in the final at the new Western Sydney Stadium. Supporters Counted amongst the club's supporters is Olympic athlete Louise McPaul. The Future The Illawarra Steelers club members voted unanimously to allow the sale of 20% of the club premises to a company owned by Bermuda-based Wollongong billionaire Bruce Gordon. The sale fetched the club $2.6 million, allowing Illawarra to clear all debts to St George. Whilst the Steelers Club is improving its financial position, and now trading profitably, the club still finds itself struggling against the larger and more popular of other Leagues Clubs in Wollongong such as Collegians, The Builders Club, Wests Illawarra and Illawarra Leagues, and also Shellharbour Workers Club in Shellharbour. The Steelers were competitive with Sydney Clubs by the 1990s but Super League raised the financial bar too quickly and blew them out of the water at a crucial time in their development. Being classified as a Sydney metropolitan team during the NRL's criteria for entry into the 14 team competition for the year 2000 and measuring the club's performances through the devastating Super League period left Illawarra at a huge disadvantage compared with other non-Sydney based clubs such as Canberra, Newcastle, Melbourne and North Queensland. The only hope for Illawarra's return to the big league would be to gain the backing of a wealthy 'white knight' or consortium who can see the potential of a stand-alone Illawarra Steelers - convince the NRL and invest significant money so they can keep their local talent and achieve the potential that they started to reveal in the early 1990s. Statistics and Records Club Biggest win: 45 – 0 against Canberra Raiders at Wollongong Showground on 25 April 1982 Worst defeat: 0 – 51 against Newtown Jets at Henson Park on 2 May 1982 Longest winning streak: 4 matches 4–25 July 1993 25 June – 17 July 1997 Longest losing streak: 11 matches, 1988 Largest home crowd: 17,527, against St. George Dragons at WIN Stadium, Wollongong on 21 May 1993 Individual Most tries in a match: 5 by Alan McIndoe against Gold Coast Seagulls at Steelers Stadium on 4 May 1991 Most goals in a match: 10 by Rod Wishart against Parramatta Eels at Steelers Stadium on 16 July 1995 Most points in a match: 22 (1 try, 9 goals) by Rod Wishart against Western Suburbs Magpies at Steelers Stadium on 27 August 1995 Most tries in a season: