The Wellington NRL bid team revealed they would create a joint consortium with Fiji and become known as the South Pacific Cyclones.
The bid team hope to boost rugby league in both the pacific islands and southern New Zealand with home games to be split equally between ANZ National Stadium, Suva and Westpac Stadium, Wellington.
The announcement comes off the back of a rugby league boom in Fiji. The nation has become one of the most competitive teams and also producing stars such as NRL top tryscorer Semi Radradra, Penrith Panthers sensation Reagan Campbell-Gillard and rugby league legend Petero Civoniceva.
The joint bid has gained significant strength now pushing ahead of the Perth bid as the preferred eighteenth NRL franchise after a second Brisbane team.
It will help to develop the game in New Zealand and the Pacific covering Fiji and other islands in the region including Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands and Niue.
As it will not be solely-based in Wellington, it will mean that the Warriors will likely still be able to hold their current supporter base without dilution from a second team while still providing a healthy competitor to the Auckland-based club.
The bid team’s spokesman Robert Picone made the announcement yesterday saying, “This is a great development for our bid as it satisfies the NRL’s plans of expanding into the Pacific Islands as well as New Zealand,” Picone said. “It grows our catchment area of support and does not put too much competitive pressure on the Warriors.
“Added to this is the enormous talent pool of players in the Pacific Islands and New Zealand, being largely untapped and therefore not diluting existing talent in the current clubs, particularly in the mid-to-long term”.
It comes after David Smith resigned from his position of CEO earlier this week. With expansion now back on the agenda with the NRL hoping to increase the value of their broadcast rights deal.
Not only will it help expand the domestic product, the club will also become a huge asset to the international game by unearthing talent from the region and providing them with a regular taste of top-flight rugby league. This could lead to more participation at the game’s highest level.
Suva lies only seventy minutes flying distance from Auckland, making it extremely accessible for NRL clubs. This means it is three quarters of an hour closer to Sydney than Perth.
NRL head of strategy Shane Richardson will decide whether the NRL expands or not with the release of his report.
Other expansion areas on the agenda include Brisbane, Central Queensland, Perth, Central Coast and Papua New Guinea, with Adelaide also being viewed as an option despite no current bid team being located in the area.
With Richardson keen on first expanding second-tier competitions the New South Wales Cup and Queensland Cup, the South Pacific Cyclones will have to wait until at least 2018 to be admitted into the National Rugby League.
Only two more franchises are likely to be welcomed however, struggling Sydney teams may be forced to relocate offering more opportunity to expand.
Representatives of the club will meet with the National Rugby League to discuss the proposal.
I have been super lazy here by copying and pasting article from NRL Roar. Thought article interesting as will increase participation by Pacific Islands who now supply so many players to NRL.
Replies
Not sure on a second Brisbane team, just because there's a shitfight for supporters and junior numbers in Sydney doesn't mean we have to recreate that elsewhere. A new team should be around that area so that there's the rivalry of being neighbours but no so close that it hinders the new team. For those that live north of the border, is Ipswich far enough away to create this scenario?
A South Island team could work, there's certainly enough League talent being developed (plus left over Union talent) across the ditch. The biggest problem would be crowd attendance and membership numbers. I remember reading a little bit back that even the Union teams from the South Island don't get that many people to their games. With the amount of money the NRL could make from this team though would it really matter? They could certainly pump a lot of money into the franchise but would they want to copy what the AFL has done with the Suns and Giants? Put heaps of money into their team and still have them as irrelevant as they were before they entered the competition?
I think for a new NRL franchise to work there already has to be a general interest about them. That's why I think the NRL could promote one of the teams from the ISC and it would work because they already have a known. And it's why I believe that before a Perth team comes in they should look at funding the Pirates so that they are able to have a 16's team in the NSWRL competition along with the 18's team they already have and look at putting in a team into the NSW cup. As has been proven with the Storm, Titans, Suns, and Giants you can't just find an area you want to expand into put a first grade team there, pump money into the franchise and expect it to work. You have to work with the community into creating an interest about the franchise and then have them forcing you to put a team in that area.
Love this idea but as long they keep their filthy hands off Semi. Love the idea also of having a WA NRL team but I'm also for, waiti for it, a Tassie NRL team...even thought of the name Tassie could have-The Tasmaina Devils or The Tasmaina Inbreds...like the Inbreds name better...but another NZ team, great idea.
I understand the various "think tanks" have already mapped that one out. They had a vote and by a close shave Tassie missed the boat.
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