"Wests Tigers are most vulnerable"

[adamkungl]

This stupid idea that Sydney has too many clubs is a symptom of the NRLs ineptitude and neglect to the competition as a whole, not an indication of anything inherent to Sydney.

As is the failure to expand.

 

[Perth Red]

This stupid idea that Sydney has too many clubs is a symptom of the NRLs ineptitude and neglect to the competition as a whole, not an indication of anything inherent to Sydney.

As is the failure to expand.

Questionable when you consider crowds and tv audience share. These would both suggest Sydney does not have as much interest in NRL as we would like to think and this opens up the debate if there is enough customers and corporate support for nine clubs in a $25million a year revenue sport. Sure NRL is sht at their job, no argument there. Lets see if they have the balls to stand by their "your on your own" intent once clubs are getting properly funded.

Failure to expand is symptomatic of the NRL's failure to have an existing comp full of mostly sustainable clubs (and total lack of vision and faith in its product)

 

[bad boy bubby]

The Tele is sure doing its job in the fear mongering department.
Its Wests turn at the moment just like it was Cronulla's before them and Souths before that.
These are all just rehashed stories.
The lucky team at the moment is St.George/Illawarra. With the amount of money they owe the NRL it could be that they would be the ones being aimed at. The Illawarra part of the venture is saving them, it makes them semi regional and hence not on the radar, just like Gold Coast and Newcastle.
If they were St.George you can guarantee they'd be a lot more scrutinised.

 

[Clifferd]

E-mail I received from the Tigers CEO.



Welcome to the Wests Tigers CEO Update for June.

Let’s get things straight.

The Wests Tigers are not going anywhere.

Financially we’re in the best position we’ve ever been in. Revenue is up across the business and we’re on track for a strong financial result this year. We have amazing fan support with 2017 another record year for Membership. We have no current loan with the NRL and under the new proposed NRL funding structure we expect to be profitable in 2018. In doing so we will be one of just a handful of NRL clubs to turn a profit. We are building a successful club that is sustainable.

We’re also in a position where we have unprecedented stability off the field. Our ownership is secured with a new agreement between Western Suburbs and Balmain, we have stability at a Board level and we are working towards a common goal. I’m pleased to say that the level of corporate investment in our club is growing, our playing strip is full and we have added a number of new partners to our club over the last year. These Corporate Partners can see a bright future for Wests Tigers and are committing their hard earned money to us, and we look forward to working with them for many years to come.

Key Financial Statistics

2017 apparel partners at capacityClub on track to be profitable in 2018

Our future is secure. We have a license agreement with the NRL that states that the game is not entitled to direct or compel any club to relocate. As well as that the NRL cannot direct or compel any club to merge or enter into a joint venture, and cannot force the change of identity, logo, name or branding.

We’ve said on a number of occasions that we’re not afraid of making the tough decisions when they need to be made. We’ve made numerous tough decisions, all of which have the future sustainability of the club at their core. The saying goes that doing the same thing time and time again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. So we’ve made a conscious decision to break away from what we’ve done in the past to change our future. And we will continue to do so.

Our Membership is at its highest ever level. We’re closing in on 18,000 Members, which will be 3,000 above last year’s record number. You, our dedicated fans, are showing your support for the direction that the club is heading in by committing as Members and we thank you for that. We’ve worked hard behind the scenes to create a Membership offering that provides much more than just a ticket to the game each week and we’ve been rewarded with record growth. We’re taking our Members behind the scenes, giving them access to the people they want to see, the players, and are providing value for money. All of this adds up to an attractive Membership offering that we believe will continue to grow.

Key Membership Statistics

Wests Tigers has the fastest growing Membership in SydneyFive Sydney based clubs have a lower overall satisfaction of Membership value according to NRL data

We’re very proud that last year we had the highest average home crowds of any Sydney team. We put a lot of work into turning each of our home games into an event, with specific theming, offers and off-field activities that appeal to the whole family. By doing this we were rewarded with a bump in crowds and for the first time in years were able to put up the ‘Sold Out’ sign at Leichhardt Oval in Round 26. We’ve continued that work into 2017 and are again seeing encouraging crowd figures.

Key Game Day Statistics

In 2016 Wests Tigers averaged a home crowd of 15,390Only the Broncos, Cowboys and Storm had a higher average crowdWests Tigers were the number one Sydney team

Our community programs have become the envy of the game. We now deliver more than 35 meaningful programs across our footprint that are making a real difference in the community. We’re involved in more groups and initiatives than ever before and this is continuing to grow. We’re working on a number of programs that traditionally wouldn’t have been touched by Rugby League and this is something that we’re proud of and will continue to promote for years to come. How someone could suggest removing a club that is making such a positive impact on the community is laughable.

We as a club are fortunate to the have a junior nursery that is one of the three largest in Sydney. We are proud of the developmental pathway that we provide from the grassroots right through to the NRL and will continue to nurture these nurseries and grow the game.

We acknowledge that this club is not perfect, and we can do things better. But that’s why we’re making the changes that we’re making and why we will become one of the great clubs in this competition.

I’d like to finish by thanking you for your ongoing support of Wests Tigers and I look forward to this support continuing for many years to come.

Justin Pascoe
Wests Tigers CEO

 

[Clifferd]

Eat a million dicks Slothfield you alcoholic. Can someone please forward that message to him if possible

 

[Meapro Ham]

Eat a million dicks Slothfield you alcoholic. Can someone please forward that message to him if possible

Your playing right into his hands by even bothering with what he says. As is the tigers CEO who should know better. Its just tabloid sensationalism designed to provoke. The author doesn't necessarily believe any of it.

 

[Clifferd]

Your playing right into his hands by even bothering with what he says. As is the tigers CEO who should know better. Its just tabloid sensationalism designed to provoke. The author doesn't necessarily believe any of it.

He hates the tigers. CEO has come out and said it how it is instead of some nuffy making up baseless journalism

Being apart of some Tigers social media groups the average fan actually thought we were in the shitter.

The fans deserve to know where their club is at

Job well done.

 

[This Year?]

The game made the clubs famous not the other way round.

Without the clubs there is no game.

When did that happen!?

I can't remember any clubs merging to accommodate new clubs ever in the history of Australian RL,
I can however remember new clubs being sacrificed left right and centre so that Melbourne could be introduce and as many Sydney clubs could be accommodated as possible.

Apart from the Rabbitohs not one Sydeny club was cut after the SL war (and even they eventually made their way back into the competition), they all continued in the competition in some form or another, obviously the Bears died eventually but they weren't cut.

The Reds, Rams, Chargers, Crushers, and Mariners (though the Mariners were no loss) were all cut or forced to close, and the Warriors were going to be cut before they were saved at the last minute by a rich benefactor (and even then he only saved the brand not the club it's self), so frankly who was accommodating who!?

And yes you can point out that the Rams and Mariners were sacrificed by News to introduce the Storm, and that the Crushers were effectively murdered by the Broncos, which is all true, but even so the NRL had the power to save them if they really wanted to and chose not to so they could save as many of the Sydney clubs as possible (specifically the ones that were loyal to the ARL).

That decision to sacrifice the Rams, Reds, and Crushers because of politics is the biggest mistake in Australian Rugby League history.

Clubs were forced to merge or die through the "criteria" they had to meet post SL war when the NRL was formed The Storm did not need the "criteria" because they were being propped up by News Ltd, so clubs were forced to merge to accommodate the Storm. All clubs could have survived post SL. Some even could have prospered like the Storm has done now if the NRL had the foresight to relax the criteria and work with club administrators for growth and sustainability.

 

[simmo05]

Without the clubs there is no game.



Clubs were forced to merge or die through the "criteria" they had to meet post SL war when the NRL was formed The Storm did not need the "criteria" because they were being propped up by News Ltd, so clubs were forced to merge to accommodate the Storm. All clubs could have survived post SL. Some even could have prospered like the Storm has done now if the NRL had the foresight to relax the criteria and work with club administrators for growth and sustainability.

Correct.

 

[TheFrog]

The Tigers are one of the first choices for FTA games. I suspect the Panthers are more vulnerable than they are.

 

[The Great Dane]

Without the clubs there is no game.

If all the clubs died tomorrow they'd just be replaced by new clubs in time, because it's the game that attracts people not the clubs.

If that wasn't true then RL never would have got up in the first place in this country because apart from Glebe and the Rebels none of the original clubs were existing entities before 1908.

Clubs were forced to merge or die through the "criteria" they had to meet post SL war when the NRL was formed The Storm did not need the "criteria" because they were being propped up by News Ltd, so clubs were forced to merge to accommodate the Storm.

Firstly the Storm didn't have to meet some of the criteria because they were a start up club, however they more then met the financial and business criteria because they were being backed by News.
To meet those criteria for the Storm and the Broncos News pulled funding from all the other SL clubs that they had bought into and promised to support, that effectively killed the Reds, Rams, and Mariners on the spot and chucked all the others under the bus.

No Sydney club was sacrificed for the Storm, that's just false, however multiple clubs from outside Sydney were denied support while every possible route was taken by the ARL side of the negotiations to make sure that as many of their loyal clubs survived as possible, specifically their Sydney clubs, and all of them bar the Rabbitohs, Chargers, and Crushers did survive in some form or another (and obviously the Rabbitohs made their way back in).

The Death toll of the SL war was 6 (7 if you count the Bears, which personally I don't), only one of those clubs was from Sydney and it was resurrected only a few years later, so again I ask you who was ask to accommodate who?!

All clubs could have survived post SL. Some even could have prospered like the Storm has done now if the NRL had the foresight to relax the criteria and work with club administrators for growth and sustainability.

That's just false as well, all the ARL clubs were broke, all the SL clubs bar the Storm and Brisbane were basically broke as well, there is no way they could have all supported themselves with the funding they had and with all the competition that each was for the others.
For an obvious example are you seriously suggesting that both the Knights and Mariners could survive in Newcastle?

So a selection of the strongest clubs in the strongest competition structure had to be made, there's no doubt about that, but that's not what happened.
What happened was a dick measuring power grab between the old ARL power brokers, QRL, NSWRL, the Sydney old boys club (Politis, Gould, etc), the Broncos, News Limited, and the media in general.

 

[The Great Dane]

Eat a million dicks Slothfield you alcoholic. Can someone please forward that message to him if possible

I'm no fan of Rothfields, but to be fair it wasn't him that picked the Tigers to be dropped it was a public vote.

 

[Jason Maher]

News Limited and the Broncos have never given up their dream of destroying as many Sydney clubs as possible.

lol@The Great Dane. Anyone can play with definitions and reach the conclusion they are looking for, the way you have done here. Also it's laughable to claim the Bears demise had nothing whatsoever to do with Superjoke.

This is the full list of Sydney teams tossed in the dustbin in the wake of Superjoke (year entered the comp in brackets).

- Balmain (1908)
- Western Suburbs (1908)
- North Sydney (1908)
- South Sydney (1908; later returned because they were the only ones with the balls to fight)
- St. George (1921)
- Manly-Warringah (1947; screwed over the Bears to get the license for themselves)
- Illawarra (1982; for some unknown reason they were classified as a Sydney team at the time)

That's 6 teams, or 7 if you count Illawarra. That's a hell of a lot of fans pissed off for no good reason. The non-Sydney teams that disappeared were brand new teams that hadn't been around long enough to develop a loyal fan base:

- Perth (1995)
- South Queensland (1995)
- Gold Coast (1996; they were a different entity to the Giants/Seagulls)
- Hunter (1997)
- Adelaide (1997)

The Crushers and Gold Coast were crushed as a special favour to Brisbane. Hunter and Perth were cannibalised to create the Storm.

Basically an awful lot was done to favour and protect from competition two teams in two key television markets. That is all it was ever about. The fans can get f**ked. Nothing much has changed.

 

[Clifferd]

I'm no fan of Rothfields, but to be fair it wasn't him that picked the Tigers to be dropped it was a public vote.

He created the poll, followed by talking down the Tigers to persuade the audience

Whatever agenda the terrorgraph has I can assure you majority of the readers will agree like sheep

 

[The Great Dane]

News Limited and the Broncos have never given up their dream of destroying as many Sydney clubs as possible.

lol@The Great Dane. Anyone can play with definitions and reach the conclusion they are looking for, the way you have done here.

Where did I play with definitions?

It seems to me that you are the one playing with definitions by trying to assert that entities that still exist are in fact dead, but whatever.

Also it's laughable to claim the Bears demise had nothing whatsoever to do with Superjoke.

Firstly the Bears never died, their doors are still open, they just aren't a presence in the NRL anymore.
Secondly I never claimed that the Bears dropping out of the NRL had nothing to do with SL, only that they weren't cut when the NRL formed.

There're many reasons why the Bears were dropped and yes the impact of SL on their business was a contributing factor, however you yourself point out that Manly screwed the Bears which was another contributing factor, but that isn't even half of the story.

This is the full list of Sydney teams tossed in the dustbin in the wake of Superjoke (year entered the comp in brackets).

- Balmain (1908)
- Western Suburbs (1908)
- North Sydney (1908)
- South Sydney (1908; later returned because they were the only ones with the balls to fight)
- St. George (1921)
- Manly-Warringah (1947; screwed over the Bears to get the license for themselves)
- Illawarra (1982; for some unknown reason they were classified as a Sydney team at the time)

That's 6 teams, or 7 if you count Illawarra. That's a hell of a lot of fans pissed off for no good reason. The non-Sydney teams that disappeared were brand new teams that hadn't been around long enough to develop a loyal fan base:

- Perth (1995)
- South Queensland (1995)
- Gold Coast (1996; they were a different entity to the Giants/Seagulls)
- Hunter (1997)
- Adelaide (1997)

The Crushers and Gold Coast were crushed as a special favour to Brisbane. Hunter and Perth were cannibalised to create the Storm.

All of those Sydney clubs (including Illawarra for the sake of time) are still active businesses, they all still playing footy in some form or another, and only one of them (the Bears) doesn't have a presences in the NRL anymore!

All of those clubs outside of Sydney are dead, they shut their doors, they aren't playing football anymore in the NRL or in any other competition (except maybe the Reds, who you could argue are the same entity as the Pirates, it's not really true though, they just had the same owner when you get down to it)

So who exactly accommodated for who again?

Basically an awful lot was done to favour and protect from competition two teams in two key television markets. That is all it was ever about. The fans can get f**ked. Nothing much has changed.

I don't deny that the Storm and the Broncos were protected species, that as you say a lot was done to protect them, and some of that was wrong, some of it was just good business by the NRL.

However to deny that a lot was done to protect as many of the Sydney clubs as possible at the expense of clubs in other markets is to deny reality.

If things were done sensibly almost anything in the NRL's power should have been done to keep the Rams, Reds, and Crushers in the competition. If that meant dropping/killing all but 5 of the Sydney clubs then so be it, if that meant sacrificing more clubs in smaller strategically less important markets such as Townsville, Newcastle, and Canberra on top of the Sydney clubs then so be it.

Unfortunately things weren't done sensibly, and the NRL and RL as a whole is paying for it now.

 

[The Great Dane]

He created the poll, followed by talking down the Tigers to persuade the audience

Whatever agenda the terrorgraph has I can assure you majority of the readers will agree like sheep

Fair enough.

 

[This Year?]

News Limited and the Broncos have never given up their dream of destroying as many Sydney clubs as possible.

lol@The Great Dane. Anyone can play with definitions and reach the conclusion they are looking for, the way you have done here. Also it's laughable to claim the Bears demise had nothing whatsoever to do with Superjoke.

This is the full list of Sydney teams tossed in the dustbin in the wake of Superjoke (year entered the comp in brackets).

- Balmain (1908)
- Western Suburbs (1908)
- North Sydney (1908)
- South Sydney (1908; later returned because they were the only ones with the balls to fight)
- St. George (1921)
- Manly-Warringah (1947; screwed over the Bears to get the license for themselves)
- Illawarra (1982; for some unknown reason they were classified as a Sydney team at the time)

That's 6 teams, or 7 if you count Illawarra. That's a hell of a lot of fans pissed off for no good reason. The non-Sydney teams that disappeared were brand new teams that hadn't been around long enough to develop a loyal fan base:

- Perth (1995)
- South Queensland (1995)
- Gold Coast (1996; they were a different entity to the Giants/Seagulls)
- Hunter (1997)
- Adelaide (1997)

The Crushers and Gold Coast were crushed as a special favour to Brisbane. Hunter and Perth were cannibalised to create the Storm.

Basically an awful lot was done to favour and protect from competition two teams in two key television markets. That is all it was ever about. The fans can get f**ked. Nothing much has changed.

He wouldn't understand cos his club was so quick to jump ship.

If all the clubs died tomorrow they'd just be replaced by new clubs in time, because it's the game that attracts people not the clubs.

If that wasn't true then RL never would have got up in the first place in this country because apart from Glebe and the Rebels none of the original clubs were existing entities before 1908.



Firstly the Storm didn't have to meet some of the criteria because they were a start up club, however they more then met the financial and business criteria because they were being backed by News.
To meet those criteria for the Storm and the Broncos News pulled funding from all the other SL clubs that they had bought into and promised to support, that effectively killed the Reds, Rams, and Mariners on the spot and chucked all the others under the bus.

No Sydney club was sacrificed for the Storm, that's just false, however multiple clubs from outside Sydney were denied support while every possible route was taken by the ARL side of the negotiations to make sure that as many of their loyal clubs survived as possible, specifically their Sydney clubs, and all of them bar the Rabbitohs, Chargers, and Crushers did survive in some form or another (and obviously the Rabbitohs made their way back in).

The Death toll of the SL war was 6 (7 if you count the Bears, which personally I don't), only one of those clubs was from Sydney and it was resurrected only a few years later, so again I ask you who was ask to accommodate who?!

That's just false as well, all the ARL clubs were broke, all the SL clubs bar the Storm and Brisbane were basically broke as well, there is no way they could have all supported themselves with the funding they had and with all the competition that each was for the others.
For an obvious example are you seriously suggesting that both the Knights and Mariners could survive in Newcastle?

So a selection of the strongest clubs in the strongest competition structure had to be made, there's no doubt about that, but that's not what happened.
What happened was a dick measuring power grab between the old ARL power brokers, QRL, NSWRL, the Sydney old boys club (Politis, Gould, etc), the Broncos, News Limited, and the media in general.

Any club that had an S on the front of their jersey got looked after while the clubs that were loyal to ARL were made to fight for inclusion in a competition they were already in. If a brand new club enters the comp while mine was forced into a joint venture then it is not false that my club was sacrificed to bring in the Storm. If it happened to your club you might be a bit more understanding of my point of view. The whole thing was terribly done and the wounds still haven't healed and this thread has just opened them up again.

If my club folded rugby league can go and get f**ked.It was bad enough when we had to form a join venture to stay in a competition that we had been in since 1921.

Most of the clubs were broke because News Ltd wanted them to die and almost got their way. Why do you think the Mariners were put where they were? News Ltd knew it was ARL heartland and wanted to suffocate the Knights.

RL in Australia will always be Sydneycentric whether anyone likes it on not because it's where it started and where it grew. It's just a shame some can't just grow the game like it should because of greed.

Let's cut the tWest Tigers and end the history of two proud and very old clubs who shouldn't have merged anyway because of the greed of a corporation. f**k the fans, the members and the people who work for the club and would probably bleed for it too because some f**king wanker thinks there's too many clubs in Sydney,

Get f**ked.

 

[carcharias]

Piss the warriors off.

They're shit
It's not the IRL.

Their good players will just come here anyway.

 

[OldPanther]

It's funny that they think cutting teams will make people support another team but if they cut the Panthers I wouldn't watch. There's emotion there from being a fan for 30 years.

 

[Feej]

120 posts derived from a desparate need to create more advertising revenue by the most despicable corporation in the world.

Nice work.