John ribot on sterlo...

[Stallion]

Uh oh you're showing your true age again...

When were the Eastern Suburbs Roosters ever know as "East Sydney"...

Lol. It's a name that makes alot of sense when you think about it. Being an ex Roosters trialist and member I'm clearly aware of the names the Roosters have used. The logic behind EAST SYDNEY ROOSTERS : "EAST- familiarity link with historical Sydney locality name, SYDNEY- Australia wide geographical description relevant to a national competition and ROOSTERS - maintaining popular club motto/emblem. I think it has wings so to speak!

 

[Perth Red]

Pretty much exactly what should have happened, there're only a few things that I either would have done differently or would need to be done differently for practical reasons.

...

Yep agreed but mine was the "ideal world" way of reforming the comp in 1998. Alongside that would have been News Ltd and ARL tipping money into a growth pot that supporting the fledgling teams to refind their feet. ARL should have told News Ltd to f** Off and come up with the best competition for the long term future of RL in Australia, not the best interests of News Ltd.

Crushers, Reds, Chargers, Rams etc never had chance to show if they could be sustainable or not as they were set up badly and then the war created a very artificial world they had to survive in.

 

[King hit]

News Ltd won, just look at the clubs after the truce was called:

Super League:

Cronulla
Penrith
Canterbury
Brisbane
Nth Qld
Auckland
Canberra
all survived

Hunter, Perth and Adelaide merged to form the Melbourne Storm


ARL:

Roosters - survived due to Politis
Parramatta - key area
Newcastle - key area

Souths - refused to merge kicked out
Manly - merged
Norths -merged
St.George - merged
Illawarra - merged
Sth Qld - kicked out
Gold Coast - kicked out
Balmain - merged
Wests - merged


Seems clear to me who won.

Not only did more SL teams make the cut, news limited manage to grab 50% of Rugby League ownership and the foxtel rights which Rupert wanted to drive subscriptions in Australia's most populated areas. The game today is very dictative to TV. A prime example of this is the grand final being moved from the 3pm to 8pm was because it would look better in prime time tv. An example of this today is the Broncos friday night games. I meet this guy in the Broncos Leagues club who was connections with channel 9 and I asked him why the Broncos play on Friday almost each week of the season and he said it's because that broadcaster and 9 executives pressure the NRL to put them there because they make so much money for them and they win the ratings in QLD

The Dragons-Steelers mergers has been a complete failure!

It was initially planned that the merger would maintain the Dragons brand and history but keep the competitions presence in Wollongong, it was also planned that the number of the Dragons games in Sydney would be reduced over time and number in Wollongong would grow over time (it was intended that only a handful of classic Dragons rivalries would continue in Sydney, literally 2-3 games a year), neither of those things has happened, in fact the exact opposite has happened.

The St.George-Illawarra merger has turned into a hostile takeover, basically the Dragons agreed to all these things, but once they got into the merger they strong armed the Steelers, took complete control, then cannibalised them, right down to the point that they have been slowly wiping away the Illawarra presence in the lower leagues and replacing it with the Dragons.
They basically did the exact same thing that Manly did to the Bears (and the Bears attempted to do to Manly to be fair) they just haven't been as blatant about it...

It is very disappointing that the Steelers side of the JV goes unnoticed. The Illawarra region has produced some of the greatest names in RL history and has given 4 test captains to the national side. Correct me if i'm wrong but I don't think there is any other region anywhere else in Australia that has supplied as much juniors as Illawarra. It was so annoying in 2010 when the Dragons won the premiership and they went on at the presentation as it being STGI's 16th title blah blah blah. Sure St George is one of the most famous clubs in Australian sporting history and set records that will never get challenged but Illawarra's contribution to the game shouldn't go unnoticed.

 

[The Great Dane]

Yep agreed but mine was the "ideal world" way of reforming the comp in 1998. Alongside that would have been News Ltd and ARL tipping money into a growth pot that supporting the fledgling teams to refind their feet. ARL should have told News Ltd to f** Off and come up with the best competition for the long term future of RL in Australia, not the best interests of News Ltd.

Fair enough, but if the ARL had told News to F off their would have been no peace and the split comps would have continued, speaking frankly, News held most of the cards at the time, and they could have sustained longer in a split comp situation then the ARL could have, the war only ended when it did cause News could get everything they wanted cheaper by making peace, if the ARL refuses to fold to all their demands then the war goes on and the longer the war goes on the worse things turn out for the ARL...

And the Idea that the ARL wanted "the best competition for the long term future" is simply wrong as well, they had their priorities and what they wanted, and what they want included killing off as many SL clubs as they could reasonably get away with and making as many concessions for the "loyal" clubs as they could get away with...

Crushers, Reds, Chargers, Rams etc never had chance to show if they could be sustainable or not as they were set up badly and then the war created a very artificial world they had to survive in.

I also don't think it's fair to say that the Crushers or Chargers (and arguably the Rams as well if you ignore their lack of a juniors system) were poorly set up, if the SL war didn't happen and the Broncos weren't trying to undermine them then they were probably just as well placed as any club at the time (could've used more funds, but that was true of basically every club at the time).

 

[Stallion]

Not only did more SL teams make the cut, news limited manage to grab 50% of Rugby League ownership and the foxtel rights which Rupert wanted to drive subscriptions in Australia's most populated areas. The game today is very dictative to TV. A prime example of this is the grand final being moved from the 3pm to 8pm was because it would look better in prime time tv. An example of this today is the Broncos friday night games. I meet this guy in the Broncos Leagues club who was connections with channel 9 and I asked him why the Broncos play on Friday almost each week of the season and he said it's because that broadcaster and 9 executives pressure the NRL to put them there because they make so much money for them and they win the ratings in QLD



It is very disappointing that the Steelers side of the JV goes unnoticed. The Illawarra region has produced some of the greatest names in RL history and has given 4 test captains to the national side. Correct me if i'm wrong but I don't think there is any other region anywhere else in Australia that has supplied as much juniors as Illawarra. It was so annoying in 2010 when the Dragons won the premiership and they went on at the presentation as it being STGI's 16th title blah blah blah. Sure St George is one of the most famous clubs in Australian sporting history and set records that will never get challenged but Illawarra's contribution to the game shouldn't go unnoticed.

The Brisbane tv issue would be easily solved with a decent 2nd Brisbane team. I would even go to the lengths of inviting News Ltd to be the owner of the "Brisbane Dolphins" or whatever they would be called. I'm sure those money hungry monopoly sensitive dudes would not baulk at that! And more importantly the code grows and has another major tv option in Brisbane.

 

[King hit]

The Brisbane tv issue would be easily solved with a decent 2nd Brisbane team. I would even go to the lengths of inviting News ltd to be the owner of the "Brisbane Dolphins" or whatever they wokd be called. Im sure thise money hungry monopoly sensitive dudes would not baulk at that! And more importantly the code grows and has another major tv option in Brisbane.

Even though I'm a Broncos fan I can see some potential for a second team in Brisbane. If they called the team the Diehards or Brothers they would get an appropriate level of support. The Crushers got crushed by News, SL and had to share a city with the protagonist of Super League but none of their colours or name have anything to do with Brisbane. They would also need to improve the surface of Suncorp Stadium presuming that's where they would be based. That ground's surface has always had problems and if there is NRL every week there the playing conditions will need to improve.

 

[Stallion]

Even though I'm a Broncos fan I can see some potential for a second team in Brisbane. If they called the team the Diehards or Brothers they would get an appropriate level of support. The Crushers got crushed by News, SL and had to share a city with the protagonist of Super League but none of their colours or name have anything to do with Brisbane. They would also need to improve the surface of Suncorp Stadium presuming that's where they would be based. That ground's surface has always had problems and if there is NRL every week there the playing conditions will need to improve.

Their's absolutely potential! Brisbane Brothers or Diehards thats fine by me and most fans I suspect. For the sake of the code it's a must do and maintenance of the ground is achievable. Where there's a will there's a way. (I hope)

 

[King hit]

It would be cool to see a Brisbane derby. I know the Titans are just down the road but quite a few people here don't think of the Gold Coast a QLD team and it doesn't really feel like a local rivalry.

 

[The Great Dane]

Not only did more SL teams make the cut, news limited manage to grab 50% of Rugby League ownership and the foxtel rights which Rupert wanted to drive subscriptions in Australia's most populated areas. The game today is very dictative to TV. A prime example of this is the grand final being moved from the 3pm to 8pm was because it would look better in prime time tv. An example of this today is the Broncos friday night games. I meet this guy in the Broncos Leagues club who was connections with channel 9 and I asked him why the Broncos play on Friday almost each week of the season and he said it's because that broadcaster and 9 executives pressure the NRL to put them there because they make so much money for them and they win the ratings in QLD

The bold isn't really a fair assessment.

After the war News cast all of the SL clubs to the side except the Broncos and Melbourne ('coincidentally' the two clubs that John Ribot held shares in...), they broke all their agreements with them and sold all their shares in the clubs as quickly as possible and left them to fend for themselves during the peace talks and beyond.

So long story short, they used the clubs, then as soon as it was advantageous they got rid of them without fulfilling their agreements with them, and they definitely didn't support any of their interests during the peace talks.

The main reason that so many ex-SL clubs survived is cause of the up front payments they received for joining SL sustaining them until some time after the war, not because of some News plan to save them, the ones that didn't make it (Reds, technically Warriors (yeah technically the Auckland Warriors folded and the NZ Warriors are a different club, story for another time though)) didn't cause they had already burnt through that money, or because they were start up clubs that didn't enjoy the massive joining fees that the pre-existing clubs got for joining the SL (Rams and Mariners, though both I believe were wrapped up with money in the bank in the end, again a story for another time).

So yeah it wasn't as simple as News protecting SL clubs, in fact there were plenty of different parties at the table during the peace talks aside from News and the ARL...

It is very disappointing that the Steelers side of the JV goes unnoticed. The Illawarra region has produced some of the greatest names in RL history and has given 4 test captains to the national side. Correct me if i'm wrong but I don't think there is any other region anywhere else in Australia that has supplied as much juniors as Illawarra. It was so annoying in 2010 when the Dragons won the premiership and they went on at the presentation as it being STGI's 16th title blah blah blah. Sure St George is one of the most famous clubs in Australian sporting history and set records that will never get challenged but Illawarra's contribution to the game shouldn't go unnoticed.

I'm not sure about that, I reckon that Penrith/Western Sydney would be up there, Greater Brisbane would be up there, CQ would have to be close, depending on how you cut them a few parts of country NSW would be close, etc.
I'm not saying that it isn't true that the Illawarra has produced the most juniors to top RL, I wouldn't be surprised if that it was true that they had, but I also wouldn't be surpirsed if any of the aforementioned places had produced the most either.

I do however agree that the Dragons cannibalisation of the Steelers (and Illawarra RL in general really) is a great shame.

 

[The Great Dane]

The Brisbane tv issue would be easily solved with a decent 2nd Brisbane team. I would even go to the lengths of inviting News Ltd to be the owner of the "Brisbane Dolphins" or whatever they would be called. I'm sure those money hungry monopoly sensitive dudes would not baulk at that! And more importantly the code grows and has another major tv option in Brisbane.

I'm totally behind a second Brisbane club, but that's a very, very bad idea, least of all cause it'd be a massive conflict of interest for them to have shares in the only two clubs in the one city, but it'd also basically give News a powerful voting block at within the clubs, and it'd basically doom the second Brisbane club to be a carbon copy of the Broncos and the last thing that Brisbane RL, or RL in general, needs is another corporate behemoth club...

 

[The Great Dane]

Even though I'm a Broncos fan I can see some potential for a second team in Brisbane. If they called the team the Diehards or Brothers they would get an appropriate level of support. The Crushers got crushed by News, SL and had to share a city with the protagonist of Super League but none of their colours or name have anything to do with Brisbane. They would also need to improve the surface of Suncorp Stadium presuming that's where they would be based. That ground's surface has always had problems and if there is NRL every week there the playing conditions will need to improve.

You'd also turn a lot of the potential support away though, you'd definitely turn most of it away in the older demographics.

As nice as it'd be to see the Diehards or another of the older Brisbane brands back in a top level league it probably isn't sensible, a neutral name is probably the best way to go, in fact for a new Brisbane club it's probably the only way to go if you don't want to be carving up your potential fan-base into comparably tiny pieces I'm afraid...

 

[Stallion]

I'm totally behind a second Brisbane club, but that's a very, very bad idea, least of all cause it'd be a massive conflict of interest for them to have shares in the only two clubs in the one city, but it'd also basically give News a powerful voting block at within the clubs, and it'd basically doom the second Brisbane club to be a carbon copy of the Broncos and the last thing that Brisbane RL, or RL in general, needs is another corporate behemoth club...

Understand. The idea was clutching at straws . Moreso emphasising that another Brisbane team is a must for many reasons including tv, juniors, fans and the code.

 

[King hit]

I'm not sure about that, I reckon that Penrith/Western Sydney would be up there, Greater Brisbane would be up there, CQ would have to be close, depending on how you cut them a few parts of country NSW would be close, etc.
I'm not saying that it isn't true that the Illawarra has produced the most juniors to top RL, I wouldn't be surprised if that it was true that they had, but I also wouldn't be surpirsed if any of the aforementioned places had produced the most either.

I do however agree that the Dragons cannibalisation of the Steelers (and Illawarra RL in general really) is a great shame.

I made a mistake. I was saying that no other region apart from Illawarra have supplied as much players to the national team. I might be wrong about that though.

 

[Stallion]

You'd also turn a lot of the potential support away though, you'd definitely turn most of it away in the older demographics.

As nice as it'd be to see the Diehards or another of the older Brisbane brands back in a top level league it probably isn't sensible, a neutral name is probably the best way to go, in fact for a new Brisbane club it's probably the only way to go if you don't want to be carving up your potential fan-base into comparably tiny pieces I'm afraid...

Using some creative thought I've come up with some name ideas:
Brisbane Bysons, Brisbane Battlers, Brisbane Butchers? I'd suggest from a fan point of view the name firstly have Brisbane and then a two syllable motto name as it can be easily used in a chant. Just adds to fan enjoyment. For instance, in a local derby one team would hear "Broncos, Broncos. ....." and the other chant in reply.

 

[The Great Dane]

I made a mistake. I was saying that no other region apart from Illawarra have supplied as much players to the national team. I might be wrong about that though.

Yeah I don't know either, I can believe it though.

Either way give it 25-50 years and it won't be true...

 

[LeagueXIII]

Newcastle would have given quite a few.

 

[gUt]

Using some creative thought I've come up with some name ideas:
Brisbane Bysons, Brisbane Battlers, Brisbane Butchers? I'd suggest from a fan point of view the name firstly have Brisbane and then a two syllable motto name as it can be easily used in a chant. Just adds to fan enjoyment. For instance, in a local derby one team would hear "Broncos, Broncos. ....." and the other chant in reply.

Except Brisbane rl fans are the quietest little mice in the world (except for soo). The best you get out of most of them is an apologetic golf clap at full time.

Brisbane could reasonably sustain 2 more teams imo, one from the north and one from the west.

 

[Stallion]

Except Brisbane rl fans are the quietest little mice in the world (except for soo). The best you get out of most of them is an apologetic golf clap at full time.

Brisbane could reasonably sustain 2 more teams imo, one from the north and one from the west.

Like your thinking. (I've mused that myself-a very underepresented city for top flight rugby league is Brisbane)
I suppose a decent name to chant is better than not for the "golf "galleries.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Just in regards to Super League 'winning', certainly a lot of the SL staff went on to get pretty well paying jobs within the NRL and/or its clubs (and still do 20 years later).

These details were taken from the 1997 Super League Draw Card...

 

[gUt]

f**king hell rebecca wilson Media & PR manager?!?!

It's a very good thing that old merkin is dead