Hunter Mariners


The Hunter Mariners were an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Hunter Region's largest city, Newcastle. Hunter was formed in mid-1995 and was later disbanded at the end of 1997. The club was formed because of the Super League war, which was the rivalry between the traditional Australian Rugby League competition and the new media driven Super League competition. The team competed in the inaugural and only Super League season in 1997, as well as that year's World Club Challenge.
The Mariners faced much adversity in the Newcastle region because of the Australian Rugby League's Newcastle Knights team being already well established in the region. The club played its home games at Topper Stadium and missed out on the finals of the 1997 Super League season, but made the grand final of the World Club Challenge. The team was overshadowed by the Newcastle Knights who won the ARL competition and were admitted into the 1998 re-united competition.
The Mariners were disbanded after being left out of the new competition because they believed that the Hunter region could not support two entities. Six of the Mariners first grade squad would relocate to Super League's new frontier team to debut in the NRL, the Melbourne Storm.

History

Formation

The New South Wales Rugby League competition had been formed in 1908 as the first rugby league competition in Australia. There was a Newcastle based club in the first two seasons of the Sydney-based competition, but they eventually left to form their own Newcastle Rugby League competition. It was not until 1988 that another Newcastle based team was admitted into the NSWRL. In 1995, the Australian Rugby League took control of the competition amid the beginning of the Super League war. It was then that News Limited began proposing and deliberating a rival rugby league competition and the twenty teams which competed in the 1995 ARL season were split between the Super League and ARL competitions.
The Newcastle Knights, the Newcastle-based team formed in 1988, aligned itself with the ARL and the new Super League competition was left without a Newcastle-based team. The Super League then established their own Newcastle-based team. The financially successful Newcastle Wests Leagues Club was given a licence to form a club for the 1996 inaugural Super League season.
In July 1995, it was officially announced that the Newcastle-based team would be called the "Hunter Mariners". However, in the middle of 1995, members of the Newcastle Wests Leagues Club did not want the club involved in the rebel competition, and the club held a meeting after 5,000 fans signed a petition objecting to the club's involvement. After this, and when local unions became involved in the protest, the Leagues Club abandoned the licence. The club then became owned and supported by News Limited.
In early 1996, the Hunter Mariners club was officially launched, without a home ground, but on that same day the Super League was banned from running its rebel competition. Originally the Mariners were allowed to use the Newcastle Knights home ground Marathon Stadium by the Showground Trust, but the Supreme Court found that they had no rights to play there. The club eventually played at Topper Stadium, sharing the ground with the National Soccer League's Newcastle Breakers, and used over $1 million to upgrade facilities at the stadium. After an appeal in mid-1996, the Super League was officially allowed to run the competition, which began in 1997.

1997 Super League Telstra Cup

The Mariners lost their first three games of the premiership season, their first a narrow loss on their home ground. However, after the first loss at home, the Mariners were able to win seven consecutive matches at Topper Stadium. Despite this home ground record, Mariners were never able to win away from home. They lost all nine matches played away from their stadium, and subsequently missed out on the finals for the Super League season.
The Mariners were able to produce some representative players throughout their one season. Noel Goldthorpe and Robbie Ross were selected in the Super League Tri-series and Goldthorpe scored the winning points for New South Wales in the final of that series. Tyran Smith, Tony Iro and Kevin Iro were all selected for the New Zealand representative team. While mid-year find Brett Kimmorley was the club's sole selection for Australia in the Super League Test series against Great Britain.
RoundHomeScoreAwayDateVenueCrowd
1Hunter Mariners16–20Canterbury Bulldogs2 March 1997Topper Stadium6,579
2Auckland Warriors18–14Hunter Mariners8 March 1997Mount Smart Stadium20,300
3Adelaide Rams10–8Hunter Mariners14 March 1997Adelaide Oval27,435
4Hunter Mariners38–10North Qld Cowboys22 March 1997Topper Stadium6,090
5Canberra Raiders18–12Hunter Mariners30 March 1997Bruce Stadium15,650
6Penrith Panthers36–24Hunter Mariners4 April 1997Penrith Stadium8,926
7Hunter Mariners18–10Auckland Warriors12 April 1997Topper Stadium7,719
8Hunter Mariners36–16Perth Reds18 April 1997Topper Stadium4,139
9Cronulla Sharks26–0Hunter Mariners26 April 1997Endeavour Stadium12,284
10Canterbury Bulldogs48–36Hunter Mariners12 May 1997Belmore Sports Ground7,126
11Hunter Mariners30–6Penrith Panthers16 May 1997Topper Stadium2,198
12Hunter Mariners24–6Brisbane Broncos30 May 1997Topper Stadium7,124
13Hunter Mariners16–12Canberra Raiders27 June 1997Topper Stadium7,404
14Hunter Mariners10–2Adelaide Rams5 July 1997Topper Stadium2,345
15North Qld Cowboys33–14Hunter Mariners13 July 1997Willows Stadium11,480
16Perth Reds30–22Hunter Mariners10 August 1997WACA Ground5,083
17Brisbane Broncos34–16Hunter Mariners18 August 1997QE II Stadium13,830
18Hunter Mariners16–28Cronulla Sharks24 August 1997Topper Stadium5,122

1997 World Club Championship

The Super League had also begun a rugby league competition in England, and they had created a mixed competition, encompassing Super League clubs from Australia, New Zealand, France and England, known as the World Club Challenge. The 1997 World Club Championship was held in order to crown "the best club in the world". The Mariners were a part of Australasia's group B and competed in England, before returning to complete the Australian part of the competition. The Mariners won all three games in England, over Paris Saint-Germain, Castleford and Sheffield. They returned home to again win the three games at Topper Stadium and therefore made the finals of the competition.
The finals system meant that they would have to play their finals match in England against English Super League club Wigan. The Mariners shocked the club and the world of rugby league by winning 22–18. That score line would again be repeated in the grand final qualifier against Australian club Cronulla, another match the Mariners were expected to lose. But the Mariners were able to defeat the Australian Super League runners-up to take themselves to the grand final of the competition. Against the winners of the Super League grand final, Brisbane, the Mariners were blown away by the competition favourites. In what would be their final rugby league match as a club, the Mariners were down at half-time 26–4 and the final scoreline of 36–12 prevented the Mariners taking out a A$1 million prize.
RoundHomeScoreAwayDateVenueCrowd
GroupParis Saint-Germain12–28Hunter Mariners8 June 1997Stade Sébastien Charléty3,500
GroupCastleford Tigers12–42Hunter Mariners13 June 1997Wheldon Road3,087
GroupSheffield Eagles4–40Hunter Mariners20 June 1997Don Valley Stadium2,350
GroupHunter Mariners26–8Castleford Tigers20 July 1997Topper Stadium3,379
GroupHunter Mariners32–4Paris Saint-Germain27 July 1997Topper Stadium2,210
GroupHunter Mariners58–12Sheffield Eagles3 August 1997Topper Stadium1,965
QFWigan Warriors18–22Hunter Mariners3 October 1997Central Park9,553
SFCronulla Sharks18–22Hunter Mariners11 October 1997Shark Park5,214
FBrisbane Broncos36–12Hunter Mariners17 October 1997Mount Smart Stadium12,000