world sports event

Not since the heady days of 1995 have the One New Zealand Warriors seen crowds like it at home. It’s a graphic measure of how the club has rebounded and reset after three challenging seasons in exile that it can boast the best average attendance numbers seen at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart in the last 28 campaigns. After each of their 15 NRL regular season wins, there were probably enough videos of that song posted on social media that most of the 26,000 fans at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart knew the words and pined for the chance to serenade their team after a playoff win over the Knights in their last home game. The result was simply spine-tingling. "It's pretty cool that the crowd knows the whole song," said Walker. "When you hear them singing it after the game, you know you've done a good job. "As players, each and every week, you want to put in a proud performance for your fans and for your teammates. For them to jump on board, and to see the love and support we get from everyone in Auckland - and New Zealand as a whole - it's pretty special." On Saturday night a crowd of 23,686 saw the Andrew Webster-coached side surge to a 30-8 win over the newly introduced Dolphins, a result that left the Warriors seventh on the ladder after 14 rounds. It lifted the total attendance for the first four home games at Go Media Stadium to 86,371, an average of 21,592 a game. Earlier in the season there were crowds of 18,595 (Bulldogs), 23,695 (Cowboys) and 20,395 (Roosters), the latter a remarkable number given the appalling weather conditions that Sunday. The closest challenger to this season’s numbers was last year when the four games played at the ground averaged 20,282; those matches against Wests Tigers, Melbourne, Canterbury-Bankstown and Gold Coast were played later in the season when Warriors-starved fans turned up in big numbers to reconnect with the team after so long away.