Geoff and Nicky Oliver spent a month last year chasing the All Blacks around Europe, so a quick jaunt to Dunedin this weekend is child's play.

The avid Bay of Plenty fans have joined a handful of supporters heading down to watch the Steamers play Otago tomorrow night, as Bay's new supporter's club starts to spread its tentacles.

"We've been to most of the games this year and we're really looking forward to this trip," Blue and Gold club member Geoff Oliver said. "I've been a huge Bay fan ever since we moved here in 1986 and this new club has gone really well."

So has their team. The Steamers have won six of their eight Air NZ Cup games this season and sit third on the table.

Even before a ball was kicked in anger, however, the Blue and Gold club's ranks were swelling with more than 70 memberships, each costing $750, snapped up.

Things started moving when BOPRU chairman Bruce Cameron approached former Bay coach Graeme Crossman last year to help re-form an official supporter's club after a 15-year hiatus.

"I kicked it off when I was coaching so we could give the guys a few extras like jackets and it's been going on and off since then but the union revived it this year and Bruce asked me to go back in and coordinate it," Crossman said.

"I was so impressed with the turnaround in the Bay's management and administration and financial position and I wanted to do something to support that."

Club membership guarantees a season pass to watch Steamers home fixtures, test tickets to an All Black match in Hamilton and a range of merchandise. Membership is for two people and supporters sign on for three years.

With the club contributing more than $50,000 to the BOPRU coffers, it now constitutes one of the union's biggest sponsors.

Crossman said the Steamers' winning streak had obviously boosted the appeal but most club members were swayed by the way the team banded together after last year's $900,000 financial loss.

"Once we saw the team making sacrifices last year - the baked beans for breakfast and staying four to a motel room - that was a signal that we were starting to get grounded players and let's gather around and link arms behind them.

"It was powerful cultural stuff that is reverberating in the team's performance even now because it shows they're in touch with reality and  not expecting gilt-edged accommodation and they're getting down to playing rugby and winning."

And it's not just the official supporter's club benefiting - the shadowy figures behind the internet-based BOP Mafia (www.bopmafia.com) have reported a massive increase in hits this season, up nearly 45 per cent on last year.

"Our Mafia forum board has been running hot this season and new fans have been popping up at every game in their Mafia teeshirts," spokesman Nick Baker said.

"We've got pockets of members in every city in the country and our Dunedin chapter is particularly strong, seeing as Otago stole our blue and gold colours."