Everyone fell silent in the lounge room, just like the crowd should have been for the NRL's comeback match. But it wasn't. There was a murmur on the broadcast even though there was no one there to murmur.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
One game into Australia's live sport return and we've already got a giant talking point to generate water-cooler conversation, even if we're doing it from home offices these days.
It wasn't the tries. Or Parramatta's best start to a season since 1993. Or the rule changes. Or even the coronavirus protocols, private jets and face masks on the cameramen that got the 1.3 million viewers going.
It was the artificial crowd noise playing into excited lounge rooms across the country which really divided us. Some loved it, some hated it ("unwatchable" or "f-----g awful" were a few of the choice words) and others didn't care.
But hey - we're talking about live sport, which is something most of us have been desperate to do for the past two months. The Parramatta-Brisbane match was the highest-rating regular season game since 2014, proving keen people were to tune in.
Rugby league fans know outrage better than most, so it shouldn't really come as a surprise that the murmur of a fake crowd split them right down the middle.
The noise was clearly a broadcast decision. A way to create atmosphere at time when the world is in lockdown and players have to have their temperature checked before they run on to the field.
The problem is live sport tragics know the magic of live sport. Like the Canberra Raiders preliminary final last year, when 26,000 fans roared in unison after the Green Machine booked their ticket to the grand final for the first time in 25 years. Men to the right cried, families to the left embraced. That's what sport is about.
Those same fans tooted horns and put lime green flags out their windows as they clogged the Hume Highway on the journey to the grand final. Then they consoled each other when that dreaded "six again" call shattered their premiership dreams.
They know what it's like to scream at the referee, groan at mistakes or end up covered in beer when those around them leap out of their chairs. So selling them something fake was always going to be tough.
In reality, though, was it really that bad? Really "f-----g awful"? I didn't think so. The people I was with didn't think so, but maybe because there was a murmur in the lounge room which drowned out the fake noise and the commentary.
The round two games of the NRL and round one of the AFL were played at empty venues and even for sport lovers it was hard to watch without the atmosphere and as broadcasters learnt how to frame vision without the crowd colour.
We all knew sport was going to be different in the post-coronavirus lockdown, at least in the short term. We all knew it would be impossible to recreate that feeling of being at the ground, the euphoria of high-fiving strangers after a win.
Complaining about the fake noise seems like a moot point to many. Sitcoms have been doing it for years, some successfully and others not so much.
MORE CANBERRA SPORT
Live sport has been guilty as well, even when fans can actually attend games. The noise played back through the television isn't an exact representation of the noise in the stadium. It's louder on television because it's a television product. The sound effects are a concentration of the support at the stadium in an attempt to make it a more appealing broadcast, and it works.
That's why the NRL is cheering on Friday. Of all the things that could've gone wrong with the ambitious plans to restart the competition before anyone else, the threat of referees striking and rogue players breaching protocols by posting TikTok videos, it all went off basically without a hitch.
The new rules created a free-flowing game. Non-rugby league fans tuned in. The game was broadcast to overseas markets. And, most importantly, sport is back to give everyone hope. Sure, people hated the fake crowd. But the sound of disgruntled fans is better than silence.