The Entrance withdraw from 2008 JBC
Wednesday, 28th November 2007
The NSW State Government’s crippling Gaming Taxation and Smoking laws have claimed another Rugby League victim, with 2007 NSW Rugby League Jim Beam Cup Premiers The Entrance Tigers today withdrawing from the 2008 competition.
The decision comes in the wake of substantially reduced trading figures from The Entrance Leagues Club, which has been attributed to the tightening of State Government poker machine tax and smoking laws.
NSW Leagues Clubs Association chief executive, Mr Peter Turnbull, said The Entrance Tigers wouldn’t be the last Rugby League club to be forced to withdraw top-line teams in an attempt to stay afloat.
“This won’t be the last example of this occurring,” Mr Turnbull said today.
“It’s not only the smoking bans which have impacted on all of our member clubs to a significant degree, but also the final stages of the gambling tax increases – when they’re coupled together they have a profound effect on the sustainability of senior, and in some cases junior Rugby League clubs.”
The Entrance’s withdrawal from the 2008 Jim Beam Cup was ratified at a club board meeting last night, in the aim of preserving its extensive array of teams within the Central Coast Rugby League division.
The Entrance Tigers chief executive Mark Chaffey said the club’s withdrawal was a necessary step to recoup funds critical to the preservation of its other teams, which range from Under-6s to first-grade.
“To say we’re disappointed is an understatement but we had to do what was in the best interests of The Entrance Tigers,” Chaffey said.
“The effects of the Gaming Taxation and Smoking Legislation have hit our licensed club hard, and we need to ensure that our CentralCoast teams, both junior and senior, remain as our core focus.”
NSWRL Jim Beam Cup Chairman, Mr Bob Millward, lamented the loss of the competition’s reigning Premiers but reiterated his confidence in the competition’s prospects for 2008.
“It’s a huge blow to not only the Jim Beam Cup but to Central Coast Rugby League in general,” Millward said today.
“A pathway has now been closed to players from that club hoping to compete in a semi-professional competition.
“While it is a difficult time for The Entrance, the competition itself remains in great shape. We have three new teams this year in Western Australia, Campbelltown and Cronulla-Caringbah, and hopefully the Entrance will be in a position to return to the competition in 2009.”