After three wins on the road to start its historic inaugural season, Storm returned to Melbourne to play in front of its home faithful for the first time ever.

A sense of nervousness and anticipation surrounded that evening on April 3, 1998 both on and off the field. Could the men in purple continue their fairytale start to life in the big time when they stepped out onto Olympic Park to face the North Sydney Bears?

However the bigger question remained off the field - How many Victorians would show up to watch this foreign game? How many people would care? The answers were resounding.  

This is the story of the night the sport’s capital, Melbourne, embraced its newest team. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.