Mergermania.
By Jeff Dunne.
3 July 1999
The Australian
© 1999 Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd
The rationalisation clock is ticking as clubs look to ensure their survival in the National Rugby League. Jeff Dunne studies their options as the deadline for joint ventures closes in ... THE term joint venture once had a surreal quality in rugby league; for most, it was a concept of thinking the unthinkable.
In 1995, it had St George fans preparing for battle as they rattled their sabres and marched to the beat of a `no merger' drum when the Dragons were courting Sydney City.
The echoes of that battle cry have now been laid to rest in a forgotten dead-ball zone as the St George Illawarra Dragons happily climb up the 1999 ladder with one of the most exciting teams in the NRL competition.
But the words joint venture could make another leap from the sublime to the very real within the next four weeks.
As part of the NRL timetable for rationalisation, clubs have until July 31 to commit to joint ventures. After that, they will be assessed against the criteria.
There are 17 clubs vying for 14 spots in the 2000 competition.
The real race comes down to a handful of Sydney clubs, dripping with tradition but short on the funds needed to remain solvent over the next five years in a 14-team competition.
Western Suburbs are considered to be at the tail end of the pack. The perception is that the Magpies are a length behind Balmain and South Sydney, while North Sydney, Manly, Penrith and The Sharks are travelling comparatively well at the head of this group.
A joint venture between any of these clubs will guarantee them a five-year licence and an additional $2 million in funding from the NRL to cover the set-up costs.
The stand-alone option means they have to finish in the top 14 after being assessed against the criteria which include crowd figures, competition results and financial viability.
The currency of talks between clubs at the moment is the most overt signal the reality of rationalisation is finally setting in.
Balmain are the most popular club on the block. Parramatta are holding talks with them while the Magpies have already put a proposal to the Tigers. They will make a decision on their direction after a meeting of club members on July 27.
"It's going right down to the wire but we need to approach it like that because the picture will only get clearer as we get closer to the deadline," Balmain chief executive Danny Munk said.
The advantage for both Balmain and Wests if they were to join forces would be an equal partnership, 50-50, although a combined Wests-Tigers squad suggests much of the money up for grabs in a joint venture would need to be spent on recruiting more players to remain competitive.
With Parramatta, that is unlikely to happen in the long run. But what the Eels offer is security for the future. Joining forces with them makes geographical and financial sense for the Tigers.
If the Tigers do accept the Parramatta deal, that would leave Wests out in the cold. Speculators suggest Canterbury could still move into the picture with the Magpies despite an acrimonious ending to similar talks last year. The Bulldogs officials have no need to talk to Wests but sewing up the inner-west and south-west area of Sydney is an attractive long-term plan they harbour.
The chance to do it, picking up most of the assets along the way and gaining a significant toehold in the Campbelltown area via Wests' strong junior base may prove to be too appealing to resist.
Events on the northern side of the harbour this week, however, have sent strategists running back to their theories for another session of recalculation.
A Manly-North Sydney joint venture was thought to be the strongest possibility of all the potential unions.
But both clubs have come out and said that they would be going it alone although, significantly, they both issued a rider saying the door had not been completely shut on joint ventures.
What that means is they're still doing their sums and are shuffling the cards they hold in a game where football clubs not sheep stations are at stake.
"We know it's a risk but 87 per cent of our members last year voted to relocate rather than merge," Bears chairman Ray Beattie said last night.
That was last year, before the Grahame Park fiasco left the Bears with yet another club curse.
Manly are banking on the support of their leagues club despite the fact that Ken Arthurson, leagues club boss and the man who virtually built the Sea Eagles, holding strong reservations about their ability to stand alone in the long term.
South Sydney remain devout disciples of the stand-alone mantra: "We've got the richest history in the game and we're not about to give up 90 years of tradition."
The Sharks have taken the position that they will be happy to listen if someone knocks on their door, but not if they're confident of surviving on their own.
There is no shortage of brave faces, but don't be fooled; the stakes couldn't be higher and the bottom line couldn't be more real. So much so the unthinkable is no longer that. The joint-venture merry-go-round is in full swing.
© Nationwide News Proprietary Ltd, 1999.
