Peter Beatte NRL 360 - expansion

[The Great Dane]

Correct SL did stuff things up.they(News) had not a clue about the financial outcome of the war ,nor fan reaction ,where the war cost News well over $450m ,and the ARL left with zero in the Bank.

The SL war only happened cause of the ARL's mismanagement and their arrogance, for some reason a lot of people seem to want to forget that it was the ARL that "sold" the pay tv rights to Kerry packer for nothing, it was the ARL that pushed the Broncos, Raiders, and Newcastle to seek out the opportunity of creating a new league though creating new and often frankly draconian rules to keep them in line and constantly threatening to kick them out of the league if they didn't conform, that News came to the ARL with what was almost a dream deal and the ARL and Sydney clubs laughed it off cause they wouldn't necessarily have complete control over the entire sport in this country if they took it, the ARL wouldn't even negotiate with them at all...

The ARL under Arthurson had a team in WA,but Perth in their wisdom decided to go to SL,as did my club.So the NRL is not to blame.Maybe if you guys had stood solid,the Sharks may have been eventually flicked due to their then financial situation ,and you'd now have a team.You guys have to take some responsibility ATT,but you won't.

The ARL under Arthurson allowed a team from WA into the comp then put such heavy financial disadvantages on them that they would have inevitably gone broke before the decade was out, cause they thought they had a monopoly, then got pissed when WA took a better offer when it came along...

They (the ARL) basically created the perfect storm to make a SL style situation possible, they got a bunch of clubs (including almost all the most popular and successful ones on the pitch at the time), they changed a bunch of rules that basically made it impossible for them to be successful or even sustainable then sanctioned the shit out of them for breaking those rules (in what was almost certainly an intentional ploy to keep a handful of Sydney clubs that they had connections too competitive) , which made all those clubs desperate cause they were all dying and/or being massively disadvantaged compared to other clubs in the comp, then they were surprised when another group saw an opportunity to crack into a lucrative market for a fraction of what it'd normally cost by getting those disenfranchised and desperate clubs to jump ship to their new comp!

Look I'm no fan of News or SL, and nor was I at the time, but lets not whitewash history and make out that the ARL were innocent little angels that did nothing wrong when evil News Limited came along to pray on them, it takes two to tango and the ARL did countless stupid things and definitely weren't innocent...

 

[taipan]

Umm, yeah actually they did...


Well they didn't count on the SL war to assist them.And the activation of expansion didn't happen til 1982 when the Swans rode into town. The Swans it has been stated on more than one occasion nearly folded.



Check the Swan's crowds post SL and after their first grand final entry.Of course they exploded in the 000s ,the peace deal and the consequences also helped them along.


That's debatable,especially as they(Swans) nearly went down the gurgler on more than one occasion,To suggest the SL war didn't assist is plain naive.



I have no argument in investing in things, nor do I expect instant success.Hell my team has had more up and downs than a roller coaster.You still have to have the money to invest,and your have to have money to ensure continuity .


Brisbane in a one city, rl heartland if they couldn't make a go of it,they may as well close shop.


You're telling me to suck eggs on that one.The Sharks wasted more money on coaches ,then sacking them, than I care to go into.


LOL.Who the hell are you to talk about double standards. Talk about a pretentious comment.I at least acknowledge ,the disasters my club has inflicted on the game over the years.



Let me spell it out one more time.The ARL had $23m est at the time of SL.If that war had not gone ahead, we probably wouldn't be arguing .There'd be a team in Perth,and probably a second Brisbane team.
Plus we have neglected grassroots for many years ,ask the bush and regional areas.
Plus clubs overspent.Plus we got shafted in the $500m v $780m TV deal.
Plus the AFL doesn't help fund any Internationals such a loss making ones eg at Campbelltown a year or so ago.


I'm aware of the fact.I'v stated streaming is already impacting.
And yet there has been stuff all growth in STV in this country over the last couple of years.Thus we don't know the impact for other technologies now.




You tell me the plan they should have, now and the money allocation.All the other business people on the Commission are useless, if that be the case.


Really.We had nothing in teh bank last year.Comparisons are drawn because both codes operate in this country ,on a competitive basis, at times against each other.Because Tv contract monies are compared also, not my view,


The Swans are not manufactured, nor the Lions.They were traditional clubs ,who could not continue in their locality.How much do the manufactured clubs cost the AFL pa.
People lining up with money ,doesn't guarantee long term success.It's more than just that, support,infrastrucure,sponsorship ,media coverage.


Oh so f*cking money grows on trees. Apparently grassroots does not receive funding from NRL revenue,which same revenue would help fund expansion.
The ones thing I do agree ,our code is top heavy, with too much money being paid at the top.Try cutting back their salaries,good luck.



Crap.And I don;t need history books.
For a start other codes like soccer and AFL have large junior bases,that have not been eroded.Soccer because of parental influence, and AFL because of the huge amount of funding they throw in.
Union is having problems with expansion, and lack of funding for their grassroots.


WTF.
If teams from Sydney are to be rationalised in the end game, then the city with the largest commercial market ,has some importance in the final decision making.
Canberra has zero chance of being relocated, thus I'm not surprised one iota, you don't mention Canberra.


It's not expansion,it's the removal or relocation that creates the anxiety for the clubs and fans.Perhaps one needs to look a little deeper into the Sydney market, with issues such as outdated infrastructure and its impact.


I'm responding to his comments,that he claims he will pursue ad infinitum.That's his agenda.it's hardly hidden form view.


Talk about clueless.If News had its way, my club would have been cast to the dustbin of history.
We only got into SL because St George were the preferred sideband they stuck with the ARL.

D

No I work for an independent group called, yours truly.A school of independent thought.
Don't know what J.Cs got to do with it.
Yes, News and ch 9 have been so generous toward my club in recent times.Obviously you have no idea about my posts on News and ch9 on many threads, none of which are complimentary..


You don't know that for sure.He certainly stuffed the negotiating position.If that's grabbing Fox by the balls,then they didn't whimper.
Funny how all the promotional work for AFL in the Northern States,is out there in all its glory.As Rupert and his News 2IC promised.


Are you a medical expert?I'll take advice from experts in that field.Not keyboard warriors.


Another assumption.
We get the bulk of the money from TV: fact.The final decision making for the number of teams, will be in the hands of the ARLC not TV companies: Fact
I've stated all along we were screwed in the past ,because of the News/ARL partnership, not just my view:Fact
The latest Tv deal is assisting the NRL in obtaining a surplus.

 

[taipan]

The SL war only happened cause of the ARL's mismanagement and their arrogance, for some reason a lot of people seem to want to forget that it was the ARL that "sold" the pay tv rights to Kerry packer for nothing, it was the ARL that pushed the Broncos, Raiders, and Newcastle to seek out the opportunity of creating a new league though creating new and often frankly draconian rules to keep them in line and constantly threatening to kick them out of the league if they didn't conform, that News came to the ARL with what was almost a dream deal and the ARL and Sydney clubs laughed it off cause they wouldn't necessarily have complete control over the entire sport in this country if they took it, the ARL wouldn't even negotiate with them at all...


Of course the ARL: went ahead with an extra 4 teams in one hit.And where did the planning for the SL war happen?In Brisbane.Nothing to do with News wanting Pay Tv set up.Yeah sure.

Now your sticking up for News and their wonderful, too good to refuse deal,the same guy who stated I must work for News LOL.
Well we know how the half control worked with New's involvement, having a rep on both sides of the negotiating table Good one.Imagine them running the whole show.
Amazing the code was going gangbusters prior to 1995 even with some poor decisions,with money in the bank, of course News wanted to get into the action, to get subscriptions for their new Pay TV set up.
They were only interested in making Pay TV profitable,who got burnt in the ARL was of no consequence to them.




The ARL under Arthurson allowed a team from WA into the comp then put such heavy financial disadvantages on them that they would have inevitably gone broke before the decade was out, cause they thought they had a monopoly, then got pissed when WA took a better offer when it came along...

Having to pay for travel and accommodation costs was ludicrous,always stated thus.Surely the Perth team was not that naive or lacking of business nous ,to know the costs of travel and accommodation would be prohibitive.And told the ARL ,its just not financially viable to do so.

They (the ARL) basically created the perfect storm to make a SL style situation possible, they got a bunch of clubs (including almost all the most popular and successful ones on the pitch at the time), they changed a bunch of rules that basically made it impossible for them to be successful or even sustainable then sanctioned the shit out of them for breaking those rules (in what was almost certainly an intentional ploy to keep a handful of Sydney clubs that they had connections too competitive) , which made all those clubs desperate cause they were all dying and/or being massively disadvantaged compared to other clubs in the comp, then they were surprised when another group saw an opportunity to crack into a lucrative market for a fraction of what it'd normally cost by getting those disenfranchised and desperate clubs to jump ship to their new comp!

Success does create opportunities for takeovers at times.And what do you expect any club to do, if they look like getting shut down.Say thanks,I'll go along with the deal that means my extinction.
Any sporting body with solemn concern would dod their best to ensure the competition remained intact.No one should be surprised the ARL mounted rearguard action.
And I don;t have much time for K Packer,but as any business type would do, he was out to protect his investment.


Look I'm no fan of News or SL, and nor was I at the time, but lets not whitewash history and make out that the ARL were innocent little angels that did nothing wrong when evil News Limited came along to pray on them, it takes two to tango and the ARL did countless stupid things and definitely weren't innocent...

"White washing history ".Whose doing that,I'm spelling out the grim facts.
The ARL were hardly blameless,but they did have money in the Bank,a swag by today's standards.Clubs relied and still do on Leagues' clubs via pokies.The game prior to 95 was fairly dominant in the winter sporting landscape.

The genesis of SL was at a function in Brisbane involving the likes of Ribot,Morgan and indeed Rupert.
The idea of the Crushers ,a competitor for the Broncs ,would hardly have suited the Bronco's management.
News was just a corporate raid to secure Pay TV subscriptions, one of the main beneficiaries was well known.The Broncos.To this day ,they are hardly enamoured with the thought of a 2nd Brisbane side.

 

[The Great Dane]

"White washing history ".Whose doing that,I'm spelling out the grim facts.
The ARL were hardly blameless,but they did have money in the Bank,a swag by today's standards.Clubs relied and still do on Leagues' clubs via pokies.The game prior to 95 was fairly dominant in the winter sporting landscape.

The genesis of SL was at a function in Brisbane involving the likes of Ribot,Morgan and indeed Rupert.
The idea of the Crushers ,a competitor for the Broncs ,would hardly have suited the Bronco's management.
News was just a corporate raid to secure Pay TV subscriptions, one of the main beneficiaries was well known.The Broncos.To this day ,they are hardly enamoured with the thought of a 2nd Brisbane side.

The genesis of SL was at a Broncos board meeting in the early 90s (I forget exactly which year but I wanna say 91/92) after the Broncos had yet again been threatened with being kicked out of the comp for the umpteenth time, I believe that time was cause they wanted to produce some of their own merchandise to sell in the Brisbane market and at Broncos games and the NSWRL said they couldn't and that if they did they'd kick them out, where Wayne Bennett brought up the concern of what happens if the NSWRL actually followed through on their threats and kicked them out or attempts to completely f**k them like they just had the Raiders, which got Ribot and others thinking 'yeah what do we do if they actually kick us out' and the idea of another competition that they could fall back to was seeded...

So yeah your "grim facts" are facts, but at the same time they are half truths... There was a function in Brisbane where Ribot met Morgan and Rupert, but that was before the Crushers were even really a twinkle in the NSWRL's eye (though there was talks of a second Brisbane club at the time, but there had literally been talks of a second Brisbane team since before the Broncos had even been granted a license), and all that resulted of that function was Ribot met them and convinced them to sponsor the Broncos (through one of their newspapers) that lead to a good working relationship going into the future.

So yeah your facts are facts, but they ignore the other things that were going on at the time...

 

[taipan]

The genesis of SL was at a Broncos board meeting in the early 90s (I forget exactly which year but I wanna say 91/92) after the Broncos had yet again been threatened with being kicked out of the comp for the umpteenth time, I believe that time was cause they wanted to produce some of their own merchandise to sell in the Brisbane market and at Broncos games and the NSWRL said they couldn't and that if they did they'd kick them out, where Wayne Bennett brought up the concern of what happens if the NSWRL actually followed through on their threats and kicked them out or attempts to completely f**k them like they just had the Raiders, which got Ribot and others thinking 'yeah what do we do if they actually kick us out' and the idea of another competition that they could fall back to was seeded...

So yeah your "grim facts" are facts, but at the same time they are half truths... There was a function in Brisbane where Ribot met Morgan and Rupert, but that was before the Crushers were even really a twinkle in the NSWRL's eye (though there was talks of a second Brisbane club at the time, but there had literally been talks of a second Brisbane team since before the Broncos had even been granted a license), and all that resulted of that function was Ribot met them and convinced them to sponsor the Broncos (through one of their newspapers) that lead to a good working relationship going into the future.

So yeah your facts are facts, but they ignore the other things that were going on at the time...

The Broncos got invited to the ARL,then they decided ATT to be a law unto themselves,which still occurs today.We know the specific instances, one a player who did the rounds of NY and Gee Gee.
Who runs the code?The administration or a club telling the admin what they should do?

Yeah I remember Ribot and having E.T. known by every Cantonese in Shanghai and Mal stating what has rugby league done for me.

I was the mug ,who attended the first SL game Raiders v Sharks at the SFS,it was billed as something completely different.In fact a slight variation.

There's no such thing as half truth here, what I stated was correct.The whole reason News got involved was to set up his Pay TV service, with rugby league which was doing well ATT.The Broncos are hardly the only club to get p*ssed off with an administration.They spat the dummy.Simple as that.
And we got a code that was divided,and the effects lasted longer than expected.

If you know the Bronco's history,they have hardly been accommodating for any sort of competition against their monopoly in Brisbane.Getting the backing of News reinforced their attitude.They're are only just now accepting of another Brisbane team if necessary.
And if Ribes and Morgan hadn't pushed Rupert to grab rugby league,there may well have been two teams in Brisbane now.
Rugby league admin (hardly perfect by any means)lost its substantial financial assets in one fell swoop in 1995,if anyone believes that helped the code long term,good luck.

 

[taipan]

Double post.

 

[Perth Red]

"White washing history ".Whose doing that,I'm spelling out the grim facts.
The ARL were hardly blameless,but they did have money in the Bank,a swag by today's standards..

In 2014 the NRL had $67mill in the bank! By 2018 that saved money was spent.
You talk abut money in the bank like the NRL hasnt had any in recent years or the ability to put it away if it wanted to.
Revenue 2012 $181mill
Revenue 2018 $500mill plus

Seriously the one thing the NRL doesn't lack is money! A vision, strategy and commitment to expansion, now that is something that is very lacking.
AFL didn't wait for TV permission to say yes expand. They created a ninth game then told them that this extra content was valuable and they needed to pay more for it (to the tune of $57mill a year allegedly). Build it and they will come.
Expansion will cost the NRL approx $35mil a year. The $ value, and more importantly the growth of the game value will far surpass it, if it doesn't you have to question how much value our game really has compared to our rival.

 

[The Great Dane]

The Broncos got invited to the ARL,then they decided ATT to be a law unto themselves,which still occurs today.We know the specific instances, one a player who did the rounds of NY and Gee Gee.
Who runs the code?The administration or a club telling the admin what they should do?

Yeah I remember Ribot and having E.T. known by every Cantonese in Shanghai and Mal stating what has rugby league done for me.

I was the mug ,who attended the first SL game Raiders v Sharks at the SFS,it was billed as something completely different.In fact a slight variation.

There's no such thing as half truth here, what I stated was correct.The whole reason News got involved was to set up his Pay TV service, with rugby league which was doing well ATT.The Broncos are hardly the only club to get p*ssed off with an administration.They spat the dummy.Simple as that.
And we got a code that was divided,and the effects lasted longer than expected.

If you know the Bronco's history,they have hardly been accommodating for any sort of competition against their monopoly in Brisbane.Getting the backing of News reinforced their attitude.They're are only just now accepting of another Brisbane team if necessary.
And if Ribes and Morgan hadn't pushed Rupert to grab rugby league,there may well have been two teams in Brisbane now.
Rugby league admin (hardly perfect by any means)lost its substantial financial assets in one fell swoop in 1995,if anyone believes that helped the code long term,good luck.

Nobody is saying that the Broncos or News were innocent or whatever it is that you think that is being said, I'm just saying that SL didn't occur in a vacuum, it was a reaction to some terrible decisions the NSWRL/ARL made, and some incredibly shitty (borderline corrupt in some cases) things that the NSWRL/ARL did, and to forget/ignore those things is a bloody stupid thing to do that a lot of people seem intent to want to do, and is literally the definition of whitewashing history BTW...

Look at it this way, if the ARL didn't bankrupt the Raiders overnight because of a misunderstanding of the new salary cap rules (that a good portion of the comp also misunderstood mind you) do you think the Raiders would have found it necessary to go after the SL money?

If they didn't saddle the Western Reds with a bunch of other teams travel expenses among other things that literally doomed them to failure before they'd even started do you think that they would have jumped ship?

If they just let the Broncos sell their exclusive merch at game days and in Queensland, hold their matches in the off season against English clubs, and actually considered their plans to hold some big events in Brisbane, etc, etc, without either just dismissing them outright without even considering their ideas/plans at all (normally screaming tradition at them as they slammed the door in their face) or demanding that they take something ridiculous like 95% of the profit from the merch for themselves and to split among the other clubs, and then threatening to kick them out of the comp each time, do you think they would have felt threatened enough that they thought it necessary to even entertain the idea of creating another comp for them to fall back to?

Hell If they weren't looking at a scorched earth approach to rationalisation do you reckon the Sharks would have jumped ship to SL?

The answer in each case is who knows, but under those circumstances suddenly it seems a shit ton less likely that any of them feel that it's necessary to jump ship, and any SL would definitely have had a hell of a lot harder time convincing effectively half the comp to abandon the ARL to start a new comp no matter how much money they were throwing around, cause why risk a good thing on a hope and a prayer if you don't have too...

Almost all of the SL clubs went to SL out of necessity for their survival and/or cause they felt underappreciated/used and abused by the NSWRL/ARL, to deny that or play that fact down is to deny history.

 

[tri_colours]

The SL war only happened cause of the ARL's mismanagement and their arrogance, for some reason a lot of people seem to want to forget that it was the ARL that "sold" the pay tv rights to Kerry packer for nothing, it was the ARL that pushed the Broncos, Raiders, and Newcastle to seek out the opportunity of creating a new league though creating new and often frankly draconian rules to keep them in line and constantly threatening to kick them out of the league if they didn't conform, that News came to the ARL with what was almost a dream deal and the ARL and Sydney clubs laughed it off cause they wouldn't necessarily have complete control over the entire sport in this country if they took it, the ARL wouldn't even negotiate with them at all...



The ARL under Arthurson allowed a team from WA into the comp then put such heavy financial disadvantages on them that they would have inevitably gone broke before the decade was out, cause they thought they had a monopoly, then got pissed when WA took a better offer when it came along...

They (the ARL) basically created the perfect storm to make a SL style situation possible, they got a bunch of clubs (including almost all the most popular and successful ones on the pitch at the time), they changed a bunch of rules that basically made it impossible for them to be successful or even sustainable then sanctioned the shit out of them for breaking those rules (in what was almost certainly an intentional ploy to keep a handful of Sydney clubs that they had connections too competitive) , which made all those clubs desperate cause they were all dying and/or being massively disadvantaged compared to other clubs in the comp, then they were surprised when another group saw an opportunity to crack into a lucrative market for a fraction of what it'd normally cost by getting those disenfranchised and desperate clubs to jump ship to their new comp!

Look I'm no fan of News or SL, and nor was I at the time, but lets not whitewash history and make out that the ARL were innocent little angels that did nothing wrong when evil News Limited came along to pray on them, it takes two to tango and the ARL did countless stupid things and definitely weren't innocent...

 

[Fat Tony Kandos]

Super League actually wanted St. George to be the first team to sign with their competition.

The winner of the 'war' was always going to be decided on whatever St. George did.

 

[tri_colours]

Or maybe, and probably much more likely it only happened because of Brisbane and Canberra's greed.

The FTA deal they got of Packer was the biggest ever at the time.

And at that time PV didn't exist in Australia. So $1m isn't a bad price to get for something that didn't exist.

 

[tri_colours]

The genesis of SL was at a Broncos board meeting in the early 90s (I forget exactly which year but I wanna say 91/92) after the Broncos had yet again been threatened with being kicked out of the comp for the umpteenth time, I believe that time was cause they wanted to produce some of their own merchandise to sell in the Brisbane market and at Broncos games and the NSWRL said they couldn't and that if they did they'd kick them out, where Wayne Bennett brought up the concern of what happens if the NSWRL actually followed through on their threats and kicked them out or attempts to completely f**k them like they just had the Raiders, which got Ribot and others thinking 'yeah what do we do if they actually kick us out' and the idea of another competition that they could fall back to was seeded...

So yeah your "grim facts" are facts, but at the same time they are half truths... There was a function in Brisbane where Ribot met Morgan and Rupert, but that was before the Crushers were even really a twinkle in the NSWRL's eye (though there was talks of a second Brisbane club at the time, but there had literally been talks of a second Brisbane team since before the Broncos had even been granted a license), and all that resulted of that function was Ribot met them and convinced them to sponsor the Broncos (through one of their newspapers) that lead to a good working relationship going into the future.

So yeah your facts are facts, but they ignore the other things that were going on at the time...

 

[tri_colours]

You've done a wonderful job of re writing history there . The NRL had 24 clubs to look after not just one team of greedy spoilt prima donna's. Who didn't relish the thoughts of having a second team in Brisbane;

 

[Perth Red]

Or maybe, and probably much more likely it only happened because of Brisbane and Canberra's greed.

The FTA deal they got of Packer was the biggest ever at the time.

And at that time PV didn't exist in Australia. So $1m isn't a bad price to get for something that didn't exist.

In hindsight the deal signed with packer was a terrible one for the game, if they had courted Murdoch and got the right deals done like afl did (afl had signed to Optus so it was perfect chance for arl to go with fox and set up a bidding war) there’d have been no SL war and we wouldn’t have ended up two decades behind afl. Given how cash strapped a number of clubs were, especially the 4 new expansion clubs a big packer Murdoch deal would have set the game up,and one could only imagine where it would be now. News Ltd spent an alleged $560mill on the Superleague war, imagine where the nrl would now be if they had spent a fraction of that on a 5 year tv deal in 1997?
Poor management by arl, poor form by certain clubs and we all suffered badly.

 

[The Great Dane]

Or maybe, and probably much more likely it only happened because of Brisbane and Canberra's greed.

I assume you are talking to me?

Well whether or not you are talking to me you obviously haven't got a clue what you're talking about... I mean for start you leave out Newcastle's 'greed', yeah that's right the Knights were one of the founding conspirators... Kind of destroys the narrative of the Knights being the little battlers who saved the sport from the big bad guys trying to destroy it doesn't it...

Apart from in Brisbane's case where you can make a reasonable argument for the greed of some at the Broncos playing a big part in them perusing SL, greed basically had nothing to do with every other clubs decision to pursue SL. All of them (from the Bulldogs right on down to the Warriors) did so out of mixture of disenfranchisement and/or desperation...

The FTA deal they got of Packer was the biggest ever at the time.

And at that time PV didn't exist in Australia. So $1m isn't a bad price to get for something that didn't exist.

By 1990 everybody knew that multiple companies were attempting to set up PTV companies in Australia, so to sell the pay tv rights to somebody without even soliciting interest from their competitors was an asininely stupid thing to do, and you can play it down or deny it all you like but it was asininely stupid things (and often borderline corrupt things) that the ARL did like selling the pay tv rights to Packer for a pie and a can of coke that created the environment where a SL style of situation was even possible...

You've done a wonderful job of re writing history there . The NRL had 24 clubs to look after not just one team of greedy spoilt prima donna's. Who didn't relish the thoughts of having a second team in Brisbane;

Firstly I don't necessarily condone everything that the Broncos (or anybody else for that matter) did in those times (or anytime really), however I'm also not going to pretend that they didn't have legitimate concerns with the NSWRL/ARL either, or that the NSWRL/ARL were innocent little boys who didn't do anything wrong either.

Secondly the NRL didn't exist at that time, and unless I'm miscounting there weren't ever 24 clubs in existence at the same time and nor has there ever been at time where the NRL had a 24 club competition, so I haven't got the faintest clue what you're talking about...

Finally point to me exactly where you think I'm rewriting history in the post you are quoting (or any other if you like), cause it seems to me that the only one rewriting history is the guy who wants to pretend that SL happened in a vacuum and is inventing extra clubs that never existed...

 

[mave]

Super League actually wanted St. George to be the first team to sign with their competition.

The winner of the 'war' was always going to be decided on whatever St. George did.

Super league won the war.
The "product" we watch today is testament to that.

 

[Fat Tony Kandos]

Super league won the war.
The "product" we watch today is testament to that.

I think, to an extent, both sides (and the fans) won.

I don't think there ever was a 'war', just a redistribution of 'power' (which is natural in the commercial world).

 

[tri_colours]

In hindsight the deal signed with packer was a terrible one for the game, if they had courted Murdoch and got the right deals done like afl did (afl had signed to Optus so it was perfect chance for arl to go with fox and set up a bidding war) there’d have been no SL war and we wouldn’t have ended up two decades behind afl. Given how cash strapped a number of clubs were, especially the 4 new expansion clubs a big packer Murdoch deal would have set the game up,and one could only imagine where it would be now. News Ltd spent an alleged $560mill on the Superleague war, imagine where the nrl would now be if they had spent a fraction of that on a 5 year tv deal in 1997?
Poor management by arl, poor form by certain clubs and we all suffered badly.

Totally agree, but the point is they had already been sold.

 

[tri_colours]

I assume you are talking to me?

Well whether or not you are talking to me you obviously haven't got a clue what you're talking about... I mean for start you leave out Newcastle's 'greed', yeah that's right the Knights were one of the founding conspirators... Kind of destroys the narrative of the Knights being the little battlers who saved the sport from the big bad guys trying to destroy it doesn't it...

Apart from in Brisbane's case where you can make a reasonable argument for the greed of some at the Broncos playing a big part in them perusing SL, greed basically had nothing to do with every other clubs decision to pursue SL. All of them (from the Bulldogs right on down to the Warriors) did so out of mixture of disenfranchisement and/or desperation...



By 1990 everybody knew that multiple companies were attempting to set up PTV companies in Australia, so to sell the pay tv rights to somebody without even soliciting interest from their competitors was an asininely stupid thing to do, and you can play it down or deny it all you like but it was asininely stupid things (and often borderline corrupt things) that the ARL did like selling the pay tv rights to Packer for a pie and a can of coke that created the environment where a SL style of situation was even possible...



Firstly I don't necessarily condone everything that the Broncos (or anybody else for that matter) did in those times (or anytime really), however I'm also not going to pretend that they didn't have legitimate concerns with the NSWRL/ARL either, or that the NSWRL/ARL were innocent little boys who didn't do anything wrong either.

Secondly the NRL didn't exist at that time, and unless I'm miscounting there weren't ever 24 clubs in existence at the same time and nor has there ever been at time where the NRL had a 24 club competition, so I haven't got the faintest clue what you're talking about...

Finally point to me exactly where you think I'm rewriting history in the post you are quoting (or any other if you like), cause it seems to me that the only one rewriting history is the guy who wants to pretend that SL happened in a vacuum and is inventing extra clubs that never existed...

Sorry,should read 21 clubs, .... Some of Newcastle 's players may have benefitted from the situation but that a long way from vthe treachery and deceit that went on at the Broncos and the Raiders

I assume you are talking to me?

Well whether or not you are talking to me you obviously haven't got a clue what you're talking about... I mean for start you leave out Newcastle's 'greed', yeah that's right the Knights were one of the founding conspirators... Kind of destroys the narrative of the Knights being the little battlers who saved the sport from the big bad guys trying to destroy it doesn't it...

Apart from in Brisbane's case where you can make a reasonable argument for the greed of some at the Broncos playing a big part in them perusing SL, greed basically had nothing to do with every other clubs decision to pursue SL. All of them (from the Bulldogs right on down to the Warriors) did so out of mixture of disenfranchisement and/or desperation...



By 1990 everybody knew that multiple companies were attempting to set up PTV companies in Australia, so to sell the pay tv rights to somebody without even soliciting interest from their competitors was an asininely stupid thing to do, and you can play it down or deny it all you like but it was asininely stupid things (and often borderline corrupt things) that the ARL did like selling the pay tv rights to Packer for a pie and a can of coke that created the environment where a SL style of situation was even possible...



Firstly I don't necessarily condone everything that the Broncos (or anybody else for that matter) did in those times (or anytime really), however I'm also not going to pretend that they didn't have legitimate concerns with the NSWRL/ARL either, or that the NSWRL/ARL were innocent little boys who didn't do anything wrong either.

Secondly the NRL didn't exist at that time, and unless I'm miscounting there weren't ever 24 clubs in existence at the same time and nor has there ever been at time where the NRL had a 24 club competition, so I haven't got the faintest clue what you're talking about...

Finally point to me exactly where you think I'm rewriting history in the post you are quoting (or any other if you like), cause it seems to me that the only one rewriting history is the guy who wants to pretend that SL happened in a vacuum and is inventing extra clubs that never existed...

 

[tri_colours]

My apologies , 20 clubs not 24

Unlike you though, i am not naive enough to think that the ills of the Super League War fell solely at the feat of the ARL.

While some Newcastle players may have benefitted from the situation. They certainly didn’t scheme and plot to bring down the game like Brisbane and your club did.. Though if you want to go on believe ing in News Limited, Paul Knunts and the tooth fairies version of history ....good luck


Arko and Quayle Were ex footballers and acted as such. - They wernt a bunch of businessmen with only there own self interests at heart not like scumy media billionairs


$1m was alot of money at the time. The ARL had built up a sizeable war chest and that was only $20m.

AND THERE WERE NO OTHER BIDDERS!

# Packer Took up his PTV option 12 months before News Limited showed any interest .







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