2013 Memberships

[BunniesMan]

It would work with a little proactive thinking, a little imagination and a little willingness to make it work.


But noone should and noone can force clubs to move. They'll simple have no choice eventually.

Within a few short years Sydney clubs will be divided into haves and have nots. The annual income of clubs like Dogs and Souths will be millions ahead of some of the other clubs. When they start getting left behind they'll make the move.

 

[Lambretta]

Think that Souths increase in memberships / crowds has more to do with their footy side being highly competitive rather than the move to homebush. Just as the Sharks memberships are up 50% on the same time last year. Also don't underestimate the impact of Rusty and Holmes interest free loan on Souths bottom line either. Not having a go.....I'm enjoying seeing Souths success but its a bit rich to expect everyone to believe that you will go broke by staying at the traditional grounds.

Also Souths supporter based is pretty widespread so moving to Homebush is a move closer to the heart of their demographic in many respects.

Clubs such as Manly and Cronulla have a very localised supporter base and a move to areas such as the Sydney CBD or Homebush would be moves away from their demographic and wouldn't benefit them. Their crowds would fall, not grow.

 

[BunniesMan]

10 years ago everyone would have said Souths have a very localised supporter base. We made the decision to move and because of that we were forced to proactively grow the brand. Now like a club like the Eels, we have fans all over Sydney.

That's what smaller clubs should be aiming for.

 

[forby]

As soon as Souths have a bad year they will be back to 8000 crowds. Besides what will they do without Russel's paper bags?
Redfern to Homebush is 17km. Penrith to Parramatta is over 35km. This is why rationalisation wont work!

 

[Frailty]

'Can anyone seriously point out which Melbourne clubs are suffering by not playing out of dumps like Windy Hil, Victoria Park et al instead of huge, modern stadiums with all the money making corporate facilities laid on?'

North Melbourne, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne. They are going down the shit hole. Whether playing in smaller grounds would help or otherwise is arguable.

This... These clubs are in deep financial trouble...

 

[Billythekid]

It will be interesting to see how all this bullsh*t scandal stuff affects memberships. Hopefully not much but they sure are pushing it as much as possible.

This for a team that refuses point blank to play anywhere but Brookvale with it's tin sheds. If it's good enough for all the Melbourne AFL teams to play out of two venues then it's good enough for the Sydney NRL teams. This "fans won't travel" business is crap. If Souths can average nearly 20,000 at Homebush is there any sensible reason why Manly can't do similar at the SFS (or even the SCG)?

They are spotting the big Sydney clubs around 3-4 million EACH YEAR in membership/gate money. At this rate, it is an absolute certainty that they will go broke. Same goes for any team thinking they can compete playing at the likes of Kogarah (although their membership numbers are pretty impressive), Leichhardt, Campbelltown, Penrith or (insert ex sponsor, wahtever is applicable these days) Field for Cronulla. Parramatta is borderline but perhaps with the A League success, someone might be able to convince Fat Barry to stump up some funds for improvements/extensions.

Can anyone seriously point out which Melbourne clubs are suffering by not playing out of dumps like Windy Hil, Victoria Park et al instead of huge, modern stadiums with all the money making corporate facilities laid on?

Parramatta, penrith and sharks? Really? If your ground can hold around say 20-23K per game than that is plenty imo. If parramatta really want they can take a couple of big games (like the Hindmarsh game) to the big stadiums to get some bigger crowds.

Brookvale fair enough. The place simply can't hold enough fans it basically is more likely to get knocked down than be given the resources to get it up to scratch.

We don't need to become centralised ala the AFL and we would be stupid if we did. However we are kidding ourselves if we think it's viable to have this many grounds imo. There simply isn't enough funds for every club to have their own stadium (2 or 3 in some cases).

I'm not sure what the solution is.

 

[BunniesMan]

As soon as Souths have a bad year they will be back to 8000 crowds. Besides what will they do without Russel's paper bags?
Redfern to Homebush is 17km. Penrith to Parramatta is over 35km. This is why rationalisation wont work!

2012 was the first time we made the finals since 2007. Our crowds and members were still excellent compared to most other clubs from 2008-2011. The move has been an outstanding success.

Financially speaking, when the other clubs really start getting left behind by the Dogs and Souths they'll get their shit together and move very quickly. Every year that goes by it's happening more and more.

 

[Lucky Roy]

Billy the Kid,

Good response. My belief is that the big money is in corporates. The common understanding is that Wests Tigers need 18000 to break even at Leichhardt Oval, which has basically zero corporate facilities. So crowds are helpful but only part of the solution. Brookvale would be worse, Kogarah a little better and Parramatta a fair bit better. The days of sponsors settling for party pies and some house red in a sweaty tent are over. And with it, the suburban grounds.

I don't care how much Gus Gould loves his Sunday arvos at Leichhardt. He has his ample arse parked in a comfy chair and gets a park at the front door. He also gets a feed from the caterers, I would imagine. Stays dry and can close the window when the wind whistles in over Iron Cove. Anyway, when was the last time Gould struck gold, other than for himself? I'm afraid his reputation outweighs the reality these days and has for over ten years. I still remember the "team" he put together when Souths got back in.

As a PS, I hope Manly fans aren't hanging by their nuts waiting for Abbott to make good on his Brookvale promise. He still has those 100 dams he promised to build in Queensland, if people care to hold him to that promise. He has also guaranteed to lower the tax threshold back to $6000 and remove family benefit payments so when the great unwashed finally wake up to those and his other inane promises, Brookvale will be a fair way down his list of priorites. At any rate, it's not like they are going to vote him out, is it?

 

[firechild]

Brookvale would be worse

In other words, you have no idea. Brookvale suffered last year because there was construction going on. That construction included a bunch of new corporate boxes as well as a new section of grandstand. All the people that can only watch the footy in the comfort of a plastic seat now have more options.

 

[Babyface O'reilly]

In fairness to Manly fans, getting out en masse to a new home ground (modern or otherwise) outside of their local area would be difficult on a week to week basis with no rail network. It's a pain in the arse getting out of Manly.

 

[DC_fan]

10 years ago everyone would have Souths have a very localised supporter base. We made the decision to move and because of that we were forced to proactively grow the brand. Now like a club like the Eels, we have fans all over Sydney.

That's what smaller clubs should be aiming for.

That was because the guy who was running the club at that time wanted us to believe that.

 

[H.H]

Chooks 7,912.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Souths still 21,006.
Have been told 47,000 pets have been registered as members.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Eels 11,871

We got dis

 

[tumbidragon]

Any word at all about the membership battle rounds? It is a great concept that the NRL has implemented over the past couple of years which saw great membership growth during the battlerounds. Was waiting to sign up during that period Hopefully they have not scrapped it!

 

[Lambretta]

10 years ago everyone would have said Souths have a very localised supporter base. We made the decision to move and because of that we were forced to proactively grow the brand. Now like a club like the Eels, we have fans all over Sydney.

That's what smaller clubs should be aiming for.

Mate, South Sydney have the largest and most widespread supporter base of any team in Rugby League. The major difference is when you were completely rubbish no one living more than 5 years from the ground could be arsed going to watch you.

If Souths had been as successful as Easts from the mid 90's you would have packed out the SFS every bleedin' week and would never have moved.

You are getting better crowds because you play better football, not because you relocated to Homebush. If you win a Premiership watch your membership base get even bigger.

 

[Lambretta]

Souths still 21,006.
Have been told 47,000 pets have been registered as members.

Allegedly they had to have a re-count as fleas are disqualified as being pets under the new NRL guidelines released by the independent commission today.

Souths now have 47 registered pets. Eight if you include the one BunniesMan's mum bought for him.

 

[applesauce]

You guys want an idea of where people with out of town memberships are based (like when many give it to Souths).

http://member.nrl.com/#stakeYourClaim

 

[Lambretta]

2012 was the first time we made the finals since 2007. Our crowds and members were still excellent compared to most other clubs from 2008-2011. The move has been an outstanding success.

Mate, you had very good squads from 2008-2011 and should have made the Finals each year. Your teams under performed during the season but you sold on promise in the pre season. Yes 2011 was pure bad luck because of a terrible run of injuries, but that didn't hit your member numbers.

I think the move to Homebush is a decent one for Souths because your supporter base is so widespread and so many of your fans live in the West and those that live in the South can get to Homebush by train from Central. Other clubs don't have that luxury.

There is no train for Sea Eagles fans to use - so the SFS is difficult and Homebush is nigh on impossible for them. Cronulla is so far from either stadium you need half a days travelling time to get to them from the Shire. Especially Homebush. It just doesn't suit them.


I was always a huge fan of seeing a stadium built in the Blacktown area to be shared by Penrith and Parramatta - but with the AFL going there, that's highly unlikely.

If a stadium was built in the South to be shared by Cronulla and St George that could also work - but then where would you put it and St George have a stadium site in Wollongong that can be developed to be larger in the long term so they don't need another one to worry about.

 

[WaznTheGreat]

Parra hit 12k members today