SURREY, ENGLAND – Hopefully, this isn’t a portent of tomorrow’s game.

Team PFW headed over to the English countryside, on the outskirts of London, to throw our support behind the UK Patriots Fan Club in their flag football friendly versus a team of Tampa Bay Bucs fans.

SCORE! - A member of the UK Patriots Fan Club catching the group's only touchdown of the day.

The gorgeous, idyllic scenery and cloudy, occasionally drizzly skies served as a quintessential British backdrop for the contest, which turned out to be a lopsided victory for the Bucs. They scored four touchdowns to the UK Patriots’ one.

Lackluster as their play on the field may have been, their enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and hospitality toward their American guests never dampened. Everyone took home a prize at the end, including some edible ones. Paul, Andy, and I, along with other members of the Patriots staff, snacked on some homemade cupcakes decorated red, white, and blue, as well as some Krispy Kreme donuts provided by our gracious hosts.

Before the match, my friend and colleague from ESPN Boston, Mike Reiss, talked with one of the leaders of the UK Patriots, James Cuff of Wales, whom many readers may recognize as the administrator of our fan appreciation website, PFWinProgress.com.

“It’s still sort of a niche sport, sort of a minority sport,” he remarked about the perception of American football in the UK. “But I think it’s definitely growing, especially with the International Series and the television coverage of the games.”

UK Pats - Prior to the flag football friendly, James Cuff (left) and Tom Roberts show off t-shirts commemorating the Patriots visit to London.

James, whose father first introduced him to the game as a lad in the 1980s, said he lost interest in the game for a while during the following decade, but over the past few years has rediscovered his love of this uniquely American sport.

In December 2001, he traveled to Connecticut to help produce a film at a time when the Patriots were in the midst of what would become their first Super Bowl championship run. He was swept up in the region’s enthusiasm for their hometown team. After returning to Wales, James continued to follow the Pats. In the process, he’s become one of the central figures in a burgeoning fan club that now boasts hundreds of supporters.

“I just sort of stumbled across [the UK Patriots], because none of my friends back home [in Wales] like American football or appreciate American football. So, I came across these guys and they organized the tailgates and the road trips to Boston … I struck some really good friendships with people here.”

With the NFL’s popularity continuing to skyrocket here in the UK, there’s been growing talk of hosting a Super Bowl in London, and/or possibly creating an NFL franchise in the European city. James isn’t ready yet for such a drastic move, excited as he is to see his favorite team play in London this weekend.

In his opinion, that would be tantamount to the FA Cup Final, England’s premier soccer championship, being taken out of London and played in Asia, where soccer is a developing sport.

“It’s an American thing, and that’s part of the romanticism of it for me. I’m into American culture and that’s a big part of it,” he explained.

“It’s good to get the sport out around the world, but it’s an American thing. I don’t think at the moment there’s enough interest in it [in the UK].”

However, James said he could foresee a time when that will change.

“I hope so. I hope there’d be enough interest that people here would want to do it.”