Are the Storm the most liked team in the NRL?

[taipan]

i'm sorry - are suggesting that the game is struggling in sydney? have you seen the detail of these "school comps"? when is it (at the level they are) that you expect to harvesting juniors?

source & details please.

hmmmm....explain to me why in this city of 4 million, a club with sponsors equal to the 4 best AFL counterparts, and leading the comp, and being as strong as it has for almost a decade, is not making heavy inroads right now? it is after all a no-brainer (obviously), because with all this they should already be trouncing other club attendances then. why aren't they?

as for other markets - do you seriously think the storm wouldn't attract more supporters in wide bay? central coast? brisbane? and therefore do you think companies wouldn't be queuing up to sponsor said franchises?

come on

Not suggesting the gam,e is struggling in Sydney,just that some sydney clubs crowds are down and in some cases have has smaller crowds than the Storm,when we are supposed to be passionate rugby league supporters.
Seeing the development work has only started in earnest this year,the comp is in its infancy.See ARL site news -15/12/05 "The development of RL in Vic advanced today with the announcement that the sport will now be recognised secondary school sporting program.this allows for RL programs to form part of school sporting calendars and assists in encouraging schools to take up the sport as one of their sporting choices.this includes the conducting teacher's accreditation courses."
It is not going to happen overnight.
If you want sources go to the ARL website,development news.

The sponsorship the Storm got from Medibank Private and Host Plus is worth more than $1.2m pa,among the richest in the NRL >it compares favourably with Brisbane and the Roosters as well as several Melbourne based AFL clubs-source Herald Sun by Karl de Kroo 7/3/06.

Why aren't they getting the attendances?, its bleeding obvious have you seen Olympic Park stadium,every NRL club has facilities far better than those.The CEO Brian Waldron (ex st Kilda) stated a new stadium will increase the interest and support of sponsors and fans alike.Even in the time the Storm spent in the AFL Telstra Dome their crowds were much bigger than now. Why aren't Sydney crowds with better facilities getting 16-20,000 crowds in their heartland regularly ,then get back to me.As a matter of fact the crowd at the Eels v Saints at the redeveloped Oki Stadium on an ordinary night,was hardly bigger than the Storm gets on an ordinary night.
As a matter of fact the big local derby between my club the sharks and saints got only 18 odd thousand.It should have been a sellout .

The storm due to lack of financial support in the past,could only scratch surface on development.With part of the $23m over the next 3 years,that is now starting to change.


Now lets see if I was selling something a good product like rugby league I would go to the 2nd biggest market in Oz,with the commercial opportunities established.I don't know how many international companies are situated in the wide Bay region or the Central Coast,but I would suggest you could count them on your hands.
Even that AFL flip Richard Hinds commenting when eddie was appointed to 9,that 600,000 Melburnians watched the G/F last year(no Storm).That is the market,if you can get a slice of that,its not to be sneezed at.

The central Coast needs a side ,but not the Storm sorry.


BTW the SOO in Melbourne got 14 pages in the Herald Sun last Thursday.
Also a Melbourne based sport's reporter by the name of Wilson stated tonight,that the SOO in Melbourne is saturated with the hype,and many Melburnians he met are interested.

 

[taipan]

I wonder why people who make a living off the game like Phil Gould, Johnny Gibbs, Bob Fulton, Mark Geyer and Ray Hadley didn’t come out in 1994 and say it was a waste of time in promoting Rugby League in Melbourne.
It seems the Melbourne exercise has upset the AFL mates in the Sydney media as well. There is a turd who writes in the Herald called Richard Hinds. He is the Herald’s Sydney AFL journalist. He has become obsessed with writing columns of why Rugby League will fail in Melbourne. Last week I heard the AFL loving Steve Price on 2UE going off about taking an Origin game to Melbourne. He went to the open line and could only find one listener to object to the game being taken to Melbourne. Isn’t amazing the critics who said 12 month ago that no one would turn up, have changed their line to now NSW and QLD fans flying in and dominate the crowd, to the Victorians who turn up will only be there for the event or the free tickets being given away. What will be the spin if it rates OK in Melbourne tomorrow night? Heaven forbids if it wins the timeslot, that will cause a lot of coughing and spluttering. Will the get out jail card be the size of the crowd for the Friday Night game against the Broncos from the “so called” Rugby League fans? I’m sure the narks will find a negative or two,

Saw that Hinds article,have kept it and await the ratings details in Melbourne,before giving him a written return serve.
If you want to see an article serving it up to rugby league,Paul Sheehan in yesterday's SMH page 11 under the heading"How to play the beautiful game"- reckons rugby league is a game for cheats,cheap shots,head high tackles,rubbing faces into the ground, etc etc ,whilst writing a glowing report on soccer. This tweet is given so much licence to bag RL ,its almost as if the Herald does the ghost writing.At the same time he glibly quickly dismisses the AFL and union with a couple of anti comments.

 

[Hoops]

BTW the SOO in Melbourne got 14 pages in the Herald Sun last Thursday.
Also a Melbourne based sport's reporter by the name of Wilson stated tonight,that the SOO in Melbourne is saturated with the hype,and many Melburnians he met are interested.

Got back page today, even an almost full page picture on Page 5 not to mention 4th and 5th page from the back. but how can this be? I thought the media were all AFL stooges and against Rugby League in this state,

What about the Government putting in money for Rugby League, Aren't they sopposed to be in bed with the AFL, how can this be?

Not to mention the games a sellout, So much for Victorians being insular and not willing to give other codes a go.

I guess this disproves 3 myths perpetrarted by a lot of LU clowns and generally people north of the big brown River

 

[petetheileet]

lol i knew as soon as this thread opened up it would be a cracker!!!!

ps. league in melbourne is a joke, will always be a joke and must be reffered to as a joke, forever and ever....amen!

 

[Angry_eel]

lol i knew as soon as this thread opened up it would be a cracker!!!!

ps. league in melbourne is a joke, will always be a joke and must be reffered to as a joke, forever and ever....amen!

it is a joke but if its publicized i think it will work. im allright with that as long as storm fans aren't saying sh*t about parra all the time.

 

[Bezant]

petetheileet

As a melbourne storm fan I have only 1 thing to say to you......1999:lol:

 

[brendothejet]

Yeah Yeah We Should Only Have Rugby League Teams In Sydney And Brisbane.



Stooges.


Rl In Melbourne Is Great And Having Been Down There And Met The Supporters Of The Storm I Wish Them The Best!

 

[Ice777]

lol i knew as soon as this thread opened up it would be a cracker!!!!

ps. league in melbourne is a joke, will always be a joke and must be reffered to as a joke, forever and ever....amen!

Hello look what the cat coughed up, yet another St George idiot. Well just in case you missed it here's a post i gave to the rest of your Dragons mates which i think is pretty much on the mark:

I have a sneaking suspicion that the hatred you display for the Storm is born out of the fact that everytime we play you, we bend over and spank your arses like the little bitches you are :lol:

Your club and supporters haven't recovered since 99 and all i can hope and pray is that we face you in the GF again this year and make those psychological wounds even deeper. You aren't the Dragons when you play the Storm, you really should be known as the bunnies because that's what you are to us. Much like Cullinan was to Warney


You call the Storm a joke? Your team is the joke not only to every Storm supporter but to most opposition supporters as well. You start off favorites pretty much every year, you're faves to win the comp now, yet being the under achieving rabble that you are, you never cease to let show the rest of the comp see how pissweak your club is :lol:

​

 

[Misty Bee]

LOL @ melboring and Brisbane 'selling out' their origins. In a pissant stadium like Suncorp and Telstra Dome, you toss off over getting roughly half of Parra v Saints, Round 1 1999!

That's where Melboring fans lose me. They get 9k to a home game when they are winning the comp, and bag off Sydney teams for crowds!

The thing that really pisses me off about the Storm is that they would collapse as soon as Rupert forgets to sign the cheque. And none of that $$$ goes on local junior production.

Then you get some Melboring fan bag the ARL for not 'decentralising the game' LOL!

Melbourne were started by Satan. Then there was Rodney 'Steriods' Howe. They also employed Glen Lazarus - another reason to raise anger. And Rusty Bawden - the only person who could make Gordon Tallis look intelligent.

But the worst thing is their complete and utter failure to get a decent crowd. The ARL is about to pump $20 million into junior development, and is doing their utmost to promote the club. What does the club do? Sweet FA>

I enjoy watching the team - they seem to have cleaned out the arrogance of their early years. I'm happy to have them as part of the tapestry of RL. However, the price paid for the death of Perth, Gold Coast, Norths, Wests, the Steelers and Adelaide has been to high for 9000 Victorians to sit around and whinge about Fitzgerald.

Having said that, their side is good to watch - this year it's a great ad for RL in a year where most of the big guns are playing dour football. Damn pity that can't and wont promote the code!

 

[Ice777]

The stupidity and ignorance of some Sydanee/NSW fans never ceases to amaze me. I'm not sure why because i read/hear in on a daily basis :roll:


The bagging of the crowds started at you knobs up there pointing out how bad our were and we merely pointed out to clean up your own backyard before you have a go at ours. It's funny how you had to go back 7 years ago to point out a good crowd you had up there, but then again it's probably the last time you had one :lol:

The ironic part about that is, the same year the world record was set for a rugby league game and that was107,000-108,000 depending on which site you read. That's a crowd that will never be broken unless they build a stadium big enough but even then i don't think they ever will. Oh and who were the competing teams? That's right, St George Illawarra and the MELBOURNE STORM!!!!!!!

 

[Mr Saab]

LOL @ melboring and Brisbane 'selling out' their origins. In a pissant stadium like Suncorp and Telstra Dome, you toss off over getting roughly half of Parra v Saints, Round 1 1999!

That was the first time rugby league was played at Telstra Stadium.
Lol @ you calling Suncorp Stadium, one of the best league stadiums in the world, "pissant".
It is the best rugby league stadium in australia, and arguably the world (world being England). Of course you will state some stupid argument to prove othewise.

 

[Ice777]

Not wrong there Mr Saab, Suncorp is a brilliant stadium and i can't wait to get back up there to see the Storm take on the Bronco's in round 23. The people are so much friendlier there than the majority you find in Sydanee.

 

[Misty Bee]

You lot are the ones saying that your 50k crowd is better than out 75k crowd.

You are the ones carrying on about crowds all the bloody time. Fact remains that all you have is 9000 regulars, no FTA, no juniors, no self sufficiency.

Our backyard is quite clean, than you. In fact, it's good enough for us to take time out to help you clean up yours.

Not wrong there Mr Saab, Suncorp is a brilliant stadium and i can't wait to get back up there to see the Storm take on the Bronco's in round 23. The people are so much friendlier there than the majority you find in Sydanee.

Nice backhander, Ice. I agree, generally Sydneysiders like Charlie are less friendlier than us up north.

Make sure you piss in the right pocket next time!!!!! :lol::lol:

 

[Mr Saab]

I dont take that as a backhander at all Vapour Fly.
It is people like you that want the game to go back to the 1980s (pre 1988) when it was a NSWRL comp.

 

[Misty Bee]

I was happier when it was an ARL comp, before News Ltd came along and shrunk it.

I dont take that as a backhander at all

That's because you are desperate for friends, you'll even accept the ones that bag you. :lol:

BTW, I still love you, little buddy ;-)

 

[Ice777]

It was no backhander Misty Bee, as mentioned in an earlier post i go to at least 3 games in Sydeny to watch the Storm play a year and some of the abuse we've copped was brutal. Not as brutal as when my friend spent the night in the emergency room after geeting a bottle wrapped around his head at the showgrounds by opposition supporters and that was after their team WON.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not tarring every Sydanee supporters with the same brush as i've met plenty over the years who were not only glad to have us there and share a beer with us before the game at a pub, but they were more so surprised that we'd come from Melbourne to see a league game of all things. But as a general rule i've found the people of Brisbane much more friendly and accommodating of us than what Sydney people are. So no backhander, just stating a fact.

 

[Mr Saab]

I am all for expansion, but the way the ARL did it was completely nuts.
Including 4 new teams at once (hindsight is great) was suicide.
It has to be gradual with the Gold Coast in 2007 and perhaps a new team in 2012/13.
The NRL learned from the ARL mistakes.

 

[Misty Bee]

Ice, that's one section of Canterbury fans for you. Certainly not the typical sports fan in Sydney.

But with the sh*t you have carried on here just on this thread, it's no wonder you don't make friends in Sydney!

And that's my point re Storm fans that I have debated on the web. They are arrogant, degrading of Sydney league teams, it's history and it's culture, ignorant of their expansion Australia wide, and the hell they copped from new clubs such as Brisbane under Ribot as a result. The expansion that Norths, Wests and Newtown voted for cost them their own clubs existance. Illawarra, the first expansion club in 1980 that joined in 1982, voted in clubs in QLD, NZ and WA in 1993 that caused their death in 1998.

The very title of this thread suggests that the League public in general welcome the Storm's brave presence in Melbourne, and apart from a few backward thinking people with profile (Hadley and Fitzgerald), the vast majority of Sydneysiders support what the Storm represents in Melbourne, and what the future of the greatest game of all holds with a fair go in Melbourne.

The decision makers that gave you Origin and Test matches as far back as the early nineties were all Sydneysiders. The mob about to pump $20 million into your juniors has it's HQ about 2kms from the Harbour Bridge.

In return, your attacks carry the stench of AFL arrogance (your crowds are crap etc), and of the silly old Melbourne-Sydney rivalry (you need stadiums like we have).

A great exmple is this:

Hello look what the cat coughed up, yet another St George idiot. Well just in case you missed it here's a post i gave to the rest of your Dragons mates which i think is pretty much on the mark:

I have a sneaking suspicion that the hatred you display for the Storm is born out of the fact that everytime we play you, we bend over and spank your arses like the little bitches you are

Your club and supporters haven't recovered since 99 and all i can hope and pray is that we face you in the GF again this year and make those psychological wounds even deeper. You aren't the Dragons when you play the Storm, you really should be known as the bunnies because that's what you are to us. Much like Cullinan was to Warney


You call the Storm a joke? Your team is the joke not only to every Storm supporter but to most opposition supporters as well. You start off favorites pretty much every year, you're faves to win the comp now, yet being the under achieving rabble that you are, you never cease to let show the rest of the comp see how pissweak your club is

OK. Winning the 1999 GF give you bragging rights.

It doesn't give you the right to bag of the club who, above any sporting club in Australia, has achieved so much and done so much for their city, their sport, and their country. 11 straight titles is the best achievement in any code. better than anything that ever came out of Melbourne - and greater than anything ever achieved by an AFL club.

Without St George's achievements, there is no way you'd get to enjoy live RL at it's best every second weekend, or an Origin decider tonight.

When you lot can show that respect to those who have made this code great, then maybe your trips to "sydenee"might be a hell of a lot more pleasant.

 

[Hutty1986]

Hello look what the cat coughed up, yet another St George idiot. Well just in case you missed it here's a post i gave to the rest of your Dragons mates which i think is pretty much on the mark:

I have a sneaking suspicion that the hatred you display for the Storm is born out of the fact that everytime we play you, we bend over and spank your arses like the little bitches you are :lol:

Your club and supporters haven't recovered since 99 and all i can hope and pray is that we face you in the GF again this year and make those psychological wounds even deeper. You aren't the Dragons when you play the Storm, you really should be known as the bunnies because that's what you are to us. Much like Cullinan was to Warney


You call the Storm a joke? Your team is the joke not only to every Storm supporter but to most opposition supporters as well. You start off favorites pretty much every year, you're faves to win the comp now, yet being the under achieving rabble that you are, you never cease to let show the rest of the comp see how pissweak your club is :lol:

​

LOL! If you say so you little b*tch

 

[Ice777]

Don't give me that sh*t about arrogance Misty, do you think we would, or would have to act 'arrogant' if we were embraced and accepted by the majority of people in NSW? From day one all we've heard "we shouldn't be in the comp" or "their should be a team on the Central coast not Melbourne" The criticism has gone on and on and it continues to this day and has only got stronger.

I make no apologies for acting or more so reacting to the constant taunts we've copped since 98. The thing is it seems you can all say what you want about Melbourne and sling as much sh*t about us as you want, but when we retaliate WE'RE classed as the arrogant ones????????? Ask the rest of Australia which city has the most arrogant people and you know as well as i do who'll come out on top by an absolute country mile ;-)

As for the St George thing, go through the thread and see what they've said about Melbourne and the Storm mainly gregstar, he's one of the backward thinking people you spoke of) and you'll see where my vitriol comes from. If they're going to bag us you can bet your arse i'm gonna bag them straight back no matter how many titles they've one. Why should i show them respect when they've done nothing deserve it?


Oh and as i previously stated i've made plenty of friends in Sydney and i love nothing more than having a good talk to them about the game because they're the ones that want to see league grow and not remain stagnant. I'm talking about the people who back absolute sh*t out of us without us saying a word just because we wear our Storm colors. How dare we do a henious thing like that :roll:

Just one more thing, if you go back through the thread you'll see the crowd numbers were brought up by Sydney fans. We just pointed out the hypocrisy that they'd do such a thing when teams that have been around 10 times longer than us in the heartland of league only get a few thousand more than us. Where's the logic in that? You'd think that by anyones standards a team that been around for 80 years where the game is the number one sport they'd get a sh*tload more at the games than a team that's dominated by AFL. We'' you'd think that wouldn't you but as the figures show it's just not the case.