NZ Expansion

[Foreign Legion]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league...rl-team-gets-boost-with-feeder-team-announced

The bid for a second New Zealand NRL franchise has received a significant boost, with the consortium signing a A$10 million deal with Christchurch-based Celebration Lions Sports Trust to enter a feeder team in the NSW or Queensland Cup.
The agreement gives the bid team a strong foot hold in the South Island and will strengthen the new club's rivalry with the Auckland-based Warriors.
It also provides another pathway for Kiwi players to the NRL as the Celebration Lions plan to establish a NSW or Queensland Cup team that would play out of their proposed new ground at Porritt Park in Christchurch.
The Lions, who currently play in the strong Canterbury Rugby League competition, also want to enter junior representative teams in the NSWRL's Harold Mathews and SG Ball competitions.
Consortium spokesman Robert Picone said the A$10 million 10-year deal, which would see pre-season matches played at Porritt Park, further underpinned the financial viability of the bid.
"The arrangement our club has struck with the Lions Sports Trust is the last major piece in our bid," Picone said. "It provides the club with a long term strong connection to the Canterbury region and a great base for our club.
"Having a Cup side so close to the NRL squad's base is a big plus and takes away the need for our club to align with an Australian club. The alliance gives the club the right football structures to enable us to be very competitive and provides a definite and clear pathway in New Zealand for the massive talent pool, which exists in the country".
Since Fairfax Media revealed details of the bid for a second New Zealand team based in Wellington two months ago, there has been growing support behind the scenes and officials are hopeful of joining the NRL in 2018.
While NRL bosses remain tightlipped about expansion plans, they have shown their commitment to the game in the New Zealand by holding the launch for the coming season in Auckland on Thursday night and agreeing to stage the Nines at Eden Park for five years.
A second New Zealand team based in Wellington and playing some games in Christchurch, and possibly Rotorua, would capitalise on the rivalry between Auckland and the rest of the country.
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"Our club is fully aware of the importance of the Canterbury region especially with respect to rugby league," Picone said.
"It is and has been such a strong region for rugby league in NZ and has produced many elite players including Quentin Pongia, David Kidwell, Lewis Brown, Matt Duffie, Rulon Nutira and even more recently Cyrus Timo- Latu. Partnering with the Celebration Lions really establishes great foundations for the club in Canterbury".
Lions special project manager Corey Watkinson said the multi-sport trust believed the alliance would be a significant contribution to rugby league in the region.
"The potential of a South Island Cup side based here is a huge boost for Rugby League in NZ and I know there will be a lot of local excitement and support for this initiative," Watkinson said.
- Sydney Morning Herald

 

[andrew057]

Fantastic news.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Good news....

If U20s is cut, there will need to be a few more teams like this established in NZ for the State Championship.

 

[Diesel]

Is NZ aligned to the NSW Cup or are they eligible to choose what comp they can enter, ie QLD Cup? As the Warriors play in NSW Cup

 

[Perth Red]

That's a significant plus for the bid you'd think.

 

[reanimate]

It looks like things are lining up nicely for a second NZ side.

 

[The Great Dane]

Looks like NZ2 might have just overtaken Brissy in the waiting line for licenses.

 

[Wheeled Warrior]

Wow this is awesome!

 

[siv]

So lets anither overseas NSW Cup team

Jeez thay will make it easy for a 2nd division team to manage costs

Maybe it might be better that we setup a Pacific League or bring back ther Bartercard NZ Cup

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Great news. PNG added a lot to the QLD Cup this season, would be great to have a NZ side in it as well.

Fiji will be in the NSW Cup in 2016 as well.

 

[oikee]

Another mistake. This will be the new titans, the next titans with support dwindling after the shine of a new team wears off.
Auckland need a derby, like Brisbane. You create massive interest by having two teams playing out of the one stadium every weekend. Creating a Wellington will just create another gold coast, a team in the middle of faking nowhere, with fake-all support, and stuck in a round lifeless stadium, in the cold, in the heart of winter with no cover.

This bid has failure written all over it, while we could have a team in Auckland, and lobby the government with a bit of cash to build a new stadium, (or better still invest with their own money(the NRL) to build a decent stadium in Auckland for our code.)
With massive derbies, a support base that can grow, and the bonus of a stadium for our code to call home in NZ.

We need vision, not the same old mistakes. Wellington is a mistake, i dont care how many millionaires are on board.

The NRL season should be cut by at least four rounds and new teams from Perth, South-East Queensland and New Zealand added to the competition, according to new NRL Head of Strategy Shane Richardson.

The former Souths CEO also said there was no guarantee all nine Sydney clubs would survive under his vision for the game.

Discussing his blueprint to improve the NRL, Richardson said the season must be streamlined to reduce player burnout, which was a major concern given the current packed schedule with 26 rounds and three mid-week State of Origin matches.

"It’s not about quantity, its quality. Certainly we can reduce it (the season) to 22 games or even 20," Richardson told The Daily Telegraph.

"Then look at State of Origin and stand-alone weekends. We look at the pre-season and control that a lot better.

"Then international football. We’ve got to lock in what we want to do then take it to the broadcasters for the next television deal."

 

[oikee]

The only time Wellington should ever get a team is if a Sydney team relocates, or they bring in promotion relegation.

"It’s not about quantity, its quality. Certainly we can reduce it (the season) to 22 games or even 20," Richardson told The Daily Telegraph.
You will never get quality from Wellington, a city the size of Toowoomba, and i would never want a NRL team for Toowoomba, it would be madness, compete insanity.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

"It’s not about quantity, its quality"

You should take that advice, way too much of the former, not enough of the latter.

 

[The Great Dane]

Another mistake. This will be the new titans, the next titans with support dwindling after the shine of a new team wears off.

I'd like to know how and why you come to this conclusion.

Auckland need a derby, like Brisbane. You create massive interest by having two teams playing out of the one stadium every weekend.

There is one reason why a second Auckland team isn't sensible at the moment, and that reason is that there simply isn't a large enough population of RL fans in Auckland to support two teams without seriously undermining the Warriors position and sustainability in the city (i.e. you'd be trading one strong club for two weak ones, and potentially risking losing both clubs because of it).

Also you neglect the fact that derbies (and rivalries in general) don't work unless there is a strong divide in the population (whether that divide is a cultural, ideological, economic, geographical, etc divide doesn't really matter, there just need to be some point of tension to exploit to create the rivalry).
As far as I know no such strong cultural divides exist in Auckland, or at least they aren't big enough divides to exploit, however I know for a fact that there's a very strong Auckland vs the rest divide which this new team (which would represent everywhere south of Auckland) could play on to make a rivalry as venomous and strong as the one between NSW and Queensland.

Creating a Wellington will just create another gold coast, a team in the middle of faking nowhere, with fake-all support, and stuck in a round lifeless stadium, in the cold, in the heart of winter with no cover.

Firstly I have no clue how you can say that either Wellington or the GC are "in the middle of faking nowhere".

Secondly the proposed bid is not a stand alone Wellington bid!

Rather the bid hopes to represent as much of NZ outside of Auckland that it possibly can and regular matches in Christchurch have already been all but confirmed and regular games in other cities seem to be on the agenda as well.

This bid has failure written all over it, while we could have a team in Auckland, and lobby the government with a bit of cash to build a new stadium, (or better still invest with their own money(the NRL) to build a decent stadium in Auckland for our code.)
With massive derbies, a support base that can grow, and the bonus of a stadium for our code to call home in NZ.

I've already addressed everything you have said here apart from stadiums, which is an argument that I don't normally get into.

However in my opinion if the NRL or any other code wants the best stadiums for their clubs then they should pay for and build them themselves, in any situation that taxpayers are paying for the stadium then a stadium that is most beneficial to them should be built, and rarely is the best stadium for them going to be one that can only support one sport.

We need vision, not the same old mistakes. Wellington is a mistake, i dont care how many millionaires are on board.

You say we need visionaries but what use is a visionary when all his/her grand plans are unrealistic and impossible to implement at this point in time.

 

[oikee]

I'd like to know how and why you come to this conclusion.



There is one reason why a second Auckland team isn't sensible at the moment, and that reason is that there simply isn't a large enough population of RL fans in Auckland to support two teams without seriously undermining the Warriors position and sustainability in the city (i.e. you'd be trading one strong club for two weak ones, and potentially risking losing both clubs because of it).

Also you neglect the fact that derbies (and rivalries in general) don't work unless there is a strong divide in the population (whether that divide is a cultural, ideological, economic, geographical, etc divide doesn't really matter, there just need to be some point of tension to exploit to create the rivalry).
As far as I know no such strong cultural divides exist in Auckland, or at least they aren't big enough divides to exploit, however I know for a fact that there's a very strong Auckland vs the rest divide which this new team (which would represent everywhere south of Auckland) could play on to make a rivalry as venomous and strong as the one between NSW and Queensland.



Firstly I have no clue how you can say that either Wellington or the GC are "in the middle of faking nowhere".

Secondly the proposed bid is not a stand alone Wellington bid!

Rather the bid hopes to represent as much of NZ outside of Auckland that it possibly can and regular matches in Christchurch have already been all but confirmed and regular games in other cities seem to be on the agenda as well.



I've already addressed everything you have said here apart from stadiums, which is an argument that I don't normally get into.

However in my opinion if the NRL or any other code wants the best stadiums for their clubs then they should pay for and build them themselves, in any situation that taxpayers are paying for the stadium then a stadium that is most beneficial to them should be built, and rarely is the best stadium for them going to be one that can only support one sport.



You say we need visionaries but what use is a visionary when all his/her grand plans are unrealistic and impossible to implement at this point in time.

Great Dane, it is a mistake because the population of Wellington can not support a NRL team, now or in the future.
The AFL understand this, and they look at areas where they are gauranteed population growth.
Read this, i will put it onto the other expansion blob so you can read it, but this is the mindset our code needs to have. It is just common sense.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.a...ched-for-afl-shift-to-the-coast-lepp/2540363/

 

[The Great Dane]

Great Dane, it is a mistake because the population of Wellington can not support a NRL team, now or in the future.
The AFL understand this, and they look at areas where they are gauranteed population growth.
Read this, i will put it onto the other expansion blob so you can read it, but this is the mindset our code needs to have. It is just common sense.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.a...ched-for-afl-shift-to-the-coast-lepp/2540363/

Well you obviously either didn't read my post or you ignored the parts you didn't like, and I even bolded the bit that brought this up.

Lets look at that again shall we-

Secondly the proposed bid is not a stand alone Wellington bid!

Rather the bid hopes to represent as much of NZ outside of Auckland that it possibly can and regular matches in Christchurch have already been all but confirmed and regular games in other cities seem to be on the agenda as well.

If successful the Wellington bid would hope to represent roughly 3.5 million people!

 

[pHyR3]

Great Dane, it is a mistake because the population of Wellington can not support a NRL team, now or in the future.
The AFL understand this, and they look at areas where they are gauranteed population growth.
Read this, i will put it onto the other expansion blob so you can read it, but this is the mindset our code needs to have. It is just common sense.

http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.a...ched-for-afl-shift-to-the-coast-lepp/2540363/

are you legitimately illiterate?

i mean i can excuse your inability to spell 'faking' but jesus did you honestly just not read his post?

he said, A SECOND NZ TEAM WOULD ENCOMPASS EVERYTHING OUTSIDE AUCKLAND. in other words 3 million people. do you maybe think that 3 million people is enough to support an NRL team?

 

[eel speel]

It looks like things are lining up nicely for a second NZ side.

This would really affect the recruitment of lots of NRL clubs as kiwis would prefer to stay in NZ than play here.

 

[byrner]

This would really affect the recruitment of lots of NRL clubs as kiwis would prefer to stay in NZ than play here.

Bullshyt! Kiwis love Australia. They would all move over here if they could.

Seriously though. It would mean 25 less topline Kiwi players in Aus. Not that many out of the player pool.

 

[KeepingTheFaith]

Great Dane, it is a mistake because the population of Wellington can not support a NRL team, now or in the future.
The AFL understand this, and they look at areas where they are gauranteed population growth.
Read this, i will put it onto the other expansion blob so you can read it, but this is the mindset our code needs to have. It is just common sense.

Only based on your ignorance that claimed Wellington has the same population as Toowoomba.