Hunter Mariners

[Red&BlackBear]

Not about expansion. To keep in theme of former teams, lets talk about the mighty or not so Hunter Mariners. They were a product of the Superleague filth. I know most Newie fans detested their existence so let me apologise to you guys for the thread. They didnt have a terrible squad in 1997, I'm not sure if they won any away games actually. They reached the World Club Challenge final. There were talks of a merger with Gold Coast Chargers later for the 1998 season but that didnt come to fruition.

Do you own any merchandise? What's your memories of the Mariners? Did you attend any of their games? Discuss all things Hunter Mariners.


Link to South Queensland Crushers thread
http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=419667

 

[Moffo]

I remember the mariners getting accused of watering the ground before the game

Did they ever get done for it?

 

[Flapper]

I remember the bloke that tried to sue them for discrimination because he didn't get let in for free on Ladies day :lol:

 

[eozsmiles]

Had a couple of mates work with their juniors as fitness trainers and stuff. I suppose that was a good thing about the Mariners in that some juniors and even some junior coaches etc got some exposure to the "big time".

 

[carlosthedwarf]

I knew a few of their juniors, and went to a bunch of games because the tickets were cheap and or free. Absolute shithole of a stadium in the middle of nowhere though

 

[newman]

Did they only play one year in the comp?

 

[herbert henry1908]

Not about expansion. To keep in theme of former teams, lets talk about the mighty or not so Hunter Mariners. They were a product of the Superleague filth. I know most Newie fans detested their existence so let me apologise to you guys for the thread. They didnt have a terrible squad in 1997, I'm not sure if they won any away games actually. They reached the World Club Challenge final. There were talks of a merger with Gold Coast Chargers later for the 1998 season but that didnt come to fruition.

Do you own any merchandise? What's your memories of the Mariners? Did you attend any of their games? Discuss all things Hunter Mariners.


Link to South Queensland Crushers thread
http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/showthread.php?t=419667

I don't remember the talks of a merger , what were the details? Just a admin/player merge or were they proposing more?

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Didn't the Hunter Mariners play in a world club challenge against another Aussie team

 

[skeepe]

The place where Robert Finch got his start in rugby league administration. Absolute scum just for that atrocity.

 

[docbrown]

There were talks of a merger with Gold Coast Chargers later for the 1998 season but that didnt come to fruition.

Shame no one was really thinking about the big picture at the time.

There was a bit of bad blood between the Knights and Mariners and that might've spilled over into a solid Gold Coast Mariners vs Newcastle Knights rivalry, might've helped engage Northern NSW a bit better.

 

[carlosthedwarf]

There was a bit of bad blood between the Knights and Mariners and that might've spilled over into a solid Gold Coast Mariners vs Newcastle Knights rivalry, might've helped engage Northern NSW a bit better.

That's one thing that I will always remember, the amount of hatred Knights fans had for anyone involved in any way with the Mariners.

 

[Perth Red]

SL played 18 won 7 lost 11
Biggest crowd 7,700 lowest 2,190
Stadium topper capacity 11,000

 

[Noname36]

Can't remember a side in history that was more detested. Not sure if that was by everyone though or just Knights fans.

 

[Foreign Legion]

I thought they wanted to move the mariners to melbourne after the war

 

[Silent Knight]

I mainly remember that godawful Mariners ad on TV with that stupid song that went something along the lines of "Hunter Mariners we're the Mariners Hunter Mariners". The next thing you know that infuriating little garden gnome Noddy would pop up and say "get on down to a Mariners game and cheer us on to victory!"

There were a lot of things thrown at the TV that year I tell you.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I vaguely remember their offices being not far from Marathon and the plastic sign outside being smashed. Why News Ltd thought they needed a second Newcastle team is anyone's guess. Obviously they wanted the Knights in SL and when they signed with the ARL News probably thought they could get them back by muscling in in the market. Morons. I remember watching their first game. It was against the Dogs at Sandgate. It was only the second game of SL after the Friday night Auckland/Brisbane game and it was the last SL game I watched. After watching the first two I knew the whole thing sucked and wasn't worth worrying about. I think the only other SL game I sort of watched after that was a test at the end of the year at Wembley when the SL Australia team beat GB. And I don't think I even watched all of that. The Mariners typified how shit SL was and how stupid News Ltd was. People were as sorry to see them go then as they are to see News go now.

 

[Perth Red]

I thought they wanted to move the mariners to melbourne after the war

The storm were pretty much made up of reds and mariners players, coaches and Jnr's in their first year. There were 7 Reds players and 6 mariners players in that first squad.

 

[docbrown]

I vaguely remember their offices being not far from Marathon and the plastic sign outside being smashed. Why News Ltd thought they needed a second Newcastle team is anyone's guess.

Think someone actually set their office on fire at one point.

I guess the idea from News was win Newcastle, ARL shrinks back to a Sydney comp, win the war etc...

Like with everything else they planned it was never going to happen.

 

[Pete Cash]

I was living in cessnock in 97 and one of my friends supported them just to annoy knights supporters.

 

[PARRA_FAN]

Didnt really see too many SL games, therefore barely saw a Mariners game.

I remember they beat the Broncos in one match probably at their home ground, and we saw future players like Scott Hill, Brett Kimmorely, Richard Swain and Robbie Ross, pretty much Storm players in the end.

Then they played the Broncs again in a "World Club Challenge" final.

Poor old Tony Iro, this was the first of a few clubs that got kicked out. Left to go to Adelaide a year later then went to Souths, then just retired altogether.

I think Willie Mason played U18s for the Mariners, not sure if anyone can confirm.

Also is their old home ground now currently The Gardens greyhound track?