Scott Couper's American Football is purely sedentary these days. At 41 and married with three young sons, he gets his weekly six-hour NFL fix on Sunday evenings from his sofa.

It seems a lifetime away that he grabbed touchdown passes and quite a few headlines as a wide receiver with the Scottish Claymores.

More than a few of his American-reared team-mates went on to play in the NFL although, curiously enough, Couper did not play alongside the one Scot who went on from NFL Europe to play in America, Lawrence Tynes.

The New York Giants' kicker was in Scotland the one year that Couper retired from the game (although he came back and played in nine of the ten seasons that the Claymores were around).

Couper, now working in medical sales, is aware that his Wikipedia page ends when the Claymores were axed by the league (2004) and he has kept a low profile since.

But with talk of London possibly getting an NFL franchise a few years down the line after successfully hosting games at Wembley in recent years and the prospect of an NFL game being played in Scotland, Couper is an interested observer on the sidelines.

"I don't ever see there being a franchise in London. I think the NFL are moving away from a European presence after the NFL Europe League," he states.

"I think there is a chance of them playing a post-season game over here, maybe a wildcard game, but never a Super Bowl which is something that has been talked about. I can't see the NFL owners ever agreeing to that.

"But I don't think it has done teams any harm playing over here. Two of them have gone on to win the Super Bowl after playing in London that season and maybe it gives teams a new resolve.

"I don't think it makes too much difference to a team whether the game is in London or at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Murrayfield or in Manchester.

"The logistics for the teams are much the same. Maybe if the NFL feel the game is getting a bit stale in London, then they will move it around the country and that would work.

"It's not as if the fans that go to Wembley are all from London - they travel from all over the country so it wouldn't make too much difference playing a game in Scotland."

Looking back, he is not sure the NFL made the right move pulling the development league in Europe.

"I would always be pro-development ahead of pro-Wembley," he continues. "The cost of a development league over here was no more than the cost of a signing bonus for a college player in the States but it was just a case of priorities shifting.

"Who is to say what's better - a league that maybe produced an NFL player once every five years but was played out in front of average crowds of 15,000-20,000 or a sell-out game at Wembley in which 150,000 scramble for tickets and showcases the NFL?"

It should not be forgotten that Couper actually played for an NFL team, Chicago Bears.

Admittedly, it was only a fleeting appearance in an exhibition game against Pittsburgh Steelers at Croke Park in Dublin 14 years ago.

He was only on for three plays midway through the fourth quarter and there was no dream touchdown for him as the only pass thrown to him fell, like his NFL experience, incomplete.

He still has a framed shirt to show for his day rubbing shoulder-pads with the NFL elite but, typically for the modest Couper, it is in his loft gathering dust. 

"I stood out there a long time and didn't get on until midway through the fourth quarter and didn't feel I did myself justice," he recalls.

"But the whole experience was amazing. I got the chance to play golf with the team and just to sit and speak to legendary linebacker Bryan Cox was something. Receiver Marcus Robinson had just been drafted as the big-name rookie and they also had receiver Ricky Proehl who went on to play over 15 years in the NFL.

"The thing was that no-one introduced me. I was taken to practice and I was given a pair of XXXL shorts, which looked great with my skinny legs!

"In the locker-room, nobody seemed to know who I was or why I was there as they all had their own things to concern them.

"But I got to attend meetings. I remember watching film with the receivers and the coach said to Ricky Proehl that his route was a couple of yards deep and he pointed out that it wasn't him on the film. That was me - I didn't know whether to be complimented at being mistaken for Proehl or insulted that they hadn't noticed me!

"But I never thought I'd ever make it to the NFL. As a young kid with the Glasgow Lions, all I ever wondered was if I could ever catch a pass from an NFL quarterback - would it be too hard or too fast for me?

"To go from Scottish quarterbacks to American quarterbacks was a big step up when I joined the Claymores and every year I had to step up again to prove myself to a new set of players. It seems like a lifetime ago but I made so many good friendships and it was just such a fantastic experience.”

RM

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