Last night’s clash of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New England Patriots at Wembley was supposed to be the occasion when American football began to break out from its once-a-year North London residency to capture the hearts and minds of the rest of the British sporting public. Unfortunately, Wembley Stadium was about the worst place in Britain in which to judge the success or otherwise of the project.

The NFL wants to spread the word, increase the number of games played here and even, perhaps, establish a London franchise. For its third regular season game at Wembley, it had brought over the team of the decade in the Patriots, and arguably the leading star of the sport in Tom Brady, their quarterback. But inevitably, they were preaching to the converted — 84,000 of them.

The Wembley game has become an annual gathering of the British NFL-loving clans, as anyone using the London Underground yesterday afternoon can testify, while fans from France, Belgium and farther abroad have been pouring in for several days, clad in jerseys proclaiming loyalty to the Seattle Seahawks, Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders.

So the NFL need not really have bothered making the evening as much of an Anglo-American occasion as they did. The British soldiers holding a giant Buccaneers banner and the honouring of both countries’ national anthems and flags probably went down better with fans who had made the long trip from Florida. “I thought, ‘What the heck, it’s a road trip,’ ” Chris Bordanaro said, and Karla, his wife, agreed. “If you’re a real fan, you follow them anywhere,” she said.

Times Archive, 1910: American Football: Match at the Crystal Palace

The majority of spectators went away convinced that Rugby Union football is superior in every respect

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Sandy Payne said: “As long as they keep taking games to fun places like London, it’s OK. It’s not as warm as in Tampa, but we’ve had games this cold.”

You call this cold? The Tampa Bay cheerleaders seemed to be keeping themselves warm, or perhaps the definition of the Wembley screens was not high enough to reveal goose bumps. But if those visitors not wearing pads and helmets were unbowed by the weather, there was at least a British victory as Katherine Jenkins (UK) beat Toni Braxton (USA) in the battle to see who could hit the higher note at the end of the national anthem.

And it was a closer-run thing than the game, which was as one-sided as anticipated — not that many people seemed to mind. But what can the NFL do to spread its word beyond its existing constituency over here? Part of the plan was the largest tailgate party yet, held in the Wembley car park, with all 32 teams represented, so that neutrals — if there were any — could pick a team.

There was an NFL cinema, live bands, video game tents and free face transfers (sorry, decals) of the two teams’ logos. But it did not have the one essential for an authentic tailgate — excellent food.

At NFL games in the US, fans bring half a dead cow and a vast grill to cook it on, and if you are wandering past looking undernourished (in other words, of normal British girth) the chances are that you’ll be invited over to partake.

Here there were just the usual overpriced fish and chips and burger vans. “It’s just one big commercial gathering,” Dean Rothwell, a Patriots fan from Chesterfield, said.

“When we were in Miami, we were invited to join in by people we’d never met,” Christine, Rothwell’s wife, a Dolphins fan, said.

Dean discovered the sport when it first appeared on Channel 4 in the mid-1980s, while Christine found her allegiance on holiday in the States in 2001.

“I’ve been following the Patriots since 1984,” Dean said. “I had sympathy for them because they were such a poor side at the time. I thought I’d follow someone that wasn’t a mainstream team.

“Twenty-five years ago there probably weren’t as many Patriots fans in the whole country as are here today — perhaps not even as many American football fans. It has grown since then. Most people now have Sky, and if the game on Five is too late, you can tape it.”

Christine also took up her team’s cause because of the traditional British love of the underdog. “We were on holiday in Miami and I just felt sorry for them at the time,” she said. “The Jets came down and beat them 28-0.”

If you don’t really know who to sympathise with, NFL UK’s new website, www.nfl-360.com, suggests ways to pick a team, although it omits the obvious: choose a loveable loser such as the Buccaneers, unless you support Manchester United, in which case go for the favourites to win the Super Bowl. In this case, the Patriots.

But let’s can the cynicism for a while — it was a great occasion if not a great game, and the NFL piled on the razzmatazz. But it failed to prove its point. Of course NFL fans were going to flock to see the best team in the sport’s recent history. So what?

The NFL may only know that they have reached the limits of Britain’s potential when it fails. Perhaps it should deliberately pick an unattractive match-up for next season and see if it can still sell out. If there is a full house to see the Carolina Panthers take on the Buffalo Bills, the NFL can take over the world, never mind Wembley.