Errant fan makes his apology to
Knights

A frustrated rugby league spectator who invaded the field late in Newcastle's 50-0 NRL thrashing by Parramatta has apologised to Knights CEO Ken Conway.

But it may be too late with Conway today admitting it was important the struggling NRL club "sent a strong signal" over the bizarre incident.

The spectator - complete with beer can in hand - ran unopposed onto the field in the 79th minute of Saturday night's clash at Newcastle and shaped to tackle as Parramatta attacked the Knights' line.

He had time to throw his beer down in disgust after Daniel Wagon scored the Eels' eighth unanswered try before security finally converged.

"Don't arrest me - someone's got to make a tackle," he could be heard saying before police took his details and threw him out of the stadium.

NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley hoped to talk with the club, but Conway said his interstate commitments ensured the matter would not be dealt with until Wednesday.

"No ground needs that (incident). We've prided ourselves on having very few incidents of this nature over the years and it will be our intention to send a strong signal," Conway said.

The Knights CEO said the "extremely apologetic" spectator - who faces a lengthy ban from NRL games - rang this morning to plead his case.

"He has actually made the effort to contact me rather than vice versa because I didn't know who he was," Conway said.

"My understanding is that he has sent me a rather long email to work ... but I haven't been able to access that and won't be able to until Wednesday.

"The spectator was extremely apologetic. He certainly regrets the incident.

"I'll be organising to meet him on Wednesday. I'll have my security report by then and I will also be talking to the police."

The incident was another blow for the Knights after their club record-equalling loss to the rampant Eels sealed their 12th straight defeat.

Newcastle now ranks seventh in worst starts to a season in NSWRL/ARL/NRL history and equals the second worst NRL losing streak - behind only Wests' 14 defeats from 1998-99.

Conway was at the match but admitted he didn't see the field invasion.

"My understanding from talking with security was that the incident occurred very late in the match when they were moving security from their normal post to a position to escort the officials off the field," he said.

"I wasn't aware of the incident until late in the evening, I was busy doing other things before it got reported to me.

"I haven't conducted a full investigation at this time."

But Conway said the league needed to send a warning.

"It's important we don't have people running on football fields, it's something that has a lot of potential to cause danger and injury and it's certainly something we won't be encouraging," he said.

"I don't want to comment beyond that until I have all the facts because I don't want anything I do cutting across what the police may be doing.

"I have already spoken to security this morning but I am expecting a full report from them to be on my desk when I get back to work on Wednesday."