If you squinted and looked very closely at the television screen during the Super Bowl, you might have been able to see three familiar faces from Maitland in the crowd.
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Former Maitland Pickers president Frank Lawler and his boys Matt Soper-Lawler and Ash Soper were a part of the 61,000-strong crowd at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas for the NFL's Super Bowl LVIII on Monday (Australian time).
The nail-biting championship between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers went into overtime for the second time ever in a Super Bowl game, and ultimately the Chiefs took home the win 25 to 22.
It was a lucky game for Ash and Matt, as they are Chiefs supporters and bought tickets for the game eight months ago, not knowing their team would be playing.
Frank hasn't committed to a particular team to follow, but went for the 49ers on the day after visiting San Francisco earlier on the trip.
"It was a tremendous spectacle, 60-odd thousand people, the stadium was amazing, they put on a great show and a lot of the celebrities were in town," Frank said.
The game itself was thrilling to see in person, and Frank said it was extra special to see a Super Bowl game that went into overtime.
"All the way along you'd probably think the 49ers were going to win it, it was just Mahomes the quarterback from Kansas City took them down the other end of the field, kicked a field goal and then got the last touchdown to win it for them," he said.
"It was a really exciting finish."
The three men spent 12 days in the United States on their Super Bowl trip, visiting Hawaii, San Francisco and then Las Vegas.
Frank said there is one stand out difference between NFL and rugby league.
"How long it takes to play, I think they played four 15 minute quarters without the extra time, and that went for about four hours, or probably three and a half," he said.
"They've tried to make [rugby] league more continuous, not so stop-start, where in NFL it's stopping every run pretty much and they're swapping defensive teams over and attacking teams over.
"The physicality was there, they really launched into each other and hit each other hard."
The Maitland men were in the presence of a lot of celebrity star power, with Usher, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Jay-Z, Blake Lively, Elon Musk, Gordon Ramsay and Paul Rudd all in attendance.
"They put on a massive display at half time, it was really good obviously Usher came out," Frank said.
"They do it really well.
"Everything's bigger and better over there in the states."
Chloe Coleman
Chloe Coleman is a journalist covering news in the Lower Hunter. Contact her on chloe.coleman@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Chloe Coleman is a journalist covering news in the Lower Hunter. Contact her on chloe.coleman@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
