By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Few of the fans who relished in the ecstasy following the New Orleans Saints’ victory in the NFC Championship game Sunday evening traveled as many miles as Craig Rushton did to join in the celebration.

Rushton, 46, a devoted follower of the “Black and Gold” since 1991, journeyed more than 6,000 miles from his home in England to claim his spot inside the Louisiana Superdome.

“I’ve followed the NFL for years from England,” Rushton said. “One year, on a trip to New Orleans, I watched a game from the Superdome, and I was hooked. Something about the team just draws you in, and the same could be said about the city.”

Rushton was in LaPlace Monday with friends Wayne Vicknair, Fay Stanley and Trudy Torres, who all joined him for the game. Rushton said he and Torres forged a friendship after the two met boarding a cruise ship in Tampa, Fla., in late December on the same weekend the Saints were playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in New Orleans.

“I was on vacation with my wife, and we were waiting to board the ship,” Rushton said. “I went into a sports bar to watch some of the game, and they told me they didn’t have it on television, so I went to grab my laptop to watch the game from there.”

Torres said she walked into the same bar and shouted in disbelief that the game wasn’t on.

“I couldn’t believe the game wasn’t on,” Torres said. “As soon as I open my mouth, I see Craig jump up with his Saints stuff on watching the game. At that moment, we were joined at the hip. Where that laptop went, I went.”

Rushton, a season ticket holder, said he was only able to attend four games this season including the victory over the Vikings Sunday. He said his obvious travel constraints force him to make tough decisions about which games to go to.

“I try to get them when they are playing two home games back to back in order to optimize my time in the city,” Rushton said. “I actually faced an unfortunate dilemma in deciding whether to attend the Cardinals game the week before or this past game. I gambled that they would make the championship and, fortunately, I guessed correct.”

Rushton was in attendance for several marquee moments in recent Saints history. He was in town when the Saints played the New England Patriots earlier this year and was also present when the Saints reopened the Superdome in 2006, following Hurricane Katrina.

“That was such a pivotal moment for the team and the city,” he said. “Prior to the storm, I think a lot of people were starting to think the team was going to move out of the city to San Antonio. I think Katrina went a long way in securing the team’s place in New Orleans. The Saints are a way of life here. It is everything to these fans. Everyone who follows the Saints puts so much passion into those 16 weeks.”

Rushton said the passion of Saints fans week after week rivals the passion of devoted soccer followers in Great Britain and other parts of Europe. The only difference is that a Saints game is a family event.

“If you go to any other stadium for a football game or soccer match, the crowd is predominately white, middle class men with some amount of money,” said Rushton. “You don’t see that with the Saints. People of all races and all ages go to these games. There are a lot more women and children in the crowd, and they are not just going for the game. Saints game days are social events.”

Rushton, a magazine publisher and advertiser, makes his home in the city of Stoke-on-Trent in the county of Staffordshire, England. The city is situated about 100 miles north of London and 40 miles south of Manchester.

“It’s literally the middle of England,” said Rushton. “It’s a city that is actually comparable in size to New Orleans. Our big claim to fame is pottery.”

Since the NFL has started scheduling regular season games in London, Rushton said the league’s following has grown tremendously. He said there are other Saints fans here and there, but most people follow the teams closer to the east cost of the United States.

“There are lots of fans of the (Miami) Dolphins, New England and the New York teams,” he said. “It is usually places where they end up when they come across to visit the states.”

Rushton said he has stuck by his team during the highest highs and the lowest lows and has never given up on their success. He said the team has enjoyed a steady improvement that culminated with the win on Sunday.

“I think when the game ended I was more in shock than anything,” Rushton said. “This sort of thing just doesn’t happen to the Saints. I’m still waiting to wake up from this dream. When I think about it, 24 hours from now when I am sitting at my office desk I will be saying to myself, ‘Did this really just happen?’ It is amazing, and I am so proud to have witnessed it.”