Quote Originally Posted by stopper2 View Post
From the late 80's through the 90's to the mid 2000's yes with the popularity of the Knights, yes you could say Newy was a League town....not any more. Knights crowds have been declining for years and at grassroots level while Football grows year after year in all age groups, as mentioned in Tony Butterfield's column a few weeks back, League is reaching a crisis point with age groups between 11-13 down by as much as 20% and older age groups even worse!
I don't think the Knights will ever regain the popularity of their heyday when they drew crowds over 25k. The sporting landscape has changed.
We get the ownership right and have a Jets side pushing top four regularly, who knows how big football can become in this region.
I'm sorry i'm with Hawk on this one. I think, whilst the stats are probably true, you're missing what we mean by "league town". I still see Knights jerseys/stickers/flags etc everywhere in Newcastle/the Hunter. I do see jets gear around but not at the same level.

Don't get me wrong, we have taken massive strides in closing the gap but the families spending $200-400 a year on memberships and $300 on gear are still more inclined to go to the league. If we start winning championships and competing in the ACL then we can start to attract them over.

That's where the real money is, 2 adults and 3 kids all with memberships/jerseys/flags. Not us blokes drinking beer and complaining about every little detail. We will travel to the away games and create the atmosphere but we need the cash cows to start breeding the next generation of Jets fans.