Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Sunday, September 09, 2007
Family moves from Australia to follow Packers for a season
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Now here’s a Packers fan.
Wayne Scullino recently quit his job, sold his house and moved his family from Sydney, Australia to Green Bay to follow his favorite football team for a season.
“There’s not a single person we’ve met who can believe it,” he said. “They say it’s absolutely nuts. At the same time, they say it’s great.”
Scullino, his wife, Kelly, and sons Ben, 2, and Luc, 9 months, arrived in Green Bay on Sunday. He got lucky quick, scoring two tickets to Sunday’s home opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.
It will be his first game at Lambeau Field, and Scullino said his first glimpse of the storied stadium made him a little emotional.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “And with the house money in the bank and the boys not yet in school, it’s literally now or never.”
Scullino had worked as a phone equipment salesman in Sydney. Now he says his plan is to attend as many Packers games as possible, tour the U.S., “make a ton of friends” and keep an online diary that he will eventually turn into a book.
“The Web site isn’t so much about football as it is the idea that we’ve given up everything to follow a childhood dream. You know, the dreams you forget because you’re too busy being an adult all of a sudden,” Scullino said.
He acknowledged the dream comes with challenges. The family has never lived in snow or outside a major city. They’ll have to drive on the opposite side of the road and get by without a paycheck for six months.
“Oh, and the fact that we’re using our life savings to do so with the very real prospect of having nothing on our return,” Scullino said.
His wife said she’s fine with the plan as long as they can care for their sons.
“I just hope it’s not too unsettling for them,” Kelly Scullino said.
The family has been staying at local motels, but the couple said they hoped to find a furnished place soon.
Down under, Wayne Scullino has to rise at 3 a.m. to watch a live game by satellite. But that’s better than in the days when only NFL highlights were available.
Scullino has been a Packers fan since high school. He saw his first full game in 1990 — a tape of a Nov. 26, 1989 game in which the Packers defeated Minnesota, 20-19.
Never mind the delay, he said: “The fact that it was full length was all that mattered.”
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 Winona Daily News and other attributed sources.