wanted to get a J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets chant in, as that was all that mattered.

Soon afterwards, I reached out to Isaiah Davis, who replied instantly and said he was so happy to hear me announce his name. I have spoken to both him and Tyler Conklin a lot since the trip and will be meeting them in the UK and when I travel to the States later this year.

I was treated like a true VIP by the Jets my whole time there; they spoiled me with hundreds of pounds worth of merchandise, and I got introduced to people I never thought I’d ever meet, including the other international fans from the other 31 teams with whom we have formed a close bond. I have made friends for life with so many people I have met on the trip, and I cannot wait until I see them again across the pond later this year. Thank you to all those at the New York Jets who chose me for this. I am and will forever be grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime memory. Thank you.