Why I Fell in Love with The Knights

Wagyu Patty

Wagyu Patty

Timana Tahu
Not sure if there's a similar thread on here already or not. But thought in the spirit of Grand Final week it would be cool to see the stories of some of our fans and how we got here to hopefully celebrate a GF win!

I come from a family that was already footy mad so I was destined to pick a club at some point, my brothers were already Knights fans (although my older brother did have a love affair with Canberra for a little while there)

Watching games didn't really start for me until around 2007/08, following my track record of supporting great teams once they've stopped being great (I also support Manchester United, but started watching regularly in the 2014/15 season after SAF retired).

I remember watching what would be considered a team of plonkers these days beat Penrith in the final round of the 2009 season with Kurt Gidley the man of the match, he was my favourite player for a long time after that weekend. I remember crying over a field goal loss to the Tigers in 2011, but still coming back next week to watch again.

But my most fond memory of the club as someone who missed the golden days of 97' and 01' was watching us break that horror losing streak against the Titans, and finally regain a sense that there was light to be shone upon this club again.

I didn't get to see Albert down the blind other than on replay, or Newcastle dominating Parra only to nearly throw it away in the second half. I got to see teams that might scrape through if they got lucky, and I got picked on for supporting a crap footy team but that didn't stop me.

Now that we're finally here, I'm loving every second of the support, the town coloured Red & Blue and the belief in the team being restored.

Thanks for reading my wall of text - what made you love the Newcastle Knights?
 
I grew up in the shire where everyone at school were sharks fans. I was 8 when 97 rolled in and my family hated the super league so we only watched the ARL games and I fell in love with the Johns boys.
I never got the significance of the 97 grand final at the time. My uncle and cousins were from Stockton and had come down for the weekend and were very excited about it all. I decided after that I was a Knights fan.
2001 rolled around and I remember watching that game and having a better idea of what was going on.
I started heading up the freeway for games in 2006 and went with my cousins. Was at the Manly final and just remember thinking how goods this.
Had some rough years after that.
2013 was awesome and the first year I became a member and l felt we were going to finally see another GF only for 2014 to happen and the flow on years from that. Moved up to Lake Macquarie in 2015 and didn’t miss many games until Covid.
I was working away and was at the pub with all the work mates for the Titans win you mention. I didn’t buy a drink that night after the win.

Been riding the highs and lows for so long now. I feel if we pull off a win on Sunday night I may lose control of my emotions. I can’t bloody wait. So proud of this club. Up The Knights!
 
My family are mad Rabbitohs fans & tried to indoctrinate me into their immoral cult, but the lure of the team playing an hour away from where I lived with Joey Johns in it was too strong, especially when there's the psychic imprint of winning the 97 grand final in the fashion they did.

Funnily enough my dad wasn't pissy at me for wanting to be a Knights fan when Souths got kicked out, in fact he told me that the Rabbitohs were never coming back and he was actually glad that I at least still had a team. But then when Souths got back in I was a traitor again lol.
 
For me it was 1992, the first time I saw league on tv! Knights were making their run for the top five and had plenty of televised games ... the one I remember vividly was Round 22 vs Canberra, with Mark Sargent scoring a hattrick to seal our place in the finals. But I had seen quite a few games before then.

Of course there was the question I'm sure a lot of NZ fans faced in 1995 when the Warriors came in - would I move over to an NZ team? 1994 wasn't the Knights best year too ... but we won 9 in a row to start 1995, so that kept me on board, plus I already had a jersey and all that, would have taken another few birthdays and Christmas's to fully make a switch. 😂

The Superleague split was a pain in NZ, we didn't have pay tv at that time, and all coverage of the ARL competition died. So that year I was reduced to listening on the radio (we could still tune in to the ABC coverage with Pete Wilkins and the Wok thank goodness) and if a game was televised and not on radio, I'd tune into the scrambled Sky tv signal and listen to the 9 commentary. After watching enough I could sort of do a magic eye thing and tell which way the camera was pointing, at least haha. I remember the final vs Norths with us leading by 1, when Vossy yelled out something like "they don't need to score, but they will anyway" ... for a split second I was losing my mind thinking "which team has scored, Norths only needed two points!"

But as luck would have it, the Grand Final weekend was the first week of the school break, and we were going to Auckland for a holiday, stopping overnight in Taupo so Mum didn't have to drive the whole way in one day. I was in early on the planning, telling her to make sure we were staying at a motel with Sky, and we'd have to leave early to reach there before kick-off and all this. So in the end the Grand Final was the only time I'd seen the Knights play all year ... guys like Matt Gidley, Albert, Hughes, MacDougall who didn't really play much in 1996, if at all ... I barely knew what they looked like! Thank goodness for Rugby League Week keeping me in the loop with a lot of what was going on, I read that cover to cover in those days.

So it was a somewhat surreal experience watching that game, but almost 30 years later I can still put myself back in that motel room as a 16 yo and remember every single thing about it.

I think we've all been through so much pain and disappointment since then, I just pray to god we come out on top after 80 minutes on Sunday, I don't think any fanbase on the planet deserves it more. 🥲
 
I was born into it. Both parents were manly fans until the knights came in, i was born in 1988, was going every week from one years old. As i grew up big friday night games were always an early exit from school to lineup to get in and get "our" spot on the hill. away trips to sydney with dad nearly every 2nd week. I have vivd Memories of sitting on random park benches at cambletown and the old stands at north sydney and liechardt. I remember being in awe of the canberra raiders and brisbane broncos when they came to town and generally smoked us in the early 90s. I cried and cried until my parents finally cracked and aloud me to go with them to the 97 grand final😅.
As i got older it turned into being members and to this day its something me and my father still share together. i never fell in love because it was all i ever knew❤️💙
 
I grew up with a famous Rugby League name in Michael O'Connor, so I went for Saints as a little kid. He joined Manly in 1987 and I couldn't quite bring myself to follow him across. Once the Knights were announced to be joining the Sydney comp I was in limbo waiting for them to enter. I was 13 when they entered tge comp. I look on that now as the perfect age because I remember everything from those early years.

My dad was always going to be a fan but decided to wait a couple of weeks "for the crowds to die down" to go to a game. So i didn't go to the herald challenge match or the round 1 clash with Parra. I remember listening to our first win, round 2 against the magpies, on a radio in the back yard. I begged dad to go to round 3 against the Tigers. We beat them, tackling the likes of Siro, Roach and Elias to a standstill. I've been rusted on ever since.

There's something special about the build in those first few years. Not a lot of class in that 88 side, but eff me, they played with so much ticker. They tackled hard and they hurt blokes. With hindsight, to have Marc Glanville and Tony Butterfield on our books from 88 was great recruiting. Those two set the tone right from the start. Harrogan was therr also but very young. Hagan, Sargent and Wurth were added the next year to start to layer some class on the effort. I still think to finish 7th in season 2 was a monumental effort.
 
Being a more “ senior “ type , I was watching rugby league and playing juniors in the mid 70s. There were no Knights in those days, but Newcastle had probably the second strongest competition in Australia, behind Sydney ( now the NRL ). So I grew up playing juniors for Wests, and supporting the Cessnock Goannas.
One day someone gave me a sticker with an eel on it. So I became a Parramatta supporter in 1976, and after several GF losses in 76 and 77, was lucky enough to enjoy the glory years of the club in the 80s with 4 premierships. Despite the success I was desperate for Newcastle to have a team in the big league, so 1988 was a dream come true.
It’s been a great ride so far, with plenty of highs ( 97 and 2001) and lows ( Alex McKinnon , wooden spoons, ) . I was lucky enough to be at both previous grand finals, but won’t be at the ground this time. I feel like it’s time for the younger fans to have their time to experience the feeling. I will be loudly cheering the team on however, and hope to get to a few fan days in the next couple of weeks.
In 97 I thought there was no way we could beat Manly, and same in 2001 with Parra. We were huge underdogs both times, and I didn’t expect to win either of them. But there was definitely a feeling of “ we CAN do this” around, like a groundswell of belief that transcends any pessimism.
I definitely feel the same this time
We’re going to win this !
 
My Dad’s side of the family are all Dragons supporters, but I never really felt any affinity with them. I had a bit of a soft spot for the Bunnies, but I was ( & still am 🤣) a mad horse girl so that influenced my decision. In saying that, I couldn’t possibly support the Broncos… but Knights ride horses AND slay dragons, so that seemed like a pretty solid argument as a kid to become a Knights fan 😂⚔️🐴
Add in the Chief being one of my absolute favourites and apparently it was fate.

I asked for my first Knights jersey when I was 8 years old and haven’t looked back since. 🔴🔵

Then I somehow managed to marry a Newcastle boy whose whole family are all mad Knights supporters too and hubby is even related to one of the club greats.

Safe to say, it all worked out pretty well 💪⚔️🔴🔵
 
Played Flegg in 88 and 89, signing as a junior in late 86 after a chat with David Waite. Being there the first couple of years meant my parents bought Foundation memberships and some grandstand seats. Because of life and injury, my playing days didn't last much longer but Mum gave her seat up to me, so Dad and I went to all grades through the 90's and early 2000's until a move up the coast put pay to that.

My love for the club has never waned and I've always gotten to a number of home games each year but now retirement is creeping closer I find myself enjoying away games. The chance to visit places like Christchurch, Townsville, Melbourne etc, plus getting to experience different fan bases has been excellent, and I've discovered there is nothing like walking out of an opposition stadium as a victor (thanks Brisbane).
 
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Haven’t lived in newy in nearly 30 years but still support all Newcastle teams. Have supported the Knights since the start, my best mate’s late father was an og sponsor and used to take us along to games and meet players at post match functions. Went to 97 and 01 gfs, bummed I couldn’t get tickets this time but will shout at my tv from Brisbane. Win or lose proud to support them.
 
When I was a teenager, rugby league in Newcastle was a backwater and the Sydney competition was the big league.

It was a great day when it was announced that Newcastle would have a team in the 1988 NSWRL competition and I have been a Knights tragic since then. The premiership wins in 97 and 01 were two of the greatest days of my life. I feel that the Knights play for my family as well as my home town.

Many, many things have happened in my in the last 25 years. I’m now 62, last year I said I would be happy if the Knights won just won more premiership before I died. Thankfully now I really don’t have any idea how many premierships the Knights will win before I die, what a difference a year can make!
 
Newcastle born and bred. Mum worked at North Newcastle Rugby League club and played touch footy, so I would constantly be dragged to both as a small child (back when it was ok to sit a 4 or 5-year-old at the end of the bar with a packet of chips and a can of coke while all the old locals chain smoked and smashed down schooners).

Mum was a mad Penrith fan, but I felt like I needed to find my own team. I followed Cronulla back then (yuck, I know) because of players like ET and Mark McGaw, but I dropped them like a bad habit when the Knights came in 1988, and have never wavered since. I was a 16-year-old in 1997 and run amok in town with mates when the team got home. I was lucky enough to go to 2001 as well.

I'm so excited about our prospects over the coming years - it really feels like we've come out of that dark tunnel and are ready to retake our place at the top of the tree 💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️
 
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Dad got sick of taking me to basketball games, he sat me down to watch origin in the mid 90s. Harrigan. Thats why i support the knights. Not the fact that my last names knights, nor my pop moving to central cost and swapping to the knights.

I dont remember 97 honestly. At a house party in 01 and a watched the first half, then got drunk and saw bits of the second.

Been an avid supporter since, was at the 23 steak storm game, that was my favourite until last week
 
Billy said:
Years from now this question would get a lot of replies that talk about the attacking style and finals run of the famous 2026 Knights.
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Iv tried to get my son (10yr) invested in the knights for years, he plays footy and loves it but had no real interest to watch the game. The turning point for him was having manulelua respond to him and thank him for messaging him asking about his elbow online after he saw a reel of him dislocating it. Since then he literally hasnt missed a game and is even talking about how he wants to watch samoa play in the world cup. A simple 2 second reply to a kid has potentially created a lifelong fan.
 
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