Stalled and stagnant Sydney clubs

[AdelaideSharky]

None of us from Sydney are conflicted. The only idiots pushing this are outsiders like you

Sydney is the place where rugby league is at its strongest on earth.

It seems to make a lot of outsiders jealous. It won’t change anything though

you’re not used to growing up in a major city where rugby league is king. Trust me it was good

you are literally the last person a Sydney rl fan should listen too

This 100 times over.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

None of us from Sydney are conflicted. The only idiots pushing this are outsiders like you

Sydney is the place where rugby league is at its strongest on earth.

It seems to make a lot of outsiders jealous. It won’t change anything though

you’re not used to growing up in a major city where rugby league is king. Trust me it was good

you are literally the last person a Sydney rl fan should listen too

Sydney was the biggest city where rugby league clubs had access to pokie machine revenue from the mid-1950s. Brisbane's clubs didn't gain access to this revenue stream until the 1990s and when they did it killed of the Tweed Heads Seagulls Leagues Club, hence the Chargers replacing the Gold Coast Seagulls and relocating to Carrara.

Sydney clubs started to feel the pinch around this time and some were confined to history. The Chargers had money in the bank and were profitable when News Ltd demanded they be wound up so Broncos could be the sole team in SEQ.

 

[t-ba]

"The partnership folded in 2002, with Manly emerging as the stand-alone entity. The 2002 season was played under the Northern Eagles name, although effectively the club was the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles by another name. Halfway through the season, the Eagles even abandoned playing games at Gosford, due to a sharp decline in attendances. The people of Gosford preferred to wait until a home grown team was based there. The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles name and colours returned to the NRL in 2003. "

Northern Eagles - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

f**k me Wikipedia

The playing colours and name have nothing to with the license, which is the claim made you made here mate:

Manly gained full control of the Northern Eagles licence halfway through the 2002 season and rebranded as Manly Sea Eagles in 2003.

Every f**king moron knows the Manly Sea Eagles became officially such again in 2003. The License was always Manly's there was no 'Northern Eagles' license as the JV happened after Manly was awarded the license and Norths fell foul of the criteria.

Look mate, from the horses mouth

Sea Eagles Records

Sea Eagles Records

www.seaeagles.com.au

Note: Manly did not participate in the premiership between 2000 and 2002, initially forming a joint venture with the North Sydney club to play as the Northern Eagles. The joint venture arrangement was officially dissolved in August 2001 however the club continued to play as the Northern Eagles until the end of the 2002 season.

I am begging you to please brush up on some RL history.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Manly could have been a powerhouse club in 2018, but chose to remain stagnant and irrelevant.

---

Qatari syndicate makes bold bid to buy the Sea Eagles

Adrian Proszenko
By Adrian Proszenko
May 6, 2018 — 12.00am

Cashed-up Qatari investors have approached Manly about the prospect of buying the embattled club from the Penn family.

Fairfax Media can reveal Australian businessman Michael Ibrahim is attempting to broker the deal on behalf of a number of Qatari ruling families, who claim to have the financial clout and passion required to turn the Sea Eagles around.

The development follows Fairfax Media revelations that Hong Kong-based investor Harry Cheung, who previously sponsored Manly via his former firm Kaspersky, had been sounded out about joining a separate consortium.

Manly chairman and majority owner Scott Penn has publicly stated he won’t be selling up, but it is understood he is growing weary of constantly stumping up the funds required to ensure Manly are competitive.

The Qatari pitch is believed to be worth somewhere between $10 million and $15 million, a figure that would allow Penn to recoup the losses he has made on the football club. The parties have been in discussions about the proposal, the Penns indicating they will only consider selling off a fraction of their shares over a period of time. However, the syndicate has no interest in a minority stake and wants to buy the club outright.

As a sign of good faith, the Qataris are prepared to cover the cost of the NRL’s salary cap fine – $750,000, of which $250,000 is suspended – as a deposit on the Sea Eagles. The bid also has a major sponsor waiting in the wings in Qatar Airways, one of the world’s leading airlines.

The club’s current major backer, Lottoland, could soon be hamstrung by the Federal Government’s proposal to ban online lottery betting sites in Australia.

The investors behind the bid have also made a play for St George Illawarra, although the joint-venture outfit to date hasn’t shown a willingness to do a deal. The Dragons have been holding out for WIN Corporation to come back to the negotiating table, although it remains to be seen whether WIN supremo Bruce Gordon or his son Andrew will do so.

The focus of the Qataris is now squarely on Manly and the parties are scheduled to meet in coming weeks in an attempt to do a deal.

Ibrahim is one of the powerbrokers behind the push to bring rugby league Tests to the Middle East. The founder and chairman of Aqeeq Holdings is attempting to stage season-ending Australia-Tonga and Samoa-Fiji clashes in Qatar this year in an attempt to expose rugby league to a lucrative new market. He is also using his connections to mount a serious bid for an NRL franchise, with those behind it confident they could again turn Manly into a superpower.
Ibrahim declined to comment when contacted by Fairfax Media.
The issue of resourcing has been a touchy one at Brookvale, with frustrated coach Trent Barrett feeling he has too much on his plate as the club is beset by a series of scandals.
Football supremo Bob Fulton and chief operating officer Neil Bare have not been replaced, and there isn’t a senior talent spotter on the books. It is understood controversial recruiter Peter O’Sullivan will be offered the job this week, although the NRL will first have to deem him a fit and proper person for registration.
Manly, like all NRL clubs, apart from Brisbane, are regularly in the red. However, the Qatari businesspeople believe they will ensure it is one of the best resourced clubs in the league if their bid is successful.

Penn told Fairfax Media last week he had no intention of selling.
“We’ve got an obligation to [stay put] – we’ve come a long way,” Penn said.

“We know this game comes in cycles – we’ve had some phenomenal success and we’ve had some disappointments. That’s the trials and tribulations of the game.”

Qatari syndicate makes bold bid to buy the Sea Eagles

A Qatari syndicate has launched an audacious multimillion-dollar bid to buy the Manly Sea Eagles.

www.smh.com.au

 

[AdelaideSharky]

f**k me Wikipedia

The playing colours and name have nothing to with the license, which is the claim made you made here mate:



Every f**king moron knows the Manly Sea Eagles became officially such again in 2003. The License was always Manly's there was no 'Northern Eagles' license as the JV happened after Manly was awarded the license and Norths fell foul of the criteria.

Look mate, from the horses mouth

Sea Eagles Records

Sea Eagles Records

www.seaeagles.com.au

I am begging you to please brush up on some RL history.

Best to put GROTD on ignore mate. The bloke's not all there.

 

[Perth Red]

None of us from Sydney are conflicted. The only idiots pushing this are outsiders like you

Sydney is the place where rugby league is at its strongest on earth.

It seems to make a lot of outsiders jealous. It won’t change anything though

you’re not used to growing up in a major city where rugby league is king. Trust me it was good

you are literally the last person a Sydney rl fan should listen too

Like turkeys voting for Christmas lol. There are some towns of 100k people in England drawing same crowds as some Sydney clubs!
But yeh no issue at all with nine clubs in a city that doesn’t seem to care too much for its main sport. Without pokie dens half the Sydney clubs wouldn’t survive.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Like turkeys voting for Christmas lol. There are some towns of 100k people in England drawing same crowds as some Sydney clubs!
But yeh no issue at all with nine clubs in a city that doesn’t seem to care too much for its main sport. Without pokie dens half the Sydney clubs wouldn’t survive.

There's no way of getting through to people who think with their heart. They don't have an argument that stacks up so they resort to puerile name calling and throwing a temper tantrum.

There's no metric that supports the claim that RL was stronger in Sydney when it had 11 teams. I remember when we had 11 teams in the NSWRL. It wasn't uncommon for attendance figures to be just four digits. Since rationalisation the amount of four digit attendances have dropped significantly. Very rarely does a Sydney club average less than 10k per season.

Wests Tigers have more fans attending their home matches than Balmain Tigers and Wests Magpies in 1994. That's a fact supported by hard data. The merger turned two dying clubs with no future into one well supported club.

St George was on its knees before taking over the Steelers and Cronulla had many problems. Brian Smith left the club because he could see the writing on the wall. It's no coincidence that both clubs still struggle as they're fighting over a small patch of land. There's nothing they can do to significantly improve the size of their respective supporter bases because there's not enough people in Southern Sydney to support two rugby league clubs. It's why Cronulla is doing bugger all to their stadium and focussing on their Leagues Club. Any growth will be from local people who don't give a f**k about Cronulla Sharks having a spin on the pokies and pigging out at the bar. Blind Freddy can see it but parochial fans of these clubs cannot.

The best evidence is the attendance figures for ARL and Super League in 1997. The decentralised and national Super League drew much stronger attendances than the Sydney-centric ARL.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

This 100 times over.

If you weren't conflicted then you wouldn't rant and rave like a psychopath whenever some one criticises the state of rugby league in Sydney. In this thread alone you've mentioned PR and I a billion times, which is crazy as neither him nor I ever think about you.

 

[bad boy bubby]

This thread is pure comedy

It's hilarious.
It's also my naughty little secret. Like a soap opera.
I read through when I can, I'm seeing shifts in certain main characters. Can't wait to see where it takes the whole show.

 

[Dark Corner]

No, we aren’t the pace setters. We are just lucky that the management in place have the foresight to be building the club in the right direction, and are not scared to make tough decisions for the better Of the club.
The bigger clubs have been run correctly for years, we are trying to catch them.
There are a few clubs that are falling behind, and it doesn’t look like they will be progressing in the near future either.

What clubs are falling behind ?

 

[siv]

The best evidence is the attendance figures for ARL and Super League in 1997.

Gee your a goose

Stats based upon two periods SL war and covid can never be used for anything

Fans turned off in droves during the SL War & club culling period. Only fans who attended where the ones with a guaranteed licence

And even then Auckland still went bust

Crowds are only starting to come back after 2 seasons of covid impact. But it will take a sneeze and everything could shutdown again with 20,000 cases a day still being reported

 

[siv]

Anyway

A comp with all NSW based teams could survive very easily

Just add the CC Bears and you have a ready made 12 team 22 round comp

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Gee your a goose

Stats based upon two periods SL war and covid can never be used for anything

Fans turned off in droves during the SL War & club culling period. Only fans who attended where the ones with a guaranteed licence

And even then Auckland still went bust

Crowds are only starting to come back after 2 seasons of covid impact. But it will take a sneeze and everything could shutdown again with 20,000 cases a day still being reported

Why are you talking about post-1997 crowds when I specifically said 1997?

No club saw a bigger drop off in attendances over that period than Broncos, yet Super League still amassed larger crowds and Broncos were still at the pointy end of the pile.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Anyway

A comp with all NSW based teams could survive very easily

Just add the CC Bears and you have a ready made 12 team 22 round comp

No one will watch it outside of NSW. Revenue from broadcast rights will plummet. Players will be paid significantly less and head to English Super League. Annual grant will no longer be 130% of salary cap. Millionaires will no longer want to own a team. Broke Sydney clubs will fall over.

 

[siv]

No one will watch it outside of NSW. Revenue from broadcast rights will plummet. Players will be paid significantly less and head to English Super League. Annual grant will no longer be 130% of salary cap. Millionaires will no longer want to own a team. Broke Sydney clubs will fall over.

I doubt it

 

[Wb1234]

Like turkeys voting for Christmas lol. There are some towns of 100k people in England drawing same crowds as some Sydney clubs!
But yeh no issue at all with nine clubs in a city that doesn’t seem to care too much for its main sport. Without pokie dens half the Sydney clubs wouldn’t survive.

You know poker machines came in around the 1960s

the nswrl was established in 1908. You do the maths

the thing that shocks me is I can’t believe so many people actually listen to you.

you’ve got people who have grown up immersed in rugby league listening to someone who has no idea what makes the game successful.

you’ve been saying Sydney has too many clubs for 20 years and yet still today you can’t understand the geography of the city.

 

[Cheese sandwich]

Pops head in

Sees no team in perth still

Laughs

Exits

 

[Perth Red]

Pops head in

Sees no team in perth still

Laughs

Exits

Thanks for coming, see you next time.

 

[Perth Red]

You know poker machines came in around the 1960s

the nswrl was established in 1908. You do the maths

the thing that shocks me is I can’t believe so many people actually listen to you.

you’ve got people who have grown up immersed in rugby league listening to someone who has no idea what makes the game successful.

you’ve been saying Sydney has too many clubs for 20 years and yet still today you can’t understand the geography of the city.

I dont think Sydney has too many clubs per se, I just think the game isnt benefitting to the level it could by having so many clubs in one city. One it’s holding back expansion of the game as the arlc doesn’t think there’s enough money and players to bring in new clubs and two there are some clubs that have hardly changed in those 20 years and certainly haven't shown any real growth. Hence stagnation.
now not all of this is the clubs fault, the nrl in the way it has structured it’s relationship with tv certainly hasn’t helped and the SL war still has remnants of its impact. After 2 decades of not much change in the Sydney nrl landscape we are at least seeing some new stadia for some Sydney clubs which if they work hard to optimise will hopefully see some movement at long last.

 

[Wb1234]

I dont think Sydney has too many clubs per se, I just think the game isnt benefitting to the level it could by having so many clubs in one city. One it’s holding back expansion of the game as the arlc doesn’t think there’s enough money and players to bring in new clubs and two there are some clubs that have hardly changed in those 20 years and certainly haven't shown any real growth. Hence stagnation.
now not all of this is the clubs fault, the nrl in the way it has structured it’s relationship with tv certainly hasn’t helped and the SL war still has remnants of its impact. After 2 decades of not much change in the Sydney nrl landscape we are at least seeing some new stadia for some Sydney clubs which if they work hard to optimise will hopefully see some movement at long last.

It’s holding back expansion ?

they literally just added that second Brisbane club that everyone has been talking about for 20 years and will be adding team 18 maybe in 2025

The nrl has increased funding to clubs by 35 million pa. So basically no club is ever going to move now all their finances are set. That’s just the reality now