Should St George Illawarra end their joint venture?

[SaintPauli]

St George have more juniors than Souths, Roosters, Melbourne and Manly who have been consistently successful teams over the last decade. Salary cap and good management is what really matters.

I don’t want the JV dissolved.

But if it were, what makes any of you think that St George would be given the license to run a team in the NRL?

Forget the history (the NRL quickly does) and look at it without your blinkers.

St George would be bidding as a small region, with a home ground in need of serious investment, minimal juniors and a leagues club that is returning diminishing profits, and the submission would be made by a board made up of unqualified members.

Amongst others, they would then compete against the Steelers, who could guarantee themselves financially with the backing of the Gordons, have a large region that is growing exponentially, have a home ground that is NRL standard and has been judged as suitable for tests at the end of the year, and has one of the largest junior bases in the rugby league world. The submission would be written by whoever the Gordon’s decide.

And that’s just the Illawarra bid. St George would be bidding against other franchises too: Perth, central qld, second Brisbane and possible Adelaide and central coast.

It is deadset delusional to think that the St George board could make a winning bid. They’ve demostrated time and again that they are absolutely incompetent. Why would anyone think they’d do anything besides f**k this up too?

 

[getsmarty]

Maybe the Gordons will see an opportunity to sell their share and make the $5mill to the same people we knocked back. That's how the rich get richer.

I think they are devaluing the club with their current actions. Wouldn't you want to build an asset up and then sell for profit ?

 

[SBD82]

St George have more juniors than Souths, Roosters, Melbourne and Manly who have been consistently successful teams over the last decade. Salary cap and good management is what really matters.

You’ve built a stronger case than I would expect from the St George board, but I think you’re missing my point.

If the JV were disbanded, St George would not be competing for a franchise with any of the clubs that you have listed above.

 

[possm]

I don’t want the JV dissolved.

But if it were, what makes any of you think that St George would be given the license to run a team in the NRL?

Forget the history (the NRL quickly does) and look at it without your blinkers.

St George would be bidding as a small region, with a home ground in need of serious investment, minimal juniors and a leagues club that is returning diminishing profits, and the submission would be made by a board made up of unqualified members.

Amongst others, they would then compete against the Steelers, who could guarantee themselves financially with the backing of the Gordons, have a large region that is growing exponentially, have a home ground that is NRL standard and has been judged as suitable for tests at the end of the year, and has one of the largest junior bases in the rugby league world. The submission would be written by whoever the Gordon’s decide.

And that’s just the Illawarra bid. St George would be bidding against other franchises too: Perth, central qld, second Brisbane and possible Adelaide and central coast.

It is deadset delusional to think that the St George board could make a winning bid. They’ve demostrated time and again that they are absolutely incompetent. Why would anyone think they’d do anything besides f**k this up too?

Which rugby league club owns the current licence?
If it is the size of the region that determines who has a licence, take a look at Easts, Souths, Manly and possibly Canterbury. But if size of the region we represent is the issue we have the St George district and the Illawarra district.

If that is not enough then we re-claim the Cronulla Southerland shire. These districts were ripped away from St George because we were too great and the other clubs at the time wanted to change that.

I'm sure a care-taker Board could quickly find a buyer to insure the solvency of St George. We had a buyer with a higher bid just recently however WIN trumped the deal with promises made to the old boys club. This action could be seen as corruption and maybe one day there will be an investigation that exposes this.

Finally the NRL tried to rip South Sydney's licence from them and did not succeed. There must of been a good reason for this failed attack. The Illawarra Club failed when they stood alone and failed again as a joint venture partner. St George has a history within the Illawarra district over many years. I doubt very much that the NRL could withstand a court challenge for the changes you suggest or do you think St George, the mighty Dragons would lie down and just cop it?

 

[muzby]

Which rugby league club owns the current licence?

The St George Illawarra Dragons Rugby League Football Club..

If that is not enough then we re-claim the Cronulla Southerland shire.

Are you also suggesting we invade Russia in winter?

 

[SBD82]

Which rugby league club owns the current licence?
If it is the size of the region that determines who has a licence, take a look at Easts, Souths, Manly and possibly Canterbury. But if size of the region we represent is the issue we have the St George district and the Illawarra district..

The JV has the current license.

Easts, Souths, manly and Canterbury are not factors as they would not be in competition for the license in this scenario. The competition would come from Brisbane 2, Illawarra, Perth, NZ 2, central qld and possibly Adelaide and Central coast.

If that is not enough then we re-claim the Cronulla Southerland shire. These districts were ripped away from St George because we were too great and the other clubs at the time wanted to change that.

Again, Cronulla is not a consideration in this scenario. They have an existing license.

If anything, Cronulla’s existence would threaten a St George stand alone bid, as the NRL could annex the St George juniors to the Sharks, while opening up a new area with a new franchise.

I'm sure a care-taker Board could quickly find a buyer to insure the solvency of St George. We had a buyer with a higher bid just recently however WIN trumped the deal with promises made to the old boys club. This action could be seen as corruption and maybe one day there will be an investigation that exposes this.

Why would there be a caretaker board? Where do you think the St George board would go in this scenario? And what makes you think that the current inept board members could organise anything like that?

And my understanding is that the buyer was for the Illawarra side of the JV. Who was the buyer for St George?

Finally the NRL tried to rip South Sydney's licence from them and did not succeed. The must of been a good reason for this failed attack. The Illawarra Club failed when they stood alone and failed again as a joint venture partner. St George has a history within the Illawarra district over many years.

The Illawarra were at risk of failure when standing alone, and were at risk again recently as part of the JV. But they did not fail either time.

And Souths lost their court case. See link below:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ra...till-free-to-run-run-run-20030814-gdh907.html

They were reinstated because the NRL chose to. At a guess, I would say that was because the NRL decided it was better for the game.

If the NRL were making such a decision now, would they do the same for the Dragons? Do we generate enough interest in the game to make the advertising profit required for the Dragons to be a net gain? Would we still make a similar level if the Illawarra region was lost to the NRL?

I doubt very much that the NRL could withstand a court challenge as you suggest.

I suggested no such thing. But they have before, as demonstrated by the Souths link posted above.

 

[SBD82]

Are you also suggesting we invade Russia in winter?

I say we go for it.

Hitler and Napoleon couldn’t BOTH be wrong. Right? Right?

 

[muzby]

And Souths lost their court case. See link below:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/ra...till-free-to-run-run-run-20030814-gdh907.html

They were reinstated because the NRL chose to. At a guess, I would say that was because the NRL decided it was better for the game.

Well shave me bald and call me Mary, I had no idea about that last court case..

Filing that away in memory for next time I come up against a souffs fan..

 

[muzby]

I say we go for it.

Hitler and Napoleon couldn’t BOTH be wrong. Right? Right?

Third time lucky!

 

[SBD82]

Well shave me bald and call me Mary, I had no idea about that last court case..

Filing that away in memory for next time I come up against a souffs fan..

To be fair to Souffs fans, literacy isn’t their strong suit.

 

[muzby]

To be fair to Souffs fans, literacy isn’t their strong suit.

True.. But ingenuity is..

 

[SBD82]

True.. But ingenuity is..

Haha. These blokes are all time.

In a sick way, I’d actually be kind of proud to have them support our club.

 

[Old Timer]

Souths were reinstated because the RL and even us got it incredibly wrong
Souths to RL is what strawberries are to cream
I was ashamed when our club voted them out and over the moon when they were reinstated as it corrected a great wrong.

 

[muzby]

Souths to RL is what strawberries are to cream

Healthier without them?

 

[SBD82]

Souths were reinstated because the RL and even us got it incredibly wrong
Souths to RL is what strawberries are to cream
I was ashamed when our club voted them out and over the moon when they were reinstated as it corrected a great wrong.

I agree with your sentiment, but I don’t think the NRL is huge on sentiment.

I’d say the NRL probably recognised the community support for Souths as being something that they could capitalise on. And they profited from the return of Souths through feel good marketing.

 

[SaintPauli]

You’ve built a stronger case than I would expect from the St George board, but I think you’re missing my point.

If the JV were disbanded, St George would not be competing for a franchise with any of the clubs that you have listed above.

If St George fights the NRL on behalf of the St George dragons fans being sold out on loosing their history and continuance of their great club by acknowledging 16 premiership's then the joint venture can remain. Most St George fans are not aware of this sellout. Its time to resolve and stop hiding under a rock.

 

[muzby]

If St George fights the NRL on behalf of the St George dragons fans being sold out on loosing their history and continuance of their great club by acknowledging 16 premiership's then the joint venture can remain. Most St George fans are not aware of this sellout. Its time to resolve and stop hiding under a rock.

So you'd prefer us to head back to days like this?

 

[j0nesy]

St George have more juniors than Souths, Roosters, Melbourne and Manly who have been consistently successful teams over the last decade. Salary cap and good management is what really matters.

There’s the issue right there. The St George board has not demonstrated good management for decades.

 

[j0nesy]

I agree with your sentiment, but I don’t think the NRL is huge on sentiment.

I’d say the NRL probably recognised the community support for Souths as being something that they could capitalise on. And they profited from the return of Souths through feel good marketing.

Losing the court case may have had a bit to do with it.

Edit - I stand corrected. The NRL won the final case.

 

[Coffs dragon]

So you'd prefer us to head back to days like this?

Yes please if they play for the love of the game with pride & passion rather than the love of the dollars. Also good to see the smaller Anglo players being part of a team rather than the dominating Giant Poly's!