I read up in the SMH (telling us stuff we already know) that the North Sydney move would be more a common occurrence for CCM if the facilities at North Sydney Oval been more up to date.

North Sydney Oval is fairly run down at the moment.

I reckon if CCM plays games at North Sydney, there would be more Friday Night matches featuring CCM

ACL Draw:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOgXKO9Kj58

ccmariners.com.au Mariners inspire generation next

Friday, 17 January 2014 9:00 AM

John Hutchinson. Trent Sainsbury. Matt Simon.

They’re three names Central Coast Mariners supporters love.

Now the trio will be helping inspire the next generation of Mariners players in an ad campaign run by Football NSW.

On Wednesday, Central Coast skipper Hutchinson was joined by Sainsbury and Simon to film content for Football NSW’s upcoming promotion to inspire kids on the Coast to sign up at a local Club to play the beautiful game.

Keep an eye out for the campaign in local media and on www.FOOTBALLNSW.com.au.

http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/centralcoastmariners/news-display/Mariners-inspire-generation-next/83404?

Hi CCM fans

I have a question for you guys. There's nothing sinister behind it, I'm just really interested.

So obviously the Central Coast did not have a NSL team. Is there a common trend/theme as to who Central Coast fans followed back in the NSL? Was it a divide of some Northern Spirit fans, some Breakers/United fans, some too young to know what the NSL is, or some not knowing the existence of football before that Uruguay game?

Who would you say you guys here, as well as the people around you in the Mariners community, followed back in the day? A rough idea of percentages etc?

When I was a growing lad we supported Newcastle and aimed to play there if we could. Partly this was because the Central Coast Rep teams used to play in Sydney (still do) and the NSL teams all had junior teams that were our rivals. We only ever played against Newcastle during the state titles when we stop being part of the Sydney football scene and became a district in the Northern NSW football area. One long weekend and we were back to facing the Sydney guys. Occasionally those of us with talent would trial for Newcastle before going back to our junior clubs. A lot of talent never played for the senior CC state-league team because it was too much investment for players at the amateur level when trying to juggle job and/or studies but I suppose that is the case everywhere.
As for percentages, I can't recall anyone supporting any other team than a Newcastle one, but I pre-date Northern Spirit by a fair bit. And of course everyone had an English team and a German team (the German football was the only regular full-game football broadcast back then on Sunday mornings if I recall correctly).


Edited by Angus: 21/1/2014 09:59:57 AM

Never really supported the NSL or football before the A-Leaugue. I was a rugby league man, as was the entire Central Coast really...

Once the Mariners were announced way back when, I thought it was awesome that the Coast would have it's own professional sports team, so I jumped on board :)

+1

When growing up say 8 yo, followed KB United, then later followed the Breakers but we live at the northern end of the coast so even now it takes me say 35 min to get to Bluetongue and to Hunter Stadium would take me say 50 min but when I was playing I played one year for Central Coast in u/16 and all the opposition was in Sydney.

What year did you play in the U16s?

Grew up in Forster, but always supported Newcastle ( KB, Breakers, united).

On another note, 10 days left in transfer market Mossy. Do u actually know what you are supposed to be doing?

As an immigrant and additionally a relative late-comer to the coast, I have no real allegiance to the pre-A-league setup but, from talking to the people around me at game etc... My impression is that those that followed on from the NSL are split between KB and Northern Spirit fans, my impression is that the KB fans make up the larger group, through the simple logistics of what Angus already mentioned - that is, northern ends of the coast tended towards KB where the Spirit fans sit more around the Northern end of Sydney... My impression is something like 30% KB, 20% Spirit with the majority of the rest being along the lines of Bowden - having joined up in part because of the novelty of having a local, professional team etc. etc...

It's an interesting question I think actually, as mentioned, I have little ties to the NSL - so I don't know much about it, but I gather that there are quite a few of the former KB supporters, even up your way, who refuse to follow the Jets because of some slight - perceived or real - around the creation of the new teams?

Edited by nebakke: 21-1-2014 09:36:49

Ian Hogg was trialling with us last week and apparently has just signed, but I agree there's not a lot happening at the moment.....

For me, I grew up in Western Sydney and always followed Marconi, but a lot of CCM fans I've talked to have either been converted league or Newcastle fans with a healthy smattering of Northern Spirit. A lot of Blacktown City followers as well

Most/all Jerks fans are either former KB/Breakers/United fans or didn't follow football pre-HAL.

There seemed to be a contingent of former-Newcastle fans who, when CCM were created, jumped ship solely because of the man Con Constantine - even if they did or still live in Lake Mac/Hunter region (i think paging Mr Celery & some of his ex-Rowdies mates?).

I live in south-west Lake Macquarie, and it's interesting to see who the locals support and why. Most support the Jerks because they were former Newcastle fans, or because it's their regions team (basically if you have a 49 number you're in Newcastle territory, 43 you're in the Coast, so roughly it's Morisset golf course is the cutoff). Some chose to follow CCM to go with the "underdog" or "little guy" tag. ANd others just hated Con so didn't want to follow him. But I'd say at least 3/4 of my general area are Newcastle fans as opposed to Coast fans.

I think Nebbake is on the money with his percentages. All my mates that follow CCM were either brought up on rugby league (like myself) or are Brits that have moved to the coast.

Also as PV mentioned there used to be a lot of animosity towards Con on the CCM forums in the early days so I think he was a very divisive figure up the northern end.

Angus-I am thinking about 1983-1984 from memory as I can't remember if I was younger(turning 15) because they had the 12s, 14s, 16s, 18s etc but training was at East Gosford oval and at Killarney Vale Oval

Edited by 3upfront: 24/1/2014 07:10:03 AM

Angus-also the coach was Geoff Buckley, did you play yourself?

Edited by 3upfront: 24/1/2014 07:10:30 AM

Edited by 3upfront: 24/1/2014 07:11:37 AM

I was in the 16's in 83. Our coach was Roger Smith. Big year, toured NZ, scored 5 in one game at the State Titles and then broke my leg quite badly down at St George leaving me out of the game for 18 months after three or four operations. Great times!:d

Edited by Angus: 24/1/2014 07:18:44 AM

+1

Btw fantastic news that Masterfoods have extended their sponsorship with CCM for another season. Hopefully this helps Charlesworth keep the club right here on the magnificent Central Coast.

MOSS = BOSS

After you broke your leg did you play again

Has anyone seen this on twitter, interesting stats before the derby
‏@CCMSupportClubJan 21
#F3Derby pic.twitter.com/3YBi090QS4

Also what Kew Jaliens thinks of facing the Mariners this weekend
http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/newcastlejets/news-display/Jaliens-looking-forward-to-F3-Derby/84065




















Edited by 3upfront: 24/1/2014 05:57:27 PM

Watching some La Liga highlights, there was a stadium with a massive red cloth behind one of the goals that covers the entire area behind the goals

Should CCM employ that at Bluetongue stadium for the end where there are no seats?

Edited by condemned666: 5/2/2014 08:04:32 PM

And block our beautiful view?

I haven't seen anything other than spin doctoring that would suggest charlesworth wants to stay on the coast........ as a matter of fact exactly the opposite.

He is obviously exploring every avenue to get away from bluetongue. If he keeps going the way he is he will be able to play games at the centre of excellence so long as he provides half a dozen plastic seats for the fans to sit on.

True - I do feel like im just sticking my head in the sand hoping it wont happen - but it probably will in time. Interestingly read an article today about the issues with North Sydney council with the mayor applying for an AVO against a fellow councillor - so they arent exactly a picture of stability down there ! I still dont reckon the FFA will allow too many games to drift south or anywhere else. SFC would be going bezerk.

I also keep hearing about 20% of members live on the north shore - I seriously question this ! are they making this shit up to support the ambition of moving the club ?

Lots of questions.....

Definitely making shit up. The club can say whatever they want about member statistics - They're the only ones with the data!

I have never met a member of the club from Sydney. We're involved in one of the Academy underage teams and all the times we've been to matches in Sydney and spoken to parents there, no one has ever mentioned being a Mariners supporter / member. It sounds like a crock.

It could happen, they could build a membership base in northern Sydney, but a lot of marketing work would need to be done. The concentration of effort should be on the coast though.

The thing that really pisses me off about playing matches at North Sydney / Brookvale / wherever is that you pay to become a member, get your tickets for Blue Tongue games, but not these "home" games. If they want crowds at them, include members, why am I paying for a season ticket if I can't go to some home games?

Surely this can't be true based totally on economics. It would be far cheaper to start from scratch than to transfer existing debt, relocate some quite expensive resources and facilities and live through a massive initial crowd decline carrying a great deal of resentment from the Central Coast supporters and a lack of involvement in somebody else's team by the North Sydney community.

I'm a platinum member, and I live in Artarmon. The couple who sit next to me live in Narellan (yes you read that right) and come up for most games.

If you spend some time on CCMFans you'd discover there are a few of us who live in Sydney.

Edited by rbs: 28/2/2014 07:45:28 PM

I suspect there are a few - but 20% ? sounds like a stretch at best.
Or do you think there is merit in the quoted figures ?

Fair play to you, I'm delighted to hear that. I just find the 20% figure dodgy.