New England Patriots Fans at Gillette Stadium

Warning: This review is written from the perspective of a Houston Texans fan.


We traveled to Boston to watch the Houston Texans take on the New England Patriots during the second round of the NFL playoffs in January 2013. We are always excited to watch our beloved Texans, as well as visit a new stadium. This could have been considered a family trip - me, my husband, our teenage son, my teenage nephew and my brother (group of 5).

Because the kids had school, we flew in Saturday morning. We didn't have a lot of time to tour Boston and most of our trip was focused around Texans activities. After dinner, Saturday evening we went to The Black Rose. The entire second floor was filled with fellow Traveling Texans. We had a great time watching football and hanging out! It was a great venue.

Sunday morning, we arose bright and early to make sure that we were ready for the game! (Go Texans!!) We walked from our hotel to South Station to catch the Bowl Bus. The Bowl Bus was a fun experience, full of Texans fans - not to mention convenient for a visitor. The ticket was $55pp. I would definitely consider Bowl Bus for future out of town games.

The road to Foxboro required a lot of patience - there were limited lanes and lots and lots of traffic. It seemed like it took hours to get there. But it was cool to see all of the tailgaters posted up in business parking lots all along the road. It looked fun!

The Bowl Bus parked in the back of the Stadium lot, so we got the experience of walking through tailgating Patriot fans. Of course we were taunted, but we were also welcomed with grilled shrimp and high fives. We managed to make it to the gates without any incidents - that taunting was all in good fun.

Before the game, Texans fans met up on the first floor of CBS Scene....once again, the entire floor was filled with Texans fans - but this is where the harassment began. Someone from the top floor poured beer on Texans fans. How immature! I did not witness any other incidents, but I heard of at least one fight involving opposing fans.

After CBS Scene, we made our way inside of the stadium. We received more friendly taunting from stadium workers, asking us to come back to their station so they can give us a hard time after the Texans lose....Yeah right! Like that would really happen...but the banter was friendly and fun.

We sat in the upper level, section 314 - those tickets were $195ea, plus taxes and fees (resell) - this is where the harassment continued. There were several excessively drunk Patriot fans in our section that spent more time taunting us (using profanity) than watching the game. I don't want to go into details, but trust me it was bad. They did not want us to cheer, to stand up, or to even be there. Other Patriot fans in the section apologized for the behavior of their peers. The harassment continued throughout the entire game.

Unfortunately, the Texans lost - but life goes on. On our way out of the stadium, we encountered even more harassment. Patriot fans were running up to us shouting obscenities - in case, you forgot what I mentioned earlier....this could have been considered a family trip. One Patriot fan actually assaulted my brother....on our family trip!!!! This lead to an actual fist fight between a group of Patriot fans and my family....unbelievable! Finally, security came and escorted us out of the stadium.

On our way back to the Bowl Bus, we met more cool Bostonians that tried to redeem the horrible experiences we managed to have that day. The Bowl Bus took us back to Boston and we returned home to Houston the next morning.

As a Houston Texans season ticket holder, I was appalled at the behavior of those New England Patriot fans. In Houston, Texas we would never treat visiting fans like that - stadium policy or not. After the incident, I wrote letters to the Texans, the Patriots and the NFL. I only received a response from the Texans.

Lessons Learned -

• Do not sit upper level when visiting other stadiums - too many drunk fans
• Do not bring kids to certain cities that have been know to have rude fans - unsafe
• Always sit with other Texans fans when visiting other stadiums - easier to cheer in peace
• Report the rude fans to security/police

As a Texans fan, I will not be deterred by rude and immature fans from other cities. I will continue to travel to road games because I like it and I am able to. I will continue to cheer for my team regardless of which stadium we are playing in. Go Texans!!