West Coast Pirates Bid News

[The Great Dane]

The Perth Reds offered to pay the costs of the travel as part of their bid proposal which was announced a couple of years before joining the NRL.

I can't remember the exact time line, but they decided to join SL a couple of months into the 95 season.

Did they completely get their sums wrong that they were broke after a few months from paying the travel costs?

I just don't get this travel excuse that is always wheeled out to explain away the Reds joining SL and then going broke.

Edit- According to Wikipedia they signed with SL April 20 1995

Amongst other things they vastly overestimated what they'ed make at the gate, they vastly underestimated how much hosting a game day costs, they vastly underestimated how much stadium rent would cost, going by their track record with estimations they probably vastly underestimated how much it would cost to pay for all the travel and accommodation cost of all the other teams as well.

However without having to pay those travel costs they would have had more time to turn things around before they faced the headsmans' axe.

These days it's easy to forget, but you have to remember that pre SL clubs were multiple 100s of thousand $ businesses not multimillion $ businesses, and the costs of travel back then were also a lot higher (especially from Sydney and Brisbane to Perth, god knows how much it cost to get two teams and staff from Auckland to Perth and back back then).

So that investment of money into travel and accommodation, and we're talking business class and high class hotels, gyms and training facilities to boot, was a big investment of money. These days it wouldn't hit a club that hard, but back then it would have been basically a 5th-quarter of the Reds yearly budget gone before they had even started.

 

[BuffaloRules]

It appears they indeed got their sums wrong not just in relation to the travel costs but all expenses.

They were in trouble very early into their existence, no doubt.

But can we agree that paying the travel costs had no influence over them joining SL?

They signed up April 20 of their first season and they didn't get a phone call the night before.

They would have been in discussions/ secret meetings for months- well before they kicked their first football in anger in a proper ARL game or paid the first airfare of an opposing player.

 

[alien]

Strictly speaking the Warriors didn't survive, the Auckland Warriors were folded and replaced with a new business called the NZ Warriors that had bought the rights to the Warriors name.

The Auckland Warriors were basically a week or two away from being told by the NRL that they were no longer needed when Eric Watson came in bought the Warriors brand, built a new club from the ground up, then went to the NRL with a new business plan and begged them to let him and NZ keep the license.

the rugby league records say it's the same club. it just has a name change and a different owner

New Zealand Warriors: founded in 1995 as Auckland Warriors

 

[alien]

It appears they indeed got their sums wrong not just in relation to the travel costs but all expenses.

They were in trouble very early into their existence, no doubt.

But can we agree that paying the travel costs had no influence over them joining SL?

They signed up April 20 of their first season and they didn't get a phone call the night before.

They would have been in discussions/ secret meetings for months- well before they kicked their first football in anger in a proper ARL game or paid the first airfare of an opposing player.

maybe they knew it would be hard to survive, but a small chance is better than no chance, and they might have thought they wouldn't have been let into the arl comp if they didn't agree to pay for the travel and accommodation costs of other clubs travelling to perth.

 

[TheRam]

Bought myself a classic car and the money I would have spent on an NRL club I am building a race car for historic touring car racing.

Nice. Silver lining.

ok some facts straight from the horses mouth (a Western Reds board member of the time I met).

Reds were adnitted conditional on paying travel and accomodation costs for first and reserve grad visiting teams as well as their own for away games. The board at the time felt they could generate enough sponsorship and gate takings to cover it and a sponsorship with ansett was supposed to help. Turned out WACA was both a dog of a ground for fans and a terrible landlord that stung for them for all sorts of extras. By end of year one (1995) the club could see it had big problems. by start of 96 SL was brewing and News Ltd moved in and offered a massive sponsorship deal (Sunday Times) for controlling power of the board. Feeling no other option the board areed. News ltd controlled board promptly signed with SL to the disgust of most the WA RL community, damage that virtually destroyed the game here for well over a decade.
By 97 News had the Reds in SL and the veneer of a national comp. When it came to peace talks and a culling of numbers for a combined club NEws wanted a Melbourne club at any cost, ARL wanted to maintain as much NSw clubs and loyal clubs as it could. compromise was the end of the Reds.

We gotfcked over all ends up and it continues today with the ARLC who would rather bail out sht house traditional clubs at the expense of growing the game in new markets taht sell out games. Such is the history of RL and the reason it is a tiny sport played in a few parts of the world.

Spot on. They just don't have the business acumen or the balls to make any of the hard decisions. Plain and simple.

 

[Frank Discussion]

The Perth SG Ball side went well against the national champs yesterday, narrowly going down 72-12 to Perth Reds beloved Cronulla Sharks.
Are plans now afoot to relocate Perth to Cronulla?

 

[Perth Red]

The fact we've got a system in place that can even put a team in SG ball is a minor miracle given lack of NRL support for the game here.

 

[Miller was a legend]

Don't bother. They are poo

 

[Perth Red]

You can tell it's a non school day

 

[Perth Red]

REPRESENTING his country of birth in the city he developed his game could become a reality for Perth-bred NRL star Curtis Rona this year.
“It’d be a dream come true to be honest,” Rona told The Sunday Times.
“I never thought that the NRL would take an international game over to Perth.
“There’s been a few NRL games there in the last few years which has been great for the game.
“But for me to come back would be a great achievement - to represent the country where I’m from and go to Perth where I grew up, with my friends and family supporting me.”

On the West Coast Pirates’ debate, Rona said the competition couldn’t truly be called national until a WA side was included. Not since the Western Reds took part in the Australia Rugby League (1995-96) and Super League (1997) has a team in the west been involved.
“It’d be great for Perth to have their own franchise (in the NRL),” he said. “You see a lot of talent from Perth go to waste (without a team in the national competition).”

http://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/nr...a/news-story/d80713c67b84b03f0d45ad2fdaff75d1

 

[magpie4ever]

Nice. Silver lining.



Spot on. They just don't have the business acumen or the balls to make any of the hard decisions. Plain and simple.

Yeah, like parramatta - just a waste of space.

 

[TheRam]

Yeah, like parramatta - just a waste of space.

What's wrong with all you miserable and angry people?

 

[magpie4ever]

What's wrong with all you miserable and angry people?

Because you was agreeing with the pommy tool about arseholing traditional clubs, well parramatta would be one of the worst performing clubs since they came into the comp 1947.

 

[Perth Red]

From a Wests magpies fan lol. Back to the cave with you!

 

[magpie4ever]

From a Wests magpies fan lol. Back to the cave with you!

Hilarious, a poster named Perth Red - Western Reds and you are having a shot at me.

By the way chumpion, Wests have a better record than the heartless club. Plus tool, you can't get rid of us twice, we are already gone.

 

[Perth Red]

If Wests move the Tigers franchise to Perth will you become a Sydney member?

 

[Pommy]

Because you was agreeing with the pommy tool about arseholing traditional clubs, well parramatta would be one of the worst performing clubs since they came into the comp 1947.

Excuse me? I was talking purely about Aliens comments. He was saying Bulldogs should move but they get more supporters than anyone else in Sydney that doesn't mean I want traditional clubs to be moved.

 

[magpie4ever]

Excuse me? I was talking purely about Aliens comments. He was saying Bulldogs should move but they get more supporters than anyone else in Sydney that doesn't mean I want traditional clubs to be moved.

I wasn't talking to or about you. I was commenting on the other pommy prick by the name of Perth Red, he is just a complete tool or as we say in Oz - a dropkick.

 

[Pommy]

I wasn't talking to or about you. I was commenting on the other pommy prick by the name of Perth Red, he is just a complete tool or as we say in Oz - a dropkick.

Fair enough I wasn't aware he was Pom.

 

[TheRam]

Because you was agreeing with the pommy tool about arseholing traditional clubs, well parramatta would be one of the worst performing clubs since they came into the comp 1947.

I'm so glad the Cag-pies don't exist anymore.