THECURSEDJET said:
Hey Muppet man,
you seem to know a lot about the club and the running of the club, answer all of us on this forum one simple question>
do you honestly expect us supporters to believe for one minute the NSWRL would only notify you (as stated) a weeks notice????
FFS (as you also imply) there may be someone out there that will accept this as an excuse, but not all of us
If this is the case well I hope someone's head will roll in at the NSWRL.
If it isn't well there should be a massive clean out of these so called hard working directors at the Jets for letting this happen
* post the person we all should be notifying our thoughts and disgust to at the NSWRL, if it is there fault i urge all Newtown fans to bombard the NSWRL and vent our disapproval*
I didn't say it was a week's notice, I said that it was after our last trial. Mr Dwyer was notified on March 5, that's after our last trials and only fourteen working days before the Auckland game. The time since that date was spent protesting the matter and trying to organise and alternate strip should the protest fail. It was made clear to us early on that an alternate strip could not be arranged in time.
Newtown did not prepare an alternate strip because it has never had to do so in 100 years. And any implication that our directors were slack on this issue is offensive. The Board works bloody hard, puts in a lot of time and money to help the Jets. We're no NRL club - no free tickets and dinners here. If you're on the board, you work. Newtown did the right thing here. They initiated contact with the NSWRL on several occassions re; the jersey only to be met with silence. The NSWRL only bothered to reply once it was too late for us to do anything.
As for the NSWRL Rules binding away clubs to wear away jerseys in the event of a clash, this is not in the NSWRL Operations Manual. Whoever you spoke to at the NSWRL would have conveniently omitted this from the conversation. The League told us it was in the Manual and we pointed out that it wasn't they then said something along the lines of, "oh - but it's in the NRL Manual and that's what we go by when something's not in the NSWRL Manual" - an absolute copout. Clubs have never ever before been given a copy of the NRL Manual nor been told that it acts as a supplement to the NSWRL Manual. The NSWRL made this up on the run to cover their oversight, inattentiveness and lax administration.
Unfortunately heads will not roll at the NSWRL. They don't care about history and tradition the people who make errors like this, (about whom few people of influence complain), do not get brought to justice.
Newtown were told that they had to wear an alternate jersey as the away club. We argued that as the newest entrant to the comp, Auckland should change. This is what happened in 1967 when Penrith changed from Blue to Brown. The NSWRL gave no response to this, simply saying, "you're the away team." Newtown has worn that jersey for one month short of 99 years, a full two months before the first game of RL under Northern Rules in NZ (June 1908) and before the formation of the Auckland RL.
When Auckland come to Henson Park, they will have to wear away jerseys. We've told them already (giving them 4 months notice). As for the future, the Newtown RLFC board is overwhelmingly in favour of retaining one strip and they will keep pushing the NSWRL to let us do so.