Because why should we? It is the fact that it is South’s, who are attacked with the Central Coast tag. We fought to get back into the comp as the South Sydney Rabbitohs and have been doing anything in the power to be successful in the South Sydney area.
Pros;
A huge cash injection
New facilities
A new and refreshed wave of supporters
The feeling of "something special" beginning in the new venture
The guarantee that the new club will be around for 30+ years, no more threats of survival, like many other Sydney teams have looming over their heads.
Cons;
The diehards may decide to terminate team support
Lets answer pro's first.
Firstly the huge cash injection is what? 8 million. That would last maybe 2 years because there is no money in CC. I know the population is rising but is it and are there big enough sponsors and fans to support an NRL team that has been relocated and not a new franchise with NRL support.
New facilities?. Well that is questionable, because I am not a fan of CC stadium at all and never liked travelling there to watch or work there. The stadium is not that great and the atmosphere compared to ANZ is all it has going. Yet when we win, ANZ is fine for atmosphere. Yet ANZ is paying us $100k no matter the crowd to pay there and that is a sponsorship in itself.
Fan's?
I don't think moving is really going to change the fan base because our fan base are spread across all of Australia. Ever game there (CC) was a mixture of fans who just wanted to see live Rugby League and it has never been a home ground feel. Yet the diehards like people in the Burrow, Bree and her family and now I (I’ll give a personal opinion at the bottom) will always be supporting but to head to CC ever week just seems shit. Some people who live in the South Sydney or Eastern Suburbs area whinge about going to ANZ. How do you think they will travel to CC.
“Something special of a "New" ventureâ€Â.
The privatisation is a new venture IMO and so far in 2 years we have broken so many dated records and moving forward to a successful football team. That moving could possibly backfire to what has been achieved in South Sydney on and off the field.
How is it a guarantee of survival?
If we lose again, other than the faithful who are going to travel and so many will turn away and say to hell with it. We have a great deal at ANZ which guarantee's our survival better then CC ever does. $100k or whatever it is a game is (as said before) like another sponsorship a year and lots of clubs are looking it to make easy cash.
Cons
What about player retention?
Will players come to South Sydney at Gosford, let alone in South Sydney if we don’t win? Most of the players live on beach side areas from Bondi, Coogee even down to Cronulla. What about the ones like Ben Rogers who lived at Penrith and would not move closer who was asked over 30 times to move closer to training. Would he travel to CC if he was still with us?
Obviously the fans would turn and the faithful would most probably lose interest.
The history of the club would be sold away worse than the privatisation ever could.
Now to my personal opinion.
When South’s got kicked out of the comp I didn’t care and had the same attitude as some of you do “Ha-ha suck shitâ€Â. I saw the tears in my dad’s eyes and couldn’t care less. I didn’t know what the club meant to people.
I met Bree who is a bigger supporter (in the fact she goes to every game she can) then my dad and said to her “Why do you go to the football? It is boring, expensive and well South’s sucksâ€Â. Her response was simple “When was the last time you went to a game and experienced it?†I couldn’t remember and it was most probably a Western Suburbs Magpies game at Campbelltown Stadium when I was playing mini and mod league.
She said “Well come along and seeâ€Â. Hell if I didn’t like it I could simply go for a team who was at the top of the ladder, Roosters, Broncos etc.
My first day walking in South’s Leagues was a bit nerve racking and I was a little worried at how ferrel the fans were (they seem to show the worst on tv). Everything was good, got the bus from the leagues club across to SFS. Got in and walked to our seats.
Watched the Flegg, Reggies and then first grade was about to start. There was a feeling in the air and I think it was a game against the Roosters or maybe St George, it was a team with a hatred and you could feel the vibe from the other fans.
MC got the crowd going and as soon as Glory Glory started a mighty cheer yelled out from everyone and the goosebumps stayed with me for most of the first half and well asking “who is that player?â€Â, “who just has the ball then?†made me feel stupid I slowly got more and more into the game. Till I was yelling and screaming with the rest of the faithful and I was hooked.
I honestly don’t know if we won or lost but whatever happened I felt what everyone else felt with this club. It is more than the 20 Premierships and 100 years and moving it is just not the answer. We are South Sydney. That is how heartland, our community, our juniors, our footprint and it should stand that way because no pro’s do not out way the con’s.
They might do on paper, yet as we know that is not how it happens.
Plus we have just had a redevelopment of Redfern Oval which should be finished later this year and then Leagues club renovation will be finished sometime next year so basically the facilities will be brand new and give the feeling of starting a fresh without moving anywhere.
I don’t know if that answered your question or not. However CC needs a new team to drive interest to take on the Soccer Mariners not a relocated team.
Sorry for any spelling mistakes or if parts didn’t make sense as I was writing it down as it came into my head.
South Sydney fans are like AFL fans our passion is like QLDers all year round but for a club level eam and we want nothing more for our area and everything the team stands for to come out of the dark ages and rise again and bring back the “Glory Days†that has been long forgotten.
Edit: I cleaned it up a bit to make more sense
