A week in the life of an NRL fan

They say that following your favourite football team is an emotional rollercoaster, which can change within the blow of a whistle or the bounce of the ball. Some fans will just turn up to the game on the weekend, cheer and then go home nonplused about the result after a while. No most fans will plan their whole week around their games on the weekend and all the little rituals included. This article is about those fans.

Monday will be the start of the ride unless your team is playing Monday night because you'll still be bundled with nerves waiting upon the result. For those who have already run their race and have either won or lost, Monday will bring some analysis towards the previous weekends game or if you lost, the cleansing of it from your memory and moving on.This day will start the daily ritual of buying the paper to keep abreast of the latest news and headlines affecting your team and it's players.

After those sometimes painful memories have been cleansed, brings Tuesday where the team lists for the next week. The team lists once posted will create much debate between the supporters whether Player X would do a better job than Player Y or the coach is proving he is a genius or lost it with the selection of Player Z. Tuesday represents probably the calmest day and part of the week before any of the pre-match questions or jitters start to build up in the supporters.

Wednesday and Thursday are both alike in the happenings in the lead-up, it's where the television channels have their magazine style shows such as "NRL on Fox" and "The Footy Show" used as vehicles to dissect the teams posted up yesterday with the greatest and not so greatest minds in league. These can serve to either dull the nerves which are building inside after your team has been declared overwhelming favourites after they've checked the TAB prices of course.

On the other hand though, if they are declared no chance to win, the pre match jitters will multiple and the voices of self doubt will begin to sound louder and louder.

The last day of this sequence is that magicial day which foreshadows the weekend known as Friday, if your team plays on this day, it will move so slow where your sure that 7:30pm won't come. The Friday paper is usually packed with news regarding the last minute injures, a puff piece on a long serving player in your club or if your playing on the weekend, reading the little articles on the side which sum up the game also the pre-match jitters you've become acustomed to will be building up to feverpitch to the point where sleep may impossible but you have to because it brings that glorious day you wait for all week.

Gameday, it's finally arrived. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, your jersey which didn't fit last week now can be slipped on without any trouble. Gathering up all of the essentials. Call your mates, your going to the game with, of course find out one can't go because he has been whipped by the missus who now wears the pants. The train is amazingly on time for Cityrail, there are fellow supporters on the train all holding the same hope that the team can pull out a victory and finally once it gets to your stop, you march orderly out of the station and onto the stadium and get ready for the emotional rollercoaster, called a game of rugby league.

To surmise, rugby league isn't something you just rock up and go to on the day, it's something that most people devote their week towards the games on the weekend and will either be very happy or brooding around if they lose, so with that bring on the weekend.

From Round 9 of the Forum Sevens (F7s), 2009
Posted in the F7s Matches forum in August 2009
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