Pubs and clubs across the Hunter region are set to be packed on Monday morning as sports enthusiasts gather to watch the NFL's Super Bowl LX, featuring a showdown between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots.
A Local Connection to Gridiron Glory
While many will be cheering, few will match the passion of Lake Macquarie's Julia Rule, a devoted Seahawks supporter with a remarkable personal history tied to the franchise.
"I love the sport itself and following the players, the stats, and especially the team this year," Julia explains. "It feels like we've got the 'legion of boom' back from the 2012 to 2014 era; that was insane."
From Sydney to Seattle: A Two-Decade Adventure
Julia and her husband David originally moved from Sydney to Seattle in 2001 for David's work on Boeing's Wedgetail project. What began as an 18-month assignment turned into a 20-year stay in the Emerald City, where their sons Harry and Thomas were born, before the family relocated to Warners Bay in 2021.
During her time in Seattle, Julia worked in the non-profit sector and forged a significant connection with the Seahawks organization.
Working with the Seahawks and Ben's Fund
Julia met Seahawks general manager John Schneider and his wife Traci, who had established a charity called Ben's Fund in 2012. The charity was named after their oldest son Ben, who was diagnosed with autism at age three, and it provides financial support and guidance to neurodivergent children and young adults in Washington state.
Schneider appointed Julia to manage Ben's Fund, a role she held for five years. Her responsibilities included organizing fundraisers with major Seattle-based companies like Boeing, Starbucks, and Microsoft, as well as collaborating closely with the Seahawks franchise.
"I got to watch most of the games from the owner's box as a personal guest of the Schneiders," Julia recalls. "I got to sit next to Traci for most of the games, so it was a very hands-on approach working with the Seahawks. I wasn't just someone working in administration; it was very personal because I was looking after their fund."
Her tenure overlapped with pivotal moments in Seahawks history, including their dominant 43-8 Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos in 2014 and the heartbreaking 28-24 loss to the New England Patriots in 2015.
Embracing the NFL Culture
Julia admits she wasn't an NFL fan before moving to Seattle, but the sport's culture quickly won her over.
"You can't help but be a supporter," she says. "I'd never experienced the hype around a sport like that before. Especially going to a game, it is insane. I was there when they had the 'beast quake'."
The "beast quake" refers to a legendary touchdown by Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch in 2011, where the crowd's eruption at Lumen Field was so powerful it registered as a magnitude 2.0 seismic event on nearby seismometers.
Comparing Fan Passion: Seattle vs. Newcastle
While the Hunter region is renowned for its passionate support of the NRL's Newcastle Knights, Julia believes the Seahawks' fan culture is on another level.
"I know Newcastle has the Knights and there are big supporters, but it's so different," she notes. "No matter where you worked, on Friday during football season you wore supporter gear to work. It was called Blue Friday. That's how invested the fans were with the team."
Maintaining the Connection from Across the Pacific
Despite now living on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Julia remains an avid Seahawks fan. The Rule family home in Warners Bay features a dedicated "shrine" to the team, complete with memorabilia and decorations.
"Watching from afar, we still keep in touch with all our friends in Seattle, so we're Facebook messaging them when there's a touchdown and we listen to the commentary from the local [Seattle] guy so we really feel like we're still there," she shares. "We count down the days to football season."
As Super Bowl LX approaches, Julia's unique perspective bridges her past life in Seattle with her present in the Hunter, embodying the global reach of NFL fandom and the personal stories that make sports so compelling.
