Quite amazing that a team that was so detested in Newcastle still attracted 7,700 fans to a game ! How did that happen. Family and friends would only be 100 odd !
You do realise that lots of free tickets were given out. I remember my family got heaps of them in promotions in the mail, as well as other vouchers to McDonalds etc. We never went to any of the Mariners matches. And yes, they were very much hated by the majority of Novacastrians and Newcastle press (who were mostly pro-ARL).
No surprise the Mariners had the lowest crowd average of the 10 Super League teams - 5,413 - which was just over a third of what the Knights got that year in the ARL - 14,257 (2nd highest of all the ARL teams, to Parramatta)
Interesting stat: back in 1997, the Mariners were offering the Knights money to use their stadium, as well as completely renovate the whole ground (which would've cost $3 million). To think that the Eastern Grandstand cost nearly $30 million alone to build nearly 10 years later, it puts the monetary value into perspective. But as I said, the Mariners and Knights were competing against each other and the Knights were never going to allow the Mariners use of Marathon Stadium.
also shows why NRL vs SL WCC on even terms will never work. With the recent salary cap rises, the gap will widen, not narrow.
