On Sunday afternoon, I attended the NRL match at the Sydney Football Stadium between the Wests Tigers and the South Sydney Rabbitohs. With six minutes to go the Tigers led 16-4, and a win for the Bunnies looked extremely unlikely.
As the clock ticked down, I watched on in amazement as hordes of Rabbitohs fans headed for the exits, convinced that their team was going home the loser.
Yet as so often happens in sport, the script had plenty of twists left, and the Rabbitohs miraculously scored two late tries, storming home to bring the scores level and send the game into golden point.
In extra time, the momentum was all with Souths and it came as no surprise that Greg Inglis sent through a wobbly field goal to cap off a remarkable victory for the boys from Redfern.
Tigers fans were shocked. Souths fans were justifiably ecstatic… the ones that had stayed, anyway.
Once again sport, in this case rugby league, had produced the unexpected. Once again sport had provided the real-life drama that movies could only hope to replicate. Once again, sport had supplied a ‘moment’.
And yet some fans weren’t there to see it because they left the game early.
The Souths fans that headed for the turnstiles before the game was over should be ashamed of themselves. First of all, you never give up on your team. Ever. I’m not sure you can even be called a fan if you do.
Secondly, surely one of the main attractions of watching sport live is the potential to witness something truly amazing. Something special. Something historic. Something memorable.
And there is nothing more amazing, special, historic and memorable in sport than the comeback. To claim a victory when all hope seemed lost. To produce a win, when a loss seemed all but certain.
Why a fan would ever leave a game early, and rob themselves of seeing something truly amazing, absolutely baffles me. Surely you go to a game to support your team, while also hoping that something miraculous happens?
Most fans dream about attending a game like Sunday’s. Those that watched the game on TV almost universally wished they had been at the game.
It’s also worth noting that with the way the Wests Tigers play football, you should never leave early anyway.
With the unpredictable, entertaining, low percentage style of rugby league that Wests sometimes play, the game is always alive, regardless of whether the Tigers are up or down by 20 points.
And even if the result of the game isn’t in doubt, you may still witness a piece of magic from Benji Marshall that would have you boasting to friends for years, “I was there!”
Souths fans clearly have short memories. In round one, the Rabbitohs led the Sydney Roosters 20-12 with just two minutes to go. Yet the Roosters pulled off a remarkable victory, scoring two tries to steal the match, and highlight that the game is never over until you hear the final siren.
Hopefully the pain of the Roosters’ match and the ecstasy of Sunday’s game have taught Souths fans a valuable lesson.
Something to do with a large female and her vocal chords.
Pete75
Guest
I'm really pleased that Beau Ryan is maturing into a pretty handy footballer. I reckon he's one of those blokes that is just great to have around the team. The first person I look for when a try is scored is Beau Ryan, he'll be the one jumping around, high fiving, screaming, patting heads and just generally having a great old time. What is a concern is that he seems to be about a third faster running to congratulate someone for scoring then he is trying to actually score himself....
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
He's actually got OCD. Whenever an opponent walks past him, he needs to touch them somehow. And he's always congratulating his teammates by giving them a bum pat or head rub, even if they're on the other side of the field, and he's out of position for awhile. It's hilarious! He's not doing it because he's a comedian - he literally has some strange idiosyncratic behaviours.
PLANKO
Guest
Come on Ryan you just think he is cute !!! LOL I have not seen him on the footy show this year ? But then again I have not watched it that much. What does he do ? No "Doggies" ?
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Yeah QLDER, that was awesome. I really enjoyed that. Even further off topic, any rugby league fan needs to go watch a Tigers game live, just to see Beau Ryan. The guys is completely nuts. I ended up just watching him for 3 or 4 minutes at a time, watching him do all manner of weird things.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
When watching the Channel 9 reply, I purposely don't look at my watch. Otherwise, as you have mentioned, you realise whether or not a game is going to go into golden point.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Sadly, it is a pattern. Blair has missed a whopping 19 tackles this year. That's unacceptable. Especially fro the money he's on, and who the Tigers had to discard to get him.
Pete75
Guest
Interestingly, the brown ball used the for heritage round was 20% lighter than the regular season ball. Why this should have been the case, I don't know but it definitely seemed to fly further off the boot, with even Gareth Ellis coming close as damn to a 40/20. Perhaps it was a road test for a new, lighter design?
Jaceman
Guest
Th e game is never over when Shane is on the ball...Wests lost a semi final in the last minute at SFS when Shane was refereeing...
PLANKO
Guest
What odd's you get Scott ?
PLANKO
Guest
Ryan, These tries are about momentum. Before one of the tries that souths scored Blair tried and missed two "shots" on players rather than trying to tackle them. If just one of those "shots" had been a real tackle at least one of those dive overs would not have happened. I will be watching this weekend to see if this is a pattern. Ryan your thoughts ?
PLANKO
Guest
Thumbs up loved the brown ball would have liked to have seen the stripe's... They should have dusted off the original all leather balls then the players of today would have most respect for the past. Might have seen some average games with little ball movement but would have been interesting.
QLDER
Guest
Off topic, but I loved the brown ball. The only thing better would have been the brown and white stripped effort
jamesb
Guest
"Rabbits fans, why would you ever leave early? because they haven't won a premiership since 1971. Actually when i was watching the game on channel 9 with its hundred ads, I was looking at the time, it was only 5:50pm, and the game only had 5 minutes to go. without knowing the result I had a feeling that the match was going to go to Golden point. As I realised this Luke scored to make it 16-10. Than souths scored again, I looked at the time, it was only 5:55pm. normally Nine have the football finished at around 6pm for News to follow. So I knew that souths were going to convert that try to send the match to golden point. I had no idea who was going to win, But next time, If your going to watch a nine delayed game and its closer to full time, have a look at your watch.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Well said Todd. I was at the Merritt field goal game as well. That was an unbelievable kick!
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
As I said, I was at the game, and I thought their defense up the middle had improved dramatically. But they still allowed those soft tries from Issac Luke. I don't think they'll win this weekend, as Brisbane are too big, strong and athletic right where the Tigers are currently vulnerable. But I still believe they'll come good.
Todd Slater
Guest
I never leave early. I was at the game on Sunday, up in the stand & pumping by the last ten minutes. It was an arm wrestle game for sure, but the beauty of going to games is that every one is different & they are won in all sorts of ways. You also invariably get to see something incredible happen, in this the last minute win. As a souths fan you just don't leave until after fulltime. There have been so many great comebacks over the past five or so seasons. Merritt's field goal was all time a few years ago at the cricket ground, especially due to the angle & the fact that is was on full time. I saw Dylan Farrell score the winning try two years ago on his debut, his third try of the game. The fact that he went in right in front of me & right at the end of golden point time was unbelievable. The adrenaline was pumping for days after that. The comeback last year against the dragons at Woollongong from 0-20 against the premiers was another big highlight too. As a bunnies fan the season is always a white knuckle ride on a very emotional roller coaster....!
Pete75
Guest
" I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this graphic after Farah’s outburst last week!" Fair enough too. If you're going to deny the facts, you should probably have some pretty compelling arguments to back it up. As discussed elsewhere, I don't have a huge problem with Robbie's "passion" and I appreciate he was defending his team mates, but, the fact is the Tigers are soft up the middle at the moment. For 74 minutes on the weekend I'd thought they'd gone close to sorting it out....
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
I picked them to finish second, I love watching them play, and I even went to the Souths game on Sunday to see them live. Plus I think at some stage they'll rattle off 6 or 7 games in a row. They're a confidence team. So I don't dislike them at all. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this graphic after Farah's outburst last week!
Pete75
Guest
Ryan, Geez! You have deadset taken a disliking to the Tigers this year, eh? They've got a lot of injuries and suspensions at the moment. I'm still confident of a turnaround in the next few weeks and pushing deep into the finals.
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Ouch!