on April 24, 2025, 5:15 pm, in reply to "Don't know if you went but the Wigan vs Manly rugby league in Central Park "
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Came closest for atmosphere. Similar vibe where the old ground was heaving and the crowd were desperate to drive an English RL team to finally beat an Australian side.
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We were in the Lower Gladwys (myself, my wife and my brother) pretty much behind the goal just a tad higher and slightly closer to the main stand.
There was for me one unforgettable lucid moment (aside from the goals and the constant shaking, bouncing energy).
We’d taken the lead and the crowd seemed to have decided that we could (indeed would) affect and own that performance and result.
I looked up to the right and every fan standing up against the hoardings/balcony sections was in unison banging as hard as they could on the surfaces below where they were standing.
Nobody was sitting down. There was a group of three elderly women fiercely smashing their hands or fists into the wood below them, in time with the rest of the stadium. They were utterly fixed on getting the message over to the Bayern players/their fans that this was our night, our stadium, our club.
It took me aback - they were almost like dangerously threatened parents defending their loved ones to the very end….
In no way was it OTT - like some of the social media fuelled hatred we see these days.
It was just a ‘This is OUR night!’ moment when GP seemed to be one entity working together in absolute determined, joyous energy.
Nothing else, in all my years of big occasions in both football and rugby league, comes anywhere near as close …
My brother - an occasional Utd fan but really a rugby league lad - also cites it as his most remembered sporting event.
COYB :-) Previous Message
I was, with my Dad. I was only a little kid but I will never forget the atmosphere that night - absolutely electric
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