THANK YOU

[RABK]

Great stuff mate.

 

[Tidus_Raider]

Is there anymore parts to that report DJ1?

 

[greeneyed]

OK.... I admit to being knocked down by that one.

However, the points you have made were equally incorrect, including the year involved and the amounts involved. Also a knock down for you, however, you do not appear to be up to admitting your own mistakes......

 

[DJ1]

Is there anymore parts to that report DJ1?

I was going to put together the next series dealing with the start of the war from player signings up to the court ruling which overturned the initial ARL victory and allowed the commencement of the SL in 1997.

It will take some time and motivation as there are over 500 pages in the court documents.

I'm steering clear of the various books and autobiographies which are re-writing history and simply looking at what has been sworn to under oath in a court of law.

 

[Rexxy]

Is there anymore parts to that report DJ1?

I was going to put together the next series dealing with the start of the war from player signings up to the court ruling which overturned the initial ARL victory and allowed the commencement of the SL in 1997.

It will take some time and motivation as there are over 500 pages in the court documents.

I'm steering clear of the various books and autobiographies which are re-writing history and simply looking at what has been sworn to under oath in a court of law.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. But Can you please post a reference to what you post. While its interesting to read, it is not the court transcripts as you say, but an interpretation.

And everyone knows History is Written By The Victors.

 

[Big-Steve]

[quote="DIEHARDI find the behaviour of the traitor clubs against fans of loyal clubs and victims of mergers nothing short of disgusting. So much good will and tradition was destroyed. They shouldn't get over it, no one should. We should always remember.[/quote]

I believed right from the beginning that a private foreign company should not control the League. The fact is News still do.

So it's NOT over.

On a personnel level Norths made a crucial sacrifice; they turned down the Northern SL franchise.

Many people in key rolls in the NRL will refuse to ever admit that they have done wrong and are still doing wrong by the Community, claiming it's in the name of business.

This is a copout and they should be told this over and over at every opportunity we have.

 

[tiger_nick]

how long are you people going to harp on about SL
FFS, build a bridge and get over it. How are we ever going to be able to put it behind us and move on if people keep gibbering on about it

ohh but i guess my opinion dosnt count because im "superleague" scum :roll:

mate ure club only went because that fat fool of CEO you had was so far up ribots date it wasnt funny. Dont be fooled SL hurt canberra look at the death of players u lost to help other SL clubs, Death, Walters etc.

i know super league damaged my club, i know super league damaged alot of club and the game itself, but that era is OVER and has been for the best part of a decade, i think its about time people moved on and got over it.

You aren't superleague scum. Your opinion doesn't count because you didn't lose nearly as much as some of us supporters did. THAT'S why.

Do you want a f***ing medal for it? I mean, seriously, you're a whinging bitch. Your opinion doesn't count because you're a bitter twisted negative fool who, 5 years on from the merge and 9 years on from the war, still can't move on and find something else better. The attitude you take says to me that you think League sucks. Therefore why are you on this board still posting about it?

God you f**king "my team isn't what it was in 1995" whingers really need to wake up to yourselves. If the game has dents is usually because of your disgusting attitude towards it. Frankly we're better off without supporters like you.

Bulldogs, NRL, forever!

This coming from a supporter of the one club that has done more damage to the game then all others combined. How can you support such a disgusting organisation? How can you be proud of them? How can you say 'I support the Bulldogs' and not be ashamed?

I was five times as proud of my team then you were this year. If that statement isn't true then I worry about what kind of person you are

 

[Sir Clifford GC]

[quote="DIEHARDI find the behaviour of the traitor clubs against fans of loyal clubs and victims of mergers nothing short of disgusting. So much good will and tradition was destroyed. They shouldn't get over it, no one should. We should always remember.

I believed right from the beginning that a private foreign company should not control the League. The fact is News still do.

So it's NOT over.

On a personnel level Norths made a crucial sacrifice; they turned down the Northern SL franchise.

Many people in key rolls in the NRL will refuse to ever admit that they have done wrong and are still doing wrong by the Community, claiming it's in the name of business.

This is a copout and they should be told this over and over at every opportunity we have.[/quote]
brace ureself big steve you are in for a shock and yes it is me saying this

Norths were well and truely bent over by the NRL, the bears management might of been inept but they knew there was only room on the North side of sydney for one team, so they did the proactive thing and decided to uproot and go to Gosford, they went one year too early and poor productivy and rain cost them dearly, had norths stayed at NSO in 1999 i doubt we would have seen a JV and one of the SL clubs would have missed the cut (penrith or sharks). However first rate muppet and then CEO boss lied to the bears in 1998 and told them if they moved they would be classed as a regional side and there for be exempt from the critera. We all know from that the Nomad bears of 1999 went broke and were forced in to an uneasy JV with manly.

My question is if in 1999 Newcastle or North Queensland had of gone bust would they have been made to merge or would they have been given a handout like the tigers got, like the cowboys got and like the Northern Eagles got in 2000.

When you talk post SL and people doing wrong Whitaker doesnt get much attention and he should because he made some large stuff ups, he gave way too much away at the comprise table, lets not forget the ARL had the supiror product and he let clubs die or merge.

I cant get my head around this, the bloke played for balmain spilt blood for that club yet he was prepared and be a part of its demise as a Stand alone club, ill give you the hot tip if ARKO had of been CEO of the NRL in 1999 Manly would have merged with no one.

 

[King of the Hill]

regardless of what side each person is on, i admire the passion for our game in this thread

 

[DIEHARD]

And we are damn lucky to be in the position we are in today. All things considered.

 

[RifRaf]

When you talk post SL and people doing wrong Whitaker doesnt get much attention and he should because he made some large stuff ups, he gave way too much away at the comprise table, lets not forget the ARL had the supiror product and he let clubs die or merge.

I cant get my head around this, the bloke played for balmain spilt blood for that club yet he was prepared and be a part of its demise as a Stand alone club, ill give you the hot tip if ARKO had of been CEO of the NRL in 1999 Manly would have merged with no one.

Don't get me started on Whittaker!!! I gave it to him in person just 4 months ago when collecting signatures for the Save Leichhardt campaign. As Balmain ceo his big innovations after Keith left were to move us to Parramatta Stadium change our name to the Sydney Tigers and add PURPLE to our jersey!!!! All of which were reversed within two years... His reward for this? Made boss of the whole bloody LEAGUE!!!!! Many see Alan Jones as the man that brought the Tigers to their knees, I prefer to believe that Alan may have tripped us up but Whittaker held us down!!!! Neither will ever be forgiven by the Balmain faithfull...

 

[simon says]

Moving us to Parra Stadium was a bloody joke,and that jersey ugggh.....Whittaker killed us and gets a promotion.....figure that one out.

 

[nqboy]

Thanks DJ1. What was your source/s for all of that?

I read Roy Masters' book, I read Arko's self-serving book and it seems to me that Packer played him for a fool. Arko mistook this as unconditional support and nailed his misguided loyalty colours to Packer's mast.

Now I don't trust Rupert, Cowley or anyone else on SL's side for a moment, I'm just naturally suspicous of big business. But the offer listed above, expecially the commitment to pay for any court challenge to Packer's acquiring of the PTV rights from a naive, chook-raffle mentality ARL seems pretty hard to beat to me, particularly when coupled with the promise that the ARL would continue to run the game. For a start, they'd be better off than we are now because the ARL chairman would be the chairman of the board and the recent expansion debacle couldn't have been vetoed by News Ltd.

The other interesting point for me is that the ARL were already working on a plan to reduce the number of teams in Sydney by merging, relocating, relegating or excluding them. This point hasn't been addressed by fans of traditional clubs in these forums.

What an opportunity missed.

 

[Balmain_Boy]

I have no problem with the ARL culling the teams. It would have hurt, and hurt a lot. However they would have been doing it for the good of the game.


On the other hand, the SL clubs walked out to join a comp ran by big business, just to save their own hides. Clubs like the bulldogs, canberra, cronulla etc. committed the worst of betrayals. Not only did they betray the ARL, they betrayed the other clubs like Balmain, St George, Illawarra etc. something I will never forgive the SL clubs for. It will always shape my opinion of them.


Worst of all however, they betrayed the game. They must have known by 1996 what they were doing was not good for the game. Yet they went and joined a seperate comp. It is a disgraceful period in our game, that must be remembered so Self interest does not continue to hold our game down. It's no surprise SL club fans want people to get over it and forget abuot it. If my club had committed the sins yours had, I'd want to forget about it as well.[/list]

 

[Rexxy]

The other interesting point for me is that the ARL were already working on a plan to reduce the number of teams in Sydney by merging, relocating, relegating or excluding them. This point hasn't been addressed by fans of traditional clubs in these forums.

What an opportunity missed.

Mate we addressed it with our feet, and our voices.

The ARL only tried with two clubs St George and Easts and they were roundly defeated, humiliated and destroyed by the Saints fans, who invaded the pitch, held rallies, ran tickets etc.

Until a real, acceptable offer was on the table - there was always going to be hostility and no buy-in.

C'mon we're talking the ARL. They couldn't save themselves let alone manage culture change.

Superleague played fans for fools too. A merger between St George and Cronulla .... Anyone watching football for a second would know that was never going to happen.

 

[nqboy]

They must have known by 1996 what they were doing was not good for the game.

According to DJ1, they would also have known that ARL Arko had missed a huge opportunity to catapult RL into the big time. That and the Old Boys Network that Arko pandered to would have sore motivation for regional clubs, at least, to look elsewhere.

 

[nqboy]

The other interesting point for me is that the ARL were already working on a plan to reduce the number of teams in Sydney by merging, relocating, relegating or excluding them. This point hasn't been addressed by fans of traditional clubs in these forums.

What an opportunity missed.

Mate we addressed it with our feet, and our voices.

The ARL only tried with two clubs St George and Easts and they were roundly defeated, humiliated and destroyed by the Saints fans, who invaded the pitch, held rallies, ran tickets etc.

Until a real, acceptable offer was on the table - there was always going to be hostility and no buy-in.

C'mon we're talking the ARL. They couldn't save themselves let alone manage culture change.

Superleague played fans for fools too. A merger between St George and Cronulla .... Anyone watching football for a second would know that was never going to happen.

So how do you reconcile the similarities btw the ARL and News Ltd when deciding that one is pure evil ("Superleague Scum") and the other is not?

 

[legend]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned in the six pages of Arko worship, but praise coming from his lieutenant is hardly worth mentioning.

Quayle and Arko colluded to keep clubs like Manly on top and allowed them to spend at will until they eventually went broke. Does it surprise anyone Manly dominated when Arko was CEO of the NSWRL/ARL and as soon as he stood down they hit the wall virtually overnight?

Arko and Quayle did nothing to help Canberra fend off massive offers from the Roosters and they accepted the Packer and Optus funds so I can't see where the difference is. They still took hush money, just from a different benefactor.

Nonetheless, all those whinging don't realise rationalisation was inevitable in a saturated market like Sydney and poorly run clubs like Newtown and Norths were always going to fold.

 

[Rexxy]

The other interesting point for me is that the ARL were already working on a plan to reduce the number of teams in Sydney by merging, relocating, relegating or excluding them. This point hasn't been addressed by fans of traditional clubs in these forums.

What an opportunity missed.

Mate we addressed it with our feet, and our voices.

The ARL only tried with two clubs St George and Easts and they were roundly defeated, humiliated and destroyed by the Saints fans, who invaded the pitch, held rallies, ran tickets etc.

Until a real, acceptable offer was on the table - there was always going to be hostility and no buy-in.

C'mon we're talking the ARL. They couldn't save themselves let alone manage culture change.

Superleague played fans for fools too. A merger between St George and Cronulla .... Anyone watching football for a second would know that was never going to happen.

So how do you reconcile the similarities btw the ARL and News Ltd when deciding that one is pure evil ("Superleague Scum") and the other is not?

Hate them both equally.

And believe that its a testimony to how great our game is that it can survive ineptitude, greed and self interest on such a large scale. A lesser sport would have folded and retreated to series of Metro Cup comps with a geographic focus.

Arko = War Crim. Ken Cowley= Evil Personified. Kerry Packer = King of Self Interest with no love of league. Ritcho and Cousins and Ribot = Footsoldiers. Singo= the only one who comes out of this not covered in shit. A hero.

Col Sanders, Bullfrog, Pork Morgan, Chippy = All now where they deserve to be.

 

[DJ1]

Is there anymore parts to that report DJ1?

I was going to put together the next series dealing with the start of the war from player signings up to the court ruling which overturned the initial ARL victory and allowed the commencement of the SL in 1997.

It will take some time and motivation as there are over 500 pages in the court documents.

I'm steering clear of the various books and autobiographies which are re-writing history and simply looking at what has been sworn to under oath in a court of law.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. But Can you please post a reference to what you post. While its interesting to read, it is not the court transcripts as you say, but an interpretation.

And everyone knows History is Written By The Victors.

Good point Rex,

I have the printed docs not any electronic version. Scanning the images and uploading would take up too much bandwidth.

What I'll do in the next series is use quote boxes or similar to clearly outline what is transcript and what is interpretation or commentary.