Does Gosford care about rugby league?

[LESStar58]

Okay, for the record: I want to see the Central Coast get a team and I honestly hope the Bears can be resurrected there in the near future.

I have sometimes very heated debates with a friend of mine, a Gosford-based union/A-League fan who HATES rugby league. He takes great pride in ribbing me and telling me the Storm will die in the arse as will league in Melbourne as "nobody cares".

I say the same thing about the mariners.

Now, I beleive all code can co-exist even though I may despise the like of union and AFL. I like soccer but don't bother my arse with the mickey mouse A-League.

However; my retort to him is that if the Bears hadn't been shafted by Manly and the NRL by going into the failed Northern Eagles venture and had gone to Gosford as a stand alone club, soccer wouldn't get a look in on the Central COast as it is a rugby leage heartland.

He claims that nobody cares about league in Gosford and are more passionate about the Mariners than any other code the CC could host.

My question: is he right? Does Gosford/Central Coast care about our game.

Comments welcome. Help me prove him wrong

 

[Timmah]

We might be in the grips of Mariner fever, but this is still very much an NRL loving region. We have just as much right to a team as the Gold Coast. The Mariners are nothing more than a fad that the media wants to wank over. No-one cared about them until the final weeks of the season.

In saying that - I would like to encourage everyone and anyone within earshot of Bluetongue Stadium to get out there and love or abuse the Roosters and Knights on Sunday 6 August. Get behind the game!

 

[LESStar58]

We might be in the grips of Mariner fever, but this is still very much an NRL loving region. We have just as much right to a team as the Gold Coast. The Mariners are nothing more than a fad that the media wants to wank over. No-one cared about them until the final weeks of the season.

Are you a Central Coast resident Timmah?

If so...can i quote you verbatim on the statement in bold?

 

[Timmah]

Absolutely, born and bred. You can quote me more than verbatim on it. I live 4km out of Gosford, I drive through the city every morning to get to work. I work in the visitors information centre and run the event calendar for the entire region. Nobody knew who they were until mid-late January this year. Radio and papers only jumped on them late in the season. This week, the local paper (Express Advocate) signed a media deal with them.

 

[LESStar58]

f**kin hell!

This gets better and better!

I can't wait to unload sh*t all this on my friend!

Any input from residents BESIDES Timmah is welcome!

 

[Master Vippo]

Games at Express Advovcate (still called that?) stadium usually get very respective crowds when teams play there. And those teams aren't even Central coast teams (obviously since their isnt one).

 

[Master Vippo]

(I live just north of the central coast, but have heaps of friends and family who ,lve their. League is much alive there.

 

[LESStar58]

General consensus.... who in Gosford wants their own team?

Is the general feeling they'll accept a relocated team or should it be a brand new franchise.

A stadium that good deserves its own team in the flagship code of the region!

 

[Master Vippo]

I think most of them want the Bears back. Dunno bout relocation.

 

[LESStar58]

Yeah. I want the bears there....

I sure as hell don't want the storm there ;-)

 

[Timmah]

It's a split between wanting the Bears here, or our own new separate entity. Either way, we don't want the Beagles debacle. We got MAJORLY shafted by it. Bluetongue (as the stadium is now known) always gets well in excess of 10k for NRL matches, even though the teams playing are nothing doing. City v Country when it was here always got 16 or 17k from memory.

I want a team here. They would be second in my heart obviously but I would cheer for them with every breath in my lungs after my Doggies.

 

[LESStar58]

I want the NRL to do the right thing and put the bears there like what shoulda have happened in 99/00.

 

[Timmah]

The NRL doesn't give a f**k about what anyone wants ;-)

 

[Enoughsaid]

i love a ground where fans can't sit behind one end of the ground...

what a great atmosphere !!!

 

[Timmah]

:|

I'm assuming sarcasm there - and I think you're stupid. Bluetongue is one of the best stadiums in the game.

 

[Timmah]

FTR:

Mariners pre season cup first and only home game until September the other night. First game since the grand final.

Crowd?

5,682.

Yeah, the Coast LOVES the Mariners :roll:

 

[Enoughsaid]

yeah it's as good as Shark park

 

[Timmah]

Have you actually been to the stadium? Apart from the lack of seating at one of the ends, what is so bad about it? Very sad assessment on your behalf.

 

[Enoughsaid]

Yeah i've been there and it's a hole



why do u need a Gosford team? gosford is an hour from Sydney or newcastle
We have more than enuff teams in Sydney

We should be looking at reducing not increasin the number of teams in the comp..

 

[Timmah]

That's an absolute bollocks argument and you know it. RL would thrive in this region, if given a local team. It's a well-neglected market and everyone knows it.

A hole? It's better to watch a game there than at many of the grounds in the NRL. Very easy viewing, no overly shocking seats.