NFL: Britain's Menelik Watson delighted to be playing for the Oakland Raiders
Monday 29 September 2014 15:12, UK
Oakland Raiders tackle Menelik Watson is proud of his NFL career despite originally leaving England to play basketball.
The 25-year-old grew up in Manchester before leaving to follow a dream of playing US sport and having missed out on an NBA contract, returned to England to lead the Raiders in Sunday's 38-14 defeat to the Miami Dolphins at Wembley.
"It's something I dreamt of when I was a kid," Watson said of flying the British flag in America's most popular sport.
"I always dreamt of being in America, I always thought it would be the NBA but it's American football. So every once in a while when I get a day off, I think about it and I'm like, wow.
"I think I was kind of thinking about it on Sunday and I was like, yeah, you know, I am one of the only Englishmen, or one of the few Brits, in the NFL.
"It's not every day I think about it, but sometimes I'll have a moment and I'll go, wow, pretty crazy.
"But I'm not where I need to be. I want to be better. I want to be the best in this league. So that's why I can never really stop and think about it. I just think about ways that I'm going to get better and better."
On the growth of the International Series and the rising popularity of the NFL in England, Watson added: "It is important, they see how much the game has grown. A lot of them were thrown back by the stadium and the fans in there and stuff like that.
"So, I think it was just a great experience. Obviously, we care about the result, but I think guys will remember this trip for a long time."
