Sydney rugby league clubs facing swift extinction
Brent Read and Stuart Honeysett | May 21, 2008
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...7-2722,00.html
MANLY chief executive Grant Mayer has warned some Sydney clubs could be only one bad year away from extinction because of the game's funding crisis.
Speaking after yesterday's meeting of club chief executives, Mayer suggested a combination of poor \"on and off the field\" results could spell the end for a Sydney club.
His dire warning for the game highlighted the increasing threat to Sydney's reputation as the spiritual home of the game, which is under siege as the NRL encourages clubs to take games to the Central Coast or interstate in a bid to survive.
\"Literally, I would say a combination of poor results on and off the field could wipe out one of the NRL's Sydney-based clubs,\" Mayer said.
\"The situation is that dire.\"
With the Australian Rugby League struggling to sell out the opening State of Origin match at ANZ Stadium tonight, the game in Sydney is under attack from all quarters.
Several Sydney clubs already play home games at regional venues such as the Central Coast, where they are guaranteed financial returns.
South Sydney has secured an agreement with the West Australian government to take home games to Perth next season. That is likely to happen more often as the poker machine tax continues to bite into club finances.
Although moving games away from home has the potential to alienate supporters, it could be a positive for the NRL.
The game's governing body has suggested Gold Coast as a possible venue for Sydney clubs, a move that would take greater advantage of the newly opened Skilled Stadium and strengthen the game's foothold in the area before the AFL starts a team there in 2011.
The alternative for Sydney clubs is unpalatable. Leagues clubs have already been forced into savage funding cuts due to increased taxes and NRL chief executive David Gallop reiterated some would die unless the game found more money. \"We are working with the leagues club industry to provide clear projections but the message is coming through in no uncertain terms that some Sydney clubs will die if things don't change,\" Gallop said.
Parramatta is locked into long-term deals at Parramatta and ANZ Stadiums, but chief executive Denis Fitzgerald described the Gold Coast as a viable alternative.
\"That's a definite option with the way the Gold Coast crowds have been,\" Fitzgerald said.
The Sydney Roosters have been taking games to Gosford for the past six years, usually against out-of-town teams North Queensland, Melbourne and Canberra that struggle to attract a decent crowd at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Roosters chief executive Brian Canavan agreed it was important to look outside the square as the combined effects of smoking bans and increased poker machine taxes start to hurt clubs reliant on leagues club grants.
\"The concept we were discussing was looking at any way we can increase revenue because of the gaming tax which is starting to hit the leagues club and then affecting our club and junior sport in general,\" Canavan said.
\"We got a great start up there, there's a lot of rugby league fans up there and it's an option where you can make some money.\"
In contract news, the day after Graham Murray stood down as Cowboys coach, prop Carl Webb has signed a two-year extension with North Queensland.
Webb has played 63 of his 129 first-grade games for the Cowboys since leaving the Broncos in 2005. He has also reignited his Origin career and broke into the Test team while in the tropics.
\"This is a terrific signing for the club. Carl has played his best football at the Cowboys and we look forward to that continuing,\" chief executive Peter Parr said.
