While I run a music blog, I’ve thought about little else but football over the last couple of weeks. I was born and bred in Mulubinba/Newcastle, so I’ve watched the Knights’ fairy tale run to the NRL Grand Final with such excitement and joy.
They’re not even the team I usually support – I became an Eels fan before the Knights entered the competition – but there’s something about the way these guys represent my hometown and bring everyone together that is contagious. I always jump on the bandwagon if the Knights make the finals and the Eels don’t (which happens more times than I’d like to admit!), but they rarely get this far! This year feels special, from wooden spooners to grand finalists, underestimated at every game, yet somehow finding ways to win against the odds.
If you’d like to read more about my support of the Newcastle Knights, check out my article “Confessions of a Football Bandwagoner” on Hold the News.
One man who’s a little more one-eyed about the footy is Morgan Evans. Although he’s based in Nashville these days, he’s a Novacastrian through and through. He recently released a couple of tracks celebrating his love of the home team. First up, Morgan re-recorded “Steel Town,” the title track from his most recent album. It now features the original lyric, which refers to the “sound of a Newcastle Knights crowd” instead of the more generic “rowdy home game crowd.” You can also hear the iconic “Newcastle chant” and snippets of Ray Warren’s ’97 grand final commentary. It will always give me chills hearing him call Darren Albert’s try in the dying moments of that game! Yes, I’ve been bandwagoning for a long time!
And if that wasn’t enough, he’s finally released “Long Live the Newcastle Knights.” I remember watching Morgan perform this on Good Friday in 2014, when the Newcastle Knights hosted the Brisbane Broncos. It gave me goosebumps then, and it still does today.
Both these songs are on Spotify and they feature on a little playlist I’ll be blasting all weekend as I gear up for tomorrow’s grand final. You can take a listen to that here! Go the Knights!
Photo credit: Nick Swift