John ribot on sterlo...

[LeagueXIII]

Tbf crowds during this feel good factor time were nothing to shout about
1993 13.6k
1994 14.2k
1995 (expansion year) 13.9k

Yes however crowds had grown from 6969 in 1983 to be at 14,215 in 1994 so they were headed in the right direction. 1994 being the highest on record.
You also have to look at sponsorship and TV ratings. The general perception of the game was very positive on the back of the Tina Turner adds.
The game was pushing into Melbourne, Adelaide (Channel Ten showing games live into these cities) and 4 new clubs were ready to enter in 1995. State of Origin was played at the MCG.
These are some of the reasons Murdoch wanted league to drive his pay TV interests.

Had we continued on this pattern goodness knows where we would be today.

 

[King hit]

Exactly, we'd already had a Perth and second Brisbane team in the comp and here we are 22 years later debating when they will be readmitted.
The biggest thing we have lost is the feel good factor our game had which attracted new fans and sponsors as we were seen as a sport to be associated with. The last 20 years the media has driven the game into the ground and those floating fans no longer come to our sport.

I can't help but wonder what might've been for the Reds if it wasn't for Super League. It totally kicked RL in the west to the kerb. It disappoints me when I think about how much damage Super League did to expansion. Hopefully we can build on the double header in Perth and the 25,000 in Adelaide.

IIRC the Bears were f**ked over by delays in the construction of the Gosford Stadium.

Yes it made them broke financially and they didn't meet the criteria. Merged with Manly and got f**ked even more.

The SL war is over 20+ years ago and plenty has been written and discussed about the heroes & villains. Has anyone written a definitive, unbiased account of what went on that is available online for a read? I was early 20's at the time & wasnt too interested in the political shenanigans or potential consequences as a result.
I wouldn't mind taking a trip down memory lane.

I've read plenty of player biographies and they always talk about Super League. The last biography was Laurie Daley and he spent 50 pages out of 200 talking about it. Would love to read Coleman's book but I don't want to spend $200 for it.

 

[LeagueXIII]

Had the game continued to grow at the rate it was, we can only imagine how much the TV contracts would have been worth.

Also this was before the salary cap was truly enforced also facilities were not the best.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Tried the link, Amazon had a cop for $217, no Kindle version unfortunately.

I spent $80 getting my hands on one and i was totally worth it. Great read, im not letting go of it any time soon...

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Hard to believe they didn't have the Broncos signed up when Super League was born in their boardroom.

The club was on board but Bennett wasnt happy about the media stuff and the players were following his lead.

If they hadnt made Bennett happy, he might have jumped ship and taken the players with him

IIRC the Bears were f**ked over by delays in the construction of the Gosford Stadium.

I still cant believe they didnt try to merge with the Hunter Mariners...

They wouldnt have had any fight over the name, they would have gotten a payout, had their place secured and gotten a bunch of good players. Even Balmian would have been a decent pair to jump in bed with.

As far as i remember, they waited as long as they could trying to stay independent. Then were forced into bed with Manly because they had no alternative.

And you cant really blame Manly for their demise. Bear stopped paying their bills so they lost their right to that half of the licence.

 

[Perth Red]

The club was on board but Bennett wasnt happy about the media stuff and the players were following his lead.

If they hadnt made Bennett happy, he might have jumped ship and taken the players with him



I still cant believe they didnt try to merge with the Hunter Mariners...

They wouldnt have had any fight over the name, they would have gotten a payout, had their place secured and gotten a bunch of good players. Even Balmian would have been a decent pair to jump in bed with.

As far as i remember, they waited as long as they could trying to stay independent. Then were forced into bed with Manly because they had no alternative.

And you cant really blame Manly for their demise. Bear stopped paying their bills so they lost their right to that half of the licence.

NRL should have insisted on the license staying in Gosford though.

 

[King hit]

One time on 2UE they actually counted the crowd in Canberra, which ended up being under 300 people for the blockbuster clash between the Raiders and Halifax Blue Sox. Raiders won a tight one 70- 0. St Helens made the finals without winning a game, one of ya best Reebs.

I've got a story from Halifax's game against the Broncos. In a hard fought 76-0 battle the Broncos scored 15 tries. Buck the horse did 15 laps of the ground (he does a lap of the ground every time the Broncos score a try). As a result he did 15 laps of the QE2 stadium in 80 minutes and the RSPCA thought he was being tortued and complained to the club in fear of his welfare.

 

[King hit]

Borrowed this from the QLD state library today. I didn’t want to spend around 200 bucks on eBay for it.

 

[Stallion]

The club was on board but Bennett wasnt happy about the media stuff and the players were following his lead.

If they hadnt made Bennett happy, he might have jumped ship and taken the players with him



I still cant believe they didnt try to merge with the Hunter Mariners...

They wouldnt have had any fight over the name, they would have gotten a payout, had their place secured and gotten a bunch of good players. Even Balmian would have been a decent pair to jump in bed with.

As far as i remember, they waited as long as they could trying to stay independent. Then were forced into bed with Manly because they had no alternative.

And you cant really blame Manly for their demise. Bear stopped paying their bills so they lost their right to that half of the licence.

The no alternative aspect came from a poorly made 'peace' agreement. It should have been a 20 team comp at the peace deal! Simple as that.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

The no alternative aspect came from a poorly made 'peace' agreement. It should have been a 20 team comp at the peace deal! Simple as that.

The ARL was broke and NewsLtd had already sunk $500mill into stealing the game. Who in gods name would have funded 20 teams...

Both sides had plans to reduce the comp to 14, and both sides agreed that the national footprint was important. Even in 98, there was a huge opportunity to have a great national spread within these 14 clubs, which would have made the SL war at least kind of worth it. The reason we have 9 sydney clubs is because the ARL and NewsLtd just washed their hands of the "vision".

My guess is that NewsLtd realised that they only needed RL clubs in NSW/QLD (with Storm coming in for the expat audience in Melbourne). In the other parts of Australia, it was just easier for them to just get VFL rights.

It was probably cheaper to even stunt RLs growth there to limit the rights they needed to pay for (just my little conspiricy theory)....

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Borrowed this from the QLD state library today. I didn’t want to spend around 200 bucks on eBay for it.

View attachment 17123

F*ckin good read though, hey...

 

[Stallion]

The ARL was broke and NewsLtd had already sunk $500mill into stealing the game. Who in gods name would have funded 20 teams...

Both sides had plans to reduce the comp to 14, and both sides agreed that the national footprint was important. Even in 98, there was a huge opportunity to have a great national spread within these 14 clubs, which would have made the SL war at least kind of worth it. The reason we have 9 sydney clubs is because the ARL and NewsLtd just washed their hands of the "vision".

My guess is that NewsLtd realised that they only needed RL clubs in NSW/QLD (with Storm coming in for the expat audience in Melbourne). In the other parts of Australia, it was just easier for them to just get VFL rights.

It was probably cheaper to even stunt RLs growth there to limit the rights they needed to pay for (just my little conspiricy theory)....

Dissagree with the money logic. The NRL had to add two more teams as it was losing the strategic and market share battle. The fact that both organisations were agreeable to reducing to 14 teams tells me they were incompetent and way out of touch. Even Arko has admitted that taking away clubs, especially the Sydney foundation clubs, was frought with danger and inevitable loss of once loyal fans/market share.

 

[King hit]

F*ckin good read though, hey...

Don’t ruin it for me

 

[mozza91]

It is a great read. Would want to be for $130 the bastard cost me.

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

Don’t ruin it for me

SPOILERS:

Super League happens.....

 

[Hello, I'm The Doctor]

It is a great read. Would want to be for $130 the bastard cost me.

I just cant believe its out of print. Surely there'd be SOME market for it.

IIRC (which i probably dont), 9 was looking at doing a SL mini-series after the success of their Kerry Packer-World Series thing that was gonna be based on this book.

Im sure THAT would have spiked interest...

 

[mozza91]

I just cant believe its out of print. Surely there'd be SOME market for it.

IIRC (which i probably dont), 9 was looking at doing a SL mini-series after the success of their Kerry Packer-World Series thing that was gonna be based on this book.

Im sure THAT would have spiked interest...

It was a bastard to find but I’m glad I went to the effort. Was too young to remember Super League but it sounded like a crazy time from what I’d seen and read elsewhere. Would be awesome if they made a series out of it. They should considering how massive the whole thing was and the impact that it had on every club, player, offical and fan.

 

[Stallion]

It was a bastard to find but I’m glad I went to the effort. Was too young to remember Super League but it sounded like a crazy time from what I’d seen and read elsewhere. Would be awesome if they made a series out of it. They should considering how massive the whole thing was and the impact that it had on every club, player, offical and fan.

It would explain / inform alot of things to youngsters about what went on and its ramifications for the code in Australia. The demise and existence of expansion and some iconic clubs would become known to the younger generations which is a good thing. Perhaps the peace deal brokered may still be an embarassment to the game? It was clearly a poor outcome with the creation of Melbourne Storm being the only plus.

 

[axl rose]

Perhaps the peace deal brokered may still be an embarassment to the game? It was clearly a poor outcome with the creation of Melbourne Storm being the only plus.

Very embarrassing, especially for those currently sitting in rather privileged positions such as Kangaroos coach.

Would be very enlightening though. Few people would even know Gallops ties to News Ltd as Super Leagues head lawyer. 'Little' details like that help explain the relative disaster that was the 00's and the NRL current state in regards to lack of expansion and funding.

If anyone in Brisbane is after Milke Coleman Super League book, I did see a copy last month at Archives Fine Books in the CBD for $15. Well worth a read.

 

[Vee]

Borrowed this from the QLD state library today. I didn’t want to spend around 200 bucks on eBay for it.

View attachment 17123

Score.