South Sydneys Russell Crowe to fight plans to move Rabbitohs to Moore Park
PHIL ROTHFIELD SPORTS EDITOR-AT-LARGE
The Sunday Telegraph
March 08, 2015 12:00AM
The Gladiator is ready to go to war for his Colosseum.
South Sydney owner Russell Crowe will fight NRL plans to move his beloved Rabbitohs from ANZ Stadium to Moore Park at a revamped 65,000-seat Allianz Stadium.
Entering the bitter Sydney Stadium debate for the first time, Crowe says the NRL premiers will not be moving from the home of the Sydney Olympics.
From my perspective it is the best football ground in the country, Crowe told The Sunday Telegraph.
We appreciate the privilege of playing there. South Sydney have set a number of NRL crowd records at ANZ, regular round, finals and Grand Final.
When you breakdown the geographic location of where our Members live in Sydney, ANZ is the most convenient for the most people.
Crowes stand is at odds with NRL boss Dave Smith, who spent $750,000 on a feasibility study to build a new stadium at Moore Park.
As part of his pitch for funding to the State government, Smith has indicated six clubs, including the Rabbitohs, would share Allianz Stadium in a similar schedule to the AFL which uses the inner city MCG and Etihad stadiums to host all their games.
What Crowe didnt say is that ANZ Stadium management was more responsible than anyone else from saving the Rabbitohs from near bankruptcy.
At a time when they had no cash flow to even pay the players, the stadium advanced the club $1 million in emergency funds to keep the team afloat.
ANZ stadium have been great partners, Crowe said.
The staff and the management are switched on, enthusiastic and they create a great game day experience for our members.
The NRL is ignoring the wishes of Sydneys two most successful clubs, the Rabbitohs and Bulldogs, who have long term contracts at the Olympic venue.
Souths moved to the Stadium in 2006 with just 2500 members. Today they have 35,000.
The government is in the process of finalising $600 million worth of funding arrangements between Allianz, ANZ and Parramatta Stadium.
The heavy hitters on the SCG Trust have been lobbying $1 billion to build their own super stadium that would spell the death of the Sydney 2000 Olympic venue.
Newly appointed South Sydney chief executive John Lee confirmed the club was determined to stay at ANZ long term.
Our Homebush deal has delivered many new Souths members, mainly people who couldnt afford to live in the inner city, and moved to the western suburbs, Lee said.
The killer fact is that the Rabbitohs have more members that go to Homebush than when we have a game in the eastern suburbs. Our fans are voting with their feet.
Weve had our highest growth, 20 per cent year on year, out of western Sydney.
You have to have a successful team but also its the proximity issue in having a venue with train services and parking.
