Wasn't that 2000 game in 1997 the one that was moved from Brookvale due to the state of the ground to South Curl Curl Oval or some other tiny ground?
It was still played at Brookvale Oval. The crowd was 2,506 and it finished 26 all
Wasn't that 2000 game in 1997 the one that was moved from Brookvale due to the state of the ground to South Curl Curl Oval or some other tiny ground?
Irrespective of SL and how crap the teams were going, still can't believe a Parra- Penrith derby match got under 4k!
The official yearbook of the ARL for that year by David Middleton states the crowd for that match as 2,753.
SL had no impact in a sub standard competition in 96.
I actually worked for the catering company that did the chargers games and ended up doing most of the season in the members bar. Whilst I don't specifically remember the game against Penrith, the crowds figures were a known source of entertainment amongst the members, to the point that a couple of members always had a bet at the bar before each match on how many thousand they would be overstated.
Anyone who went to Carrara in the 90's (and even today) knows it is impossible to give an even half accurate count given the number of holes in the fence, the fact that it is an oval stuck in the middle of a sheep station paddock and that one border is a river (although I cant believe that someone would resort to swimming the nerang river to watch the chargers play!)
Some other great memories of the chargers era:
- When they were sponsored by Toys R Us the group of animals at the time used to walk around the perimeter hi-fiving the kids. One night though the giraffe leaned over a little too far and had his head pulled off by some of the 'older' kids. Nearly resulted in a mass all-in between a pack of mascots and a bunch of 10 year olds to get the head back.
- How ridiculously skinny Captain Charger was in real life. His 'change room' was the dry store for the members bar and I remember him being this really skinny guy who turned up with 2 garbage bags of padding to put on for each game - ahhh the things you do for money!
- Perhaps the best one - not sure if it was 96 or 97 but in a match against Parra there was somebody half famous being driven around in a golf cart to wave at the crowd. At some stage they stopped to say hello or sign an autograph. At this point a guy jumped the fence, stole the cart and proceeded to begin the best Benny Hill tribute chase with the police and security guards. The match stopped as the guy and his chasers crossed the field and then he drove to the back fence, jumped over and took off in the direction of the river. On a saturday night at Carrara it is almost impossible to see anything after the lights at the back of the ground so I can only assume he got away and probably doubled back to rejoin his mates. funniest thing I ever saw there!
Note - I am not sure if this was during first or reserve grade that the benny hill incident happened - it was a long time ago.........
Far right $500,000 a year Scott Fulton was the x factor
Definitely an estimate - I just retrieved the Sunday Mail match report from 16/06/1996 by Steve Ricketts, which quotes:I might change it to that, as 1500 - which would've come from the RLW - does appear as an estimate.
So 2,753 sounds like a bit of a stretch ...It was yet another wet night for the Chargers, whose fans failed to show up to lend their support for one of the success stories of the league season. Admittedly there is little cover at Carrara, but the Chargers officials must wonder what they have to do to draw a decent crowd. No crowd figure was given lasts night, but it must have been barely 1000.
flashback to 96 ... man those purple dots are still giving me hell.
You've got to be kidding. Plenty of people 'got their weekends back' that year. The SL garbage had escalated and the entire sport had a bad taste about it.
When you consider the damage done it is amazing that the sport has come back to where it has. League is resilient.
Does "people got their weekends back" mean fans? I'm assuming it does, and I ask how that has anything to do with the ON FIELD sub standard performances?
The reason the performances were so poor, was because we had 20 teams, which was about 5 too many.
20 teams was fine?
Ok.
- Perhaps the best one - not sure if it was 96 or 97 but in a match against Parra there was somebody half famous being driven around in a golf cart to wave at the crowd. At some stage they stopped to say hello or sign an autograph. At this point a guy jumped the fence, stole the cart and proceeded to begin the best Benny Hill tribute chase with the police and security guards. The match stopped as the guy and his chasers crossed the field and then he drove to the back fence, jumped over and took off in the direction of the river. On a saturday night at Carrara it is almost impossible to see anything after the lights at the back of the ground so I can only assume he got away and probably doubled back to rejoin his mates. funniest thing I ever saw there!
Note - I am not sure if this was during first or reserve grade that the benny hill incident happened - it was a long time ago.........
- Perhaps the best one - not sure if it was 96 or 97 but in a match against Parra there was somebody half famous being driven around in a golf cart to wave at the crowd. At some stage they stopped to say hello or sign an autograph. At this point a guy jumped the fence, stole the cart and proceeded to begin the best Benny Hill tribute chase with the police and security guards. The match stopped as the guy and his chasers crossed the field and then he drove to the back fence, jumped over and took off in the direction of the river. On a saturday night at Carrara it is almost impossible to see anything after the lights at the back of the ground so I can only assume he got away and probably doubled back to rejoin his mates. funniest thing I ever saw there!
Note - I am not sure if this was during first or reserve grade that the benny hill incident happened - it was a long time ago.........