an earlier story re Gallop's take on the Jets bid
Ipswich 'vital to NRL future'
Chris Garry | 14th July 2010
AN NRL team must be placed in the Ipswich corridor to help secure the future of rugby league, NRL chief executive David Gallop has claimed.
Gallop told
The Queensland Times that the thriving region west of Brisbane was ripe for a team when the game next expanded, likely to be in 2013.
For the strength of the game we need a team in that Ipswich area west of Brisbane, Gallop said.
The corridor around Ipswich is the fastest growing region in Australia and we need to be a part of it. We need two teams in Brisbane and having a presence in the Ipswich region is a must for our games future.
Ipswichs population is 170,000 but government forecasts state it will explode to more than 400,000 in the next two decades, providing a huge potential pool of footy-loving families.
Gallop said he had visited Ipswich twice in the past two years to explore its potential as an expansion site.
Ive spoken to Mayor Paul Pisasale a few times about the prospect of a team and Ive met with Ipswich Jets officials as well, Gallop said.
Adding weight to Gallops claims is the explosion in Ipswichs junior league numbers.
The region eclipsed 2500 registered juniors for the first time this year.
In 12 months time NRL officials will formally decide on whether a new team should be introduced in time for the new 2013 television rights deal.
Those rights are expected to be worth more than $1 billion, providing the games hierarchy with cash to assist expansion.
Gallop said Ipswich, Perth and the NSW Central Coast were the three top contenders to house the next team, but stressed that Ipswich would eventually be home to its own club.
The Brisbane Broncos outgoing CEO, Bruno Cullen, said if there was to be a third NRL team in south-east Queensland, it should be in Ipswich.
Cullen said an Ipswich team would need its own stadium as Suncorp Stadium was already close to booked out during winter.
There were more than 40 games of football in different codes played at Suncorp last year and getting an extra 12 games in would be difficult, he said.
Personally I would favour having a team in Perth, but as far as south-east Queensland goes the western corridor would work.
It would not be easy to set a team up there but it I think it would work.
Mayor Pisasale said he believed the team should be named the Western Jets.
Cr Pisasale said a stadium did not need to be built immediately to cater for the team.
The team could play out of Suncorp Stadium. In Sydney many teams play out of Homebush and their fans travel from their home suburbs for it, Pisasale said.
With all the population coming to Springfield and the new rail line coming in it would not be difficult for fans to get to Suncorp.
The NRL would want any Ipswich team to draw strong support from Springfield and the growing suburb of Richlands.
Mayor Pisasale added: I have a lot of respect for David Gallop, hes a smart man. He knows you have to go where the fish are to get a bite and the fish are in the western corridor.
.....
Also - while there are many things to question about Ipswich's potential to be a success in the NRL, coporate support is not one of them.
The number of major national and international companies coming to the region is quite incredible.
The Ipswich to Logan area is the fastest growing region in the country. Engineering companies, property developers and many others are currently in a dog fight for the region's people and its government's heart and mind.
The Qld Gov have basically decided that if you want to buy a house in five years time in SE QLD it will have to be in the new developments in and around Ipswich.
An area called Ripley, cented just outside of Ipswich is planned to be a new city in its self. They are directing everyone here.
The Ipswich region is an infant western sydney and it needs a sporting team.
The region's rugby league juniors are exploding and the talent in the early teenage ranks is excellent. So many polly's are here also... they just need a team to support.
The Broncos would lose some support I think in the short term, but in the long term would not be affected.
I agree with the region thing but disagree that "Wests Jets" is too vaguefro the reasons I mentioned before.
