A lot has been said about the Newcastle United trip to Australia.
Here at The Mag we have issued an open invitation to those who were actually there, to give their feedback.
The Newcastle United fans who paid their hard earned money to go to the Melbourne friendlies and in most cases travelled great distances, either internally within Australia, or from the likes of New Zealand.
Thank to our friends at NUFC Perth who took up the challenge. There has been a lot of criticism of the recent Newcastle United matches in Australia.
Some of it may be justified but we’d like to give a little local perspective.
First, let’s address the mistakes that were made.
The second game was poor.
It’s probably fair to say that those of us that went to both games didn’t care because we were surprised at the strength of the squad in the first game.
However, a lot of people managed to make a long weekend of it and fly or drive in for the Friday night with high hopes. For example, Dean, one of the main organisers of our Perth group, managed to get a babysitter and flew himself and the wife on a 7,000 kilometre round trip to see a bunch of relative unknowns get humiliated. This wasn’t enough to spoil his weekend, he would have preferred to be at the Spurs game but was happy just to see the mags in Australia, but it’s doubtful we attracted any new fans with such a hopeless display. The club and Eddie Howe probably have to take the blame for this but I’m sure they would do it differently if they had the chance.
If we can put that game aside though, from our perspective the week was a resounding success. This was largely down to the excellent work of the “Aussie Mags” group based in Melbourne. Led by Jem Sullivan, the group links all of the supporters groups in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and everywhere else down under. They arranged meets in pubs close to the grounds for all of the groups to catch up and the response was better than anyone could have predicted.
An hour before kick off on both days, the pubs were packed out, familiar chants echoing throughout, people singing on tables and five deep at the bar. It took a lot of people back to being in the strawberry at 2:45 on a Saturday, and gave the Australians who haven’t made the trip over yet, a taste of what it’s like on a match day.
For most, the Spurs game was the main draw. It was the homecoming of Ange Postecoglou and was being played at the iconic MCG stadium. The city still seemed to be overrun with Newcastle fans though (admittedly, this was probably down to the area where we were staying). The Sherlock Holmes pub, which is the regular meeting place of the Melbourne supporters group, had been full of Newcastle fans all week that had taken time off to soak it all in.
The day before the game the club had arranged a fan engagement meet up which seemed to be a success. We couldn’t make it as we flew in on match day but those who went, said the club genuinely seemed interested in what the international fan base had to say. On the day of the game, Aussie Mags had arranged for three pubs to host us but it seemed most headed to the Precinct bar and it was buzzing, with Newcastle flags from all over Australia draped around the bar. “Have you ever seen a Mackem in Milan”, “Up the premier league we go”, “Geordies” to the theme of Hey Jude, it genuinely was like being back on the Bigg Market.
Moving on to the game. It wasn’t great!
There was a sense that everyone on the pitch was just going through the motions and trying not to get injured. It didn’t matter though. The club had genuinely brought out a good squad for the Australian fans to watch and at the end of the game it was great to see the players come over and interact with the fans. They stayed longer than they had to and really seemed to appreciate the support.
…plus we could drink alcohol in the stands. The following day was a recovery day for most, with some flying home and some going to a talk in with Shola Ameobi (we weren’t there but apparently it was a great night) plus there was a few photos circulating of fans with players from the night before in the local bars. On the Friday, most descended onto Docklands in Melbourne where the day’s meet up had been arranged and it was packed again, this time with a great venue on the river. It was very much more of the same with everyone just happy to be there and taking in the atmosphere. Nothing more needs to be said about the game afterwards.
There has been a lot of talk about whether this was a wasted trip, with Amanda Staveley having to put out a comment to address it.
To be fair, this is a legitimate question, but speaking as someone who was there, it really touched on something.
The games weren’t great but ask anyone if they’d go again if it happens next year, they would all say yes. This was a genuinely great experience for a truly dedicated set of fans. There is a market here.
Financially, it make sense to the club of course, but it means so much more than that for those that were there. It maintains that feeling of belonging, even though you live 10,000 miles away.
