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What to do with Level 3 - Parramatta Leagues Club

Messages
11,677
A prevailing attitude among some (not necessarily you) that comes through occasionaly is that its a leagues club and the asian pokie players need to remember why they have a club. Of course, a counter to that could be everyone needs to remember how it is we still have a club.

This is the major problem that I have.

I asked last Friday how they expect to counter the drop in revenue that would come from treating the Chinese like, essentially, second-class citizens at the Club. How would this loss be balanced so that the bottom line is not compromised.

I did not receive a satisfactory answer. My personal belief is that any line resembling "It's a bloody football club and screw everyone else!" is going to have a negative effect that will bite us in the arse.

I just do not see how changing the priority to football related issues will continually and regularly bring in the income that the Chinese gamers do. I also have not yet seen anyone from the 3P ticket express an understanding or agreement with this line of thinking.
 

junior009

Juniors
Messages
1,550
OK - no more strippers, back on topic boys!!!! :lol:



Level 3 should be treated as a meeting point.
Advertise it like the Coffee Club
"I'll meet you at Sterlo's before dinner/before game/before heading into Parra for the night"
It should be made to feel like the sports part of the Leagues Club also. Move the Hall of Fame up there perhaps??
I thought that was the topic....must have read the title wrong!!! My bad.

Sterlo's during the week is a ghost town. I called in there during the Olympics to watch some of the swimming, Sterlo's was the only place in the club with a TV on. There was a grand total of 3 people in there. 2 club employees on a break and me.

Aside from the strippers, I do have one other (not quite as good) idea. The 3rd floor or part of could be used to open one of those Pokerdome poker rooms that have been opening for the last 12 - 18 months. The one at Newtown RSL attracted alot of younger people to that club and as most of them are already gambling minded no doubt they donated to the pokie fund while they were there. I've seen up to 200 people in there at a time.
 

The Colonel

Immortal
Messages
41,810
This is the major problem that I have.

I asked last Friday how they expect to counter the drop in revenue that would come from treating the Chinese like, essentially, second-class citizens at the Club. How would this loss be balanced so that the bottom line is not compromised.

I did not receive a satisfactory answer. My personal belief is that any line resembling "It's a bloody football club and screw everyone else!" is going to have a negative effect that will bite us in the arse.

I just do not see how changing the priority to football related issues will continually and regularly bring in the income that the Chinese gamers do. I also have not yet seen anyone from the 3P ticket express an understanding or agreement with this line of thinking.


Certainly needs to be a happy medium focused on rather than alienating anyone from within the club..... that said at the moment, the rugby league side is rather an afterthought outside of the name.
 

JessEel

Accredited Media Releases
Messages
28,677
what is the 3P?

3P is the group of guys that made up the ticket that ran against the current board in December to take the Football Club elections. They are now going to go for thr Leagues Club board
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
150,753
Parra Power and the 2 Blues...............................hang one, we already tried that
 

Suitman

Post Whore
Messages
54,917
This is the major problem that I have.

I asked last Friday how they expect to counter the drop in revenue that would come from treating the Chinese like, essentially, second-class citizens at the Club. How would this loss be balanced so that the bottom line is not compromised.

I did not receive a satisfactory answer. My personal belief is that any line resembling "It's a bloody football club and screw everyone else!" is going to have a negative effect that will bite us in the arse.

I just do not see how changing the priority to football related issues will continually and regularly bring in the income that the Chinese gamers do. I also have not yet seen anyone from the 3P ticket express an understanding or agreement with this line of thinking.

To be honest, neither have I.
They are however, reacting to the opinions of a small amount of supporters, at this stage.
Some of our views are common with theirs, and some of the views are new to them.
They are running a campaign to win it, and will do what it takes to win it.
I have however, heard them talk about the demographics and know that they are fully aware of the income such a demographic can provide.
It has been a very short, sharp introduction for all of us to 3P. They would be fools to ignore such a pertinent matter.
Given time, I have no doubt that the issue would be addressed. They are also aware that if it is not, it could be the end of them.

Suity
 
Last edited:

strider

Post Whore
Messages
78,603
This is the major problem that I have.

I asked last Friday how they expect to counter the drop in revenue that would come from treating the Chinese like, essentially, second-class citizens at the Club. How would this loss be balanced so that the bottom line is not compromised.

I did not receive a satisfactory answer. My personal belief is that any line resembling "It's a bloody football club and screw everyone else!" is going to have a negative effect that will bite us in the arse.

I just do not see how changing the priority to football related issues will continually and regularly bring in the income that the Chinese gamers do. I also have not yet seen anyone from the 3P ticket express an understanding or agreement with this line of thinking.

why 2nd class citizens? ... no one is suggesting they put the pokies in the dunnies or anything? - more that they just provide something other than pokies and chinese food
 

hasman

Juniors
Messages
205
Thanks hellsy, didn't know. Still it doesn't take much to get a DA approved, you just have to follow the rules under the DCPs and go about re-zoning in the right way.

Merrylands RSL had a huge multi-level carpark put through when I was working at a nearby Council - they had to change things as suggested by drainage guys, traffic management guys and me (community/disability access) but a few versions later the plans were acceptable. Stockland Mall Merrylands is growing at an ever increasing rate, I can't understand why our Club was so inept at getting it's parking approved?

Better still Col, skip PJ and speak to the Councillors... she's an Arsenal fan rather than a league/NRL fan, but Clr Julia Finn (Labor) should understand the need for sporting infrastructure and access to venues for the citizens of her city. Paul Garrard has a sporting background as well, and was involved with a cricket and soccer club at Granville for many years.

Don't know any of the other councillors anymore. I'm presuming that someone in 3P has contact with the Lib Councillors already, Like Clrs Issa and Lim. For them it should just be a simple business solution, approve a carpark and it will turn extra money into Parra.
 

Kenny

Juniors
Messages
91
It has been mentioned many times before on this thread but a nightclub is what is needed. They need to get the young people back in the club and there is a big empty space begging to be used. Back in my day I used to go up to the club for a feed and a few drinks and then go to the nightclub. There was a $12 cover charge and obviously I drank a gutful of alcohol. A lot of people followed this same routine and spent quite a bit of money in the club. There is nothing in the club that attracts young people nowadays.

Obviously extra costs will be incurred for security and bar staff but considering they ran it successfully for many years with $1 drinks I am guessing they made some money from it. I see no reason why money can't be made from it with the normal $3 or $4 drinks.

I know there will be some troublemakers attracted to the club as a result but that is life. Move them on and ban them if required. If every pub/club closed their nightclubs or bands because of troublemakers there would be no entertainment left!
 

BlueandGoldDust

Juniors
Messages
117
Why is there no Massage Parlour on level 3? That would be my suggestion to improve the place. They could make so much more money and get rid of some of the pokies.
 

Freak2

Juniors
Messages
1,444
It has been mentioned many times before on this thread but a nightclub is what is needed. They need to get the young people back in the club and there is a big empty space begging to be used. Back in my day I used to go up to the club for a feed and a few drinks and then go to the nightclub. There was a $12 cover charge and obviously I drank a gutful of alcohol. A lot of people followed this same routine and spent quite a bit of money in the club. There is nothing in the club that attracts young people nowadays.

Obviously extra costs will be incurred for security and bar staff but considering they ran it successfully for many years with $1 drinks I am guessing they made some money from it. I see no reason why money can't be made from it with the normal $3 or $4 drinks.

I know there will be some troublemakers attracted to the club as a result but that is life. Move them on and ban them if required. If every pub/club closed their nightclubs or bands because of troublemakers there would be no entertainment left!

I would love to see nothing more than a good nightclub back at PL and I think with the right management it could work. If memory serves me well I would suggest that the insurance liability costs would have been a significant contribution to the closure of the previous nightclub. I would start with liability quotations and if reasonable, float the idea again, but if the premium/s was to increase by $100K+ (before claims) is it feasable for the sake of capturing young people back to the Leagues club???
 

bartman

Immortal
Messages
41,022
This is the major problem that I have.

I asked last Friday how they expect to counter the drop in revenue that would come from treating the Chinese like, essentially, second-class citizens at the Club. How would this loss be balanced so that the bottom line is not compromised.

I did not receive a satisfactory answer. My personal belief is that any line resembling "It's a bloody football club and screw everyone else!" is going to have a negative effect that will bite us in the arse.

I just do not see how changing the priority to football related issues will continually and regularly bring in the income that the Chinese gamers do. I also have not yet seen anyone from the 3P ticket express an understanding or agreement with this line of thinking.
Agree that they need an alternative plan in place, and need to state it.

But one way of countering the presumed drop in income from poker machine players if the club/3rd floor is reconfigured and the league part of the club's name is remembered again is simply to.... reduce expenditure.

I believe as the club's income grew with it's foray into mega-numbers of poker machines, so did it's expenditure and plans - on things like renovations and removing the hall of honour and making the place look all swish for... no result?

The club survived, and I'd say thrived for years based on being a club not a casino, and being based largely around rugby league, but still with some added non-league things (a moderate amount of pokies in the corner rooms of the club; the member sub-groups like the bowls club, fi9shing club, darts club). There are other ideas just waiting to happen like turning Sterlos into a decent rocking sports bar, rather than a stale bar with one big screen and no ambience; and getting the auditorium to turn some revenue again like it did in the nightclub days.

If the club and those running it simply don't get as greedy about expanding and redecorating it as they have been in the last 8-10 years - and most of the "improvements" have been pitched for the sole benefit of the pokies players anyway - then there is not as big a need for an alternate plan for the drop in income, so long as the club stops being silly and spending its money to turn itself more and more into a casino.
 

bartman

Immortal
Messages
41,022
Level 3 should be treated as a meeting point.
Advertise it like the Coffee Club
"I'll meet you at Sterlo's before dinner/before game/before heading into Parra for the night"
It should be made to feel like the sports part of the Leagues Club also. Move the Hall of Fame up there perhaps??

No way.

As someone else suggested, the Hall of Fame should be as near to the front door as possible, almost forcing people to walk through it to go to other parts of the club.
It's a Rugby League isn't it, after all.

Suity
I'd say for the meeting point/coffee shop to be effective, it needs to be as near to the entrance as possible, not up however many flights of stairs or a slow crowded lift?

Hall of fame does need to be central to the club, rather than tucked at the back of Sterlos in my opinion. But having it there is better than not having it, as is the case now. Agree that Sterlo's can become the sports-based meeting point before and after games (rather than just the general meeting point), if it was done out like a proper modern sports bar inside, not done out in the stale and insipid colour scheme it has now.
 

bartman

Immortal
Messages
41,022
On another note, is anyone else of the right vintage to remember the game day breakfasts in the cafeteria, or what I guess is now Cafe 88 or whatever it's called?

They used to be a rollicking way to start a Sunday game day, champagne breakfast between 9-12, and then over to catch the lower grades from 12 onwards. Used to be packed out with all ages, right up to the very old who I'm going to presume are the LC official supporters club types, people signing Eels songs, lots of banter.

My dad and I used to rock up at 10:30am, take the Sunday papers to read after we'd finished eating and before we headed to the ground. Of course the demise of Sunday arvos as the main game time makes this hard to do more than say 3 times a year now (instead of basically 12), and probably wouldn't work with Fri/Mon night games.

But you could do it for Sunday games and also as a 12-3 lunch on Saturday if we had an evening game, and then people could hang in the club for that hour or so between 3 and when the lower grades start.
 

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