Crowds

[MrCelery]

13,160 at Newcastle
11,113 at Perth

Both very disappointing.

[Auburn Mariner]

Celery,

I agree for Perth, disagree for Newey. I reckon that's a good start for the Paper Aeroplanes.

Hope the Meow and Bling get good crowds to round off week 1.

[Smitta]

Meow have already sold 14,000 so they're fine...

[marinerbhoy]

the jets crowd was not to bad actually. if they stay about that then that will be very acceptable for the first season. but very dissapointing in perth

[Smitta]

It seems to me as though Nick Tana has lost a little interest...

He was one of the major players in getting the reform going and now it's here they dont seem to have been able to market themsleves or put together the same quality of team they had in the old NSL. I think he has got his nose out of joint somewhere along the line with the FFA...

[Egan]

No hype in Perth, our new team is the Force...not a soccer team.

We had the hype of a new team in 1996.

Perths crowds will not drop, but you will find other sides will...Newcastle should get 8-10,000 per game

Our crowd was very poor, but should we perform better the crowds should improve.

[Auburn Mariner]

Egan,

Yeah, I was surprised at how many empty seats there were. The Shed sounded really loud, though.

Are the Force playing at Subi or at Members Equity?

[marinermick]

respect to the shed - very loud

one question - if crawley gets called a fat bastard what will beltrame get?

[Fish]

pies thrown at him!

[Rowdy]

smitta said:

Meow have already sold 14,000 so they're fine...

I have no doubt that giving away a brand new Hyundai Getz is in 'full-effect' here.

I've said prev. in another thread, that I think we should do the same. Who cares about people saying,'copy-cat, Qld thought of it 1st'. The car would look great down in the corner in front of the palms. Draw the winner at half-time, it would be un-real to watch someone run down from the stands and onto the field to collect the keys.

Booths Motors are our local Hyundai dealer, they were exremely generous in the cost of a new Getz for our major fundraiser at CCUFC this year. We sold tickets at $2 each.

If the Mariners were to do a deal with Booths and get cars for every home game (10 games)at around $10keach(think they sell for around 13-14K) and get a crowd of 15,000 (which is what the Roar have already pre-sold) this works out at $0.75 or less from the cost of every ticket sold.

A crowd of 20-22,00 would work out at $0.50 per person attending the game.

The Mariners should at least try it once. Keep an eye on the Roar crowd figures, if they're in excess of the 12-13,000 for each of their home games I think that it would be fair to say that the 'new car' would have to be a consideration. Especially when the Roar also have 2 premiership winning teams from other codes in the Broncos and the Lions to compete against.

[omni]

Who ate all the pies?

Beltrame did!

Newcastle with that big a crowd and only counting everyone once this time!

Now where is that Squadron photo that we all know & love?

[MrCelery]

auburnmariner said:

Celery,

I agree for Perth, disagree for Newey. I reckon that's a good start for the Paper Aeroplanes.

Hope the Meow and Bling get good crowds to round off week 1.

Can't agree AM.

Word from the inside was the crowd was much less than reported. Estimated about 8,000. Also, over 5,000 free tickets were allocated.

[MrCelery]

omni said:

Who ate all the pies?

Beltrame did!

Newcastle with that big a crowd and only counting everyone once this time!

Now where is that Squadron photo that we all know & love?

There was a small picture in the Telegraph of the Squadron - looked good - all waving some type of plastic blowup biff stick.

[omni]

The biff stick was at the Perth game too, so I imagine all A-League clubs will have them.

Did they practice that wave at their training session this week?

[James Holland - legend.]

This isn't the best photo of The Squadron, coz it cuts out the majority of the people, but it still gives you an idea of what The Squadron is.

There was approx 200 people in The Squadron i'd say. Comparing it to The Marinators in the WCC, i'd say our group was just a tad smaller.

[Rowdy]

Their golden flags stood out and looked good on the telly, nice and big.
I think bright yellow flags with black Marinator logo on them would look just as impressive. How much do we have in the kitty?
Don't know about the blow-up biffo sticks, as Kev calls them.
Can envision some funny hand and bodily gestures with them if used in bay 16.

[James Holland - legend.]

Those blow up things caused a lot of mess. People just busted them and left them on the hill.

However I have been to 2 junior soccer games this morning and saw a number of kids still running around with them, so the kiddies like them.

[omni]

The Squadron need to start wearing the pretentious gold of Uknighted, all of you have to buy jerseys (because buggered if anything else comes in that colour). How was your practice session this week

[Auburn Mariner]

Celery, I take your point. I suppose the proof will come with their season average crowds. I hope for the League's sake they average 10k. I'll bet that they are regretting pissing off all of those ex-Breakers fans, who are so important to us Marinators.

[MrCelery]

auburnmariner said:

Celery, I take your point. I suppose the proof will come with their season average crowds. I hope for the League's sake they average 10k. I'll bet that they are regretting pissing off all of those ex-Breakers fans, who are so important to us Marinators.

If hey get an average of 10k they're only just bettering the crowds from the old Breakers days. Only an average of about 15k would I regard it as a success. Reports from people at their match suggest they'll have a much lower crowd next home game. Ex-Newcastle KB United goalkeeper was in the press recently stating he hoped that the Rowdies would turn up in droves to Jets matches. Bad luck for him, as all Rowdies that I know of would never go to a United game and are firmly behind the Mariners. Jets need a new breed of vocal supporters. It seems with their 'Squadron' they have made a start, with a few dedicated people trying to re-create the atmosphere. They have an uphill battle though, in such a stadium. Trying to maintain strong Rugby League links is also a poor strategy in my opinion, and turns away true football supporters.