Newcastle Knights had been wooden-spooners two years running. Coupled with controversy, fan morale was low and weekly game results were not helping the cause.
We had to turn the Knight’s ship around... memberships were starting to dwindle outside the hardcore fans. We had to reignite the fans love of their team.
To stoke the fires of passion, we turned to the one thing fans would always be proud of: their home ground. Over 30 years, every part of the field had witnessed a great moment, so we carved up the ground into 30,000 pieces of virtual turf: each a chance to own a unique patch of Knights history. We talked to past legends - then built the ‘Sacred Ground’ website. Each patch could be virtually ‘owned’ by members and they could not only see the history of that piece of turf, but also add their own memories of great games.
13,000 pre-season memberships were sold, the most in the Knights’ 30-year history.