High on the hill at Leichhardt Oval, the sun sets in black and gold. It’s a twilight game at rugby league’s greatest colosseum, the most played-on field in the Australian game, and spiritual home to the NRL’s Wests Tigers. And as the golden late-autumn day slowly bleeds into the black of night, something magic stirs.
More than 12,000 fans stream in, having arrived first in a trickle then a torrent to fill the old hill, faded bleachers and concrete grandstands. Tribes of fans and families thread through narrow streets, pour in from local pubs and move across harbour water sparkling with light. The Tigers run out in their stripes and spouts of fire light up the night. All of it black and gold.
