State Cup

[The Dawson Twins Minus 1]

Point.

 

[Man_of_Steel_1982]

The 2 Sydney NRL clubs would be brand new clubs.

They would draw on players from the Sydney comp... where old clubs identities are preserved and traditions carried on, broadcast on TV on saturday arvos when there are no NRL games, and Newtown would be part of it.

 

[Big Bunny]

2 teams from Sydney in the NRL.. ok, so what sort of crowds would you be predicting for these sides then?

When both Norths and Manly were in the ARL there was the talk that if there was only one club on the north shore their funding, crowds and reach would grow or perhaps even double. Now look at Manly, on occasion they have played to no more than 7000 fans and they are still struggling for funds despite having the region to themselves. Despite that pointer and despite the fact that the St.George-Illawarra and Wests-Tigers mergers have done little in terms of building their popularity you still want to go proceeed with the fractured logic that less clubs = bigger crowds. I'm sorry but it just doesn't work like that. In order for that to be even remotely true you'd need to cut the Waratahs, Swans and every other rival sporting team as well, because if you remove a persons preference they will go elsewhere in spite of your actions.

You can talk about having only two teams from Sydney in the NRL all you want, but that won't make it a good idea or even a logical one. The fact remains that people won't support generic brands in place of their clubs that they grew up with. People follow market forces but only when they don't interfere with their beliefs, trying to impose some ridiculous structure is nothing more than a return to the vision of John Ribot. I'm amazed that you can't see that.

2 clubs.. jeez, you're having a laugh. To top it all off you threw in the Steelers, a club who had a level of support of no real difference to the existing Sydney teams! If you were serious and unbiased about your idea you'd never have Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, Illawarra or even Canberra in the comp, because none of them offer any more to the league than the Sydney teams, beyond a geographic spread and your concept is based on nothing but cosmetics whilst avoiding reality.

Good on you for having a go and wanting what's best for the game, but I'll take any idea over that which you propose.

 

[Man_of_Steel_1982]

My idea is 2 competitions.

A sydney comp, steeped in tribalism and tradition. All the Sydney clubs would play is this prestegous comp, afternoon grand final, top 5, etc.

A national comp that is truely national and can have all the glitz and glamour (that in the current setup compromises identities and tradition), night grand final etc.

You cannot have both tradition and progress in the one competition. Tradition and identities lose out - look at the Wests Tigers, and St.George have lost their true identity and history.

Basically, the separate NRL idea, should of happened in the first place instead of the NSWRL expanding. It's fair to say that enough people in Brisbane embraced the Broncos when they came in. The identities and traditions of the great Sydney Clubs would continue while there would be a separate comp on a national scale.

 

[bazza]

My idea is 2 competitions.

A sydney comp, steeped in tribalism and tradition. All the Sydney clubs would play is this prestegous comp, afternoon grand final, top 5, etc.

A national comp that is truely national and can have all the glitz and glamour (that in the current setup compromises identities and tradition), night grand final etc.

You cannot have both tradition and progress in the one competition. Tradition and identities lose out - look at the Wests Tigers, and St.George have lost their true identity and history.

Basically, the separate NRL idea, should of happened in the first place instead of the NSWRL expanding. It's fair to say that enough people in Brisbane embraced the Broncos when they came in. The identities and traditions of the great Sydney Clubs would continue while there would be a separate comp on a national scale.

Your idea would work if rugby league was like soccer and people liked the game but didn't really support a particular club
However, this is not the case. Most people follow a club first a foremost - there are few that follow the game only.
To prove this look at the average crowds for each Sydney NRL team and then ask why every Origin or Test match in Sydney doesn't get a crowd of 80,000.

If you want to maintain tradition and move into growing areas and have high quality games, the best way is to have multiple divisions with promotion and relegation

 

[Big Bunny]

My idea is 2 competitions.

A sydney comp, steeped in tribalism and tradition. All the Sydney clubs would play is this prestegous comp, afternoon grand final, top 5, etc.

A national comp that is truely national and can have all the glitz and glamour (that in the current setup compromises identities and tradition), night grand final etc.

You cannot have both tradition and progress in the one competition. Tradition and identities lose out - look at the Wests Tigers, and St.George have lost their true identity and history.

Basically, the separate NRL idea, should of happened in the first place instead of the NSWRL expanding. It's fair to say that enough people in Brisbane embraced the Broncos when they came in. The identities and traditions of the great Sydney Clubs would continue while there would be a separate comp on a national scale.

I understand your idea, it's just not one that is very practical. As for the comment about it being something that should have happened when the competition first expanded, well that's your opinion but one I still don't share it. You don't just toss the biggest clubs in world rugby league to the side in order to replace them with a couple of no-name franchises. If you want to look at the most successful sports leagues around the world then you'll see that none of them did that. A generic league will never succeed in place of one with history and decades of loyalty. If teams aren't up to the task they will fade away by their own doing, forcing the matter is never a good thing, it's shortsighted and shows a complete lack of understanding for what you're arguing.