OKI tops Gong as home
fixtures complete

27 August 2006

For the fourth season in succession, Kogarah's OKI Jubilee Stadium has recorded a superior crowd average to Wollongong's WIN Stadium.

After the completion of WIN Stadium's seven home games and Jubilee Stadium's five home games, Kogarah finished season 2006 with a crowd average of 13,700, compared to Wollongong's 12,885.

Overall, the crowd averages are somewhat disappointing for the St.George Bank Dragons considering that the 2005 Kogarah average was 15,275 and the 2005 WIN average was 14,426.

Despite Kogarah's decline from 2005, the following should be noted in relation to the five Jubilee fixtures in 2006:

* OKI Jubilee Stadium recorded the highest ever Dragons' home crowd against the Melbourne Storm.

* OKI Jubilee Stadium recorded the highest Dragons' home crowd against the Rabbitohs since 1999.

* OKI Jubilee Stadium recorded a new Kogarah joint-venture ground record in round 19 against the Bulldogs. 19,500 tickets were reportedly sold for the Bulldogs' match, but the attendance was listed as 18,223.

* The round 13 match against Parramatta, played in monsoon-like conditions, recorded the lowest crowd at Kogarah since the 1999 match against the North Queensland Cowboys. However, approximately 15,000 tickets were pre-sold for the Parramatta match but the attendance was reduced to 9,075.

* The 14,211 attendance against the Wests Tigers in round 24 followed five successive Dragons' defeats and the Wests Tigers' abandonment of any top eight hopes.

WIN Stadium's decline from 2005 was discernible, even though the venue maintained seven home games including a significant pre-season feature match against the Roosters.

Despite concerns by the Wollongong Sportsground Trust that WIN Stadium would fail to keep seven Dragons' games at the venue going forward, the Trust managed to secure a feature match that Steelers' supremo Bob Millward feels should have a "...similar status as the Charity Shield."

In line with Millward's thoughts, Wollongong Sportsground Trust Chairman Chris Christodoulou stated that, "We've still got seven first-class games, we haven't gone backwards in that regard."

Since the return to the Dragons' spiritual home in 2003, OKI Jubilee Stadium's crowd average is 14,357 compared to WIN Stadium's 13,500. While in all eight seasons of the joint venture, WIN Stadium has finished behind the Dragons' Sydney home venues on crowd average.

Using the Dragons rationale of including the Charity Shield against South Sydney in the Dragons' home game allocation, the overall Sydney crowd average in 2006 was 17,734 compared to Wollongong's 12,885.

The success of the Dragons recording victories at Kogarah and WIN Stadium also reduced in 2006. The Dragons success rate at Kogarah reduced from 80% to 60%, while the Dragons' success rate at WIN Stadium reduced from 71% to 57%.

The Dragons have now played 395 matches at Kogarah since 1950, recording 270 victories, 115 losses and 10 draws.

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http://www.r2k.info/news/okitopsgongagain.html