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BRAD WALTER
March 8, 2010 .
AFTER losing $7 million in the previous two years, South Sydney chairman Nicholas Pappas yesterday announced the Rabbitohs had turned a profit for the first time in recent memory last season - making them the only Sydney club to do so in 2009.
Pappas made the announcement to Souths' members at the football club's annual general meeting at Redfern Town Hall, where former directors Andrew Denton and Nick Greiner were awarded life membership for their role in helping to save the Rabbitohs after their expulsion from the NRL at the end of the 1999 season.
Former Souths players Ross Harrington and Tony Rampling were also given life memberships.
The $260,000 profit is a stunning reversal of fortune for a club that appeared to have no future a decade earlier and in the past two years had incurred losses of $4.5m in 2007 and $2.5m in 2008, which were covered by co-owners Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court.
The news comes just a week after Souths and St George Illawarra became the first NRL clubs to surpass 10,000 members. Significantly, the profit is derived purely from football activities and does not include any funding from private investors or the South Sydney Leagues Club, which is due to re-open this season and hopes to be able to make a small annual grant to the Rabbitohs.
It was also achieved in a year the club again failed to make the play-offs after featuring in the 2007 finals series for the first time since 1989.
''We'd like to think that this shows there is light at the end of the tunnel for all clubs,'' Pappas said.
''We're now at a stage where we had just over $15 million in revenue and when get to that level and you operate frugally you can produce modest profits.''
Pappas said that the huge losses incurred by the Rabbitohs in the previous two seasons had been projected after the club sold a 75 per cent stake to Crowe and Holmes a Court.
He said much of that money had been spent improving facilities and building the Rabbitohs into a position where they were able to generate enough revenue from sponsorship, gate receipts, merchandise and memberships to support the football operations, and could not have been done without Crowe and Holmes a Court buying into the club.
''We've been able to do those things while protecting the rights of members and we're not only now profitable but we are a permanent fixture in the competition and based in Sydney, which is what we set out to ensure,'' Pappas said.
It is understood that Souths are one of just four NRL clubs to have made a profit last season, with the other three being the Broncos, Titans and Cowboys - all of whom are based in Queensland.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...uths-posted-a-profit-in-09-20100307-pqn1.html
Not bad for a club that has been in the Semi Finals once in 20yrs.Congradultions to Ross,Tony,Greiner and Denton on obtaining Life Membership.
March 8, 2010 .
AFTER losing $7 million in the previous two years, South Sydney chairman Nicholas Pappas yesterday announced the Rabbitohs had turned a profit for the first time in recent memory last season - making them the only Sydney club to do so in 2009.
Pappas made the announcement to Souths' members at the football club's annual general meeting at Redfern Town Hall, where former directors Andrew Denton and Nick Greiner were awarded life membership for their role in helping to save the Rabbitohs after their expulsion from the NRL at the end of the 1999 season.
Former Souths players Ross Harrington and Tony Rampling were also given life memberships.
The $260,000 profit is a stunning reversal of fortune for a club that appeared to have no future a decade earlier and in the past two years had incurred losses of $4.5m in 2007 and $2.5m in 2008, which were covered by co-owners Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court.
The news comes just a week after Souths and St George Illawarra became the first NRL clubs to surpass 10,000 members. Significantly, the profit is derived purely from football activities and does not include any funding from private investors or the South Sydney Leagues Club, which is due to re-open this season and hopes to be able to make a small annual grant to the Rabbitohs.
It was also achieved in a year the club again failed to make the play-offs after featuring in the 2007 finals series for the first time since 1989.
''We'd like to think that this shows there is light at the end of the tunnel for all clubs,'' Pappas said.
''We're now at a stage where we had just over $15 million in revenue and when get to that level and you operate frugally you can produce modest profits.''
Pappas said that the huge losses incurred by the Rabbitohs in the previous two seasons had been projected after the club sold a 75 per cent stake to Crowe and Holmes a Court.
He said much of that money had been spent improving facilities and building the Rabbitohs into a position where they were able to generate enough revenue from sponsorship, gate receipts, merchandise and memberships to support the football operations, and could not have been done without Crowe and Holmes a Court buying into the club.
''We've been able to do those things while protecting the rights of members and we're not only now profitable but we are a permanent fixture in the competition and based in Sydney, which is what we set out to ensure,'' Pappas said.
It is understood that Souths are one of just four NRL clubs to have made a profit last season, with the other three being the Broncos, Titans and Cowboys - all of whom are based in Queensland.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...uths-posted-a-profit-in-09-20100307-pqn1.html
Not bad for a club that has been in the Semi Finals once in 20yrs.Congradultions to Ross,Tony,Greiner and Denton on obtaining Life Membership.
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