Ask someone why they support a sports team and the reasons can vary; proximity, family connections or, sometimes, its something completely arbitrary.
Step in Washington Spirit defender Esme Morgan, a European champion with England this summer and a Jacksonville Jaguars fan. The 24-year-old was born in the northern English city of Sheffield, famed for its steel production during the Industrial Revolution and a world away from the Florida coast and the NFL.
Of all the cultural activities in her adopted home, nothing has captured Morgans heart quite like American football during her 15 months in the U.S. capital. Her decision to support the underachieving Jaguars, however, given there are far more celebrated teams to choose, needs some explaining.
My dad watches the NFL, and eight or nine years ago, we watched a game together on TV. Off the back of that, I downloaded Madden on my phone and you have to choose a favorite team, Morgan tells The Athletic over the phone from Washington.
I didnt have any reason to support any team, but I chose the Jacksonville Jaguars because my favorite color is teal. So thats where my love for the Jags started.
After winning Euro 2025 with England in July, there was only one person worthy of giving the center-back a congratulatory message on her return to Washington: Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Morgan was welcomed back by her teammates in August with a Jaguars-themed cake, a shirt and a message on her phone from the 2021 No 1 draft pick. It came as such a surprise to the elated defender that she momentarily turned the air blue.
I hope to see you at Wembley this fall, says the quarterback, in a heartwarming moment captured on the Spirits Instagram page. And he will.
Morgan has only attended one Jaguars game so far, which happened to be Lawrences first NFL win as he guided Jacksonville to a 23-20 win over the Miami Dolphins at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London in October 2021.
This weekend, she will play Orlando Pride on Saturday before flying to London to attend her second game, as the Jaguars take on the Los Angeles Rams at Wembley Stadium on Sunday. She will then report for England duty on Monday as the Euro 2025 champions take on Brazil and Australia at home this month in international friendlies. The timings worked out perfectly. Im very excited about it, Morgan says.
Her teammates, who include USWNT star Trinity Rodman, know her well. With many living in the same building as her, she says they know not to interrupt her when the real-time highlights show the NFL RedZone is on. But Morgan has experienced more downs than ups as a Jags fan.
The Jaguars have played in London every year since 2013, except for the Covid-affected 2020 season, so its no surprise that they have a strong following in the UK. But they havent exactly inspired fans making four play-off appearances since 2000. This season they are second in the AFC South with a promising 4-2 record already having achieved the same number of victories as through the entirety of last season.
But growing up, Morgans dream was not an American one. A Manchester City fan and season ticket holder since the age of three, she fulfilled her childhood ambitions when she made her debut with Citys senior team in 2017 as a 16-year-old.
After just 537 minutes of playing time in the 2023-2024 season, Morgan made her move to the NWSL in search of more gametime.
Since then, she has helped the Spirit reach the 2024 NWSL Championship final, where they lost 1-0 to the Orlando Pride, and win this years Challenge Cup. She has featured in all but one of the Spirits NWSL games this season as the Michele Kang-owned team seem on course for a second consecutive runners-up finish in the regular-season standings.
For England this summer in Switzerland, she came on as a substitute in the dramatic quarter-final win against Sweden and started in the semi-final victory over Italy. In total, she played 170 minutes of Englands triumphant tournament.
If youre not playing consistently at club level, then youre never going to be able to compete to get minutes for England, she says. So being able to come here and show my level week to week, while also improving in the things that me and the England coaching staff had discussed that I wanted to be better at, helped my opportunities to be able to get minutes with the national team.
Im really pleased with how this move has transpired, because Im not sure that, had I stayed in the situation I was in, I would have even made the squad for the Euros, let alone being able to get onto the pitch during the knockout stages, which was such a privilege and so much fun. Im proud of myself for making that step and taking matters into my own hands.
This year, the Spirit trail only Kansas City in the regular-season standings and Morgan is optimistic.
As a team, we obviously set out at the start of the season to make the playoffs, but you always have in mind wanting to finish in the top two, so that you can have a home run up to the Championship, like we did last year, because those were some of the most enjoyable games in my career, Morgan says.
A packed-out Audi (Field), 20,000 people, is such an incredible atmosphere; so loud, so much fun, and gives you such an advantage in those knockout, competitive games.
Im proud of how weve progressed through the season, because we were quite consistent at the beginning of the year, but I feel like weve really nailed that down and been performing to a high level over the last few weeks, so peaking at the right time, hopefully, and optimistic that we can carry that into the playoffs.
Morgan is just one of five English players in the NWSL but the only English player on her team. With many of the squad living in close proximity to each other, however, planning social activities is straightforward, she says, with regular trips out for coffee and group activities, such as a recent paint night.
I joke with Sandy (MacIver) because shes half-English, half-Scottish, although she claims shes 100 percent Scottish, but she got one cap for England, Morgan says of her teammate who represented England in a 2021 friendly before switching allegiance to Scotland, qualifying through her Scottish-born father.
Its a good job weve got each other, to be honest, because our sense of humor is slightly different from some of the Americans, but as long as theres one of us there to back the other one up and just laugh no matter what, then we can get away with most things.
With the 13 other NWSL teams dotted around the country, Morgan has seen plenty of the U.S. already, but her favorite away trip is to Los Angeles for a game against Angel City FC.
California just has this feel to it, with the palm trees and the good weather, its just got a little bit of an aura about it, she says.
I really liked Portland and Seattle as cities, too. They reminded me of the cool parts of Manchester in the Northern Quarter, because theyre just quite edgy, cool-looking buildings. Some of the cities feel kind of the same, like through the middle of the country, but all of the West Coast cities have a lot of character.
Like the Jags in London, Morgan has found a second home in Washington and, like her NFL team, she has boosted her international appeal.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Jacksonville Jaguars, England, Washington Spirit, NFL, International Football, NWSL, Women’s Soccer, Women’s Euros
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