What a crock of sh*t

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Lifted from a gong eagle post in the NRL section.

Wests Tigers shift east

Exclusive by Dean Ritchie | October 13, 2008
http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/sport/nrl/story/0,26799,24486461-5006066,00.html

WESTS Tigers will this week officially walk away from Homebush and shift to the Sydney Football Stadium in a move that has shocked the Sydney Roosters. The Daily Telegraph understands the Tigers and the SCG Trust have struck a deal with six games to be played at the SFS and three each at Campbelltown Stadium and Leichhardt Oval.
In a financial boon for the club, Wests Tigers will receive about $100,000 for each game through gate takings.
The club claims it has undertaken research showing their western Sydney fans will travel to Moore Park for games.
Privately, the NRL has backed the move amid concerns at the vast amount of empty seats at every televised game at ANZ Stadium. But the Roosters were last night miffed and confused about the move.
"It all seems a bit strange," senior Sydney Roosters official Richard Fisk said. "I thought they were the Wests Tigers, not the East Tigers.
Incoming Wests Tigers chief executive Scott Longmuir believes his club's western Sydney fans will travel east.
"Our club has a geographically broad brand name," he said.
"We have done assessments on this. The distance and travel time from Campbelltown isn't that far or that long. I think the fans will (travel), for sure.
"All successful teams from around the world have the strongest markets and best stadiums."
SCG Trust chief executive Jamie Barkley claimed Wests Tigers' move was a "terrific outcome".
"The SFS and the Wests Tigers will form a strong partnership," he said.
ANZ Stadium CEO Ken Edwards harboured no animosity toward the Tigers.
"We wish them all the best. We understand they are going for good, sound financial reasons," Edwards said.
"We've had five good years with the Tigers. They won a premiership here and we hope that they will return one day."
In two Daily Telegraph reader polls, both fans and players voted the SFS Sydney's best rugby league venue.
"The balance between commercial return and looking after fans is a delicate one," NRL CEO David Gallop said. "Hopefully this move will ensure Wests Tigers continue to strike the balance they are looking for."
The three matches which are set down for Campbelltown will be played early next season with the ground closed for renovation at the end of May.

What f**king research?

There is no way in the world I'm going to travel to the SFS for home games.

It's awful to get to by public transport and expensive to get to via the car.

They can stick the SFS up their arses.

Another "take the $s at the expense of the fans" move.

Longmuir can get f**ked. I hope his stay is a very short one.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Do you travel to LO for games?

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

No.

I go to all Campbelltown and some ANZ, I also go to the odd Parramatta and Penrith games (Wife and kid follow them).

I'd be more than happy for the games to be split between LO and CS. They were getting me for 7 - 9 games, they will only get me for 3 in future and TBH, I haven't decided yet if I'm going to any in future after this decision.

 

[Magpies Forever]

I must admit the homeground "advantage" we give ourselves is very strange- it seems WT go out of their way to make it a level playing field.

I acknowledge Campbelltown will be under renovation late next year but jeez, they have us playing everywhere except at our home grounds. I'd ahve thought if Campbelltown is out when its our home game take it to Leichhardt (as an alternate is Concord Oval up to standard?, I know they use it as a training ground).

I wonder sometimes if WT management have lost the plot and think of it as a business and forget the actual football- maybe that is true- they accept "only average" as our on field performance these days and coaching effort has run lut of ideas- as long as the team do their communtiy work and get press they seem to forgive all else.

 

[madunit]

The club has become a prostitute.

Whoever is throwing around the cash, we'll happily go to their place, get f**ked over time and again before happily departing with cash in hand to the next clients place, ready to hitch up the skirt and bend over again.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Each to their own. I don't travel out to CO because it's too far. SFS is a 10 minute stroll for me so I prefer it to ANZ.

Ideally I'd like 6/6 but if we have to have one, I'd prefer SFS.

Agree with the comments that the club is running it as a business. You could almost call it a franchise mentality, as long as the $$$ are coming in they don't care about results.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Each to their own. I don't travel out to CO because it's too far. SFS is a 10 minute stroll for me so I prefer it to ANZ.

Ideally I'd like 6/6 but if we have to have one, I'd prefer SFS.

Agree with the comments that the club is running it as a business. You could almost call it a franchise mentality, as long as the $$$ are coming in they don't care about results.

I know it's probably much of a muchness for people who live in the Leichhardt area, but it's a dreadful decision for people in the Campbelltown area.

 

[westie]

In the same thread, we have people saying "I'm not going to games or supporting them financially etc" and then "Why are the club prostituting themselves?!?!".

What do you expect them to do?

Our grounds lose money! They're sh*t. Why we'd want to play there is beyond me.

It would be delightful if we had a nice new ground in a suitable geographic location, but whilst the fans waste time lobbying to bring our current grounds up to 1940's standards we're always going to have to attend the quality grounds that are located out of our geographic area.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

In the same thread, we have people saying "I'm not going to games or supporting them financially etc" and then "Why are the club prostituting themselves?!?!".

What do you expect them to do?

Our grounds lose money! They're sh*t. Why we'd want to play there is beyond me.

It would be delightful if we had a nice new ground in a suitable geographic location, but whilst the fans waste time lobbying to bring our current grounds up to 1940's standards we're always going to have to attend the quality grounds that are located out of our geographic area.

This is the decision that is stopping me going next year, not the decision to move to ANZ. Although I don't particularly care for ANZ, it is geographically, time-wise and cost-wise a better place to go than the SFS for people who are in the Campbelltown area.

This will do nothing more than alienate a large chunk of that portion of support.

 

[madunit]

In the same thread, we have people saying "I'm not going to games or supporting them financially etc" and then "Why are the club prostituting themselves?!?!".

What do you expect them to do?

Our grounds lose money! They're sh*t. Why we'd want to play there is beyond me.

It would be delightful if we had a nice new ground in a suitable geographic location, but whilst the fans waste time lobbying to bring our current grounds up to 1940's standards we're always going to have to attend the quality grounds that are located out of our geographic area.

we expect to have, like any normal club and like all other clubs in the comp, one home ground, not 5 or whatever the f**k it is.

We have a team supposedly from western sydney, which opts not to play out there, which is an even stupider idea given the AFL's advancement into this area.

Are the big wigs trying to slowly kill this club?

 

[super_coach]

A clever move by the club,you can field a crapy team and results dont matter because you revenue is in the bank if one person turns up or 80,000.

No wonder they have done bugger all to fix the team up. They can continue to be cellar dewlers and the SFS still pays them 100g for each game. Lets face it they dont give a stuff what the fans think in fact they dont need us anymore

Just got me beat why most other clubs dont send their fans off on a vacation every second week, its probaly because they want to win football matches, a strange notion I would have thought

 

[The Gambler]

I was really hoping for a 4 x 4 x 4 split in 2009. The fans deserve more games at the traditional grounds. The only saving grace for this decision is the fact that I think the SFS is a much better ground to watch footy.

 

[westie]

We have 5 because everyone is living in the past and forcing us to play out of local parks.

Why don't you all get committed to pressuring for a well located, dedicated ground that we can play out of full-time?

The reality is that if you want to play out of ovals and stand on grass hills, you're going to have to put up with travelling to areas with proper facilities.

I'm not too sure, but wouldn't it be easier to travel to the SFS along the M5 or East Hills train line from Campbelltown than chopping and changing trains or driving through suburbia to Homebush anyway?

 

[Trollhammaren]

I'm pretty happy with this decision. It is NOT hard to get to from public transport, it's a ten to fifteen minute walk from Central Station, or you can catch a two minute bus ride from the station. To get to ANZ, you had to change at Lidcombe before heading to Olympic Park.

Plus it's a much better footy stadium and I completely stopped going to games at ANZ later this year because the vibe is so awful there.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

I've walked from central to the SFS/SCG 100 times, if its 10-15 minutes at anything near normal walking pace, I'll blow everyone.

Its a merkin of a place to get to.

 

[westie]

A bit of fitness doesn't hurt, and if you can't handle the pace, there's plenty of fine rest-stops along the way.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Yeah, I mean going to the Footy has always been when I want to get a real good workout.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

I walked with my 60 year old father to Central from the SCG after the test. It took us 15 minutes.

If you can't do it in 15 minutes you're either too fat, injured/disabled or pissed.

 

[Everlovin' Antichrist]

Liar.

Look that word up in the dictionary.

It describes you.

Either that or you dragged the old fella up Foveaux St on a scooter.

 

[Tiger Hawk]

Liar.

Look that word up in the dictionary.

It describes you.

Either that or you dragged the old fella up Foveaux St on a scooter.

Lame.

Look that word up.

It describes your "insults" and/or retorts.

Cue some other recylced garbage you've used dozens of times.