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The lowest attendances of 2019 were small Sydney clubs hosting interstate clubs. The data proves my point perfectly. Clubs like Manly, Canterbury, St George and Manly only have 10k hardcore fans who will watch them through thick and thin. Not enough to support an NRL club. It's not an away club's role to take their fans with them to see a team that's based in another state. If a Sydney club cannot draw 10k fans from its catchment when hosting an interstate club then it needs to be culled because it offers nothing to the game and is just a parasite holding back true expansion. Sorry, not sorry.
| 5391 | Parramatta v Canberra | Marrara | 29-Jun-2019 |
| 5578 | St George Illawarra v Melbourne | Wollongong | 04-Jul-2019 |
| 6144 | Cronulla v North Queensland | Endeavour | 25-Jul-2019 |
| 6532 | St George Illawarra v Gold Coast Titans | Kogarah | 10-Aug-2019 |
| 6711 | Canterbury v North Queensland | Stadium Australia | 26-Apr-2019 |
| 7008 | St George Illawarra v North Queensland | Wollongong | 28-Jun-2019 |
| 7213 | Canterbury v Canberra | Stadium Australia | 01-Jun-2019 |
| 7465 | Manly v Gold Coast Titans | Brookvale | 24-May-2019 |
| 7683 | Cronulla v Melbourne | Endeavour | 03-May-2019 |
| 7981 | Penrith v Manly | Penrith | 30-May-2019 |
| 8217 | Sydney Roosters v Canterbury | S.C.G. | 16-Jun-2019 |
| 8253 | Souths v Newcastle | Stadium Australia | 07-Jun-2019 |
| 8274 | Newcastle v Gold Coast Titans | Newcastle ISC | 31-Aug-2019 |
| 8358 | Canterbury v Cronulla | Stadium Australia | 30-Jun-2019 |
| 8468 | Manly v St George Illawarra | Brookvale | 16-Jun-2019 |
| 8512 | Manly v Wests Tigers | Brookvale | 15-Aug-2019 |
| 8680 | Gold Coast Titans v Penrith | Robina | 12-Apr-2019 |
| 9087 | St George Illawarra v Sydney Roosters | Kogarah | 24-Aug-2019 |
| 9136 | St George Illawarra v Wests Tigers | S.C.G. | 01-Sep-2019 |
The figures don't lie and paint a grim picture of the game's health in Sydney. Tribalism has created small clubs that would be unviable in a national competition that doesn't prop them up. The solution might lie in getting rid of Bulldogs, Tigers, Sea Eagles, Sharks, Dragons and Roosters and replacing them with two or three neutral teams. There's no reason a new team cannot cover Northern Beaches, North Shore and Southern Sydney. Another team can cover Canterbury, Macarthur and the Inner West. That would reduce Sydney to five teams : Parramatta Panthers, Penrith Panthers, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Sydney and Western Sydney. It could open up room for the Rabbitohs to claim Southern Sydney and leave the eastern suburbs, North Shore and Northern Beaches to the new Sydney team. Western Sydney would have a large and growing area all to themselves.
Must be why Sydney clubs have such big crowd avg’s, oh hang on….
If what you said was based in reality then the top nine most watched teams would be from Sydney. They are not. Broncos, Storm and Cowboys draw higher ratings than most Sydney clubs. Broncos and Cowboys can finish in the bottom four on the premiership ladder and still draw better ratings than most Sydney clubs. This is vital as it means Broncos and Cowboys are a draw regardless of onfield form. With the Sydney clubs the amount of people tuning in is dependent upon how they're travelling on the field. Must be a bastard for the broadcasters and ARLC to decide which Sydney teams to put on Ch9 when they don't know how they'll go on the field.
Like i said, I dare you to take Sydney teams away.If what you said was based in reality then the top nine most watched teams would be from Sydney. They are not. Broncos, Storm and Cowboys draw higher ratings than most Sydney clubs. Broncos and Cowboys can finish in the bottom four on the premiership ladder and still draw better ratings than most Sydney clubs.
AwFuL gets more money than us and they have just two teams in Sydney.
Super League drew better attendances than ARL in 1997. Super League was broadcast on Foxtel, Ch9 and ABC. ARL was limited to just Optus Vision and Ch9.
Yeah just stay on your computer whining mate.
Before my health problems set in I was a season ticketed member of Wynnum Manly and went to Lang Park and Robina Stadium when the Cowboys were in town.
ok so you cant go to games, sorry to hear that. Before your health issues you went to what then, 1 or 2 NRL games a year?
If what you said was based in reality then the top nine most watched teams would be from Sydney. They are not. Broncos, Storm and Cowboys draw higher ratings than most Sydney clubs. Broncos and Cowboys can finish in the bottom four on the premiership ladder and still draw better ratings than most Sydney clubs. This is vital as it means Broncos and Cowboys are a draw regardless of onfield form. With the Sydney clubs the amount of people tuning in is dependent upon how they're travelling on the field. Must be a bastard for the broadcasters and ARLC to decide which Sydney teams to put on Ch9 when they don't know how they'll go on the field.
AwFuL gets more money than us and they have just two teams in Sydney.
12,482
Its owner, News Ltd, got a 50% stake in the game and everything it wanted from 1998 onwards.
