
WHEN JAXSON WENT TO THE PALACE…
Apocryphal tales of mascot Jaxson De Ville asking the late Queen Elizabeth II to fly the Jacksonville Jaguars colours above royal premises instead of the Union Jack in 2016 remain rife, especially heading into the NFL’s annual London Games, but less is known about the furry funster’s trip to the Palace.
Okay, so it was Crystal Palace, but why waste a good line?
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According to reports in London’s Standard at the time, De Ville penned a letter to Her Majesty requesting that she accept ‘the enclosed Jaguars standard’ with the promise of replacing Buck House’s usual flag with the bespoke teal-and-gold item, which was duly hand delivered by the U.S. mascot’s U.K. counterpart, Union Jaxson.
Sadly, there are no reported sightings of the Jags flag fluttering in the Westminster breeze, but De Ville remains a fan of the royal family to this day, as Jacksonville make an eleventh annual visit to U.K. shores. The first Jaxson, Curtis Dvorak, has stories aplenty of the big cat’s adventures in London, but fondly recalls his introduction to the ‘other’ kind of football.
“So, in 2012, Shad [Khan] takes over [as Jaguars’ owner], we have a meeting and they mentioned the London thing,” he recounts to Gridiron. “And so, in 2013 — I believe it was after the 2012 season, so maybe the January of ‘13 — I went over there for the first time for a Super Bowl party. I was like, ‘Hell yeah, go to London on somebody else’s dime for a week’, especially as we were going to do a couple of football games too. We didn’t do Premier League games, but we got to go to Leicester City and then came down and went to the team that still is my team: Crystal Palace.
“Leicester City were very stuffy, very much like, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t do blah blah blah… all that stuff — and I was like, ‘Have you guys seen my work?’. Then we went down did a game at Selhurst Park. I didn’t really do much, just kind of walked around the pitch, but I they were like, ‘Go have fun’. Really, you sure?
“So, I caused a scene. They were playing Charlton, basically the huge rival, as
they used to share the stadium. The Palace people told me: ‘This is our biggest rival, their neighbourhood is right there, we hate them, they hate us’. They also said, ‘Be careful over there’.
“Listen, Crystal Palace is the one who asked us to come there, Charlton didn’t, so this is a Crystal Palace home game, and I’m Crystal Palace for this game. So I just made fun of the Charlton fans. I went in front of them, shook the belly at them, all that stuff.
“Best of all, I went to their goalline, right before the second half, because Crystal Palace was down, I believe, 2-0, maybe 1-0. The second half is getting ready to start and the Charlton goalie is there in front the diehards at Selhurst, the rowdy section. So I go out there and I’m messing with the goalie. I look at the line, and I go up to the crowd, then I walk up to the goal line and I just hike my leg and pretend to pee on it, you know? Then I turn around and shake my belly at the goalie. Man, the British fans there, they had never seen that type of stuff, you know. I guess it would be considered rude, but they went nuts. They loved it — and anybody who was with me in elementary school would tell you that, if you laugh at what I do, that means now I’m gonna go further. Let’s see what else you’ll laugh at.
“So, I kept going and, all of a sudden, Crystal Palace comes back in the second half and wins the game. And my Twitter explodes with all of these Crystal Palace fans going, ‘Legend, legend, you know, you brought us back’.”
Such was Dvorak’s experience, he took his one-game fandom and turned it into lifelong support.
“After that, I was hooked,” he admits. “I started following Crystal Palace through their run that year as they made it to Wembley and got promoted. And they‘ve stayed promoted pretty much ever since. I’ve been a diehard, you know. I love Crystal Palace because of those fans in that place. Selhurst Park. I know there’s other stadiums and fans that sing and everything but, man, there was something organic and authentic about that Selhurst crowd that I just fell in love with.”