What about the Steelers???

[Firey_Dragon]

It was silly to make a team with a 7 syllable name. Wests Tigers got it right. As for the Dragons, most people will call the team "St George" or "The Dragons". You should have called yourself the St George Steelers or the Illawarra Dragons.

But it's well known that merger wasn't a real merger. Illawarra got 6 games down south, the Dragons got "St George", "Dragons", the Red V, the jersey design in general. Look at the logo, it's the old St George logo with "Illawarra" on the bottom of it. All the important things that define a club have been adopted from St George. It's a bit late to talk about it now, you should have done a better job negotiating back in 1998.

But because you didn't, Illawarra will go the same was as Warringah, Sutherland and Bankstown.

Wests and St George-Illawarra were completely differently handled. One was a merger (Wests, moving all their football operations under the one banner), the other was a joint venture (where there are two separate football clubs operating under the same name, and a joint board on top of it running those operations).

We currently only have a "joint-venture" agreement until 2012 where it can be dissolved if the clubs want. The setup at the tigers isn't even remotely close.

As for steelers being able to negotiate, it isn't as easy as you think. They had the juniors, St George had the money, without the merger St George would have operated as usual, poaching players from the region and Illawarra would have gone bust. The agreement was mutually beneficial, but the Dragons brand would have continued either way. The Steelers would not.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

steelers didnt have a choice, it was join or die...effectively died anyway....murdering rugby league in the illawarra

Murdered league in the illawarra? Still one of the areas with the largest junior supply, and healthy crowds to games each week... I'm not sure how that murdered the game in the Illawarra, one only needs to drive through wollongong this week to see how "dead" the game is down there.

 

[Sleep]

More of a takeover than a merger. Much like the Sea-Eagles/Bears "merger". :lol:

 

[BunniesMan]

Wests and St George-Illawarra were completely differently handled. One was a merger (Wests, moving all their football operations under the one banner), the other was a joint venture (where there are two separate football clubs operating under the same name, and a joint board on top of it running those operations).

We currently only have a "joint-venture" agreement until 2012 where it can be dissolved if the clubs want. The setup at the tigers isn't even remotely close.

As for steelers being able to negotiate, it isn't as easy as you think. They had the juniors, St George had the money, without the merger St George would have operated as usual, poaching players from the region and Illawarra would have gone bust. The agreement was mutually beneficial, but the Dragons brand would have continued either way. The Steelers would not.

Do both sides have to agree to dissolve, or can either just choose to opt out? Is there a realistic chance of the joint-venture separating? If as you say the Dragons could have continued regardless, will they walk away when the opportunity comes up?

As for the Steelers and their negotiating power. Didn't they have other choices, I think I remember the Roosters and Sharks (back when they actually had money) also being interested in getting with the Steelers.

 

[taxidriver]

troll effort - 2/10
substance - 1/10
stupidity - 10/10

overall rating 13/30

Andrew needs to try much harder and pay more attention to what he is doing.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

Warringah, Bankstown & Sutherland never had a pre existing 1st grade team like Illawarra so to compare them to the Steelers is silly and I'm sure most would agree.

 

[_snafu_]

Where's Woolongong?

 

[Dragon]

As a former Steelers supporter from Wollongong, not at all. Too busy supporting the Dragons tbh

This

 

[Jason Maher]

To the OP: I'm a Steelers fan. And you can go and get f**ked.

 

[RL1908]

Well, here's a twist...see if you can spot it...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...curity-by-gibson/story-e6frg7mf-1225932028351

SOME days you never forget. For Sydney Roosters centre John Rheinberger, it was a mild spring day in 1975. Rheinberger only started one game in his first grade rugby league career. You guessed it -- the '75 decider against St George Illawarra.

Meanwhile Steve 'Steeler' Mascord's view:

http://www.backpagelead.com.au/league/2650-nrl-grand-final-diary-day-two-the-adl

Kenny Sutcliffle, Des Hasler and Paul Kent have all been nominated by STEVE MASCORD as paid-up, inaugural members of the ADL - the Anti-DeSteelerisation League.

 

[Timmah]

Splitting hairs mate. Point is all this was discussed years ago, Steelers knew what they were agreeing to so it's a bit late to be complaining now. They should have negotiated better in the first place.

The OP doesn't appear to be a Steelers fan, but rather an opposition fan trying to either stir trouble or just be stupid. I haven't seen any Steelers fans complaining lately.

Do both sides have to agree to dissolve, or can either just choose to opt out? Is there a realistic chance of the joint-venture separating? If as you say the Dragons could have continued regardless, will they walk away when the opportunity comes up?

As for the Steelers and their negotiating power. Didn't they have other choices, I think I remember the Roosters and Sharks (back when they actually had money) also being interested in getting with the Steelers.

The opportunity for walking away has no doubt presented itself over the past 11 seasons but for a range of reasons, I can't see either side doing it. The St George side provides the $$$, the iconic branding and a range of other benefits, while Illawarra has the phenomenal junior nursery and a parochial out-of-Sydney town that is RL mad.

It sounds to me like more than anythig, you're trying to capitalise on and extend the sh*tstirring from the initial poster.

 

[bobmar28]

Bait from someone who can't spell Wollongong.

Most people say St George because we're lazy Aussies & CBF saying the last four syllables.

What about poor old Warringah and Sutherland?

Dragons isn't that hard to say. Calling the team "Saints" is an insult to Steelers fans.

 

[blackberryman]

I'm from Wollongong, and you can be assured that the Majority of the people there support the St George - Illawarra Dragons.

We have half the games there and the we have been give 45mill to redevelop the show ground so I think the Illawarra people definately feel like they are well and truly part of the merger now.

Not to mention WIN's sponsorship of both stadiums whose premises reside atop the hill in Mangerton.

The only thing that still urks me to this day is when commentators say St George, we aren't like all the other clubs, I honestly believe the St George Dragons did the best thing by merging with the Illawarra Steelers, am a massive fan of using STGI.

I'll keep flying the Steelers flag till the day I die, wearing my Panasonic Cup jersey to the Wollongong games and will still be proud of the talent that comes out of the Illawarra region.

Wollongong/Illawarra is definately Rugby League through and through and the St George Illawarra Dragons are the team for the region.

Now let's go win this frik'n Premiership!!!!

 

[Dragon]

Now let's go win this frik'n Premiership!!!!

F*ck oath! From Kiama to Kogarah you will hear the roar

 

[coast_dragons]

If the Illawarra is dead in regards to league how the hell does the region dominate country rugby league CRL champs the last couple of years and also beat the best from Qld country league.

The Steelers remain in a junior capacity and they are still strong but the merger had to happen when you have idiots like Bob Millward running the ship he would have been like the captain of the Titanic.

 

[BunniesMan]

The OP doesn't appear to be a Steelers fan, but rather an opposition fan trying to either stir trouble or just be stupid. I haven't seen any Steelers fans complaining lately.


The opportunity for walking away has no doubt presented itself over the past 11 seasons but for a range of reasons, I can't see either side doing it. The St George side provides the $$$, the iconic branding and a range of other benefits, while Illawarra has the phenomenal junior nursery and a parochial out-of-Sydney town that is RL mad.

It sounds to me like more than anythig, you're trying to capitalise on and extend the sh*tstirring from the initial poster.

I'm not trying to stir anything. I just don't like mergers/joint ventures. I was happy when the Northern Eagles died and Manly came back (hopefully followed by the Bears soon). I like the teams with long histories, and in my perfect world St George, Wests and Balmain would be playing in the NRL. It seems like Wests Tigers are happy enough with their situation and I don't see them splitting, but I thought there may have been a possibility with the Dragons because of the fact that one club went into it from a more dominant position. With the STGI Dragons becoming St George again, just like Manly.

 

[Timmah]

I don't like the idea of mergers/joint ventures either, but the STGI and WT mergers are two that have clearly worked... so far anyway. Both teams still have long and proud histories that don't simply disappear because of name changes or different home grounds.

 

[Lego_Man]

Should be the St George Steelers or Illawarra Dragons.

The only other fair option is the St George-Illawarra Dragon-Steelers.

Or St George-Illawarra Steel Dragons

 

[Timbo]

Oh God, not the Steel Dragons again!

When Kogarah was quietly disintergrating and the Dragons were forced to play their Sydney games at the SFS, I remember some comments coming out of NRL HQ which were subtle 'why not play all of your games at Wollongong' type statements.

Didn't happen and now it's a perfect merger. But I wouldn't be suprised if some of the NRL heirarchy were hoping the Dragons became a full-time South Coast outfit.

 

[Firey_Dragon]

Dragons isn't that hard to say. Calling the team "Saints" is an insult to Steelers fans.

How is it an insult?

It's simply a shortening of our name. Maybe we should all chant STI to be politically correct?

I love how all the people commenting on this aren't even fans of our club. Many from the illawarra region join in on the Saints chants, are they bad fans too?