The Decade Before They Called Us St Merge

[Overseas dragon]

Your absolutely right but in the real world managers and board members of mergers are accountable and can be fired and replaced.
In our case the Merger has resulted in club run by the same people with self imposed accountability which only supports their personal agendas.
The result is a poorly managed club that is happy to accept mediocrity ad infinitum.
The merger back in 1998 may have seemed to be a good idea at the time but it has been underwhelming except for brief Bennet's involvement.
Personally, St. George should've stayed independent and privately owned.

Hit the nail there DENNIS pity our administration doesnt have the same intelect .

 

[Willow]

Joint venture? Merger? Hmm. Considering the same cabal have held dictatorial power with no accountability since this deal went down, perhaps we should call it what it really was:

A coup.

The thing is, the JV i suppose to have a review every 5 years. At that point either party can walk away. It's unlikely to happen and they stopped providing a media release for it some time ago, but it's there. That said, who knows what they've got up to when they thought no one was looking.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

It's obvious we need to merge/JV again with a few more clubs, surely this will make us a super power

 

[ouryear]

You post a lot of wrong stuff but this is the wrongest. The separate Superleague comp was in 1997.

Geeze Grouch....why so grouchy.

I dont think my èrror changes anything that may be discussed from what was posted, try to see the bigger picture than one weèney teeny error. I dont think i post wrong stuff, just different opinions from you.

Yeahhhhhhhhh!

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

It's obvious we need to merge/JV again with a few more clubs, surely this will make us a super power

Good point. If we merge with all the other clubs we'll win the title for sure.

 

[AyiosYiorgos]

Good point. If we merge with all the other clubs we'll win the title for sure.

Not if Mary is coach, he will still f**k it up

 

[Saintsified]

Pretty sure I can speak for the Illawarra fans that we would have preferred to keep our on club too. Only difference is we are not on the forum being dicks blaming everyone and their dog for our clubs failures both as a separate and merged entity. HURR DURR The club is doing poorly 18 years after a merge.... MUST BE ILLAWARRA'S FAULT 100%!. Even though the club was doing poorly prior.

BTW 1992 semi was an absolute robbery.

Bullshit, you inherited a giant brand, but our side got pussy whipped.

 

[Mr Angry]

It's obvious we need to merge/JV again with a few more clubs, surely this will make us a super power

I always thought St. George and Souths were a better fit, bordering each other, similar demographics, socio economics, long rich history, could have kept the red V, just change the white to green.

Same with Cronulla and Illawarra, bordering each other, similar demographics, socio economics, shorter history, without much success.

But it is all too late now, Souths after refusing to merge/JV ended up selling out to a film star, Cronulla have emerged from close to bankrupt a couple of times, to a financially viable stand alone club, and it is probably much harder to discontinue the JV, than to keep it.

As it was back then --> too hard basket

 

[JohnnoMcJohnno]

Not if Mary is coach, he will still f**k it up

Probably. Team will turn up at the wrong ground or something.

 

[ouryear]

Pretty sure I can speak for the Illawarra fans that we would have preferred to keep our on club too. Only difference is we are not on the forum being dicks blaming everyone and their dog for our clubs failures both as a separate and merged entity. HURR DURR The club is doing poorly 18 years after a merge.... MUST BE ILLAWARRA'S FAULT 100%!. Even though the club was doing poorly prior.

BTW 1992 semi was an absolute robbery.

The board are the guilty party.

A. The board approves who will be our CEO.

B. The board approve who will be our coach.

The board is making these poor choices and decisions, the board ARE the only ones we can blame.

Sure, we can blame Doust and Mary and Hornby and Young and.....and....

However, it is the board.

Their business acumen, commercial capabilites, business vision, feel for football and our fans...are almost NOTHING.

 

[Life's Good]

I don’t have a problem at all with the JV. The team I cheered for in the 2010 GF gave me the same level of excitement as the one I lost my voice over in the GFs of 85, 92,93,96,99.
What I have a problem with is the admistration treating the club as their own fiefdom. I am not au fait with the voting structure but find it incredibly hard to believe that the Board & Executive positions are safe despite less than stellar results. In public or private enterprise such dismal performance wouldn’t be tolerated yet here we are spinning our wheels with the same heads in the driving seat.
JV or not, it’s pathetic.

 

[Datramp]

Bullshit, you inherited a giant brand, but our side got pussy whipped.

Nah. Steelers fans lost their brand. At the time I didn't give 2 shits about inheriting the Dragons brand. In fact I despised the Dragons (mainly due to the aforementioned 1992 semi final robbery .

But stuff happened to allow BOTH clubs to survive and although it sucked at first losing the Steelers I had a new team to support. 18 years later and I welcome my former St George supporters as brothers in arms in supporting the St George Illawarra Dragons, sharing and discussing the highs and lows and barracking loudly alongside at live games. I wear my white Red V jersey AND my Red jersey with pride.

I cannot see how 18 years on people still want to divide fans and lay blame on either of the clubs where it is clear the board is to blame. There was a huge opportunity with the JV given the Illawarra juniors/fanbase and the St George brand. Unfortunately the board/those running the joint were too short sighted to capitalise on it.

 

[Dragon Revival]

The Board and the coaches are the problem and most of them would not pass a simple IQ test especially Doust, Lockwood, Robinson and Mc Gregor. They are has beens who have never been competent!

 

[ouryear]

Nah. Steelers fans lost their brand. At the time I didn't give 2 shits about inheriting the Dragons brand. In fact I despised the Dragons (mainly due to the aforementioned 1992 semi final robbery .

But stuff happened to allow BOTH clubs to survive and although it sucked at first losing the Steelers I had a new team to support. 18 years later and I welcome my former St George supporters as brothers in arms in supporting the St George Illawarra Dragons, sharing and discussing the highs and lows and barracking loudly alongside at live games. I wear my white Red V jersey AND my Red jersey with pride.

I cannot see how 18 years on people still want to divide fans and lay blame on either of the clubs where it is clear the board is to blame. There was a huge opportunity with the JV given the Illawarra juniors/fanbase and the St George brand. Unfortunately the board/those running the joint were too short sighted to capitalise on it.

Yes everyone. We need united fans and a united team, everyone with the same vision going in the same positive direction.

Taking pot shots at each other is no better than the board that most of us criticise.

Stand UNITED. Stand TOGETHER!

 

[Dennis Papaioannou]

Nah. Steelers fans lost their brand. At the time I didn't give 2 shits about inheriting the Dragons brand. In fact I despised the Dragons (mainly due to the aforementioned 1992 semi final robbery .

But stuff happened to allow BOTH clubs to survive and although it sucked at first losing the Steelers I had a new team to support. 18 years later and I welcome my former St George supporters as brothers in arms in supporting the St George Illawarra Dragons, sharing and discussing the highs and lows and barracking loudly alongside at live games. I wear my white Red V jersey AND my Red jersey with pride.

I cannot see how 18 years on people still want to divide fans and lay blame on either of the clubs where it is clear the board is to blame. There was a huge opportunity with the JV given the Illawarra juniors/fanbase and the St George brand. Unfortunately the board/those running the joint were too short sighted to capitalise on it.

Good post but the problem is that the Board is structured in a divisive way with representatives from both entities to start with.
Nothing has changed even after 18 years.
If all board members were independent then it would be easier to meld the two into one.
You can see that there is unashamed factional nepotism at play which, by definition, will never let the initiative to become seamless.

 

[Rife]

The team we all support is a joint venture.

The ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS ABN 74 085 008 340 is an Australian private company registered on 10 December 1998 and has been trading under the holder name ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA RUGBY LEAGUE FOOTBALL CLUB PTY LIMITED since 30 May 2000. The holder type is a body corporate and as such is a joint venture.

Joint venture: An association of persons for particular commercial endeavours (for example, the development of land or the exploitation of mineral resources) with a view to mutual profit. It is not a technical legal term with a settled common law meaning: United Dominions Corp Ltd v Brian Pty Ltd (1985) 157 CLR 1.

Trade and commerce An activity in trade or commerce, carried on jointly by two or more persons by means of their joint control or ownership of shares in that body corporate: Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) s 41.

Merger: A combination of two or more entities, rights or estates.

Corporations 1. A combination of two or more firms or corporations, usually such that one is absorbed into the structure of the other or others and loses its separate identity. It involves one company acquiring shares or assets in another. A corporation is prohibited from acquiring shares in a body corporate or the assets of a person if this would substantially lessen competition in a market: Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) s 50. 2. Merging a company in a group structure under a holding company. A merger may be horizontal or vertical.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

Didn't Willow point out that it's a Joint Venture and not a merger? Or am I missing something here?

Exactly.

Why are a lot of people still incorrectly describing SGI as a merger, when clearly, it isn't.

Folks, our much beloved Dragons is a jJOINT VENTURE; there is a LEGAL difference.

Could we all please use the proper vernacular; it shouldn't be too much to ask.

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

I always thought St. George and Souths were a better fit, bordering each other, similar demographics, socio economics, long rich history, could have kept the red V, just change the white to green.

Same with Cronulla and Illawarra, bordering each other, similar demographics, socio economics, shorter history, without much success.

But it is all too late now, Souths after refusing to merge/JV ended up selling out to a film star, Cronulla have emerged from close to bankrupt a couple of times, to a financially viable stand alone club, and it is probably much harder to discontinue the JV, than to keep it.

As it was back then --> too hard basket

Thank God for Rupert Murdoch, huh?

 

[Saint_JimmyG]

It is a Joint Venture. When the trolls say 'St Merge', I always think they can't even that part right.

There is a difference. A merger is the combining of two companies into one. A Joint Venture is when two companies cooperate on a specific project, usually for set period of time.

FTR, the St George Illawarra Dragons Joint Venture was signed off in late 1998. It gets reviewed every 5 or 6 years.

I wasn't aware the JV is periodically reviewed. Is this process conducted solely by representatives from the Dragons and Steelers, or is the NRL involved in some clandestine way?

 

[ouryear]

Thank God for Rupert Murdoch, huh?

I would of been happy with Souths.

I know the Saints players from the 1950s and 1960s and early 70s.....although great foes on the field were close mates off the field.

South's and Saints supplied almost the entire Kangaroo teams in most years.

They were very close knit.

Shit....our Changa even captained AND coached them for Australia.

Now that's a COACH!!!