Crowe selling up at South Sydney

[GCBRONCO]

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/crowe-selling-up-at-south-sydney-20121118-29ju3.html

Russell Crowe is reportedly selling his stake in the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club.

League commentator Danny Weidler told Channel 9's The Today Show just after 7:30am on Sunday that Crowe would be selling up at the end of the 2013 NRL season.

Weidler said he had conversed with Crowe over email and text and that the actor had confirmed he will be selling his stake.

"From what I can understand, Russell is just trying to simplify his life. As you know, he has been through a lot recently in his personal life, and I would say that is ... a part of his reasoning" Weidler told 2UE's Weekend Breakfast Show.

According to Weidler, Crowe is confident that South Sydney are in good shape and he feels that his job is done.

"They are one of the sexiest clubs in rugby league. People like to play for South Sydney. They have got an image about them."

"That's due to Russell Crowe."

Weidler went on to say that he estimated Crowe and Peter Holmes à Court had invested around $11 million since they took over the club in 2006.

The Rabbitohs finished the 2012 season in third place on the ladder and narrowly missed out on playing in the grand final, losing to the Canterbury Bulldogs in the preliminary final.

It was only the Rabbitohs' second appearance in the finals series since 1989.

 

[Kimlo]

Sexiest club in rugby league... Really?
Glamorous would have been the better word even though I still wouldn't agree with it.

 

[Son Edo]

Give him credit for spicing things up.

 

[vertigo]

First finals win in 25 years, job done I guess.

 

[Nashy]

They're playing better footy, but I still don't rate them and would still be happier if they were still out of the comp.

 

[Big Pete]

Just on the surface I reckon it's the right time for him to pull the pin. The club and the code haven't been in this good a shape for a long time and he's done a great job of turning them from a complete rabble of a club to at least becoming competitive.

Next season should be interesting for Souths. Thought they over-achieved this season in finishing 3rd and in the prelims and I don't expect certain members of their roster to play as well as they did this season. On the other hand, any side with GI @ fullback & Burgess in the second row is going to be hard to beat. Maguire seems to be with it and he reminds me a fair bit of Hook in how he values the 1%ers over the flashy plays. Should make the 8.

 

[Twiztid]

There is a press conference on tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see what will be said.

My biggest concern is his ability to attract players that Richo can't. I don't care about the suits or the boat trips but Richo is a pretty good CEO at band aid solutions but not long time fixes and big signings are not his forte.

Crowe and Phac saved this club and brought up our off field standards from the frozen late 80's. We have slowly improved on the field with this year exceeding many fans expectations with a new and rookie NRL coach and rookie halfback.

I just hope with whatever happens with that half of ownership they stay true to values and traditions of the club that Russell stood for and keep this club growing into the future.

 

[fredie]

Good old rusty the gladiator . 20,000 members pay $500 each . raise $10-million . are my sums right ?

 

[Kimlo]

No way they pay $500 per member, maybe around the $100-$150 mark would be more accurate.

 

[Kaz]

20,000 members pay $500 each

So they get the Centrelink advance payment (loan) to pay for it.

 

[Playboy Bunny]

I think our full memberships are around $300, then of course there are kids, regional, 5 home game packages etc etc.

Russ will be leaving without making a profit if you take into consideration the amount of money he has put into the club that people don't really know about. Not dodgy stuff but just changing the overall structure and amenities of the club.

He is basically selling his shares in the club which comes under Blackcourt (him and PHaC).

 

[Coxy]

Yeah I don't think there's anything sinister here. Russell's going through a marriage break up and so probably just doesn't have the energy to commit to the club. Ultimately he'd want someone else to buy him out that will have the same passion and keep the momentum going.

Good luck to him.

 

[Twiztid]

No way they pay $500 per member, maybe around the $100-$150 mark would be more accurate.

$90 is our non ticketed membership. We have a 3 game membership for $110. GA season ticket is $210 and a reserved seat ST is $330.

So I am pretty sure we could very much pay a bit more for a share in the club if they went that route of member ownership but I highly doubt it at this point in time.

 

[Coxy]

I think member ownership would be a massive step backwards. In modern sport, modern economic and commercial realities, having fan-owned franchises is simply nonsensical. Just look at some of the member-owned clubs still in the NRL and the kinds of people they elect to their club boards...usually it's former players.

I don't really care what they do post-football, there's almost no players that have the objectivity and business sense to run a modern professional sports franchise. Invariably they want to stick their bib in football. The best way to run things is appoint football staff to run the football, and leave the board and the CEO to run the business.

While Russell Crowe took an interest in football, spoke to the players, spoke to the coaches, I never got the impression he was trying to control that. Simply wanted to be informed of what was going on, what the vision was, what the plan was. Nothing wrong with that.

When you've got owners/board members wanting to hire/fire players, make game plan changes, that's when things go to shit.

 

[fredie]

I have been told . bunnies have 22,000 members
Russell Crowe has spent $11 million

 

[Twiztid]

While Russell Crowe took an interest in football, spoke to the players, spoke to the coaches, I never got the impression he was trying to control that. Simply wanted to be informed of what was going on, what the vision was, what the plan was. Nothing wrong with that.

I think it is also the fact that his name and image are his brand. Anything negative about Souths can possibly hurt his own brand so for that he and PHAC were perfectionists. Russell handled the image of the players and had a huge input into the merchandise catalogue, improving it into becoming one of the most attractive in the NRL. Phac handled the admin side, though they made some mistakes of hiring too many staff at the start and so many (included myself) were made redundant to try and streamline the front end that have improved us to being one of the best run clubs off the field including the fact we don't have any leagues club backing.

IMO Russell has handled himself very well as an owner and as they say - family comes first. He needs to do what is best for himself and his family. He will never leave as a Souths fan and doesn't mean he won't put money back into the club at any time into the future.

 

[subsbligh]

Shares in South Sydney football club... yeah, there'll be plenty of equity clamouring about over those... NOT

Frankly a privately owned football club is a workable model only for the bored extremely rich where they do not expect to turn a profit.

 

[subsbligh]

I think it is also the fact that his name and image are his brand. Anything negative about Souths can possibly hurt his own brand so for that he and PHAC were perfectionists. Russell handled the image of the players and had a huge input into the merchandise catalogue, improving it into becoming one of the most attractive in the NRL. Phac handled the admin side, though they made some mistakes of hiring too many staff at the start and so many (included myself) were made redundant to try and streamline the front end that have improved us to being one of the best run clubs off the field including the fact we don't have any leagues club backing.

IMO Russell has handled himself very well as an owner and as they say - family comes first. He needs to do what is best for himself and his family. He will never leave as a Souths fan and doesn't mean he won't put money back into the club at any time into the future.

It could also be that his wife is taking half of all his assets, including his shares in Souths.