Expansion plans cloudy: NRL

[Miller was a legend]

Well said! Cheers for that. Some in here seem to take things a little to seriously and fail to see the humour behind the footy driven rivalry behind the comments.

No matter what the experts (who think they understand and know all about Sydney league history and how long term fans really feel about the loss of their club) say, they will NEVER get it. You have to have lived, loved and grown with with Sydney footy to ever really understand.

I hope to never see another club or its fans ever go through what Souths and Norths have gone through,.I hope I never see two clubs merge like Wests and Tigers again.

Like all in here, i love my club, no matter what stupidy I witness at Board level at times. Those knobs come and go, my footy side turns out each year and gives it their best and thats what matters to me.

To all those wishing, hoping praying the Sharks die...... eat shyte and die, we wont go away.

 

[Miller was a legend]

I take umbrage at being labelled a whore. I've been with the Storm since their inauguration mate. Once Souths die, you won't have anything, you'll remain a celibate with no team to support..boo hooo.

lmfao Cloud. The storms existance is subject to hand outs from News Ltd. I'd be more concerned about your clubs future than Souths or anyone else. Uncle Rupert and his merry bunch of accountants will one day turn their back on RL completely and if that little outpost down there in androtop land cant become self sufficient, they will be in bigger trouble than any other club, even the Shark scum

 

[bartman]

Hard to say I am sure, but thank you for saying it. Nice to see it is not all bash Cronulla.

I'm never too serious, but Sharks fans are the easiest to get a rise out of, when it comes to talking relocation.

On a serious note, if the team disappears from the Shire, that's that part of Sydney pretty much lost to the sport imo. No other code might replace it, but people and the generations to come simply won't care about league as much.

Same goes for any of the remaining patches of Sydney where teams are based - hence the danger in using Homebush or other grounds too much.

 

[Cloud9]

lmfao Cloud. The storms existance is subject to hand outs from News Ltd. I'd be more concerned about your clubs future than Souths or anyone else. Uncle Rupert and his merry bunch of accountants will one day turn their back on RL completely and if that little outpost down there in androtop land cant become self sufficient, they will be in bigger trouble than any other club, even the Shark scum

News vs Russell Crowe's movie career.

Yeah Rusty will be around for years to come.:roll:

 

[Nemesis]

I take umbrage at being labelled a whore. I've been with the Storm since their inauguration mate. Once Souths die, you won't have anything, you'll remain a celibate with no team to support..boo hooo...

News flash... Souths will never die. "We get knocked down, but we get up again, you ain't ever gonna keep us down".

I follow several clubs depending how frisky i am, but Storm's my first team.

Your words, not mine... so the label seems fairly appropriate to me.

 

[Miller was a legend]

News vs Russell Crowe's movie career.

Yeah Rusty will be around for years to come.:roll:

Difference is HUGE loyal fan base willing to die before the Club will. Melbourne don't have that or the history behind that loyal fan base to achieve the same result.

FMD I am backing souffs

 

[Loudstrat]

Don't worry, Nemesis. If Clod 9 loses the Storm, he'll just go and happily become a life long supporter of the next club.

 

[Nemesis]

News vs Russell Crowe's movie career.

Yeah Rusty will be around for years to come.

The most accurate statement you've made so far.

I haven't seen Rupert turning up to any Storm games lately and his son Lachlan doesn't even support the Storm, he's the Broncos #1 ticket holder. :lol:

 

[Cloud9]

Don't worry, Nemesis. If Clod 9 loses the Storm, he'll just go and happily become a life long supporter of the next club.

I'd rather that than become a recluse like you would be.

 

[Nemesis]

Difference is HUGE loyal fan base willing to die before the Club will. Melbourne don't have that or the history behind that loyal fan base to achieve the same result.

FMD I am backing souffs

Well you did ask us to marry you, once. :lol:

 

[Nemesis]

Don't worry, Nemesis. If Clod 9 loses the Storm, he'll just go and happily become a life long supporter of the next club.

lol... as long as it's not the Eels, Rabbitohs or Sharks.

 

[Cloud9]

News flash... Souths will never die. "We get knocked down, but we get up again, you ain't ever gonna keep us down".

Your words, not mine... so the label seems fairly appropriate to me.

Whats wrong with having a vague interest in other teams?
I repeat, the whore analogy is incorrect and inappropriate.

 

[Perth Red]

It means what it says... When you talk about expansion, you have to remember that the the risk is that it would make survival for the 16 clubs we have got very difficult in the current climate. And above I have explained why we need to keep the Sydney clubs we have from going bust.

I don't see why expanding the NRL would have a negative impact on the other 16 teams.

No one has suggested that expansion will mean:
Less NRL grant
Less Fixtures
Culling of teams to make space
Loss of sponsors

so why would it have a negative effect? If anything surely the whole point of expanding will to be bring in areas that will lead to a bigger TV deal and better corporate sponsorship for the NRL which will lead to bigger grants and better sponsorship opportunities for clubs?

Anyway it is all a mute point as the NRL will no doubt use the recession as an excuse to do nothing before the next TV deal. This will lead to News and Ch9 not having to pay much more than they are already. This means it is unlikely we will see any expansion until 2016 or beyond anyway. Gallop is clearly setting this up, he started last year with his comments about the current TV deal and this latest position on expansion is simply laying the ground work for inaction in 2012.

I wonder if we will have managed to drop behind soccer by then? AFL will probably be well out of sight.

 

[Nemesis]

Whats wrong with having a vague interest in other teams?
I repeat, the whore analogy is incorrect and inappropriate.

So "I follow several clubs depending how frisky i am" has now become only "a vague interest in other teams". Ok then... how does "fickle" or "pretender" sound to you then?

 

[Cloud9]

What ever Mr Semantics, I'll let you worry about the trivial stuff.

Can you imagine if Sydneysiders adopted your attitude of "It's my team or no team?"
RL would cease to exist in NSW.

 

[MsStorm]

Anyway it is all a mute point as the NRL will no doubt use the recession as an excuse to do nothing before the next TV deal. This will lead to News and Ch9 not having to pay much more than they are already. This means it is unlikely we will see any expansion until 2016 or beyond anyway. Gallop is clearly setting this up, he started last year with his comments about the current TV deal and this latest position on expansion is simply laying the ground work for inaction in 2012.

I wonder if we will have managed to drop behind soccer by then? AFL will probably be well out of sight.

Gallop and his team at the nrl = We know NOTHING, we do NOTHING!

Clearly we are going to be left far behind afl/soccer and even union.

 

[Nemesis]

I'll let you in on a little secret cloudy... it's the intense passion, team rivalries and unwavering loyalty of Sydneysiders for their respective RL teams, that has enabled Rugby League to survive and thrive for the last 100 years.

You simply don't seem to appreciate the value of the rich history and traditions of the game that have existed here for several generations.

It seems some people want to "throw the baby out with the bath water" and would happily see that history die, purely for the sake of expansion.

We need to keep our traditional clubs AS WELL AS expand the game. An expanded competion with no heart and soul would not last long, I can assure you. Thankfully, our game's administrators realise that and are planning accordingly.

 

[MsStorm]

I'll let you in on a little secret cloudy... it's the intense passion, team rivalries and unwavering loyalty of Sydneysiders for their respective RL teams, that has enabled Rugby League to survive and thrive for the last 100 years.

You simply don't seem to appreciate the value of the rich history and traditions of the game that have existed here for several generations.

It seems some people want to "throw the baby out with the bath water" and would happily see that history die, purely for the sake of expansion.

We need to keep our traditional clubs AS WELL AS expand the game. An expanded competion with no heart and soul would not last long, I can assure you. Thankfully, our game's administrators realise that and are planning accordingly.

Nemisis, if you are referring to me in the above post...let it be known I don't want any of the present clubs to die, especially in Sydney as its the heartland of rugby league. I have always posted that all clubs will survive if their supporters get behind them and hence my big push for memberships.

BUT what I would like to see is that the NRL has a plan on expanding the game outside of the cities where rugby league is already played, e.g. Perth/Adelaide or even PNG for its own survival otherwise rugby league is going to be left far behind other codes. Expansion means better fta and foxtel tv rights,etc. which means more money coming into the game. We are stuck in a hole atm and can't climb out of it.

 

[bobmar28]

If your local NRL team is cut now, then why would your kids care less about the game in five years, when they can't aspire to grow up to be a Rabbitoh/Rooster/Shark? When they are force fed Swans and A-League and Waratahs by the media and have no league team of their own in Sydney to feel any loyalty to?

I think the usual fan reaction would be to walk away from the NRL, and not choose to spend any money on it if your team was cut, folded, moved, or perhaps even merged... Anyone who is deluding themselves otherwise needs to have a rethink.

As I said earlier Liverpool has never had a team but this area is solid league territory.

If people say they will switch codes if their suburbs team is no longer viable then they were never league fans to start with.

 

[bobmar28]

Mate you're slow enough as it is. Newcastle is a one RL team town and their team (who I assume you support) only entered the NSWRL comp in 1988. Hence you wouldn't appreciate or understand the tribal nature of the Sydney based teams, some of which have been around for 100 years and have hundreds of thousands of fans, many of whom are now dispersed all around Australia as well as overseas.

I have supported Souths my entire life and I can assure you that if they folded, I would not... I repeat NOT follow or become a member of any other RL club, merged or otherwise. I would no longer attend any games, buy merchandise, subscribe to Foxtel etc, so Rugby League would not be getting any more money from me. Likewise if Newcastle folded, would you switch to supporting Manly or Brisbane?... I think not. Most fans who have supported their club for their entire lives would feel the same way.

Are you that naive to think that if a number of Sydney clubs folded or were culled, that there would be no impact on the game or that AFL would not attempt to capitalise on the situation? It is not scare mongering, it is simply a business reality.

As I said before, the experiment of culling/merging Sydney clubs was tried before during the Super League years and was a monumental failure that took years to recover from, with many fans being lost from the game. To attempt to go down that path again would be insane and would not be supported by Gallop nor any other RL administrator or club CEO for that matter (with the exception of Ribot).

Yes, we should continue to expand the game nationally, but not at the risk of losing Sydney clubs that have been around for several generations and have hundreds of thousands of fans.

It's quite simple really... if a club disappears, the fans disappear, the juniors disappear and a void is left for the 3 other football codes to exploit... it's called business. Get it now?

There have been 2 mergers since 1999 yet there are MORE league fans (and juniors) today than there ever were.