That's your opinion and it makes zero sense.
I care about the long-term survival of rugby league.
Only a simpleton would think the game benefits from having nine small clubs in Sydney while the rest of the country is under-represented. The fact you keep advocating for the game to squander its small fortune on keeping the game concentrated around Sydney is insane because it limits the amount of money we can generate from sponsorship and broadcast rights.
How many sports leagues in this country have no presence in Adelaide and Perth?
Here's a list of leagues that have teams in every metropolitan market.
- National Basketball League
- A-League
- W-League
- Australian Fumbleball League
- AFLW
- Big Bash League
- Women's Big Bash League
- Sheffield Shield
- Women's National Cricket League
- Super Netball
- Hockey One
- Australian Baseball League
Other leagues have a greater footprint in the metropolitan markets than our game. They include the Australian Ice Hockey League, Super Rugby, WNBL.
It's been explained to you a gazillion times already that Sydney cannot support nine clubs without assistance from the governing body.
More importantly, propping up financially unviable teams in Sydney does nothing to grow the game in new markets. We've reached the maximum level of fan support in Sydney and it's not enough to support nine clubs. All of this crap about "it's the clubs' rights to hoard all the money and prevent expansion, blah blah blah" doesn't change any of this. I'd argue that propping up nine small clubs in Sydney isn't doing anything for the game at the grassroots level in the game's heartland when our income stream is well below AwFuL, who've been pumping millions into Queensland and NSW for decades and grown their participation base. They've actually made great strides in Queensland.
You know the bulk of their revenue comes from the annual grant and gaming machine earnings.
How do you explain V'landys saying "the business case must stack up" for the Dolphins to get a licence, yet there's several Sydney clubs who don't have half of what Redcliffe offer?
It's a massive double standard.
Why do you believe there should be one rule for Sydney and another rule for everyone else?
You got that one wrong.
News Ltd, then half-owners of the NRL, challenged the Federal Court decision to reinstate the Rabbitohs, subsequently won the High Court verdict but then declined to exercise their newly established power to boot them from the league once more.
'THE People's Team'' proclaimed a banner carried by one of the 80,000 in the march to Sydney Town Hall on an oppressively hot day in November 2000, protesting the sacking of South Sydney from the NRL.
www.smh.com.au
So?
Participation for fumbleball in NSW and Queensland has grown in leaps and bounds over the last 30 years. It draws bloody good crowds in Brisbane and Sydney. The Lions and Swans are financially stronger than every Sydney NRL club. I'd call that a win for AwFuL.
Now show me where it was stated rugby league would become a "major sport" in Adelaide in Perth?
I've never said anything of the sort.
I've said our game
can carve out a strong niche
if it invests enough time and resources into developing the game in new markets. The Melbourne Storm have proven that it's possible, despite numerous rugby league fans from Sydney calling for their removal over the years.
Now tell me why you believe rugby league fans outside of NSW are obligated to put the survival of nine small Sydney clubs ahead of expansion?
You know very well that the NSWRL f**ked over the Broncos, Cowboys, Crushers, Warriors and Reds. At one stage you cited an article that pointed out the double standards Quayle and Arthurson used against the Broncos to rob them of $500k. I've shown you a transcript of Neil Cadigan's book which details the harsh requirements heaped upon the expansion clubs in 1995. These requirements bankrupted the clubs and forced them to sign with Super League just to survive. I've never heard you condemn the league for its favouritism of NSWRL clubs.
Leagues across the country have been raped and pillaged to death by NSWRL clubs. Test football has taken a backseat because the NRL holds all the power, with the bulk of it being tied up in Sydney due to it holding most of the clubs. So not only has the traditional NSWRL clubs killed other competitions and limited the game's growth in new markets, they've turned the once thriving Test arena into a shell of what it once was. There was a time in the past when the biggest honour was playing for Australia on an Ashes Tour in front of massive crowds. Those days are gone because the clubs don't want to risk their players getting injured. It's hurt the game severely in England and prevented New Zealand Rugby League from earning much needed revenue from Test series. The game in New Zealand is in dire straights right now. The ARLC has done nothing to help it.
I'd like to see more teams in Queensland and New Zealand. I'd also like to see teams in Adelaide and Perth. That cannot happen while we've got nine small teams in Sydney. The fact that more than half of the teams from the most brutal collision sport are from one market gives them a massive advantage over the rest of the league, as they don't have to travel as far and are thus given more time to recover. Players take this into consideration when deciding which club to join.