The 12th Man

NEWCASTLEJETS.COM.AU

Jets fans can lay claim to being one of the best groups of travelling suporters in Australia, with quality turnouts in Gosford, Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne – along with smaller turnouts in the other A-League club cities – the Novocastrian faithful have outdone themselves with the massive groundswell of support for their team in the Grand Final.
Reports yesterday showed that over 55 buses will be taken to the Sydney Football Stadium for this historic event in the club’s history. With many more fans travelling by train and by private transport, support for the Jets is set to be immense on Sunday.

The Squadron are hoping to again be the 12th man for the team in the big game, and one of the organisers of the group, Sam Adamson, today gave us some of his thoughts on this passionate, vocal support.

"It's fantastic to see the whole city get behind the team. Three years ago, you would have been mad to think that football could pull these kind of numbers in Newcastle, but now it's reality" Sam said.

"It's been awesome to have been involved with the Squadron the past few years. From humble beginnings, we've grown to become one of the biggest supporter groups in the A-League, and it's testament to not only the people organising it, but to the fans that turn up week in, week out and make the noise" he stated.

The Jets will be hosting an open training session as a thank-you to the fans this Saturday 23rd February at Ray Watt Oval, Newcastle University. All fans are encouraged to get along and wish the boys well in their last training session before they leave for Sydney. Parking for supporters will be available along University Drive, and all patrons are advised to sit on the Western Hill (Transgrid side) of Ray Watt Oval to watch the session. Proceeding will kick-off at 9am, and run through until approximately 10:30am. Afterwards fans will have a chance to wish the team well and get autographs.

Supporters like Sam will no doubt be behind the team with vocal, active support, and hopes that the many thousands of people from Newcastle follow suit.

"No-one gets behind their team like Novocastrians. We've travelled the country end to end this season to follow our city and we'll be putting on our biggest show of support this weekend. The boys on the park will be putting in 100%, and we'll be doing exactly the same in the stands" Sam said.

As a final send-off, fans will be able to line the streets to wave the team bus goodbye as it leaves for Sydney on Saturday afternoon. The bus will depart at approximately 4:00pm, and will go via the following route: Travel past EnergyAustralia Stadium, then out to the F3 via Griffiths Rd Lambton, Newcastle Rd Lambton and Thomas St Wallsend then out on to the Newcastle Link Road.

“I hope we see lots of Jets flags lining the way out of Newcastle. It will be the last time for the boys to see how much this means to the people of the region before they take to the pitch, so we would love to see lots of faces,” said Coach Gary van Egmond.

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Article Source: http://www.newcastlejets.com.au/default.aspx?s=njfc_news_item&id=21552