You will find the north shore of Sydney did swap over to AFL as a result if the culling of clubs
To suggest that the North of Sydney swapping to AFL (which I think is a gross simplification and exaggeration, but I won't get into that because it'd make this post which is probably already going to be long, ridiculously long) is down simply to the Bears going tits up is to ignore so many other contributing factors that were going on at the same time, such as the Swans being on an up swing at the time, the NRL's complete failure to even have a plan to consolidate the region after the Bears dropped out, the undoubtable fact that many of the supposed Bears fans that jumped onto the Swans probably already had an interest in the Swans and AFL before the Bears dropped and didn't in fact lose an interest in RL it's self so much as they lost their why of directly engaging with that interest through the Bears, the sudden influx of Aussie Rules into Sydney school that started to occur at about the same time, the fact that RL's second tier is poorly treated by the NRL and subsequently everybody else as well, etc.
In my opinion the main factors that caused North Sydney to become a RL wasteland (which again is an over simplification) after the Bears were dropped where the NRL's failure to put extra resources into the region to consolidate the area, and the NRL's failure to organise for other clubs to directly interact with the community up there, both mistakes that don't have to be repeated in the future.
It also would have helped if the lower tiers were better structured, were better supported by the NRL, and had better exposure, but that is neither here nor there in this discussion, but is another factor that doesn't have to be true in the future.
Then Great Dane I would suggest you spend a little more time in the North Sydney area, and ask why the Bears fans en masse not just a few ,have not switched their loyalties to the Sea Eagles or Roosters,because the ones I met repping, certainly do not.
We already know why that is, it's because Bears fans hated the Eagles and Roosters, and the fact that neither of those clubs ever gave them a reason to support them, they never even attempted to interact with them or to convert (for lack of a better term) them.
The Rabbitohs on the other hand have had reasonable success in converting Bears fans simply by partnering with the Bears to maintain a path through the Bears to the NRL and by interacting with the old bears fans.
And besides it shouldn't be our target to convert old Bears fans to new clubs, our main target should be to get as many of their kids supporting the NRL as possible.
Most went to ru, some to the AFL.In fact some Rabbitoph fans went to AFL when they were kicked out.
Met a couple from Brisbane on a football tour who followed the Crushers.They were flicked, they told me ,they will not attend Broncos games, and do not attend live games.So who loses out? The code.
This goes back to my previous post, it's just a bunch of assertions and anecdotes without any real way to verify them and not really evidence. Even if we could verify the anecdotes it'd be what? Ten or so peoples stories, that isn't even close to being a reasonable sample size, so it's basically useless information in of it's self.
This is effectively a way to fear monger people out of the argument, nothing more...
I can assure you should the Sharks get flicked ,I'll revert to a Tv viewer on the odd occasion, and certainly have no interest in attending other clubs' matches.
Firstly just because the Sharks could be "flicked" from the NRL competition doesn't mean that they'd be killed, and if your support for the Sharks is reliant on the Sharks being in the NRL, then frankly in a situation where the Sharks are dropped to a lower tier then they're probably better off without you anyway.
Secondly even if the Sharks were to be killed out right you wouldn't/shouldn't be who the NRL are targeting in the Cronulla market to maintain support for RL in that region.
You represent a group of roughly 8-12k people who are Sharks hardcores, who are going to lose all interest in RL if the Sharks die, you'd be unconvertible, your support is for the Sharks not for the sport of RL, so even trying to maintain your interest would be a waste of time and resources for the NRL in that situation.
Being a fan of the club and not the sport is fine, but the NRL and by extension the sport it's self shouldn't cease all progress and growth of the sport for fear of losing you and people like you.
The SAFL have stated they will not be relocating any more teams
I honestly couldn't give less of a f##k what the AFL has to say (I assume you meant the AFL and not the SAFL? Whom by the way I give even less of a f##k about, if that's even possible), and no matter what the say they will eventually have to remove more clubs from Melbourne (whether that's through relocations or whatever, I could care less) or accept the ceiling that having to support an over saturated market will force on them.
If they want to accept that ceiling then that's great for them (though I doubt many of their bigger clubs will be happy with that decision), and great for RL BTW, but I will never except that ceiling for RL, even if it means sacrificing the Raiders (which it may do in the future, probably after I'm dead and gone though), because I want to see RL grow as big as possible, exceed every bodies expectations, and most importantly be introduce to as many people as possible and be enjoyed by as many of them as possible. In other words I want to share my love of the sport with as many people as possible, not handicap it so I can keep it all to myself.
Rugby league has axed teams in Sydney and Brisbane ,and amalgamated 4 in Sydney,the latters' crowds since have nowhere near made up the loss.
Who said anything about axing or merging anybody? I certainly didn't, nice attempt at a straw man though.
If you want to know how I'd actually handle rationalisation you're free to ask, however this post is already to long for me to go into detail about that now.