Grand Final remains anchored in Sydney

[I bleed Maroon]

NRL expected to confirm Queensland to miss grand final

Anna Caldwell, Phil Rothfield, The Courier-Mail
an hour ago

QUEENSLAND rugby league fans have been given a kick in the guts, with the NRL on Friday expected to confirm they won’t let the Sunshine State host a NRL Grand Final.

The move has been slammed as a “Sydney stitch up’’ by an angry State Government, who had been hopeful of luring the grand final north.

The Courier-Mail can reveal that the NRL will instead give a 25-year commitment to hold grand finals in Sydney after 2019, in a move that scuttles both Queensland and Victoria’s hopes to pry the event away.

As part of the plan, the NRL grand final will head back to the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2020 for the first time in 33 years.

Tourism and Major Events Minister Kate Jones said the deal “sounds like a Sydney stitch up’’.

“I’m sick and tired of the NRL taking Queensland for granted,’’ she said.

“There is only one state that consistently delivers record rugby league crowds and that’s Queensland.”

Brisbane was hopeful of hosting an NRL grand final in 2019 or 2020 if Sydney’s ANZ Stadium was unavailable during a rebuild.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will on Friday morning announce the $2 billion plan to rebuild ANZ stadium at Homebush and Allianz stadium at Moore Park, ending four years of negotiations over the renewal.

The rebuild of Allianz, which is currently riddled with safety issues, will begin next year, costing $700 million for a brand new 45,000 seat stadium.

In 2019 — after the NRL grand final — the ANZ rebuild will follow, costing $1.2 billion for a 75,000 seat stadium. It will be reconfigured into a rectangle.

In return for the government providing two new stadiums, NRL boss Todd Greenberg has agreed to keep the 2020 grand final in Sydney while both stadiums are out of action.

Greenberg knocked back multimillion-dollar offers from QLD and Victoria to take the game interstate when the rebuilds are under way, instead agreeing to hold a grand final at the SCG.

The last grand final at the SCG was back in 1987 when Paul Vautin captained the Manly Sea Eagles to victory over Canberra.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...k=40e31124472fa42209bee9c1b04ee5cd-1511435939

I really don't mind saying it, and neither should anyone else: As long as the NSWRL continues to have the game on a leash, this code will never prosper. The ***** can't even draw a crowd and they decide that the SCG is a better option than Suncorp. Less seats, less engaging stadium design in a city that hardly needs the drawing card. A straight up stitch up.

 

[Harry Sack]

I'm someone that thinks the NRL GF should always be held in Sydney in normal times.....Like the the AFL should always be at the MCG. But these aren't normal times, their top venue will be getting a refurb. This is the perfect opportunity/excuse to take the NRL GF out of Sydney and give the "other" State a chance to go, without having to fork out for the extortionist prices the airlines charge. Sure, take it back to the SCG for 1 of the 2 seasons that ANZ will be out of commission, but both? Smacks of Sydneycentric bullshit. **** the NRL, I should have known better than to get my hopes up. **** you Todd Greenburg or whoever the **** decided this shit.....but still, **** Todd.

 

[Broncs_Fan]

I don't really understand the whole tradition argument especially when the GF has only been played at the Olympic Stadium since 1999. If it had always been played at the one venue and continued to be played at that venue then it would be different.

The Super Bowl changes venue each year - set out years in advance - and it works great. Not sure why the NRL GF can't change venue every year (e.g. Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland, for example).

 

[Nashy]

They're all a bunch of *****. A bit of me wants the NRL to fold and another SL to come in and sort out a heap of issues again to actually move the game forward.

 

[Morkel]

I bet you the sydney-centric NRL powerbrokers all drive 4WD's or unnecessarily large utes.

 

[Renegade]

I don't really have a problem with it in Sydney.

 

[Cult]

Stupid pricks would probably put it in Melbourne in front of 6 people before they'd put it in Brisbane

 

[Accept]

They're all a bunch of ****s. A bit of me wants the NRL to fold and another SL to come in and sort out a heap of issues again to actually move the game forward.

Except the SL/ARL war actually disillusioned a lot of fans and it took ten years for the game to recover. Actually, the Bronco's popularity has probably never recovered. Brisbane was RL mad before the SL war and you certainly can't say the same anymore except for maybe areas like Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich. Another fragmentation of the game is the last thing the sport needs.

 

[Nashy]

Except the SL/ARL war actually disillusioned a lot of fans and it took ten years for the game to recover. Actually, the Bronco's popularity has probably never recovered. Brisbane was RL mad before the SL war and you certainly can't say the same anymore except for maybe areas like Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich. Another fragmentation of the game is the last thing the sport needs.

I don't care. It needed to happen.

 

[Battler]

Except the SL/ARL war actually disillusioned a lot of fans and it took ten years for the game to recover. Actually, the Bronco's popularity has probably never recovered. Brisbane was RL mad before the SL war and you certainly can't say the same anymore except for maybe areas like Logan, Caboolture and Ipswich. Another fragmentation of the game is the last thing the sport needs.

I live in Hamilton and went to Churchie (only point that out because the area/ school is traditionally Union mad), and I can confirm that league is gaining popularity in my particular bubble. People in Aus are switching off Union in droves, and League is benefitting from it imo.

 

[Nashy]

I live in Hamilton and went to Churchie (only point that out because the area/ school is traditionally Union mad), and I can confirm that league is gaining popularity in my particular bubble. People in Aus are switching off Union in droves, and League is benefitting from it imo.

I've been working here for nearly a decade, and I really don't think it's a changing thing. I've always found people in this area are league fans, not union fans. The union fans are usually the Kiwis in the area, and even then, they still know plenty more about league than your average Union snob.

 

[Accept]

I live in Hamilton and went to Churchie (only point that out because the area/ school is traditionally Union mad), and I can confirm that league is gaining popularity in my particular bubble. People in Aus are switching off Union in droves, and League is benefitting from it imo.

You live in Hamilton and call yourself "Battler"? What's wrong? Doesn't your sweeping view of the city include the William Jolly Bridge?

 

[cakeGG]

What a boneheaded decision. 3 billion in taxpayers money. There's more important things to fix in this shithole than 2 fucking stadiums (Infrastructure, Hospitals etc). They won't be getting filled up with fans anyway when they get built.

 

[Cult]

Apparently Greenberg wants it in Sydney for the next 25 years. They're not even trying to expand this game outside of Sydney.

 

[Canga]

What a boneheaded decision. 3 billion in taxpayers money. There's more important things to fix in this shithole than 2 fucking stadiums (Infrastructure, Hospitals etc). They won't be getting filled up with fans anyway when they get built.

God darn right, the state on Sydney's infrastructure is ridicules

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

Whilst I'm a firm believer that nsw is holding the game back in the boardroom, if this is what it took to get $2 billion worth of stadium infrastructure in Sydney then so be it.

Anyone who's been to games in Sydney will tell you that the stadiums are terrible. AFL got a brand new stadium for their pathetic excuse of a team that no one in western Sydney knows about, and the scg got a make over + they wanted to keep stadium Australia oval (already is) for them

Taking the gf to Brisbane must have been a big tool in the negotiations and they obviously needed it to get the deal over the line...

 

[Foordy]

Taking the gf to Brisbane must have been a big tool in the negotiations and they obviously needed it to get the deal over the line...

moving the GF wasn't a considerations in the negotiations ... it was only thought of after they were finalised and realised that they couldn't play the GF at ANZ for several years during development

 

[Lockysillegitimatechild]

They're all a bunch of ****s. A bit of me wants the NRL to fold and another SL to come in and sort out a heap of issues again to actually move the game forward.

The worst thing to happen to rugby league wasn't the super league war. It was more the fact that the ARL resisted, and super league didn't win out. The execution of it was poor but the ideas were brilliant. Rugby league would become stronger in the long term.

Super league wanted less Sydney teams, more expansion, they pushed the international game, world 9's, and on the field they even experimented ok with 40/20's and the scoring team kicking off (limited floggings a little).

The ARL was the NSWRL with a new name and didn't want to change. Super league was a band aid that got ripped off, but if it was still the ARL I think we'd be even further behind the AFL these days