Interesting you mention those games, even though SL and ARL made peace there were still a lot of scars healing and the game didnt really care too much for the International game.
Those two games barely got any publicity. The game in 1998 was raining heavy and was very rare back then that a home test match was played after the season. As for 1999 there was supposedly a bit of hype about the Poms touring for the first time in 7 years but that was overshadowed by the future of RL clubs. I'm pretty sure that week, Souths were kicked out of the comp which left a lot of people p1ssed off about the game. In fact I think the Kangaroos Vs the Rest of the World in 97 wouldve been a bigger crowd than the GB game.
You're right about the International crowds since 2003. There's hardly been a poor crowd, although we hoped they got more for the WC final in 17, the final in 08 wouldve been an amazing atmosphere.
Yep, I just had a look and you're correct.
That 1997 test match at Suncorp got a larger crowd (14,927) than the Australia vs Great Britain 1999 test (12,511), which is quite phenomenal given that players who signed for the NZRL and RFL* were ruled ineligible for selection in the Rest of the World side.
*Two points of interest regarding that 1997 mid-year test:
1) Jason Robinson was selected in the Rest of the World side because although he was playing for Wigan in the ESL at the time, he had signed an ARL contract in 1995 to join South Sydney in 1998. However, Robinson backflipped not long after the Rest of the World test match, chose to stay with Wigan, and then went on to play for Great Britain in the Super League Ashes series later that year.
2) Also interesting that Wigan allowed Robinson to travel approx. 17,000km across the other side of the world during the middle of the season to play in that test match at Suncorp (hence missing the Rd 17 ESL match vs Paris St Germain, which Wigan lost 30-28), before flying all the way back to play for Wigan the following weekend. That's something you would never see today. Completely unimaginable to think of someone like Trbojevic, Moses, Ponga et al missing their club's upcoming NRL match to travel to England and fill in for a team in the ESL that weekend, before returning back to Australia to play in the NRL the following round.