Great British Chiefs Show on Tour in Germany: Day 2

After our Day 1 exploits of catching up with old (and new) Chiefs fans, the morning after, I woke up with a raging headache. I think it must have been the whiskey and apricot shots that our table of Chiefs fans were drinking. I still have no idea what this drink was called, but it had a full-sized apricot submerged in some whiskey liquid.

Now, I’m not great at maths, but if you mix liters and liters of beer with “apricot-whiskey things” and Tom’s incessant snoring, you inevitably get the answer … a raging headache! After a couple of paracetamols, I was ready for Day 2 in Frankfurt.

Tom and I met up with some of our friends from the UK fan group, “Arrowheads Abroad” and were immediately on the hunt for breakfast. We found a lovely little place on the corner of the street that sold breakfast bagels and genuine German pastries. Once we sunk a coffee and a bagel, we decided to head down to the River Main to see if we could find the Chiefs' now-infamous “ChampionShip.”

After a short walk, we could see the ship with a queue of Chiefs fans waiting outside ready for their chance to get onboard and see what all the fuss was about. The ChampionShip’s livery on the outside of the ship was emblazoned with a red and yellow colour scheme with Mahomes, Kelce, Jones and Bolton in their familiar action poses.

The ship was very impressive on the outside, but what was it like on the inside?

Tom and I went onboard and scurried around the various displays and interactive fan experience points. The display cases showcased some of the Chiefs merchandise from past Super Bowls alongside a couple of Super Bowl rings from LIV and LVII. I don’t remember seeing the ring from Super Bowl IV, but in my haste to see everything on board as quickly as possible, I may have missed it. Unfortunately, the most recent Lombardi Trophy was not on the ship today, but we could see the plinth where it will take its place on Saturday at 5 p.m.

As I worked my way around the first floor of the ship, I found Tom at the press conference plinth, trying to recreate his best Andy Reid impression, Tom told the “fans” that the team “worked their tails off” and that it was “a hell of a game against a great football team” before ending with “with that, Time’s yours.”

In a scene similar to that of Mahomes dragging Kelce away from the plinth at the White House, I managed to drag Tom away before he could do any more damage … I failed. Tom immediately found the floating ball where fans could create their own action pose of catching it in mid-air. Tom decided to recreate the drop from Mecole Hardman’s muffed return in last week’s Broncos game.

We worked our way to the top of the ship which looked like it was still being dressed ready for the season ticket member events that were planned over the weekend. The dancefloor has a huge Chiefs logo with a bar and tables dotted around. At the very end of the ship was a huge TV screen replaying Chiefs highlights from Super Bowl LVII.

The “ChampionShip” was great for fans to reminisce, and it provided a platform for fans from all over the world to come together to celebrate their love for the Chiefs. If I’m being honest, I think the ship is the biggest attraction in Frankfurt right now and it is the main anchor point (spot the pun) for Chiefs fans to meet up before going off to the bars and restaurants around the corner.

Tom and I left the ship and went into one of Frankfurt’s new “old towns.” These towns were rebuilt after the war and provide a unique flavour of what Frankfurt used to look like. The market square was filled with Chiefs fans, a handful of Dolphins fans were trying to make themselves heard, but anything they tried to sing about was immediately drowned out with “The Chop.” God, I love Chiefs Kingdom!

We were joined by Duncan Smart from Arrowheads Abroad who was gathering Chiefs fans together outside of the ChampionShip for the largest red Friday picture this side of the Atlantic. Duncan had been planning this meet-up for the last couple of weeks and was getting quite nervous wondering if any fans would turn up for the picture. Chiefs Kingdom answered the call and came in their droves to be part of the picture. I spoke to fans from Italy, Spain, France and even Brazil! (shoutout to Richardo).

It was a very proud moment for Duncan and the guys at Arrowheads Abroad — to see so many Chiefs fans gathering together in one picture with the ChampionShip as the backdrop, it looked magnificent. Thank you to all the fans who joined us for a very memorable moment.

We left our Chiefs friends later that night as we had tickets to attend the Sports Illustrated party. After a short ride in an Uber, we went down a little side street and could see neon lights in the distance, with a very menacing figure walking slowly towards us. It looked like the opening scene from the movie Blade. We were with Duncan who is a very proud Scotsman, and when he’s out with us at any game he wears his beloved kilt. The figure walking towards us was the doorman and he told Duncan to jump over the velvet rope and stand in front of the advertisement board on the red carpet. Duncan was told to hold a football while a videographer and photographer worked around him, giving Duncan the full movie star treatment. Turns out the menacing figure wasn’t so menacing after all. We found out his name was George from Croatia and he loved doing various English accents which had Tom and I in hysterics.

As we walked into the club, we were met with a wall of noise, dance music blasting out and a huge NFL logo on the digital screen behind the DJ stand. Almost everyone that was there was dressed in their designer clothes and accessories, and there was us — three English blokes dressed in swiftie t-shirts and a Scotsman with a kilt standing in the middle of the dancefloor.

We headed into the next room which was a little quieter but was still bouncing from the fantastic dance music being played by the DJ. This room was like a jungle, huge plants, leaves and foliage were hanging from the ceiling with rocky areas for us to prop ourselves up with. There was even a narrow strip pool that had steps leading into it. The entire place looked like it was plucked straight out of a John Wick movie, it was fantastic and was the perfect end to an eventful Day 2 of the trip.