Semenoff Stadium on a wet Whangarei night is worth more to Northland
Honestly the cowshed end that night against whoever held the Shield, I've been to plenty of grounds in this country and none of them touched that noise. You can sign whoever you like for the sort of money that makes a TAB punter wince, but Semenoff on a wet night does things no chequebook can.Anyone who reckons a marquee name beats that atmosphere, I'd happily take that line all season. 😏
14 posts
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✓Honestly the cowshed end that night against whoever held the Shield, I've been to plenty of grounds in this country and none of them touched that noise. You can sign whoever you like for the sort of money that makes a TA…Fair enough, but noise doesn't hold on to the Log o' Wood by itself — you still need players good enough to win it. Crowd helps; recruitment pays the bills.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Where was the chequebook the night we took the Log off them then? Semenoff was heaving, cowshed end going mental in the rain, and you could SEE it lift the boys for the last twenty... players found another gear because the place refused to let them die 🙌 Recruitment matters, sure, but every union in this country is chasing the same pocket of talent and half of them are paying overs for it. What we've got for free - a wet night, a full old cowshed, that noise. Nobody else can buy it at any price 🔥 Give me that over a marquee name any day tbh. Backing them all day.You don't abandon your own.
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Robbed, you're half right. Recruitment does matter, but there's a nuance here. That Shield night the crowd didn't just cheer, it physically dragged the boys through the last twenty in the wet, and visiting sides hate exactly that. A marquee signing costs the cap every season; a heaving cowshed end costs nothing and shows up every single home game. Small sample though, I'll grant you, but I'd back it every Whangarei winter. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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been thinking about that Shield night all arvo after reading this lot. back in the day, 70s and 80s, we'd pack Okara Park in the mud and the boys would feed off that noise like it was oxygen. no one was getting paid back then either, they just wore the jersey because it meant something, and the crowd knew it. that 2023 night was the same animal - rain hammering down, cowshed end absolutely bellowing, and you could see the visitors shrink a little each time it lifted. robbed, you're right that blokes have to be good enough, no argument there. but any Northland side that's come off the park at Semenoff on a wet night will tell you the ground is worth a head start no amount of NZ$ in the recruitment budget can buy. visiting teams fly up from Auckland, land in the damp, hear that wall of noise and something just goes quiet in them. ah well, we'll see what this season brings 😉Seen it all, lads.
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Tbh Robbed you'd struggle to buy that last twenty with a chequebook 😅 Did you even see the cowshed that night?? 🙌🔥One love, one side ❤️
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Robbed, have a think about who was on the park that Shield night, half those boys nobody else wanted, and they still fronted up because the cowshed carried them home. I've watched test footy since before the young lot were born and trust me, a marquee signing at NZ$ big money won't lift the fellas around him the way that roar did. Semenoff in the wet does things a chequebook never will. 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Define "home advantage" properly and Semenoff ticks every box: narrow ground, crowd right on top of the touchline, wet winter evenings where visiting backs can't hold the ball. Taniwha sides over the years have scrapped with players most unions overlooked because the conditions and the noise suit grafters. You can't recruit that with a chequebook.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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@GloryDaysOrNothing sounds good but which box actually does the work? Narrow ground and touchline crowd exist at plenty of venues; the wet is the variable worth testing. FixIsInPTSD admits the sample is small, so before we crown the cowshed, receipts please, how many wet nights are actually in that table?Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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GloryDaysOrNothing, spot on about the narrow ground, I keep a spreadsheet of our home margins and wet-night games skew it badly. I could be wrong, but the cowshed does half the coaching. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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FrontRowFan, your spreadsheet matches what my own table says, wet-night margins at Semenoff lean heavier than anywhere else I track, though the sample is small enough that I hedge every time I quote it. There's a nuance there too: the narrow paddock and the crowd on the touchline are two different advantages wearing the same jersey, and plenty of grounds have one without the other. The 2023 Shield night settled it for me personally. Half that side were blokes other provinces had cut loose, and the cowshed dragged them over the line anyway. You can spend NZ$ on a marquee name and still watch him fold in the last twenty at Eden Park, let alone Whangarei in July rain. Can't buy a noise that travels. Whether it beats a chequebook every single season, I'll leave open, but I know which one I'd keep if the union could only afford one.
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FrontRowFan, your spreadsheet matches what my own table says, wet-night margins at Semenoff lean heavier than anywhere else I track, though the sample is small enough that I hedge every time I quote it. There's a nuance …@FixIsInPTSD how small are we talking? went to a wet night game up there once and the handling was a mess, so the theory clicks for me 😅 but honest question, go easy on meLearn something new every day.
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FrontRowFan, your spreadsheet matches what my own table says, wet-night margins at Semenoff lean heavier than anywhere else I track, though the sample is small enough that I hedge every time I quote it. There's a nuance …@FixIsInPTSD when you say small sample, how many wet nights are we talking roughly? Still learning this stuff, sorry if that's daft 😅Learn something new every day.
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