Importance of Perth game...So who's gonna relocate?

[Shark]

From the Sunday Tele:

Perth gets another shot at NRL

May 1, 2005
THE NRL is looking to add Perth to the competition, possibly within five years.

Chief executive David Gallop said rugby league's ultimate aim was to have a national competition.

Cronulla's match against the NZ Warriors in Perth next Saturday will go a long way to determining the future of big-time rugby league in the city.

"Perth would be an integral part of that," he said.

"Perth is probably not the first cab off the rank, but this game on Saturday is an opportunity to gauge the progress that has been made. It is not a short-term possibility but it's in our medium-to long-term plan. Possibly within five years."

The Cronulla-Warriors match on Saturday will be the first NRL competition game played in the city for six years.

And if the WA Rugby League wants to be in with a chance of re-establishing an NRL side and hosting 2008 Rugby League World Cup matches, the game must be a success.

Gallop and ARL chief executive Geoff Carr will meet WARL officials and the government next week. Gallop said matches like Saturday's game were an opportunity for fans to vote with their feet.

"It will be an important first step in the process of establishing a team," he said.

"The 2008 World Cup is just around the corner and we would like to gauge the interest in Perth in hosting a match.

"The WA Rugby League has been through some dark days, but the organisation is in good hands and is really starting to get some momentum."


The Sunday Telegraph

All this importance, but we're hearing from locals in Perth that the promotion has been poor?

Go figure...

 

[dimitri]

gee i hope they do something about promoting this game the way it should

 

[perth sharkie]

I think that this match would've gotten a bigger crowd if it was played at Shark Park.

When the NRL realise this after next Saturday, I don't think there will be any need to worry about Cronulla relocating to Perth. Or any NRL team for that matter.

The article seems to blame the WARL for rugby league's lack of success in Perth, but they've been doing the best they can. It was the NRL who shafted the WA market and the WARL. So they should help the WARL if they want any hope of establishing an NRL team here before the market is completely lost, instead of criticising them.

 

[King of the Hill]

Sharks home games should be for Sharks fans.

The Perth game was a very, very bad idea.

 

[sharkmachine07]

i agree 100% sk

 

[spirit of league]

i can see the positives for the club and the game in playing a game in perth. i know there's negatives too but i hope it works out good for perth and footy fans in WA.

true words perth sharkie. i guess there'll be at least 1 local sharks fan at the game ?

 

[The Popper]

Yep. Still cost the same for a season ticket - but one game less and one cap more.

 

[carinashark]

There are no positives! Its just the NRL talking us into it via our weak leadership. One less game for loyal season seat holders! Thanks Bazza and Steve Rodgers . Get rid of both of them I say!
Carinashark

 

[perth sharkie]

true words perth sharkie. i guess there'll be at least 1 local sharks fan at the game ?

Too right! Also will be dragging along a Bronco and Raider to the match as well.

 

[Shark]

Sharks home games should be for Sharks fans.

The Perth game was a very, very bad idea.

Fair enough SK...

But what rule states that a Sharks Fan must live in Cronulla?

Personally, there are several games that are easier for me to attend than our 12 (or however many) home games each year. I live three friggin' hours away! Games at Penrith, Parra, Homebush, Campbelltown are all easier for me to get to than Shark Park fixtures. Hell, even Oki Dokey (Heaven Forbid!) is closer, while Canberra, WIN, Brooky and even the Central Coast are in just as easy reach for me as our own Hallowed Turf.

My point is, Sharks home games SHOULD be for Sharks fans...so why not play them in places that Sharks fans exist? OK, that might not be Perth, but it sure as hell should include at least one game in Queensland, because we enjoy a heap of support up there. And not that I am necessarily in favour of it, but places like the Central Coast may be able to offer us a justifiable level of support too - Especially with our feeder club deals that I think we have stemming from that region.

As for stringing up Sludge for the Perth deal...Come on, seriously people! At the time he did the deal, he was probably expecting no more than 12000 fans per game at home. OK, that might not show a great deal of loyalty to his club, and it may not have been a huge show of faith in Stu and the boys. But as a risk-based business decision, it had merit. Let's not forget, as CEO, the financial security of the club should be his main focus, and that was the reason behind the Perth experiment. If anything, we should applaud him for thinking like a business exec, and NOT like an ex-footy player.

See you in Perth, people!!!

 

[gunnamatta bay]

As for stringing up Sludge for the Perth deal...Come on, seriously people! At the time he did the deal, he was probably expecting no more than 12000 fans per game at home

And what intelligence would he have based that on? Did he consult the coach or the players? Did they say they had no hope this season? Did he happen to notice the country v city game is on the same weekend? Did he happen to think about how the licensed club will lose out? The casual workers who will have to find another source of income to pay their bills?

Worse still Perth Sharkie tells us there has been no promotion for this game. Who's fault is that? Did Sludge look at what the WARL, a dedicated group of amatuers, had up their sleeve?

Perth is agog with an unbeaten West Coast Eagles AFL team and John Mitchell's recruitment campaign for the Western Force. They don't care about this game.

I want to know how many officials and hangers on we are paying for to send over there for a nice little holiday because I fear this is what it is really all about.

 

[Foz]

Raper said that the Sharks Team have been well aware of the upcoming travel(including Melbourne) of the next few weeks.
They are using it as a team building excercise.
Said that the wives and girlfriends might suffer but hopefully winning the games would make up for this.

Hope we get the wins and I hope the boys behave themselves.
As long as the club makes more money out of this Perth game than they would of at home I'm happy.
Its if they dont that the questions have to be asked.

 

[gunnamatta bay]

As long as the club makes more money out of this Perth game than they would of at home I'm happy.

They will probably come up with some inspired maths Foz. We are but mushrooms after all.

 

[Card Shark]

As long as the club makes more money out of this Perth game than they would of at home I'm happy.

& they win!

 

[gunnamatta bay]

As long as the club makes more money out of this Perth game than they would of at home I'm happy.

& they win!

The Warriors are travelling over on Wednesday so they are taking this game seriously. After yesterdays narrow lose to the Panthers they will be fired up. We have lost our home game advantage. The Warriors have the team to beat anyone of their day. They beat the Broncos in Brisbane.

 

[RICHO]

Yeah the Warriors are travelling to Sydney on Wednesday. Then onto Perth on Thursday or Friday.

I think our boys will be going over earlyish too. Problably leave on Thursday.

 

[King of the Hill]

But what rule states that a Sharks Fan must live in Cronulla?

My guess is that more Sharks fans live in the suburb of Cronulla than the entire states of QLD and WA put together.

My point is, Sharks home games SHOULD be for Sharks fans...so why not play them in places that Sharks fans exist?

They primarily exist in the Shire, and Sydney
Taking our home games to other places will just diminish our home ground advantage

 

[Shark]

Yep, I agree with both of you, Gunna and SK.

At the present time, anyway.

Have a look at teams like Parra and the Drags. Generations of fans with links back to the geographical area they originated in now live all over the country.

I fully agree that, PRESENTLY, the vast majority of our fans live in the Shire. I also agree that the Perth game 'experiment' looks like being a flop, based largely on what Gunna has mentioned about revenue, and also based on the fact that we would have got 18000 to the game not 12000 or thereabouts.

I'm just throwing a few arguments in from the point of view of a guy who was born and raised in the Shire, but no longer lives there.

I'm also pleased (in a round-a-bout kind of way) that Sludge has thought outside the proverbial square for once. Again, it may prove to be a poor move, but at least he appears to have applied a business management philosophy to the situation, and not approached it like an ex-footy player.

 

[millersnose]

Sharks home games should be for Sharks fans.

The Perth game was a very, very bad idea.

i cant work it out either

as long as they keep such nonsense to an absolute minimum or if they are getting a large wad of cash for it i cant see the point

 

[Mr Angry]

I have no problem keeping in the good books with the NRL.
We are being used to promote the game elsewhere.
I am sure Bazza reminds Mr Gallop of this fact.
We are at the same time promoting the Sharks.
Might well pick up a few supporters for life.
Not to be done every year.