International Eagles fans — from four different continents — prove they’re just as passionate as Philly fans

As tourists take in the sights of the Torii Gates in Japan, Big Ben in London, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil, a few glimpses of kelly green, an Eagles flag, or a sports bar decorated in Eagles memorabilia might be easy to spot.

With the NFL scheduling more international games, the league continues to grow their global fanbase. The Eagles fanbase stretches across multiple continents — including South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia. As the Birds head into the divisional round of the playoffs — with a chance at a Lombardi trophy on the line — international Eagles fans everywhere are preparing to watch their favorite team’s postseason run continue.

From the background of Joe Giblin’s Zoom screen it would be hard to believe the 58-year-old wasn’t living in Philadelphia — hanging from his shelves was a Wawa shirt, a Fly Eagles Fly shirt, and a LOVE Hurts shirt. Decorating the shelves themselves was Eagles memorabilia, including helmets and hats.

Giblin grew up in South Philadelphia before moving to Melbourne, Australia, over 30 years ago. He remembers watching Eagles games every week while attending St. Joseph’s University. So it was a bit of a culture shock when he made the move to Melbourne — going from being surrounded by football 24/7 to barely seeing American football on television.

“It was brutal,” Giblin said. “You didn’t have any of the camaraderie or any of the fiber that makes you who you are. When you’re in Philly this is all you talk about in the news. Your whole life and everything revolves around the Birds. When I came down here nobody knew anything. They had one show every week where they would play the game of the week and it was just an hour and then they would do a minute highlight of every other game.

“That was all I could see for American football. I had to make my mom videotape every Eagles game and make her send them to me. And so I would get them like four weeks late and plug it into the old cassette player. That was as brutal as it was back then.”

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Since Giblin’s arrival, the way to watch Eagles games has changed tremendously. Now fans catch every single game regardless of time zones. This means sometimes waking up at 3 a.m. for a 1 p.m. ET start time. Something else that has changed since Giblin’s arrival: the Eagles community in Melbourne.

“When I arrived it was all about bringing people along with me,” Giblin said. “You want to be able to talk about the things you want to talk about. I didn’t have any of that for many years. So there was a whole big part of me being missing.”

To fill that missing part of himself, he’s been teaching those in his community about the Eagles. This consists of bringing Eagles merchandise back from Philadelphia to give away for free to his neighbors and it includes some Philly movie recommendations — such as Rocky, Invincible, and Silver Linings Playbook — to get a feel of what the Eagles fanbase is really like.

“I showed up here 30 years ago and nobody knew anything,” Giblin said. “Now I have this crew of people who enjoy the team.”

Giblin’s fandom went viral on TikTok after his daughter, Claudia, posted a video of a flagpole in Melbourne with the Eagles flag — but the flagpole doesn’t belong to Giblin. In fact, it’s his neighbors.

“I’m always looking for opportunities to bring on Eagles fans,” Giblin said. “My neighbor would put up the Melbourne Demons flag every week the Demons won. And if they lost then he would put up the Australian flag. The season goes from March to September. He was taking down his flag as I was walking by and I said, ‘You need something on the flag pole for the other half of the year.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘How about we put the Birds flag up every time the Eagles win.’ He goes, ‘That’s great, let’s do that.’ Now, we’ve been doing that for the past three years.”

The flag seems to be a bit of a tradition for Giblin and his neighbor. Another newfound tradition may be a trip back to his home city of Philadelphia once a year. This past October Giblin and a group of Australians endured the ultimate Philadelphia weekend — arriving in Philly on Halloween, on a weekend that had the Flyers, Sixers, and Eagles all playing. They attended all three games and witnessed Saquon Barkley’s backwards hurdle in person.

“Growing up a Philly boy, you grow up loving the Birds,” Giblin said. “It’s such a great environment. You miss it and then you want to recreate it where you are and that’s really what it is — creating that same vibe and passion and share it with the masses.”

Fans in Australia aren’t the only ones being inspired by Vince Papale’s story in the movie Invincible. São Paulo, Brazil, native Lucas Paiva, 32, became an Eagles fan in 2008 after watching the movie for the first time.

“From that movie I was able to see more of the city of Philadelphia and I already watched movies like Rocky,” Paiva said. “All of those films made me fall in love with the city. It made me like Philadelphia even more to the point of becoming a fan. I feel much closer to the city.”

When Paiva first became a fan, there weren’t many games televised so he would follow each game on the Eagles website through the play-by-play section. Fast-forward to today and he tries to catch each game on DAZN or ESPN Brazil. The Sao Paulo native will often watch games at his local pub with the Eagles community he found through Facebook and grew on WhatsApp.

So, of course, when he found out the Eagles were opening their season in Sao Paulo against the Green Bay Packers, he knew he had to be there — and he made his presence known. The 32-year-old Eagles fan went viral on social media by wearing a Philadelphia Cream Cheese head.

“I had no expectations to get that much attention,” Paiva said. “An American couple came up to me during the game and told me that I was famous. I’m happy that I was able to show that there are so many Eagles fans here in Brazil. I was able to show how much I love the team and show the city of Philadelphia that I’m a real fan too.”

Jessi Riley, 43, often spends her Eagles game days in a local Philadelphia sports bar — in London. Riley is the cultural ambassador for the bar Passyunk Avenue, a dive bar in London that replicates the experience of a Philly sports bar.

“We’ve made ours so accurate that there have been times I take pictures and post them on social media and friends from home will be like, ‘Hey, you didn’t tell us you were coming home,’” Riley said. “In reality I’m standing in London in the bar we created. The fan environment is exactly the same.”

Riley grew up in South Jersey and spent most of her adult life in South Philly before relocating to Central London where she has lived for the past 12 years. Growing up as a die-hard Eagles fan, Riley is happy to see passionate Eagles fans in London.

“I think all Eagles fans are insane and that carries across the pond completely. They’re equally as passionate as those who grew up right down the street. [Being an Eagles fan] it’s really well-received,” Riley said. “I mean, I’m lucky enough to have this restaurant, which we opened the same year that the Eagles won the Super Bowl. But throughout my time being here, I’m just realizing how many people have caught on and really love our team and are equally as passionate as those fans in Philadelphia.”

Passyunk is currently opening up their fourth location in London. Riley said every Eagles game day they are completely booked, even with the different time zones. An 8 p.m. ET start time means a 1 a.m. start time in London. This means the bar has to apply for a late license to sell alcohol after their typical 10:30 p.m. end time.

None of this seems to bother the Eagles fans of the UK. Instead, they stay rowdy throughout all hours of the night and into the early morning. Riley recalls one of the craziest encounters that took place during an Eagles game at their bar:

“We have this big gold presidential Eagle hanging on the ceiling upstairs in the main bar and some incredible play happened and everybody was on their feet and then we scored and this guy cheered so hard that he punched the gold medal Eagle across the room,” Riley said. “Talk about Fly, Eagles Fly.”

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Before Riley worked in the bar she would have to watch the games on a Facebook live stream where she could hear a guy’s wife yelling at him and the dog in the background. All of that changed with the opening of Passyunk in 2018. Riley hopes to see more Philadelphians make their way to London and maybe hire some more in the process.

“I can teach you to pour a pint, but I can’t teach you how to be a Philadelphian,” Riley said.

But London isn’t the only city with a Philadelphia-themed sports bar. Nihonbashi Philly — located in Tokyo — is a sports bar decorated with Eagles merch and known for their Philly cheesesteaks. This is one of Ryota Toyoda’s favorite spots to meet more Eagles fans in Japan.

“We don’t really have a huge community in Japan yet, but I mostly connect with folks through X,” Toyoda said. “And thanks to Nihonbashi Philly, I got to know more Eagles fans in Japan, both Japanese and American. They are the only place in Japan where we can regularly watch any type of NFL games. They are a true savior for Eagles fans.”

Toyoda, 32, has been an Eagles fan for 14 years. He remembers looking for a team to root for in 2010 when he came across an Eagles vs. Giants game on Japanese cable TV. This happened to be the Miracle at the New Meadowlands.

“I loved the onside kick by David Akers, it’s still my all-time favorite onside kick, and the punt return touchdown by DeSean Jackson,” Toyoda said. “DeSean is still my hero.”

Toyoda rarely misses a game — even with start times at around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. The Eagles fan has even traveled to Philly three times, attending a training camp at Lincoln Financial Field and an Eagles vs. Jets game in 2019, where the Eagles outscored the Jets, 31-6, and had 10 sacks.

Although Toyoda won’t be attending Sunday’s divisional round matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, he has taken a page out of A.J. Brown’s book in order to lock in ahead of the game.

“I read ‘Inner Excellence’ by Jim Murphy to prepare my mindset to focus on the big game,” Toyoda said. “I literally bought this in Japan.”

The Eagles play host to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in the divisional round of the playoffs. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.