New post on the Big Boy Blog. Dragons Mania, Depression and the Downward Spiral.

[blacktip-reefy]

whereas this past month it has been Dragonmania (as stated) their have been hundreds (if not thousands) of cars with red and white decorations numerous shops with red and white and every second person wearing a jersey or a hat,

I guess the important demographic trait to come out of this post, is this;
Sharks supporters have class.
We can still love our team, but don't have to dress our family up like pharkwitts & vandalise our own property with neanderthal decorations & the like.

 

[gregstar]

welcome home!

 

[Jubileeboy]

I guess the important demographic trait to come out of this post, is this;
Sharks supporters have class.
We can still love our team, but don't have to dress our family up like pharkwitts & vandalise our own property with neanderthal decorations & the like.

No...yet again...you are WRONG and symptomatic of the problem your club is faced with.
Keep it up Elford...you won't have a club :roll:

You are elitist....why? I fail to see the reason why!
The perception of 'too cool for school' has ruined your supporter base.
People /families refuse to go to your home games because of the drunken 15 yo, bogan element.
But your supporters don't get it !!
(not you guys here on the forum - everyone can see your passion and I am sure outside of this here bizarro world, some of you might even show human traits).

Your front office has been the laughing stock of the league for 20 odd years.. boys club, nepotism etc, etc.

Your comments and empathy towards supporting a Grand Final team is typical of your support and approach to the regular season. I lived in the shire when your team made the Super League GF...lol...was still more red and white around the place. Since then, while I applaud your enthusiasm, your numbers of supporters have merely given up.
"Fair Weather" is probably offered as a member category in your clubs constitution..FFS.
Sorry for raining on your parade, being a successful club, winning and being Premiers but...
Blow it out your arse halfwit !!

WE WON ...lol

 

[blacktip-reefy]

Like i said, most Sharks supporters have class.
it goes without saying that they are infinitely smarter than an Illawarra Dragons fan as well.

 

[RedVDave]

Like i said, most Sharks supporters have class.

and yet...
Location: @ an alcohol fuelled incident

real classy :roll:

 

[Feej]

Everybody & I mean everybody is not looking at the demographic closely enough. The loftus, Como, Engadine corridor is up for grabs. The sharks need to own that corridor.
Develop the entire dump at woolaware & start from scratch.
SUTHERLAND!!

The more I think about this, the more it makes sense. Imagine having a great facility at Sutherland - Close to public transport, improved road access etc.

A couple of seasons out at the SFS while we redevelop the whole woolaware site into something that actually creates income. Get the council and Gov onboard to build something at Sutho and away we go.....

 

[gUt]

and yet...
Location: @ an alcohol fuelled incident

real classy :roll:

I guess it shows you the depth of anti-Dragons sentiment out there in the community. Cronulla riots and it's "boys will be boys", one Dragons fan puts his fists up at the GF celebrations and out come the tazers and the batons.

 

[Surely]

I guess it shows you the depth of anti-Dragons sentiment out there in the community. Cronulla riots and it's "boys will be boys", one Dragons fan puts his fists up at the GF celebrations and out come the tazers and the batons.

Did I forget to mention the Brisbane river, it's beautiful a really lovely shade of brown, word has it 200 years ago you could almost see the bottom a couple of feet from the bank, and yes you also have a top footy side that made the oh hang on.

 

[Generalzod]

http://letsgotothebigboy.blogspot.com/2010/10/dragons-mania-shire-pride-never-ending.html



thursday, October 7, 2010

Dragons Mania, shire pride, the never ending downward spiral and depression.






The week just gone has been a bad week for Sharks supporters. Hopefully it will be the end of a bad couple of years, but to see our mortal enemies, the merged Dragons suceed while we flounder badly hurts. When the sharks would go bad, it would be some kind of comfort to sit back and watch the dragons implode and choke in the finals. No such luck this year. And it has left me, and many other long time supporters to wonder; when will it end?

What hurts even more is to see our homeland, the Cronulla district FILLED to the brim with support for the Dragons. Certain shops (namely Eloura take away, the shearers cook bakery, and Pauls famous hamburgers) which service the district should hang their head in shame at their outward support of the dragons and have lost this discerning customers ongoing business. Homes were decorated. And the worst was the cars. Scores of cars with dragons flags and streamers proudly waving in the wind. You would think that the sharks didnt exist, and to many of the local residents, they dont.

Now, let me clarify. It is any persons right to support who they want. But if you live in an area that is serviced by a certain team, and if you are a business, you have a moral obligation to support your local product, just as the local community supports you. Dont like it? Move.

So despairing is the situation that long time supporter and mate of mine, Garbz posted the following on the CSSC forum.

This week has convinced me that the Sharks have no future in the Shire. There are more Dragons fans here than Sharks fans; the place has been a sea of red and white all throughout the finals series. Even when we were showing some signs of success back in the Johnny Lang days I don't remember ever seeing so much black, white and blue in the area.

All the NRL would lose by either forcing us to relocate or forcibly taking our license and awarding it to some other region is the support of about 8000 people. The vacuum would very quickly be filled up by the Dragons, who would probably play a couple of games at Woolooware and pull bigger crowds than we ever have anyway.

With that in mind, we have four options:

1. Cling for dear life to our current position in the Shire, pandering to the needs of 8000 or so selfish fans (including myself) and never really amounting to anything until the time eventually arrives when we fall over (not necessarily due to poor management, either.)

2. Fold. Kind of pointless really.

3. Relocate. Probably our best option; it would be a matter of finding a suitable place to move to where the Sharks brand can take off. I'm thinking that a relocation merger with the Perth Reds would be the best option - Western Australia is due for another crack at the top league.

4. Merge. Unfortunately, I don't see any club that would be willing to accept us an equal partner in a merge. I expect this would be more of a take-over and we'd get a token strip of blue on a jersey (if that.) I'm sure the Dragons would be happy to take us over... but I'm not sure how popular that'd be.

Discuss.

Scary stuff. However, I have to disagree with Garbz here. While it is a disconcerting time, I think the following applies with regards to dragons-mania.

- The dragons have one of the biggest fan bases in the NRL. This comes mainly from a few factors : 1)They are essentially 2 teams and cover a huge geographic area.2) Theyre ongoing success in the 60s and 70s engendered an entire generation of support and this was passed on to succeeding generations.
- The dragons have many fair-weather fans who loudly and proudly come out of their holes when times are good. This is the same for any NRL team, but strangely, even more for these guys.
- The shire is essentially a utopian island within festering dragons territory. Some seepage has to be expected.
- The soccer world cup seemed to be the beginning of the car-flag craze. I reckon from now on, whenever there is a big sporting event, we will see much more car decoration than there has been in the past.


Heres the sting. If the sharks were to win minor premierships back to back and then go on to win a gf, I reckon our levels of support would be up there (not quite as good as) the dragons. However, and this is where Garbz negativity comes from, where are these wins going to come from? If we continue to flounder at the bottom of the table, will we be eaten up? I dont know.

The only consolation I can take is that there is a certain purity in supporting a perrenial underdog. Dragons fans felt hard done by that they had to wait 31 years to see success and when it came, they rightfully celebrated. How sweet then, will our victory hour be, when and if it comes.

Keep your chins up and go the Sharkies.

I said it before Cronulla has lost the Shire..a few weeks back there was a mufti day at the Gymea Bay public school my son went to school with his Sharks jersey, I was amazed at the amount of Kids who had tigers and Dragons jersey's on..There were was more St George colours in the Shire than there was in there own district of Kograh...As a long suffering sharks fan I don't see a light at then end of the tunnel.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

I guess it shows you the depth of anti-Dragons sentiment out there in the community. Cronulla riots and it's "boys will be boys", one Dragons fan puts his fists up at the GF celebrations and out come the tazers and the batons.

look I dont want to start nothing here but hey, how many parents in the shire run out of names to call kids after having 3?
Imagine the poor cops. Dealing with twins with the same first name!!!!

FMD!!! only in dragon land!!!

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Elitest. Shire. Oxymoron.

 

[carcharias]

look ....they have peaked and I mean peaked ...from here on they can only go down hill.
Bennet will last 1 year at most .
A few players will follow.

All the bandwagoneers will fall away quicker than they jumped on.

They are the biggest load of fair weather supporters on the planet.


Besides this year didn't even count.

They finally win the comp and it is the Claytons comp...with an illegal team.

for better or worse I will stick solid till the day I die.



also...it's not like they beat us in the GF.

 

[Quigs]

I'm still trying to get me old head around the fact that the NRL has come down on the cheating Storm and told them that none of the existing players are allowed to sign for a reduced contract fee for 2011 to allow the players to remain at the club.

But on the other hand the stains $2.67 center can be signed for a pittence for 2010 and then back end it massively with third party payments for his four of five year contract ... when its as plain as the nose on your face that he won't last the five year "big massive" contract.

Even the masters of third party contracts ... the donkeys, were whinging about the contract details.

no risk as far as I am concerned, and that is the games rigged.

Rorters get rewarded.

Cheers
Declared Idiot #88
Quigs

 

[gregstar]

temperance please.

 

[blacktip-reefy]

Quigs, Zapps could have been very, very good for us or very, very bad. We'll never know. Well not until the development gets going & we can hide stuff everywhere like the successful clubs do.

 

[bottle]

I'm still trying to get me old head around the fact

It's hard to see through the red mist of bitterness.

 

[Quigs]

narhhh Bottle.

Everything is really crystal clear when you consider the facts. All you have to do is have the ability to change the rules whenever it suits the needs.

Some can, some can't, some do, some don't.

Lifes like a level playing field.

Cheers
Declared Idiot #88
Quigs

 

[jackb]

Come on Sharkies supporters - get it together!

I am a Rabbitohs man and have been since the mid-60s but I have lived in the Shire for the past 20 years and love the place. Don't let a couple of poor seasons get you down - my club has had plenty of crappy years with wooden spoons, no money, evicted from the NRL etc, etc,etc and we are still here and still proud.

You need to build from the inside. Four years ago Souths had around 3,000 members and this year close to 20,000 members. This is where the money comes from, along with corporate sponsors, as the members are the source of income from gate receipts, merchandise sales and all the other add-on's. When Lang was your coach the Sharks players were very active in the local community drumming up support and there was plenty of pride in your club from the Shire. I haven't seen much of this in recent times so time to get back to grass roots with the local community. Lang is doing this with Souths now and the players are expected to be in the community drumming up support for the club every week. Souths are now the only profitable NRL club in Sydney.

Looking at your NRL team, you have the talent to make a charge for the finals in 2011. The back row of Smith, Toupu and Gallen is mobile and tough. You also have the best pair of young front rowers in the competition and some terrific young talent in the backs. Sure there are a couple of weak spots but this is the intention of the salary cap and all clubs have a weakness somewhere. With a new coach and, hopefully, some leadership and direction from the board, you should do very well next season. The big question will be weather you can get decent crowds at Shark Park? I think so and I will certainly be at the game between Sharks and Souths with my family.

The option of a move to WA can sit on the back bench for a while yet. The league over there is strong and growing so it can look apealing however you should look to build here first. The Sharks lose nothing other than on field success in comparison to the st.merge dragqueens and look at their support! Sure they merged with Illawarra and now have additional supporters, cash and junior players coming through from that region but as far as Sydney is concerned you can match them. People in the Shire are very parichial and want to support their local team. Give them a club worth fighting for!

 

[The Masked Avenger]

I said it before Cronulla has lost the Shire..a few weeks back there was a mufti day at the Gymea Bay public school my son went to school with his Sharks jersey, I was amazed at the amount of Kids who had tigers and Dragons jersey's on..There were was more St George colours in the Shire than there was in there own district of Kograh...As a long suffering sharks fan I don't see a light at then end of the tunnel.

Gee, looks like that school has gone to crap since I left. Back in my day wearing a rival teams jersey or supporting anyone other than the Sharkies was severly frowned upon and the appropriate punishment was regularly administered upon the offending parties.

 

[squiddy]

. The loftus, Como, Engadine corridor is up for grabs. The sharks need to own that corridor.

f**k Reefy you obviously didnt come out Engadine way last week did you , was awash ini red and white - saints jersys being rafled mainstreet , saints players did promos in engadine schools the week before , flags on every second car , flags and streamers on the houses , it was farked man , sharks have lost this end of the shire too