What happens when you take a vicious contact sport and strip out all the ambient noise? Australia’s National Rugby League found out.
As sports organizations around the world halted competition, the first two weeks of the NRL’s 2020 season went ahead largely as planned, aside from the lack of fans in the stands.
Playing in empty stadiums made for a bizarre environment. Most strikingly, it allowed fans watching at home to hear the unadulterated sound of a professional rugby tackle. Without the roar of the crowd, the collision of bodies could be heard clear as day.
In America, we’re used to hearing loud tackles in football games.