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As Chris Rigg establishes a career at Sunderland, he claims that leaving the Stadium of Light is the “best feeling ever.” The adolescent claimed that having to take day leave from school made the adjustment from the academy to the first team “tough.”

It serves as a reminder of his youth—he just turned 17 in June. He’s quickly becoming the home crowd’s favorite now.

“You can’t really sum up the words,” he said to teammate Luke O’Nien on how it felt to emerge from the tunnel at the SOL. It’s all just nerves and excitement together. You want to give it your all and perform at your highest level, but as soon as you see everyone, you may start to relax.

“If you look closely, you’ll always see a flag, and it’s flawless. Every moment, in my opinion, is memorable, especially when I’m heading onto the field and hearing the iconic Roker yell. Many thoughts are running through your head.

For Rigg, scoring in his first championship was “surreal,” and he went on, “I remember every bit of it.” I could hear the cheers of every spectator as I scored, but then everything suddenly stopped, and I had the impression that I was alone.

“Towards the end, there’s a video of me giving my dad the tightest hug of my life. Both my converted Sunderland fan dad and I experienced something truly unique at that time.