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NRL's growth mindset points to 18th team. And it ain't Perth.

Wb1234

Referee
Messages
21,780
This actually explains a lot.

I'm guessing that (if these are indeed the only Maroon league fans you associate with IRL) then there's probably a lot of overlap with their opinions and the stuff you post on here.

I know it because I lived there for many years and I heard it all:

- The Cowboys got bad calls in finals matches because the NRL didn't want a Qld team in the GF after the Maroons winning Origin (pick the year, seriously)

- Sydney people not packing out every game with 30k crowds minimum is unacceptable and proof that have no passion for RL, but it's perfectly reasonable if a Broncos game vs some typically low-drawing team gets a 15k crowd at Suncorp because well, look at how Brisbane are playing/ it's been raining all week/ it's too windy/ it's on a Thursday night and people have work the next day etc etc etc

- The Storm have more fans than any Sydney club

- Joey Johns wasn't as good as Lockyer or Cam Smith and only got awarded immortal status because of NSW bias

- Cowboys v Broncos is the biggest rivalry in the NRL

- Brisbane should get the GF because they sell out Suncorp quicker for Origin than Accor stadium. No, it's nothing to do with one being 50k and the other holding 82k. It's because we're more passionate about league

- Sydney should cut back to 4 teams because not every Sydney club is as big as the Broncos and this is unacceptable

- Sydney people are too precious and should accept mergers/ relocations to Adelaide/ Darwin/ Perth/ Singapore en masse for the good of the game. It's not 1980 anymore and people need to move on. But NSW are the scum of the Earth for all those Qld greats they stole for decades and that should never be forgotten- or forgiven

I've heard every beat of it. I've even heard people seriously claim Cairns should have it's own NRL team because "Well if the NBL could have separate teams in Cairns and Townsville then why can't the NRL?"

And (time and time again) it turns out the same people who espouse these views have never lived in Sydney. Even Wayne Bennett admitted he never really "got" what the NRL and it's traditional clubs mean to people in Sydney until he moved down to coach the Dragons. And this was from a thoroughly knowledgeable RL man through and through who spent more time in Sydney during a single season than the kind of people I'm talking about here spend in their entire lifetimes.
Singapore

Hahahha

nailed it
 

Wb1234

Referee
Messages
21,780
"The fans" in this case being poseurs and bandwagoners whose "fandom" never amounted to anything of substance until "their" team gained some success.

Why are we pretending that people whom wouldn't have been caught dead wearing Parramatta merchandise as recently as a few months ago, and in Penrith's case a few years ago, as if they're any more significant than the teenagers whom buy American sports and soccer merch as a fashion statement.

You're only lying to yourself if you treat the vast majority of these "fans" as anything other than evanescent in their nature.
As opposed to you who probably hasn’t been to a game for years and his contribution to the game is making extremely negative posts about the sport any chance he can get

yep the nrl needs more loyal fans like you and less the people who buy a jersey if their team makes the gf
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,723
yep the nrl needs more loyal fans like you and less the people who buy a jersey if their team makes the gf
Yeah more fans whom buy multiple jerseys and other pieces of merch each year, whom have been members/season ticket holders of various clubs probably since before you were born, whom volunteered at local clubs on and off for decades, whom played the game for years, whom realise that the sport is bigger than just the NRL and take an interest in that as well, etc, etc, would be amazing.

Unfortunately not everybody has the privileged to be as capable of being involved as I have been in my life, nor would I expect everybody to be. However we do need to hold some minimum standards as to whom does, and does not, classify as a fan or supporter, because if we don't hold those minimum standards then we end up wasting our time trying to appeal to people whom never have, and never will be, fans in any meaningful sense of the word. Like, for example, the aforementioned teenagers whom buy sports gear and band's t-shirts as a fashion statement.

I've said it many times, but it'd totally change the sport's fortunes overnight if you could just get the average NRL fan to support a local side as well as their NRL side. Overnight it'd flood the grassroots with wealth and resources that prior to could never have been imagined. Unfortunately your average punter would prefer whinge that the grassroots/[insert other form of RL here] are dying than actually do anything to change it.
 

Wb1234

Referee
Messages
21,780
Yeah more fans whom buy multiple jerseys and other pieces of merch each year, whom have been members/season ticket holders of various clubs probably since before you were born, whom volunteered at local clubs on and off for decades, whom played the game for years, whom realise that the sport is bigger than just the NRL and take an interest in that as well, etc, etc, would be amazing.

Unfortunately not everybody has the privileged to be as capable of being involved as I have been in my life, nor would I expect everybody to be. However we do need to hold some minimum standards as to whom does, and does not, classify as a fan or supporter, because if we don't hold those minimum standards then we end up wasting our time trying to appeal to people whom never have, and never will be, fans in any meaningful sense of the word. Like, for example, the aforementioned teenagers whom buy sports gear and band's t-shirts as a fashion statement.

I've said it many times, but it'd totally change the sport's fortunes overnight if you could just get the average NRL fan to support a local side as well as their NRL side. Overnight it'd flood the grassroots with wealth and resources that prior to could never have been imagined. Unfortunately your average punter would prefer whinge that the grassroots/[insert other form of RL here] are dying than actually do anything to change it.
It’s ok the dolphins will be helping the grassroots to the tune of 2 million pa

the club experts like you are death riding
 

The Great Dane

First Grade
Messages
7,723
It’s ok the dolphins will be helping the grassroots to the tune of 2 million pa

the club experts like you are death riding
$2mil a year is a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, and none of that money will reach any further than the Dolphins own junior system if you're being honest. So really they're just investing the money into their own business and not into the grassroots more broadly. Furthermore that money being pumped mainly into Brisbane/SEQ is just the rich getting richer, and will do little to nothing for those that need it most.

It shouldn't be on the clubs to fund the grassroots anyway, and the fact that the sport still does things in such an archaic way is the reason why there's a lack of funding in the first place.

I look forward to you changing the subject rather than addressing what's been said again...
 
Messages
12,413
I thought the AwFuL fans were a delusional cult, but they have nothing on the NSWRL fans who post on here. We've got people who think a few thousand people in Sydney watching their team play in a grand final but never support them at any other time of year proves Sydney needs nine teams. Then there's the poor buggers who think the NRL broadcast deal is better than AwFuL's because we're getting $190m per annum less than them between 25-28. It would be funny if the idiots who have this mentality weren't running the game.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
$2mil a year is a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, and none of that money will reach any further than the Dolphins own junior system if you're being honest. So really they're just investing the money into their own business and not into the grassroots more broadly. Furthermore that money being pumped mainly into Brisbane/SEQ is just the rich getting richer, and will do little to nothing for those that need it most.

It shouldn't be on the clubs to fund the grassroots anyway, and the fact that the sport still does things in such an archaic way is the reason why there's a lack of funding in the first place.

I look forward to you changing the subject rather than addressing what's been said again...
yeh biggest furphy ever that NRL clubs invest in grassroots! They invest in their elite pathways to develop NRL standard players. That's not grassroots!!
 
Messages
12,413
We need the QRL and NSWRL to take over promotion at junior level. They could have full time development officers going from school to school to run clinics.
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
We need the QRL and NSWRL to take over promotion at junior level. They could have full time development officers going from school to school to run clinics.
The states used to manage the DO's. Then ARLC decided it wanted them all under their umbrella and now they sit under NRLHQ.
Id love to know what the NSWRL and QRL do with the $20mill a year they get given by the ARLC?
 

Iamback

Coach
Messages
17,000
$2mil a year is a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things, and none of that money will reach any further than the Dolphins own junior system if you're being honest. So really they're just investing the money into their own business and not into the grassroots more broadly. Furthermore that money being pumped mainly into Brisbane/SEQ is just the rich getting richer, and will do little to nothing for those that need it most.

It shouldn't be on the clubs to fund the grassroots anyway, and the fact that the sport still does things in such an archaic way is the reason why there's a lack of funding in the first place.

I look forward to you changing the subject rather than addressing what's been said again...

Penrith spend $2.5m and won pretty much everything across the board, Given they linked with Rockhampton. That shows it is going to more than just the little area in Northern Brisbane
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
Penrith spend $2.5m and won pretty much everything across the board, Given they linked with Rockhampton. That shows it is going to more than just the little area in Northern Brisbane
They'd be getting close to a million of that back in NRL and NSWRL funding for those teams. And the point remains they aren't funding grassroots, they are funding elite development programs that benefit their business.
They no longer give any cash funding to the local grassroots, they do provide a little bit of in-kind office space lease.

Ideally we'd see a requirement in the NRL license for a min $2mill spend on elite pathways plus a $2mill a year license fee to be paid to the state body to fund more grassroots and participation. Salary cap of $11mill, Grant of $16mill.

Imagine what more could be done if grassroots was getting $2mill from each club in their area. NZRL $2mill from Warriors, VicNRL $2mill from Storm, NSWRL $20mill from the ten NSW clubs etc etc. Works well in the West with the WAFC getting a significant license fee revenue from the 2 AFL clubs.
 
Last edited:

Iamback

Coach
Messages
17,000
They'd be getting close to a million of that back in NRL and NSWRL funding for those teams. And the point remains they aren't funding grassroots, they are funding elite development programs that benefit their business.
They no longer give any cash funding to the local grassroots, they do provide a little bit of in-kind office space lease.

Their junior League runs at a profit, What is there to fund?
 

Perth Red

Post Whore
Messages
65,420
Their junior League runs at a profit, What is there to fund?
I've never heard anyone say there couldnt be more spent on grassroots sport!
If locally RL arent spending all their revenue I'd ask a very big question why!

free rego, free kit, free insurance, better coaching training, better ground facilities, better training facilities, more fun kids programs, more school programs the list is endless where you could spend more.
 

Iamback

Coach
Messages
17,000
I've never heard anyone say there couldnt be more spent on grassroots sport!
If locally RL arent spending all their revenue I'd ask a very big question why!

free rego, free kit, free insurance, better coaching training, better ground facilities, better training facilities, more fun kids programs, more school programs the list is endless where you could spend more.

The fact one of their junior clubs is Manly's Feeder team in NSW Cup shows how set up the area is here but it is besides the point.

They copy the Penrith model and that Northern Area of Brisbane will be flying, Like the Central West NSW is
 

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