New to your forums, Jeffles posts on ours and its nice to hear from him every so often, so I thought Id return the favour!
Im a Black and White until the day I die, so Id like to give you a view from my side of the fence.
Before you read on, please take a moment to read my Signature disclamer. I do believe that, although they wont post, that Phillip St does read any forum that talks about the game, so I recommend that everyone is sensible when talking about things, and dont bag your club out, regardless of if you think they made a dumb decision or otherwise.
Now thats done, heres my view of it all, apoligies for the long post.
The NSWRL has asked for applications from any interested parties for season 2008, and clubs are now waiting to hear further information from Phillip St. However, the NSWRL has NOT advised any of these application clubs what form the competition will take next season. I have it on good authority that the request went out for applications to be made, with the added "Apply, but we dont know what form the competition will take yet".
So, there will be a competition, but what form it takes no one knows. It may be a full season that corresponds to the NRL, it may be (highly unlikely, but its unknown) a knock out competition over 6 weeks! (Remember jersey flegg a few years ago?!).
Whilst some clubs (not naming names or saying that Newtown is or isnt one of these clubs) need to get their shops in order, I believe that its really Phillip St that needs to take a good long hard look at themselves.
The NSWRL is the custodians of The Game in Sydney, so ultimately, it is up to them to ensure that our game grows and prospers, and this is where they are failing, I believe.
No Sydney paper will dedicate any column space to the competiton. Not because its not a decent competition, but because theres the NRL competition, and lets face it, the NRL is more popular, and theres no denying that.
However, shouldnt it be up to the NSWRL to work to create an alternate product to attract people to the matches?!
Im certain theres plenty of money in Phillip St for them to consider a small ad in Thursdays Tele every week with the draw for the week, and then maybe a little bit of editorial.
Next season, I dont believe that the NSWRL will be piggybacking on the NRL fixtures. Im led to believe that there will be 2 games on match day, with every NRL team having an "Under 21" team.
The issue with that is, and this again is only my understanding, is that there wont be a Jersey Flegg Competition at all next year. Kind of sad, considering how long that the Presidents Club/Jersey Flegg competition has been going for.
Whilst this wont really affect clubs that merged, it may not be good for clubs like Newtown or Norths that dont actually have an interest as such in a NRL team. Yes I know both Newtown and Norths have agreements with NRL teams (Easts and Souths), however, it is just that, an agreement. Clubs like St George, Wests and Balmain, and of course the NRL teams all at least have that actual link and interest in the NRL competition. This assists us in selling merchandise at NRL matches (the 3 matches a year we get in Campbelltown), Balmain do the same at Leichhardt, and help us both work for the better of both our clubs.
All of the foundation teams that are not in the NRL are in the strongest positions however, to take advantage of this new competition.
You will have a new competition with 4 foundation clubs in it, Western Suburbs, Newtown, North Sydney, and last Balmain. Id say at least on paper that Balmain are the weakest of the four, purely because of the merger with Ryde Eastwood. But, thats going to make them strong because of the money coming in from the Ryde-Eastwood side of things.
North Sydney - Has a leagues Club
Western Suburbs - Leagues Club
Newtown - no leagues club, but a social club.
Now, lets look at the actual intelectual property of the clubs, aka Logos, Jerseys etc...
All clubs have at least 1 peice of intelectual property that is very strong.
Western Suburbs - the Magpie, and also the V (Victa) style jersey. Links to Campbelltown are important, but Campbelltown Sports ground itself is just another stadium.
Balmain - The tiger (no special jersey, however, the all orange one is the best known). Leichardt, yeah its part of Balmain, but I wouldnt consider it a selling point.
North Sydney - Apart from the Bear, they changed jerseys so much that there wasnt one that stood out (at least for me). North Sydney Oval is very important to this club also.
Newtown - Argue this point, but "Jets" isnt the selling point of this club. Its the Logo with the N in it, and also the all blue jersey, and also the "Bluebags" nickname, and also Henson Park.
Id strongly suggest that Newtown try to really embrace the Bluebags tradition, unfortunently, its not something I see happening.
I think the other thing is for ALL clubs to strictly enforce the protection of their property. For that reason, if you see anything, especially on EBAY that doesnt look quite right, dont bid on it and report it to your club. I noted in one of your topics that this was happening a bit with your club, so start to enforce it guys!
;-)
