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Thriving on the Tyne
By BrianC May 23 2004
In this piece we look at Newcastle. They have established themselves as a rugby force in previously hostile territory. What we can only surmise is how much of their growth can be attributed to one man.
Newcastle

Newcastle

Thriving on the Tyne

For a full explanation of the source of and rationale behind these figures please refer to The Figures Explained.

Season Average Att. Position(Out of) Weighted Position Final ZP Position Percentage Growth
97-98 5023 8th(10) 8th 1st(12)  
98-99 3647 10th(10) 9th 8th(14) -27.4%
99-00 3287 9th(10) 9th 9th(12) -9.9%
00-01 4233 9th(11) 9th 6th(12) 28.8%
01-02 5470 9th(11) 9th 6th(12) 29.2%
02-03 5858 9th(11) 10th 10th(12) 7.1%
03-04 7571 7th(12) 10th 9th(12) 29.2%
         
Variation '97 - '04 (1997/8=100%) 151% 4th(12)      
Crowd Growth Absolute 2548 6th(12)      
Average Growth 9.5% 4th(12)      

2003/4 Season

2-May-04 ZP  Newcastle vs London Irish 15 - 16 Kingston Park 8723
4-Apr-04 ZP  Newcastle vs Leicester 25 - 25 Kingston Park 10000
15-Feb-04  ZP  Newcastle vs Leeds Tykes  25 - 28  Kingston Park 7503
4-Jan-04  ZP  Newcastle vs Harlequins  25 - 29  Kingston Park 7975
28-Dec-03  ZP  Newcastle vs Northampton  23 - 19  Kingston Park 10000
29-Nov-03  ZP  Newcastle vs Wasps  20 - 23  Kingston Park 10001
9-Nov-03  ZP  Newcastle vs Rotherham  56 - 10  Kingston Park 5452
25-Oct-03  ZP  Newcastle vs Bath  19 - 17  Kingston Park 4885
5-Oct-03  ZP  Newcastle vs Gloucester  42 - 22  Kingston Park 6102
21-Sep-03  ZP  Newcastle vs Sale  9 - 8  Kingston Park 5628
14-Sep-03  ZP  Newcastle vs Saracens  20 - 25  Kingston Park 7012

Rugby on Tyneside has, from an admittedly shaky start, established itself as a major sport. Full credit here must go to those who believed this could be achieved in previously hostile territory and who put their efforts and money into making this happen.   

Newcastle have now redeveloped Kingston Park into one of the most pleasant rugby venues in the country. Its capacity, currently 10,000, is adequate at present. Should there be a need to develop the stadium there appears to be little to hold them back, finances aside, given their edge of town location, proximity to transport links, etc.

They have witnessed huge crowd growth this decade. The reason they do not top any of the comparative indices is that they saw significant drops in crowd numbers during the late nineties. In Johnny Wilkinson they have arguably the most bankable star in world rugby. How much of this growth in numbers is down to this one player is open to conjecture.

No other club demonstrates the 'World Cup Factor'  more strikingly than Newcastle. The two home games after the competition were capacity crowds. There can be little doubt that Johnny Wilkinson, whilst he didn’t play in either of those games, played a significant factor in drawing the crowds in.

Projecting Newcastle's growth forward, this is what we see.

Season  -  Attendance

04/05 8291
05/06 9080
06/07 9944
07/08 10890
08/09 11926

 

Next season Newcastle are significantly increasing ticket prices. Top price tickets go up to £40 which must place them amongst the most expensive in the ZP. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on crowd numbers. One can only hope that they are not killing the proverbial goose.

The next article in this series will look at another club with many striking similarites to this one, Sale.

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