Last Sunday afternoon more than 15,000 people watched the Newcastle Knights post a gutsy, come-from-behind win against the Canberra Raiders at McDonald Jones Stadium.
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We know that 15,106 people attended the match because that's how many passed through the turnstiles and scanned a ticket.
Any Knights fan who's sat in the Andrew Johns Stand could verify that it was far from a packed house, but, in NRL terms, it wasn't a bad crowd either, and certainly better than the 8358 who watched the Dragons beat the Titans at Jubilee Stadium in Wollongong.
Whether they're good, bad or indifferent, crowd numbers are readily available for almost all top-level sporting competitions in Australia, and it is puzzling that the official figures from Supercars remain such a closely guarded secret.
Greens councillor Charlotte McCabe has every right to feel "disturbed" after being shot down by her colleagues for requesting specific attendance data from the race at Tuesday's council meeting.
Cr McCabe's notice of motion called for City of Newcastle to write to Supercars CEO Shane Howard for attendance data on those who attended the event across the three days, rather than "tickets issued".
It's a fair enough request.
With concerns already being raised about the integrity of the data being compiled in council's Supercars survey, there are some in the community who believe a decision to return the race to the city has already been made.
Transparency on crowd numbers would help counter that argument.
At the time of the event, the Newcastle Herald wrote of the undoubted tourism benefits the race brought the city, including an additional 5000 passengers through the airport, not to mention accommodation providers across the region.
Like it or loathe it, there is no question the Newcastle 500 puts our city on the national, and even international, stage.
But there's also little doubt it causes a significant disruption to residents and business owners in the East End.
For the economic benefits to be made clear, and to justify the angst it causes among East End residents, providing a detailed account of crowd numbers is the least Supercars, and City of Newcastle, should do.
It has been almost three weeks since the Newcastle 500, but Supercars remains a long way from the city's rear-view mirror.
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Xavier Mardling
Xavier started at The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga in 2001, covering sport and general news before moving to the subs' desk. He was editor of his hometown masthead from 2016 to 2020 before swapping the Murray for Merewether. He returned to The Border Mail as editor in 2023.
Xavier started at The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga in 2001, covering sport and general news before moving to the subs' desk. He was editor of his hometown masthead from 2016 to 2020 before swapping the Murray for Merewether. He returned to The Border Mail as editor in 2023.
