mightybears
Bench
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- 4,342
Back in mid 1999, close to 10 years to the month rumours were circling my part of the world that the Norths Leagues Club / Football Club board was a bit worried about the final $ cost of the near finished weather delayed CC staduim that we had paid a bit for, got the various govs to pay the rest was blowing out badly. We had a 20 year leasehold agreement. We were going to rake it in, as the stadium was designed to go into the black match day wise as long as the crowd got to 8,000.
Now at the time, i thought, no dramas can't be that bad..............it got past mid year, the media was reporting cost blows out, and strangely rumours that the deal re the criteria the board had from the NRL about being 'all good' weren't on paper, weren't legally binding. A little later that the board [Leagues not Football] were looking at other options re funding whatever that meant.
Then the really weird one, a sick deathwish, that a merger with Manly was rumoured, impossible we though [and i mean we, no one i knew ever thought about mergers, let alone with Manly yeah right, we'd get together with North Rocks Deaf and Blind first.] Even fired off a letter to a certain board snake with a 'surely not' and got a lovely letter saying yeah snokflakes, we are Norths.
You know the rest, to my point. While the above happened in pretty quick time driven by a criteria at the end of the year that seemed to be rapidly dodgier as the months past, media pushed the story and News Limited, their agenda to some extent-it was all over before we realised. Our most sucessful decade since the 1920's on field, finals 5 years straight, 2 prelim finals losses, 4 lower grade titles, more rep players than any other era, money and crowds to burn, and a leagues club that had 60,000 members and made serious millions each year did not mean jack.
The media is running the same campaign now, they have turned and its largely still News limited!, its running as quick as 1999, and you lot are reported as poor as we were in Aug 1999, you're in crisis, you are on the edge.
I'm not doubting those here are motivated, and i never post here/look enough to see all thats been said, but its time to get fired up, get the rellos writing and emailing to all and sundry, anything and everything to avert what appears to happening.
I don't want you arsed for a number of reasons.
1. Your history of sucking mirrors my own team [we always had more money, and you actually got to grand finals but its the same no premiership story, and i understand that!].
2. Its dumb to tear a whole in the blanket league coverage of Sydney, as the north shore knows, its just an in for other codes and lets face it 2 of the other 3 are smarter and one has a sh*tload more money.
3. Self interest, if you are up against the wall, a guaranteed bullet to the head situation with dangerous dave with the trigger finger, and he says CC Sharks or else [token match v St Merge by the mangroves], you'll take it to avoid oblivion. I know i would, sh*t had i know what would happen to us, i'd have gone the 'visionthing' back in 1995 and held my mouth firmly shut if big Mal turned up to Norths Leagues with his puppet master and told the crowd that league hadn't given him a thing!
4. I invested money as kid in your club/stand and made a then very healthy 15.8%? for years off you lot!, but seriously you don't want to become a 'new' Norths supporter, be the league fan without an NRL team, see the sad arse insecure friends turn into dragons fans, Its sucks not being in the top flight, and it pissed me off then and still hurts now that we were arsed [even if board level judas acts played their role], you don't want that, even i don't want that for you and i don't personally know a single one of you.
Seriously fire up as best you can, to anyone that cares, as per the example of the Miranda station people mentioned in the other post, get the NRL to put a block on your emails [it can be very cathartic!] but do it now. I'd like to be wrong about this, but media hype [and self infliction] turn terminal before you know it.
Now at the time, i thought, no dramas can't be that bad..............it got past mid year, the media was reporting cost blows out, and strangely rumours that the deal re the criteria the board had from the NRL about being 'all good' weren't on paper, weren't legally binding. A little later that the board [Leagues not Football] were looking at other options re funding whatever that meant.
Then the really weird one, a sick deathwish, that a merger with Manly was rumoured, impossible we though [and i mean we, no one i knew ever thought about mergers, let alone with Manly yeah right, we'd get together with North Rocks Deaf and Blind first.] Even fired off a letter to a certain board snake with a 'surely not' and got a lovely letter saying yeah snokflakes, we are Norths.
You know the rest, to my point. While the above happened in pretty quick time driven by a criteria at the end of the year that seemed to be rapidly dodgier as the months past, media pushed the story and News Limited, their agenda to some extent-it was all over before we realised. Our most sucessful decade since the 1920's on field, finals 5 years straight, 2 prelim finals losses, 4 lower grade titles, more rep players than any other era, money and crowds to burn, and a leagues club that had 60,000 members and made serious millions each year did not mean jack.
The media is running the same campaign now, they have turned and its largely still News limited!, its running as quick as 1999, and you lot are reported as poor as we were in Aug 1999, you're in crisis, you are on the edge.
I'm not doubting those here are motivated, and i never post here/look enough to see all thats been said, but its time to get fired up, get the rellos writing and emailing to all and sundry, anything and everything to avert what appears to happening.
I don't want you arsed for a number of reasons.
1. Your history of sucking mirrors my own team [we always had more money, and you actually got to grand finals but its the same no premiership story, and i understand that!].
2. Its dumb to tear a whole in the blanket league coverage of Sydney, as the north shore knows, its just an in for other codes and lets face it 2 of the other 3 are smarter and one has a sh*tload more money.
3. Self interest, if you are up against the wall, a guaranteed bullet to the head situation with dangerous dave with the trigger finger, and he says CC Sharks or else [token match v St Merge by the mangroves], you'll take it to avoid oblivion. I know i would, sh*t had i know what would happen to us, i'd have gone the 'visionthing' back in 1995 and held my mouth firmly shut if big Mal turned up to Norths Leagues with his puppet master and told the crowd that league hadn't given him a thing!
4. I invested money as kid in your club/stand and made a then very healthy 15.8%? for years off you lot!, but seriously you don't want to become a 'new' Norths supporter, be the league fan without an NRL team, see the sad arse insecure friends turn into dragons fans, Its sucks not being in the top flight, and it pissed me off then and still hurts now that we were arsed [even if board level judas acts played their role], you don't want that, even i don't want that for you and i don't personally know a single one of you.
Seriously fire up as best you can, to anyone that cares, as per the example of the Miranda station people mentioned in the other post, get the NRL to put a block on your emails [it can be very cathartic!] but do it now. I'd like to be wrong about this, but media hype [and self infliction] turn terminal before you know it.
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