Channel 9 wants to kill of a sydney club

[unforgiven]

But if Wests changed their logo to Magpies would you have the same attachment ?

No, Im a Wests Tigers supporter

 

[Cumberland Throw]

If life went on without Souffs, the NRL wouldn’t have bothered with the expense of bringing them back in - especially after an exhaustive court case win. They obviously felt they were better off with them than without them.

I live in the inner west and can tell you most of the old Newtown fans are now Swans members. Henson has AFL sticks which it didn’t before.

I only know four ex Bears fans. One gave the game away completely and they others have Swans memberships. The NRL would be wise to conduct a survey (if it’s possible) of fans of clubs that got kicked out. It seems to me that the only thing you achieve is you deliver fans to a rival code.

Bears got cut .. their major sponsor Citibank signed with swans and paid $500k+ a year for 17 years..

Hello?? What's that tell u

 

[Diesel]

Anyone find it strange that there has been deathly silence from Greenberg and Beattie on this? Wouldn’t you think they would have made a statement by now?

Beattie made a comment via Twitter on Sunday night saying nothing had been decided. Haven’t heard anything from Todd

 

[Vee]

I was involved in a conversation today regarding relocation and stated that if the team was relocated that it would probably be the end for me as an NRL supporter as I would lose my connection/ attachment to the club. The person I was speaking with rightly raised what is my connection to the club as I never lived in any of the catchment areas that make up this club. It got me thinking about why I am connected to this club in such a strong way and I would be interested in hearing about other people's connections as well.

For me it started when I was 4 years old, I grew up in country NSW and my father played for the local team, the Aberdeen Tigers. I remember going home and seeing the Balmain Tigers play on TV and thinking that they were the same team my father played for because of the same jerseys.

That bond was strengthen when I started playing for the Aberdeen Tigers as a 6 year old, always wanted the 8 jersey because that was what Wayne Pearce played in. The 88 and 89 sides came and went and that again strengthened that connection. The 90's were tough and thought about changing teams like my brothers did but just could never bring myself to do it. I moved to Sydney in 1998 and started to semi regularly attend games

The end in 1999 hurt so much and I swore to myself that footy was dead to me. My then GF, now wife, knew how much footy meant to me and for Christmas in 1999 bought me season tickets to Wests Tigers 1st season and that brought me home again.
Now why do I have such an attachment to the location of a team that I never lived within the boundaries of?

For me it goes back to when I was a kid living in a small town with that true sense of community, I knew the whole town, I knew the local footy heroes and that is what this club now does for me I go to the games and I see people I have sat near for 20 years, seen them get older, lots now have kids and have started bringing their kids to games. I feel a part of the club, I feel like a part of the club, Benji and Robbie for example, I have known them since they were kids, not personally but as representatives of our club. I funny example is back in January I saw Robbie randomly in Bondi, I had no Tigers gear on but he saw me and come over and said hello and chatted about the preseason for a minute or 2. He doesn't really know me but has seen me enough at team events over the years to know that I am a Tigers supporter. That is the connection I want and need with my club and it goes back to as a kid knowing all the local footballers in town. That is why I feel about this team the way I do!

Great post.

St Joseph's Tigers and Good Shepherd Sharks were my first teams as i switched back and forth between primary schools in Mount Isa.

 

[Dark Corner]

Been there done that .. got the t shirt .

If u kill one Sydney team I think you kill RL

Well West Tigers was doing alright but I think both sets of fans got f**ked off with them playing on of 4 different grounds and even St Steelers having 2 grounds is stupid.

 

[AlwaysGreen]

Bears got cut .. their major sponsor Citibank signed with swans and paid $500k+ a year for 17 years..

Hello?? What's that tell u

You're an afl fan.

 

[flippikat]

Well West Tigers was doing alright but I think both sets of fans got f**ked off with them playing on of 4 different grounds and even St Steelers having 2 grounds is stupid.

Exactly. That's one of the frustrations I have with the NRL. Teams splitting their games between a number of grounds in different locations to try and satisfy different sets of their fan base.

 

[flippikat]

Call me crazy but we could expand to 4 teams, grow the game and our customer base and highlight that the best expansion hope the AFL's got left is Tasmania.

I'd go Perth (makes perfect sense from a TV and expansion perspective), Bears on the CC (full-time tenant at CCS at last, bring back the Bears fans and a combined area full of rich potential sponsors and 1 million people), another Qld team (how soon could Redcliffe be ready to go if green-lighted tomorrow?) and then weigh up the best of the rest bids.

No. You're not crazy.. and a re-run of 1995 might be the way to go.. this time without the chance of a breakaway league to distract the NRL.

I'd suggest the 4 new clubs being
Perth
Brisbane 2
NZ 2
Adelaide

Two heartland (but not NSW) clubs, and two clubs in AFL-dominated areas (frontier teams). A balanced expansion.

With Central Coast kept as a relocation option if a Sydney club goes broke

 

[carcharias]

While we’re on idiotic ideas

Just get rid of 8 Sydney teams
Put 4 in Brisbane
2 in Melbourne
2 in Tasmania

Then add another extra 4 to the South Pacific countries.

 

[Miller was a legend]

While we’re on idiotic ideas

Just get rid of 8 Sydney teams
Put 4 in Brisbane
2 in Melbourne
2 in Tasmania

Then add another extra 4 to the South Pacific countries.

You left out Mozambique and Seol

 

[thorson1987]

For what its worth I know former Bears fans that now support Melbourne and Penrith

They sound like wankers tbh.

 

[thorson1987]

7 can’t afford both RL and AFL. Which is a shame because i think they’d do a damn good job if they had RL.

They did a great job with the last 2 World Cups.

 

[flippikat]

Reducing the number of Syd teams would be ideal but the fallout from whichever poor team got the arse would be too much for the game to handle.

Fallout would be really bad if the NRL chose winners and losers.. but if the market is left to do it, the club owners / CEOs and fans would not have the NRL and some arbitrary criteria to blame.

 

[Valheru]

I think a lot of this talk from this guy from nine is reflective of how boring the competition is at the moment. The same two teams are going to play in the GF for the 3rd or 4th year in a row. The same teams are crap each year and the same teams are in the middle. Add to the boring competition that the game itself is now more predictable than ever... it is a real recipe for people who have crazy ideas for the game to start howling at the moon.

It would be the 2nd year in a row.

Where did you get 3rd or 4th from?

 

[T-Boon]

It would be the 2nd year in a row.

Where did you get 3rd or 4th from?

I suppose it was a mistake but an excusable one given they have probably between them been in all the GFs over the last 10 years.

 

[Frailty]

You mean the current broadcaster wants to minimise expenditure AND increase revenue through a new market? No shit.

The fact is the NRL can support expansion without the sacrifice of any of the current clubs, and Channel Nine is simply pushing against this because an extra game each week means more value (and thus they have to pay more for the rights).

With CBS backing Channel 10, I really hope that they make a big play for the NRL and Channel Nine, and their toxic attitude (from executives to commentators), are banished from the game for a while.

 

[Perth Red]

I wonder if this has all come about because the expansion review is taken place and Ch9 have been interviewed for it? He probably gave ch9’s opinion to the person doing the review then for what ever reason thought he’d then share it with the world?

Has to laugh at Kent on rl360 last night whinging about the story taking away from the finals focus when it was his paper that published it!

 

[Tiger5150]

Well West Tigers was doing alright but I think both sets of fans got f**ked off with them playing on of 4 different grounds and even St Steelers having 2 grounds is stupid.

Please dont attempt to think or speak for us. I am a paid member and to put it bluntly the games at Leichhardt are the first I get to and those games drag me to the others. The Bankwest/Leichhardt/Campbelltown split works.

Sunday will be a glorious occassion especially if we win. Things like this build a real club.

 

[adamkungl]

Most forward thinking folks see the NRL as having 4 future expansion targets
Brisbane/SEQLD
Perth
Adelaide
NZ-South

I think most have accepted that Central Coast is a relocation at best, PNG is unsuitable and Darwin/Tasmania/centralQLD are pipe dreams

If you have 1 Sydney team relocate or partial-relocate to central coast, and exclude Dragons as a Wollongong side, that leaves 7. It is unreasonable to relocate 4 teams to service the above locations, leaving only 3 in Sydney.

Which means that 18 teams is a necessity. So lets start with expansion first and see what comes later regarding moves or rationalisation.

 

[T-Boon]

Most forward thinking folks see the NRL as having 4 future expansion targets
Brisbane/SEQLD
Perth
Adelaide
NZ-South

I think most have accepted that Central Coast is a relocation at best, PNG is unsuitable and Darwin/Tasmania/centralQLD are pipe dreams

If you have 1 Sydney team relocate or partial-relocate to central coast, and exclude Dragons as a Wollongong side, that leaves 7. It is unreasonable to relocate 4 teams to service the above locations, leaving only 3 in Sydney.

Which means that 18 teams is a necessity. So lets start with expansion first and see what comes later regarding moves or rationalisation.

I have to admit this is true.
However, I like the idea (far fetched though it is) of bringing in a couple new Sydney teams properly located with modern ideas (like appealing to all classes rather than just the dero class) just to start again. So in that scenario relocate 4 Sydney teams to the expansion areas and bring in 2 new modern teams.