West Coast Pirates Bid News

[GAZF]

Yellow and black is one of the most iconic sports colour schemes of all time, it's not being used in the NRL, and it's WA's state colours.

Adding red into the scheme just complicates it and takes away from the power and contrast of yellow and black.

Black/yellow is a fantastic colour combo, and is criminally underutilised in Australia. However I'm not entirely against the inclusion of red, which can have great impact if used with a high degree of restraint.

 

[mongoose]

Funnily enough the WA bid would actually do well to link up with the Force. While the East Coast has the whole League vs Union hatred, from 1990 to 2018 when I lived in Perth there's not that huge issue. Clubs like the Rockingham Sharks share a ground with the Rockingham RUFC. Given both teams would make use of HBF Park, I know quite a number of people who would support both teams. It'd be the rectangle codes vs the AFL.

I have a theory which might be a bit tin foil hat but I reckon the NRL (news) has or had a secret agreement with ARU to stay out of WA to give the Force and Australian Rugby "space".

 

[The Mad Hatter]

The Broncos also wore black / yellow once.

Since it’s WA’s colours, kinda makes sense to go with them.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

A compelling bid that can prove they can stand on their own two feet and be financially sustainable is obviously what is important to the NRL. It looks like there is potential for those bids to come forward out of Perth if called for in a couple of years.

 

[I Bleed Maroon]

The Pirates really should be joining the comp alongside the Doles in 2023. A 17 team comp is so awkward and Perth/WA have waited long enough. We should have capitalized on the vacuum left behind by Union years ago.

 

[Pippen94]

The Pirates really should be joining the comp alongside the Doles in 2023. A 17 team comp is so awkward and Perth/WA have waited long enough. We should have capitalized on the vacuum left behind by Union years ago.

Union is back

 

[Nuke]

All the more reason that it should have happened years ago at the time. Kids (and seniors) are seemingly now flocking back to union.

 

[Pippen94]

All the more reason that it should have happened years ago at the time. Kids (and seniors) are seemingly now flocking back to union.

Who said flocking back?! NRL will be no.2 as soon as a team debuts.

 

[Nuke]

Who said flocking back?! NRL will be no.2 as soon as a team debuts.

I said it. 'Flocking back' may be exaggerating a bit, but as soon as the Force returned and there was still no Perth NRL team, the pathways opened right back up for union, and kids and adult players have headed back there again.

 

[Pippen94]

I said it. 'Flocking back' may be exaggerating a bit, but as soon as the Force returned and there was still no Perth NRL team, the pathways opened right back up for union, and kids and adult players have headed back there again.

Doesn't matter. NRL is more mainstream & will be bigger out of the gate. Grassroots don't matter

 

[ReddFelon]

Flocking back is the correct statement. RugbyWA has 35,000 registered players across the state. Comparatively Queensland Rugby has 56,000. Compare population sizes. Reminder for non-Perth people, the hate between the two is not like what you find in Qld and NSW.

I have a theory which might be a bit tin foil hat but I reckon the NRL (news) has or had a secret agreement with ARU to stay out of WA to give the Force and Australian Rugby "space".

I wouldn't call it tin foil hat entirely. Twiggy offered Rugby Australia $70 million in 2017 to keep the team in Super Rugby. The previous RA admin said no. The moment they were gone the guys who took over looked at how they were bordering on bankrupt and ran to him immediately. As a Force fan, the narrative around the team from Waratahs/Reds fans has been hilarious. 2017 they were "a stupid useless team who sucked and didn't deserve to exist" now it's "a stupid useless team with more money than all of us combined and they should be forced to share with us, they don't even have a salary cap".

I don't think there was a secret agreement, I think the ARLC looked at Twiggy and said "this bloke could buy half the clubs in the NRL if he wanted to, it might not be the best idea to piss him off".

And I want both the Western Force and Western Reds so that I can have alternating blue and red jerseys on casual days at work.

 

[ReddFelon]

Doesn't matter. NRL is more mainstream & will be bigger out of the gate. Grassroots don't matter

Not in WA, mate.

I was one of about 4 kids in my high school in WA that liked Rugby and League. Even the dyed in the wool AFL guys called Rugby "real rugby". League abandoning WA has led to a lot of people referring to it as "an east coast sport". There's support for both codes, but most of it comes from the same communities. A WA team would be bigger, but people understate how well-liked the Force are, they're seen as a working class and battler team that goes up against the NSW and QLD toffs.

 

[Pippen94]

Not in WA, mate.

I was one of about 4 kids in my high school in WA that liked Rugby and League. Even the dyed in the wool AFL guys called Rugby "real rugby". League abandoning WA has led to a lot of people referring to it as "an east coast sport". There's support for both codes, but most of it comes from the same communities. A WA team would be bigger, but people understate how well-liked the Force are, they're seen as a working class and battler team that goes up against the NSW and QLD toffs.

I'm not a local but given how origin & grand final rates compared to union, I'd stake my house on it.

 

[ReddFelon]

I'm not a local but given how origin & grand final rates compared to union, I'd stake my house on it.

Believe me you'd be surprised how much crossover there is. Origin and the Bledisoe are #2 and #1 for the Optus Stadium attendance records.

I'm not saying the NRL team wouldn't be popular, but ratings are tricky. Keep in mind, that anti-Wallabies hostility was rife in WA after what happened to the Force. But also the games are on 9Gem. This year was the first time a Super Rugby grand final was on FTA and with minimal advertising they pulled 500,000 viewers on a secondary channel.

Still Wallabies v France pulled 50,000 viewers in Perth on FTA, add to that the pay TV viewers from Stan. They're not amazing numbers, but they're also not bad numbers considering the bad blood.

 

[The Great Dane]

Who cares which code is bigger or more popular.

As long as you can carve out a large enough niche to make your sport successful in the market it's meaningless really.

 

[Pippen94]

Believe me you'd be surprised how much crossover there is. Origin and the Bledisoe are #2 and #1 for the Optus Stadium attendance records.

I'm not saying the NRL team wouldn't be popular, but ratings are tricky. Keep in mind, that anti-Wallabies hostility was rife in WA after what happened to the Force. But also the games are on 9Gem. This year was the first time a Super Rugby grand final was on FTA and with minimal advertising they pulled 500,000 viewers on a secondary channel.

Still Wallabies v France pulled 50,000 viewers in Perth on FTA, add to that the pay TV viewers from Stan. They're not amazing numbers, but they're also not bad numbers considering the bad blood.

That's not a bad FTA number tbh. I think union & league have different demo's anyway. League fanbase more broader, but like I said I'm not a local

 

[Perth Red]

The long term goal will be for RL to become the number 2 sport in WA, at the moment it’s ranking around 6th. Not so much in participation but overall in fanbase, money and profile.

 

[mongoose]

I'm guessing AFL, Rugby, Soccer, Basketball, Cricket are all ahead? I think a Perth NRL team would overtake the Glory very quickly. I understand the Wildcats are probably the most popular NBL team in the country so im not sure about them. League would probably overtake Union in time and align with the other Rugby playing states states (poor union)

 

[Pippen94]

I'm guessing AFL, Rugby, Soccer, Basketball, Cricket are all ahead? I think a Perth NRL team would overtake the Glory very quickly. I understand the Wildcats are probably the most popular NBL team in the country so im not sure about them. League would probably overtake Union in time and align with the other Rugby playing states states (poor union)

Glory does big attendance's for grand final. Don't think force has done that

 

[Dragonwest]

Funnily enough the WA bid would actually do well to link up with the Force. While the East Coast has the whole League vs Union hatred, from 1990 to 2018 when I lived in Perth there's not that huge issue. Clubs like the Rockingham Sharks share a ground with the Rockingham RUFC. Given both teams would make use of HBF Park, I know quite a number of people who would support both teams. It'd be the rectangle codes vs the AFL.

Just no. Rugby are making juniors sign contracts to not play league. 16 year old kids should not have to make those decisions. Yes we have players that jumper back and forth between the codes and don't seem to have a loyalty to either .... but lets not pretend we are friends or either will "help" each other out.