New Brisbane NRL team

[Anita Bath]

On 27/12/2020 at 15:11, Cumbrian Mackem said:

What about merging and relocating teams within the greater Sydney area and NSW?

For example Ive always thought that merging Canterbury bulldogs and western suburbs was a better solution than merging wests and balmain. The new club could be called western bulldogs and could represent the massive and sprawling region of greater western Sydney playing  out of a new stadium built in Liverpool ?

Also another logical merger would be that of the bears and sea Eagles. They could be known as north Sydney sea Eagles and could represent north Sydney area right upto the northern beaches. They could also play out of a upgraded north Sydney oval?

Theres nowt logical about merging the bears with that lot from warringah...more chance  of merging Israel with Iran. Tried it once against the wishes of bears fans and the brookvale neanderthals. Now how did that go...hmmmmm? 

 

[Anita Bath]

10 hours ago, Davo5 said:

That ship has sailed,Manly with work starting on a centre of excellence and an upgrade of Brookvale won't be looking at anything other than their own development.

The North Sydney Oval is a wonderful iconic old ground but it's hardly suited to the demands of the  modern day NRL.

Sailed? Sunk more like!

Aye, NSO hardly suited to the demands of modern day NRL - no cage around the players tunnel at NSO...only need that at Brookie to protect the players from the neanderthals.

[Davo5]

59 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

Theres nowt logical about merging the bears with that lot from warringah...more chance  of merging Israel with Iran. Tried it once against the wishes of bears fans and the brookvale neanderthals. Now how did that go...hmmmmm? 

 

 

55 minutes ago, Anita Bath said:

Sailed? Sunk more like!

Aye, NSO hardly suited to the demands of modern day NRL - no cage around the players tunnel at NSO...only need that at Brookie to protect the players from the neanderthals.

Therapy is going well then.

[Sports Prophet]

On 24/12/2020 at 14:36, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city of 1.5 million people can’t support 2 professional teams? But the town of Wigan has 2 professional clubs and Wakefield has 3.

Who are the disenchanted Auckland residents that hold so much animosity with the Warriors, to sustain a professional local rival?

[Sports Prophet]

I really hope the NRL swiftly increases to 20 teams. It’s hard to say that any case between NZ 2, Brisbane 2 and Perth are more deserving/important than the other.

A Pacific Isles team would go a long way to sureing up RL as the preferred choice of Rugby in the islands. Not sure the nations are harmonious enough to share a club though.

[Harry Stottle]

On 24/12/2020 at 06:36, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city of 1.5 million people can’t support 2 professional teams? But the town of Wigan has 2 professional clubs and Wakefield has 3.

The population of Leeds is greater than the combined totals of 2 Wigan clubs and the 3 Wakefield clubs by far, but Leeds couldn't support another club along with Hunslet there is not enough interest as shown by the attendances.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

The population of Leeds is greater than the combined totals of 2 Wigan clubs and the 3 Wakefield clubs by far, but Leeds couldn't support another club along with Hunslet there is not enough interest as shown by the attendances.

A second Super League club could certainly be a success in Leeds. 

[Damien]

28 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

A second Super League club could certainly be a success in Leeds. 

I agree but that ship has sailed with the demise of Hunslet and Leeds taking over. People saying it is not possible based on attendances are a bit of a misnomer, if Hull had one SL team the attendance would be much less then what Hull FC and Hull KR get combined.

I'm not saying it should happen or that it would be desirable but I certainly think a team in South Leeds would be possible in the manner of Hull FC and Hull KR. It would take serious backing, a stadium and would require a club to get back what has been lost to Leeds Rhinos. Its just not going to happen in this day and age and, with the bulk of the country not represented in RL, there is little in it for RL.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

A South Leeds Super League team playing out of Elland Road in a White kit could easily be a success. If it were to happen the Leeds derby would be the biggest in Super League.

[Harry Stottle]

1 hour ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

A South Leeds Super League team playing out of Elland Road in a White kit could easily be a success. If it were to happen the Leeds derby would be the biggest in Super League.

So if there would be such a clamour for the game in Leeds how come only 13,000 or do home fans out of a population of 780,000 can be bothered getting along.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

37 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

So if there would be such a clamour for the game in Leeds how come only 13,000 or do home fans out of a population of 780,000 can be bothered getting along.

Elland Road has sold out for plenty of RL fixtures and the Rhinos had the highest attendances in Super League before the building work reduced the capacity at Headingley 

[Scotchy1]

44 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

So if there would be such a clamour for the game in Leeds how come only 13,000 or do home fans out of a population of 780,000 can be bothered getting along.

Because even in the heartlands RL doesnt hold a highly visible position that can attract people. 

There are about 4.5m people within a 30minute drive of Leigh, only about 2.5k bother going along. 

[Scotchy1]

4 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

A second Super League club could certainly be a success in Leeds. 

depends what you class as a success. Would a few thousand go along? sure. Would tens of thousands go along and move the game forward? no. 

Besides, there are 4 SL clubs within 30mins of Leeds, plus Bradford, Fev, Batley, Dewsbury et al. 

Its an accident of geography and the development of this country that we look at it like this. In America or Australia "leeds" would stretch from York and Harrogate in the north to Wakefield and Huddersfield in the south. Leeds and Bradford are pretty much one big city anyway. We arent short of clubs in that area.

[unapologetic pedant]

2 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

A South Leeds Super League team playing out of Elland Road in a White kit could easily be a success. If it were to happen the Leeds derby would be the biggest in Super League.

When Hunslet made the 1965 Challenge Cup final, their quarter-final was at home to Leeds. Can`t find anywhere what the crowd was that day, but probably big. Apparently by the end of that decade some of their attendances were under four figures.

There`s a dismaying symmetry to Hunslet narrowly losing the Cup final in 1965, then being on their uppers a couple of years later, and Newtown losing the NSWRL GF in 1981, then dropping out of the League in 1983.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

3 minutes ago, unapologetic pedant said:

When Hunslet made the 1965 Challenge Cup final, their quarter-final was at home to Leeds. Can`t find anywhere what the crowd was that day, but probably big. Apparently by the end of that decade some of their attendances were under four figures.

There`s a dismaying symmetry to Hunslet narrowly losing the Cup final in 1965, then being on their uppers a couple of years later, and Newtown losing the NSWRL GF in 1981, then dropping out of the League in 1983.

Hunslet should have rebranded the club as Leeds then and it’d still be a good idea to do so now.

[unapologetic pedant]

16 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

Theres nowt logical about merging the bears with that lot from warringah...more chance  of merging Israel with Iran. Tried it once against the wishes of bears fans and the brookvale neanderthals. Now how did that go...hmmmmm? 

 

 

16 hours ago, Anita Bath said:

Sailed? Sunk more like!

Aye, NSO hardly suited to the demands of modern day NRL - no cage around the players tunnel at NSO...only need that at Brookie to protect the players from the neanderthals.

I`m guessing you`d be an early volunteer for the North Sydney Liberation Army, and I`ll take for granted you`d be a vocal protester at any public demo against a merger with the Sea-Eagles, but do you actually go to any Bears games?

[Anita Bath]

On 28/12/2020 at 06:32, Davo5 said:

That ship has sailed,Manly with work starting on a centre of excellence and an upgrade of Brookvale won't be looking at anything other than their own development.

The North Sydney Oval is a wonderful iconic old ground but it's hardly suited to the demands of the  modern day NRL.

Occasionally only since the merger from hell...lost their independence...shots called by other organisations. 

Still frequent the leagues club as a member when in Sydney...still wear my jason taylor shirt with pride.  Channel nine spotted me wearing it at the suncorp round of NRL games in 2019...In the words of Phil gould “everyones here....theres even a north sydney bears fan here”.

Are there qualifying criteria to be a bears fan? ...in case you hadnt worked this out my second favourite team is whoever plays Manly!

[Harry Stottle]

15 hours ago, Scotchy1 said:

Because even in the heartlands RL doesnt hold a highly visible position that can attract people. 

There are about 4.5m people within a 30minute drive of Leigh, only about 2.5k bother going along. 

Totally weak response, re the second sentance.

Like for like Leigh Centurions - there's the clue in the name - in Super League averaged 6,500 of which 5,500 were home fans from a catchment area of 45,000.

Totally correct about your club in the first sentance.

Leeds Rhinos - another clue - in all probability average about 12,000 regularly from 780,000 of the good folk of the City.

It's little wonder when people from other parts of the country look at one of our Flagship clubs in the biggest city - we won't bring London into this discussion for obvious reasons - they must think this game is not worth bothering with, for those who would be familiar with the sport, those who have always had the sport on their doorstep, those represented by a very very successful club can't be bothered to get along, Leeds Rhino's support does not show our sport in a positive way.

 

 

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

5 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Totally weak response, re the second sentance.

Like for like Leigh Centurions - there's the clue in the name - in Super League averaged 6,500 of which 5,500 were home fans from a catchment area of 45,000.

Totally correct about your club in the first sentance.

Leeds Rhinos - another clue - in all probability average about 12,000 regularly from 780,000 of the good folk of the City.

It's little wonder when people from other parts of the country look at one of our Flagship clubs in the biggest city - we won't bring London into this discussion for obvious reasons - they must think this game is not worth bothering with, for those who would be familiar with the sport, those who have always had the sport on their doorstep, those represented by a very very successful club can't be bothered to get along, Leeds Rhino's support does not show our sport in a positive way.

 

 

Only in rugby league would you have fans claiming 5500 attendances are better than attendances of 12,000 

[Rupert Prince]

21 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

So if there would be such a clamour for the game in Leeds how come only 13,000 or do home fans out of a population of 780,000 can be bothered getting along.

On the other hand Leeds should be 'Headingly'.  Thus there is no reason not to grow a team called Hunslet, if there is interest and investment. 

Manchester Utd play in Trafford, on the border of Salford. It is not in Manchester. Liverpool and Everton can kick a ball between their stadiums. (Football is a ghetto in the East Lancs Road)

The point is if 2 clubs can be viable it does  ot matter if they are close.  The important word is 'IF'.

[Sir Kevin Sinfield]

44 minutes ago, Rupert Prince said:

On the other hand Leeds should be 'Headingly'.  Thus there is no reason not to grow a team called Hunslet, if there is interest and investment. 

Manchester Utd play in Trafford, on the border of Salford. It is not in Manchester. Liverpool and Everton can kick a ball between their stadiums. (Football is a ghetto in the East Lancs Road)

The point is if 2 clubs can be viable it does  ot matter if they are close.  The important word is 'IF'.

The population of Leeds is approaching 800k. Of course it’s big enough for 2 Super League teams, we have clubs based in small towns like Castleford 40k and Leigh 41k. Not to mention we already have a smaller city, Hull population 250k  with 2 Super League clubs. 

[Harry Stottle]

17 hours ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

The population of Leeds is approaching 800k. Of course it’s big enough for 2 Super League teams, we have clubs based in small towns like Castleford 40k and Leigh 41k. Not to mention we already have a smaller city, Hull population 250k  with 2 Super League clubs. 

Yep, enough said read back.

[frank]

Looks like the NRL and SL  are sticking to their own backyards as far as expansion  concerned. They are both doing League a great dis service. Scared of any commitment to expand the game on the chance it doesn't  work and they might lose a few bob.. A golden opportunity missed in Canada  because  SL didn't want to share the Sky money.

[Omott91]

37 minutes ago, frank said:

Looks like the NRL and SL  are sticking to their own backyards as far as expansion  concerned. They are both doing League a great dis service. Scared of any commitment to expand the game on the chance it doesn't  work and they might lose a few bob.. A golden opportunity missed in Canada  because  SL didn't want to share the Sky money.

I agree re Toronto but Brisbane 2 will be massive for the Nrl.

[JM2010]

2 hours ago, frank said:

Looks like the NRL and SL  are sticking to their own backyards as far as expansion  concerned. They are both doing League a great dis service. Scared of any commitment to expand the game on the chance it doesn't  work and they might lose a few bob.. A golden opportunity missed in Canada  because  SL didn't want to share the Sky money.

Toronto didnt receive any of the Sky money