Attendances up at GBTP
The Great British Tailgate Party, hosted by the Colchester Gladiators at the Green Man Hotel, five minutes from Wembley Stadium, was another huge success. Attendances were up on both Saturday evening and Sunday, and NFL guest of honour Vernon Kay also made an appearance shortly before he was due to assist with the coin toss to start the game between NFL teams the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Now in its third year, the NFL International Series games have sold out every year. Traditionally in
Last year, the Gladiators expanded the weekend to include Saturday evening entertainment and continued the practice this weekend with a quiz night followed by animated snail racing.
The gates to the hotel grounds opened at 11am and saw a steady stream of people flocking to enjoy some drinks, the obligatory barbeque, entertainment and several performances by the Gladiators Dance Team. At its busiest, estimations of around 3,000 people were within the grounds before walking to the stadium, ready for the 5pm kickoff.
Host of ITV’s Family Fortunes Vernon Kay made an appearance at the event before carrying out his duties as honorary captain of the Buccaneers at the coin toss. Also joining the party was star of Big Brother and Brainiac, Jon Tickle.
Following the game, many NFL fans returned to the Hotel for a repeat diet of food, drink and football talk, before dispersing around midnight.
Gladiators Acting Chairman Nick Foxley was delighted with the event and said; “I would like to thank everyone who supported our tailgate party again this year. Each year it’s getting busier and already we’re thinking about what we’re going to do next year. If there are two games, you can guarantee that there will be a GBTP for each game. You can only imagine what it costs to stage each year, over two days, so we thank everyone who made a donation to help us break even for the first time.”
Pictures from the event can be found on the website www.gbtp.co.uk, and there is a guest book on which the Gladiators would welcome and comments, feedback and ideas for next year.
Other pictures and information can be found on the Gladiators’ website at www.colchestergladiators.com.