http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/its-time-for-rustys-rabbitohs-to-deliver-20120303-1u9ji.html
It's time for Rusty's Rabbitohs to deliver
Six years after privatisation, Adrian Proszenko examines whether long-suffering South Sydney fans will finally see sustained success on the field.
It was about 45 minutes into Peter Holmes a Court's first public address to South Sydney fans when a familiar face emerged from the back of the room to field a curly question directed at the multimillionaire businessman.
The scene, the NRL's fan day in February 2006, was as staged as any movie set. This was the hard sell before the buy. Actor Russell Crowe grabbed the microphone and turned a cameo performance into a starring one as he urged members to entrust the future of the Pride of the League to him and Holmes a Court. The sales pitch, history shows, was ultimately a successful one. But how will history judge the first six years of South Sydney's privatisation? Has all the hype - captain Roy Asotasi famously wrote off 2008 as ''our Hollywood year'' - been worth the hassle? Has the Armani Army delivered?
Perhaps the most pertinent question is this: did Crowe and Holmes a Court know what they were getting themselves into? It would appear, by watching the foundation club evolve under their watch, this was not the case. Two years into the role, Crowe acknowledged his work for the club was extremely time consuming. He and Holmes a Court have reduced their input significantly in recent times.
When they came to power, Crowe and Holmes a Court were so hands-on their fingerprints marked just about everything. One insider tells the story of Crowe placing a bin in the middle of a training field and then instructing the players to kick the Steeden into it to sharpen their accuracy. On another occasion, the Oscar winner had them march around Centennial Park in their tracksuits and in single file with the player at the rear having to make his way to the front. And who could forget claims by Adam MacDougall, the NSW and Australian three-quarter, that he was told which lines to run at training. ''When they first took over, Russell was into everything,'' a source said.
In those early days, money was no object. The football staff got just about everything they wanted. Shane Richardson was the CEO but most matters were handled by Crowe and Holmes a Court personally. One former staffer claims there were plans for Richardson to retire at the end of 2007, given he had taken such a back seat in the running of the club, and such was the involvement of the new owners.
In that year, for the first time in two decades, the Rabbitohs made the finals. It came at a cost - $4,135,000 to be exact, which was the loss posted by the football club in 2008. That bill effectively ended the relationship between Holmes a Court and Crowe, the latter blaming the businessman for blowing the budget.
Richardson, on the brink of walking away, seized the opportunity to regain control of the club, promising Crowe he wouldn't need to keep injecting funds if he was given authority over finances. From that moment the Rabbitohs, who had all but stolen the ''glamour club'' tag from their arch rivals, the Roosters, were, as one staffer put it, ''a very different place''.
''All the rules changed in 2008,'' he said. It began with little things.
Overnight stays at a Homebush hotel before home games were scrapped. The football club no longer paid for the players' reunion. There were mass sackings. Staff members had bloated from 14 to 49 post privatisation, but this was quickly trimmed back to about 35. Some cuts were brutal. After being pursued for months by Holmes a Court, a senior executive finally relented and came on board, only to be shown the door just months later. A key media appointment, having signed to start at Redfern on the following Monday, rang from her farewell party on Friday to ask what time she should begin work. Only then was she was told there was no longer a job for her.
For all the cost cutting, the club is hardly flush with funds. Annual reports show revenue is up by almost $6 million since privatisation, courtesy of sponsorship generated mostly from Crowe's Hollywood celebrity. Membership numbers are soaring, about triple the 6809 members of 2006. But they're not the only figures on the up. Spending increased in 2011 because of the $737,678 office rental charges for space in the old leagues club building in Chalmers Street. Liabilities have risen from $2.29 million in 2004 to $10.64 million in 2011, a figure that would have been higher still had it not been the cash injection from the sale of 75 per cent of the football club. Meanwhile, assets have increased by just over $2 million.
When George Piggins stepped down as football club chairman in March 2003, handing the keys to Nicholas Pappas, the club had $250,000 in the bank. Since privatisation, the football club has lost almost $8 million. In the Piggins era, the club's largest loss was $480,000 in one year, mainly costs from the court case during the Super League war. Meanwhile, the doors to the leagues club were reopened only in time for this year's Return to Redfern trial, for the first time in five years.
On the field, things haven't quite gone to plan either. Crowe boldly predicted a premiership within three years around the time he took the reins. ''I think 2008 sounds good - the 100th year of the club,'' he said.
Despite Souths attracting the likes of Greg Inglis, Asotasi, Michael Crocker, Sam Burgess and Dave Taylor to their line-up, it has been more of the same for long-suffering fans. They finally made the play-offs in 2007, only to sack the coach that got them there, Jason Taylor, over the infamous ''Sad Sunday'' affair. That decision was made despite claims that Crowe helped organise the previous year's Mad Monday festivities. Souths are the only NRL club that has not played finals football over the past four years.
It's into this scenario that new coach Michael Maguire walks in his rookie NRL season. As one former staffer put it: ''Richo can't not have input into the team. If Maguire doesn't bring him into the inner sanctum as far as picking the team then, in the long run, it won't work.''
In recent times, Crowe has scaled back his involvement. The Book of Feuds, the Silver Bunny, the decision to scrap cheerleaders and various other interventions are fewer and further between. However, there are still memorable touches. As when he invited Pamela Anderson, in a figure-hugging Souths top, to watch the Rabbitohs warm up for their vital encounter against the Roosters in late 2008.
''She's standing at the side of the warm-up and clapping and hollering
it was a circus,'' one player said.
The players ran on to the Sydney Football Stadium shortly afterwards but their minds were clearly elsewhere. They trailed 22-0 before mounting a late fightback to go down 22-20. Then there's the time Crowe wanted American basketball legend Charles Barkley to address the side before a game, only to be knocked back by the coaching staff. When Souths narrowly lost, Crowe is said to have stormed out of his box, believing Barkley's words could have made the difference.
On another occasion, Crowe sent a motivational video to the boys from location at Hollywood. The clip, shot on the set of one of his action epics, showed Crowe emerging from the water, staring down the barrel of the camera to tell his players words to the effect of, ''Boys, I'm here doing what I do. You've got to be over there doing what you do: working hard.''
''A lot of the players laughed at stuff he thought was very powerful,'' an insider said.
Holmes a Court, however, is nowhere to be seen. He lives in France and hasn't been spotted at a Souths game since 2010. As
The Sun-Herald revealed in November, the co-owners are legally able to put the club up for sale on June 7. It remains to be seen if they will take up the option.
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