An article on Fox Sports talks about setting KPI's to decide how to move teams out of Sydney. Tallis and Geyer set some KPI's based around Sponsorship dollars, average crowds, Membership numbers. commitment to juniors and On field success.
I have picked two metrics to consider firstly average Sydney crowds since 2015 according to Fox. The top four teams in order are Dogs (15,011), Eels (14,602), Rabbitohs (14,358) and Tigers (14,226).
The Top 4 membership numbers are according to Fox; Rabbitohs (29,597), Eels (25,250), Dragons (20,642) and Tigers (20,155)
Whilst these numbers are interesting, they are important given that they directly link to revenue. However these crowd numbers appear to be based on average Sydney games (all games) since 2015, If you look at what the Eels have achieved this year for all home games it is 177,643 for ten home games at an average of 17,764. This includes home games at Bankwest, ANZ and TIO stadium in Darwin (5,391, smallest crowd for 2019).
If you extrapolate our 7 games at Bankwest we drew 147,700 spectators for an average attendance of 21,100 people. The smallest crowd for an Eels home game has been 16,228 against Penrith on a Thursday night. The largest of course was the opening against the Tigers on Easter Monday 29,047 Round 6,
There is no indication from the NRL that they are going to reduce teams or if they have any KPI's in mind. But if you were to look at the Eels numbers there is certainly a compelling case to keep them in Sydney based on any resonable metric.
Replies
And how long before the local clubs fold and more players lost to the game?
You miss the point entirelly Brett, with the loss of so many young players to the game through the overall lose of clubs as well. Its not just the actual teams that have gone but also the actual local licensed clubs as well. Without the district or main club surviving and supporting then the local game will also not survive.
You put the age of 19 on the point of club support, that in itseld can preclude many players, how many of the big junior league comps have gone, along with the amount of players, come game day these days, we get some fluffy entertainment and mainly one game, occassionaly 2 if a reggies match is scheduled and less often a Flegg game. Gone are the likes of Presidents cup, which was a prestige comp and the step to the main game, likewise those other 3 under it as well.
No you're the one missing the point Colin.
The old model of players being groomed by a senior club through it's junior leagues is an archaic out of date system. The junior clubs and leagues are still there, and they still will be, but instead of being funded via NRL clubs and their affiliated Leagues Clubs, the funding will come directly from the ARL Commission via the various State, regional & district league infrastructure.
It's a far more efficient system than the current one, and it will actually ensure better opportunities for more young players.
The proposed changes I'm suggesting are at management & funding level of youth development only, not the day to day hands on environment. At the coal face there will be no significant changes. No other professional sport in the world operates the way Rugby League does, and for good reason, it's outdated and outmoded.
The NRL is the successor to the old Sydney grade competition, and it shares some of the same clubs, but that's where the similarities end.
The NRL is a national (semi) professional franchise league, not a senior representative semi professional suburban competition anymore.
The notion of a kid from say Wentworthville playing for the Magpies from age 7 and then progressing to the Eels underage rep teams at age 14 and then to the Eels 3rd grade and age 19 and then the Eels reserve grade team and then finally the Eels 1st grade team and playing his whole career for the Eels, all the while living in the same bloody neighbourhood he grew up in is a thing from the distant past. That old pathway just doesn't apply anymore.
Sorry to you Colin and your fellow old timers, but that is not the world we live in anymore.
Brett, I don't need your patronising, whether I am old or young does not change my view, go and have a look at the game and teams in the Sydney basin, and how many jnr league teams are playing, go and have a look at areas that no longer have RL fields anymore and converted to either Soccer or AFL, have a look at the amount of teams in the Canterbury cup, the old reserve grade/2nd division teams compare the numbers to twenty years back or more recent times.
Some areas are doing ok with RL but nothing compared to how it was. I think the affects of the sunshine state has burnt your thinking.
Anyway, you have your opinion and I have mine.
Clubs will come and go, that will always happen.
Bullshit we don't, it's already in place with the junior league system. Nothing has to change, the infrastructure is already in place, the only that needs to change is who funds and manages it.
You have to consider why this topic keeps turning up, and why there is no easy solution. When you look at the Sydney clubs, who do you ask to up stumps and move interstate? There is no easy answer, which suggests that all Sydney clubs are doing fine. They all have fans throughout the country but their biggest fan base and junior stocks are mostly in Sydney.
I don't think having 9 Sydney teams is an issue, and as others have said one of those spends more time in Wollongong these days anyway. In a city of 5 million people, 9 teams equates to about 550,000 people per team. There are only 3 teams with populations bigger than that to draw from, and one of those is AFL heartland. The reality is that Sydney draws numbers (either at the ground or on TV) and the NRL should be doing everything they can to maximise that.
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