Sport fan Chris Evans has embraced the Parramatta Eels and the work of Mitch Moses. Picture: parraeels.com.au
From 15,558km away in Canada, sport fan Chris Evans has been waiting for the return of some form of action.
With the return of the NRL, Chris has made an effort to dive head first into the competition’s restart, penning this summary of his appreciation.
The National Rugby League, what a game!
Why I’ve never invested my time into it in the past, I couldn’t tell you, but one of the things I’m thankful for, coming out of corona, is that it has opened my eyes to this hard-hitting, action-packed game.
First things first, I wasn’t myself once the sporting world shut down.
Things were bleak and the only news on Twitter and YouTube was sporting leagues being cancelled every other day.
I absolutely love my job in sport, so you can’t just take that away from someone and expect them to be all good.
I have had little experience with rugby league live, only being able to catch the Toronto Wolfpack’s final two matches gaining promotion into Super League this past year.
That was an absolute wild time, experiencing how passionate the fans are about a foreign game with the local team.
It was quite a spectacle to witness.
I was pumped for the first Super League game held in Toronto this 2020 season, which unfortunately doesn’t look promising to happen even in the Super League restart.
I don’t remember the exact day I read that one of the first sporting leagues was opening back up in Australia, but I got so hype seeing a concrete plan in place to resume live sport.
I marked May 28 on my calendar and started prepping for the NRL’s season restart.
The preparation included watching all the highlights of the first two rounds of the season on YouTube, listening to any NRL shows and podcasts from the season to date, and reading up on team storylines as they were happening.
I spent days upon days learning about the league and teams.
Parramatta was my top choice off the bat.
I loved their team and style of play. They just clicked with me.
The entire team, through the sweet social content they put out, seemed like a fun bunch to be around, but also serious enough to get the job done.
Players like Fergo and Sivo really captured my attention with how strong they played.
Mitch Moses and Gutho seemed like they were one step ahead of the opposition at all times.
And the absolute power that RCG crashes into the line is unreal to watch.
After watching the Eels’ last six matches, all the players have been firing on all cylinders and I’m starting to learn more and more each game.
In general, my experience with learning about rugby league has been absolutely fantastic.
The fans are a passionate group and I have talked to so many people through Twitter who exhibit this passion everyday, it makes it fun.
I really appreciate everybody accepting a Canadian kid, who knew nothing about the game last year, into their rugby league bubble and helping me learn and love this game.
So thank you, it’s been nice having my world back with live sport again.
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