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Should St George Illawarra end their joint venture?

Should St George Illawarra end their joint venture?


  • Total voters
    120

muzby

Village Idiot
Staff member
Messages
45,712
The St George fans lament the change of culture and standards Muz.

The reasons why the JV was formed have proven to be ill founded.

The Illawarra has a massive junior nursery but does not use it effectively.

St George was perceived to have the money, but the Leagues Club no longer properly subsidises the football side.

Illawarra is now a token JV member having sold its interest to WIN because it was insolvent.

WIN was to bring us corporate governance and professionalism. WIN clearly lack the ability to propel the JV towards success.

Each party has failed to deliver.

We are for all intent and purposes the Illawarra Steelers masquerading as STGI.

The best thing for all parties would be for the licence to be sold to a serious private corporate player interested in running a successful “brand” for profit.

No more jobs for the boys at admin or coaching level.

I would be happier to see the name St George play exclusively in a NSW Cup rather than be associated with this farcical JV.
That’s some McGregor level finger pointing there..

It’s everyone else’s fault but not St George’s?

This mess stems from Kogarah.. Time for the once proud club to step up and start contributing if they want to stay in 1st grade..
 

DRAGONHEART4

Juniors
Messages
154
Has anyone noticed how pathetic the st George junior rep teams are. We get all our good players from the Illawarra. St George junior numbers are very low. We lost 13’s 14’s and 15’s to the roosters a couple of weeks ago in junior development games. Roosters have microscopic junior numbers. Very embarrassing we lost to them.
 

Gareth67

First Grade
Messages
8,407
Very well said, mate.

I've lost faith in the board and with WIN hijacking control of the club, we need change but with the St George component of the board rolling over, l am without knowledge in knowing our next move.

All l know is that our club seem happy just to be in the league as opposed to wanting to win it like the Saints of old.

OKB1 Do you recall that they were actually thinking about amalgamating with Uncle Nicks chooks before finally going with Illawarra ? I believe the name that was being bandied around was the Eastern Suburbs Dragons !
 

Wittenberg

Juniors
Messages
1,140
Yes let’s end the joint venture. That way we technically wouldn’t have won a single comp since 1979, our junior base would be decimated and financially we would be stuffed. Oh and our wonderful partnership with the local Council would continue. Yes boys it would be lovely to live in the glory days of yesteryear but ditch the joint venture and we would be in deep shit. But then again we might then be able to get rid of Mary.....hmm that makes it more palatable. It is too easy to blame our woes on the joint venture and the Illawarra influence. Using that logic who could we blame for not winning a trophy for 20 years between 1979 and 1998 when we were just Saints? And how did we get into the position that saw us shafted by Murdoch & News Limited and who was to blame? Certainly not Illawarra. Have been a Saints man for over 60 years but the St George versus Illawarra mentality has held our club back and will stop it moving forward. Our past and continually harking back to the glory days of the RedV is why our club is not a professional outfit. Yeah I look back with pride at our history but I look at our present with embarrassment.
 

muzby

Village Idiot
Staff member
Messages
45,712
Yes let’s end the joint venture. That way we technically wouldn’t have won a single comp since 1979, our junior base would be decimated and financially we would be stuffed. Oh and our wonderful partnership with the local Council would continue. Yes boys it would be lovely to live in the glory days of yesteryear but ditch the joint venture and we would be in deep shit. But then again we might then be able to get rid of Mary.....hmm that makes it more palatable. It is too easy to blame our woes on the joint venture and the Illawarra influence. Using that logic who could we blame for not winning a trophy for 20 years between 1979 and 1998 when we were just Saints? And how did we get into the position that saw us shafted by Murdoch & News Limited and who was to blame? Certainly not Illawarra. Have been a Saints man for over 60 years but the St George versus Illawarra mentality has held our club back and will stop it moving forward. Our past and continually harking back to the glory days of the RedV is why our club is not a professional outfit. Yeah I look back with pride at our history but I look at our present with embarrassment.
It moved, Jerry..

It moved..
 
Messages
2,866
That’s some McGregor level finger pointing there..

It’s everyone else’s fault but not St George’s?

This mess stems from Kogarah.. Time for the once proud club to step up and start contributing if they want to stay in 1st grade..
Delusional clap trap
SF is absolutely right.
 

2010

Bench
Messages
3,490
I’m an old fart and have been a one eyed supporter for longer then I care to admit.
I would love to see saints back at Kogarah, our spiritual home.
Times have changed and the joint venture probably sacked us from a worse basket case then where we are now.
The joint venture if it was handled by a team of business minded individuals together with decent coaches who would ensure a transition of our younger players through the grades.
If we had the right people in the right positions in the club we could have been one of the powerful clubs in the league.
This won’t change anytime soon and we will just continue to be mediocre in all facets of the club
 

SIR LANCELOT

Juniors
Messages
986
Stop crying lads..We are now a joint venture. Support it or get out. If we were winning none of this would be getting discussed. Face facts.The St George area has changed.Too many teams in Sydney.Teams will have to go for the game to survive.That is life now in this changing world.Get over it.:cool:
 

DRAGONHEART4

Juniors
Messages
154
Stop crying lads..We are now a joint venture. Support it or get out. If we were winning none of this would be getting discussed. Face facts.The St George area has changed.Too many teams in Sydney.Teams will have to go for the game to survive.That is life now in this changing world.Get over it.:cool:
Well said mate
 

muzby

Village Idiot
Staff member
Messages
45,712
Take away the joint venture and suddenly St George have the longest premiership dry spell of any club in Sydney..

Actually, they have the longest premiership dry spell of any club in the league (including those two clubs who haven’t yet won a title..)


I’ll just let that marinate for a bit with the anti JV crew..
 

Walpole

Juniors
Messages
2,418
I'm a St George fan from way back but the only way the Dragons survive into the future is being seen as an "out of Sydney club". If they were to go back to being the St George Dragons, based out of Kogarah, then they are in direct competition with all the other Sydney clubs when the NRL eventually gets around to expansion. They would either get moved to another location or fold completely. The connection with Illawarra and being the NRL teams southern NSW team is what will keep the Dragons alive. Reality sucks but that's the way it is.
 

j0nesy

Bench
Messages
3,747
I can’t believe the old “Steelers culture is ruining the JV” chestnut is being wheeled out again. The fact is that the CEO is, and has always been, a St George boy. The buck stops with the CEO.

The issue is that our club is very poorly run and managed. Nepotism is rife, our board and CEO even create jobs that have never existed just to give the old boys work.

Getting rid of the JV won’t solve the issue. St George would just end up with Johnston as CEO, Nathan Brown as coach and Craig Young as director of pathways. Illawarra would end up with Millward as CEO, Barrett as coach and Ryles as director of pathways.

There was a good post, about how to make a difference to the club, doing the rounds a while back. From memory, one way to change the club would be to become a member of the St George leagues club. After 5-10 years you would attain voting rights, at which point you can nominate and vote for the St George board members. Personally I can’t be arsed to do that, and I can’t think of a better way to solve the current problem. So I just accept it for what it is and watch most games in the hope that one of our young blokes turns out to be a star.
 

Willow

Assistant Moderator
Messages
108,270
Seriously though, I’m not sure this is possible now with the WIN deal
That's the interesting thing isn't it? Illawarra Steelers are no longer stakeholders in the Joint Venture. They are there in name only and will remain there as long as the St George-WIN JV stays in place (ie presumably thanks to the goodwill of St George and WIN).

The previous JV was up for review every five years. If the same clause is in place for the current JV, then it will be up for review in 2023.

The OP ignores this, and asking the question suggests that we can make the decision. That said, I did vote for the fun of it.

The fact is, we don't know what will happen following any review of the St George-WIN JV.
Yes let’s end the joint venture. That way we technically wouldn’t have won a single comp since 1979, our junior base would be decimated and financially we would be stuffed. Oh and our wonderful partnership with the local Council would continue. Yes boys it would be lovely to live in the glory days of yesteryear but ditch the joint venture and we would be in deep shit. But then again we might then be able to get rid of Mary.....hmm that makes it more palatable. It is too easy to blame our woes on the joint venture and the Illawarra influence. Using that logic who could we blame for not winning a trophy for 20 years between 1979 and 1998 when we were just Saints? And how did we get into the position that saw us shafted by Murdoch & News Limited and who was to blame? Certainly not Illawarra. Have been a Saints man for over 60 years but the St George versus Illawarra mentality has held our club back and will stop it moving forward. Our past and continually harking back to the glory days of the RedV is why our club is not a professional outfit. Yeah I look back with pride at our history but I look at our present with embarrassment.
Well given that it is a Joint Venture, the 2010 premiership belongs as much to St George as it does to Illawarra. It's our acknowledged history. Check my sig.

You raise some concerns but I don't think it's that black and white.I agree that the 'it'll get rid of Mary' angle is a bit silly. The coaching woes are an entirely separate discussion.

More to the point... an end to JV in itself does NOT mean an end to all facets of the partnership. The contacts will still be there, the development programs will still be there. It's not like we would stop getting juniors from the South Coast, or never play in Wollongong. St George and the Illawarra had a strong relationship before the JV dating back to the 1920s, why would that stop if the JV ended? It has the potential to be stronger
Take away the joint venture and suddenly St George have the longest premiership dry spell of any club in Sydney..

Actually, they have the longest premiership dry spell of any club in the league (including those two clubs who haven’t yet won a title..)


I’ll just let that marinate for a bit with the anti JV crew..
Glass half empty?

As said, the 2010 premiership belongs as much to St George as it does to Illawarra. You can't just erase the heritage.

This is like one of those anti-republic arguments where monarchists were in a mad panic spreading around all sorts of scenarios if Australia were to become a republic. The classic was being kicked out of the Commonwealth and no longer being allowed to compete in the C-Games. Something they forgot to tell the Republic of India when they hosted the C-Games in 2010.

If the Britain and India can work this out as part of Indian independence in 1948, then surely the districts of St George and Illawarra can continue with old partnerships and look forward to a prosperous future.
 

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