Illawarra and St George is a merger of unequals
Roar Guru By Junior, 31 Mar 2010 Junior is a Roar Guru & Live Blogger
- Tagged:
- NRL, Rugby League, St George Illawarra Dragons
Related coverage
Jamie Soward is chased down by Sika Manu during NRL Round 19, Melbourne Storm vs St George Illawarra Dragons, at Olympic Park, Melbourne, Monday, July 21, 2008. Melbourne won 26-0. AAP Image/Action Photographics/Jeff Crow
When is a merger not a merger? When the public is fooled into thinking that St George and Illawarra merged to become the St George Illawarra Dragons.
If there is anybody left that still believes this has been a genuine merger, then twelve years later, here are some facts to digest:
- St George Illawarra’s mascot is the Dragon
- St George Illawarra is sponsored by the St George Bank further reinforcing the St George name in peoples’ minds
- St George Illawarra still plays in the traditional St George red V jersey. The “red V” brand is actively being used in a promotional campaign fronted by Wendell Sailor
- St George Illawarra’s team emblem is still the old St George emblem with the word Illawarra added at the bottom
- People in the media still have to make a conscious effort to include the word Illawarra when talking about the club and often use Dragons or Saints for simplicity. For the younger readers, these were used interchangeably when St George was a stand alone entity
The only concession made to supporters of the defunct Illawarra Steelers is to play four or five games per season at WIN Stadium.
Oh, and very occasionally the team will wear more red than white to show its roots. Token gesture, anyone?
Please, give us some credit.
It gets worse. By far the ultimate hypocrisy is when commentators (hello Ray Warren) talk about the club winning its last premiership in 1979. This is outrageous. The old St George is cactus and the new St George Illawarra has won nothing.
The Wests Tigers triumph in 2005 was rightly called the first premiership for that club.
What would make St George Illawarra so different in the unlikely event that it ever wins a premiership?
A real merger is when the two clubs make a genuine effort to combine on all practical fronts. Again, look at the Wests Tigers. They split the games, split the name (my no Balmain, for your no Magpies), created a brand new team emblem, created a brand new jersey plus a Leichhardt version and a Campbelltown version to acknowledge the traditional supporter bases.
So it seems that St George trousered the millions on offer when the NRL was frantically encouraging mergers in the late 1990s. Money in the bank and only a negligible impact on the original St George brand. Good business if you can get it.
Still, at least Illawarra has a skerrick of representation in the NRL today.
As for the conversation about how the treacherous Manly used the Northern Eagles as a front to expunge the North Sydney Bears and to collect the millions on offer at the time, we will leave that for another day.
Looking to join The Roar team? We're searching for an experienced Group Sales Manager to lead our team in Sydney. Yes, this does mean you get to work with the site all day long! If you're a digital media sales star, we want to hear from you. Apply now.
Passionate about your league? Then sign up to The Roar's brand new daily league email, delivering Roaring articles directly to you day-in, day-out. You'll love it!
Click here to join now!
- Explore:
- NRL, Rugby League, St George Illawarra Dragons
March 31st 2010 @ 5:08am
John Hill said | March 31st 2010 @ 5:08am | Report comment
Your article WAS newsworthy in about 1998 .All this has been dicussed years ago by supporters of both clubs ad nauseum !
Now in Woollongong there is a new generation of supporter who supports the Dragons in its present form as its all they have known.Why rehash and open old wounds?
BTW IN 1979 when St George last won a decider I reckon there were about 6/7 ILLAWARRA JUNIORS in that side if not more so to me its always been St George /illawarra, its just that its official now
March 31st 2010 @ 7:57am
Ken said | March 31st 2010 @ 7:57am | Report comment
Yep agreed, nothing new here at all. As a life-long St George supporter I didn’t greet this with cheers at the time either. At the time Saints got both the financial boost and a guarantee that if anyone was being culled it wasn’t them. Illawarra were dead broke in a dangerous time and not far enough away from Sydney to be safe if rationalisation took place
12 years down the track we probably all wish it had been different but these are the way the cards have been dealt. To deny that the current team doesn’t carry on the history of St George is semantics, it should be considered a positive not a negative. Of course the Illawarra side was proud of their team and their indepedance but they were a relatively new team with little history of their own. There was a contemporary quote from the Illawarra side (can’t remember who) which, paraphrased, was: ‘We’d like to have kept our own team, but if we’d been told in ’82 that we could have the most famous team in the comp playing out of the gong we would have been pretty happy’
As John has said, the Illawarra always had long links to the St George sides. Of all the mergers either side could have made this was probably the best match. The history (and finances) of St George with the great talent breeding ground of the Illawarra.
March 31st 2010 @ 8:08am
Brett McKay said | March 31st 2010 @ 8:08am | Report comment
Junior, I can see your obvious frustration here, and it’s more obvious which side of the merge you stand, but there’s one simple fact which you haven’t mentioned which debunks all your sources of angst:
Illawarra (as in the Steelers) went into the merge knowing the Dragon, the red V, and the amended logo would be virtually non-negotiable. But here’s the thing: Illawarra AGREED to the conditions. Your argument ends there.
(the St.George Bank sponsorship, by the way, is a pretty tenuous link – the two clubs did away with existing sponsors in 1998 to take on Integral Energy as the merged club’s sponsor in 1999. That St.George have become the sponsor since is really of little consequence. Coincidence at worst, brilliant marketing at best…)
March 31st 2010 @ 8:26am
sledgeross said | March 31st 2010 @ 8:26am | Report comment
The fact remains that St George provided the history and supporter base, while Illawarra, as usual, provided all the talent. St george were essentially dead at a local talent level, not producing too much talent that would make the step to successful first grade, while the Steelers were a provincial team in dire financial straights. Ok, it may not be as “successful” as th West Tigers, but in alot of ways it was a perfect marriage, from what both could offer each other, and geographical.
March 31st 2010 @ 9:10am
Ken said | March 31st 2010 @ 9:10am | Report comment
That’s a little harsh, no denying that the Illawarra region has been a great talent breeding ground but St George were hardly dead talentwise, they were regular finalists thoughout the previous decade and had made the GF in 92/93/96. Mundine, Blacklock, Coyne and Browny were all dominant players in the original merged side that St George brought into first grade. Plenty of later names, Gasnier, Young, Nightingale for example came through Saints grades
March 31st 2010 @ 9:27am
mushi said | March 31st 2010 @ 9:27am | Report comment
Um I think he is talking about juniors, of the players you mentioned none were born and bred St George so you’re kind of proving his point.
March 31st 2010 @ 1:45pm
Ken said | March 31st 2010 @ 1:45pm | Report comment
No I understood but I guess it depends on your definitions. I’m pretty sure all of the guys I mentioned came through the grades at Saints (they certainly all made 1st grade debuts there) – although some didn’t play Junior footy there. From the names I mentioned Mundine, Gasnier and Nightingale all played juniors in the area
Anyway, whether the players were genuine locals or brought to the club as teenagers, my main point was that I don’t believe lack of young talent coming through was a factor in the merger from Saints end.
March 31st 2010 @ 8:33am
David said | March 31st 2010 @ 8:33am | Report comment
That also holds true for Manly. They stopped being Manly when they merged with the Bears and became Northern Eagles.
Arguably, the Manly club became Manly again after dropping the Bears connection.
March 31st 2010 @ 8:44am
Springs said | March 31st 2010 @ 8:44am | Report comment
The whole thing has really been more of a relocation. Or half relocation. The Dragons are based in Wollongong and their training base is there.
As for the 205 premiership being the Tigers first, well it was also Balmain’s first since 1969 and Wests first since 1953. Just like 1999 being Illawarra’s first Grand Final.
March 31st 2010 @ 10:32am
Firebrand Sally said | March 31st 2010 @ 10:32am | Report comment
Oh please! Is this the infamous “Dead Club Society” back again?
St George is not dead. Wests Tigers made their bed and they can lie in it.
March 31st 2010 @ 10:43am
RickG said | March 31st 2010 @ 10:43am | Report comment
The illawarra side of things was pretty strong at first, if not still (I wouldn’t really know). Andrew Farrah (coach) and a host of players, including Trent Barrett and Shaun Timmins, were from the Illawarra arm. I seem to recall an article from Roy Masters about how lopsided the power in the merged club was – in favour of Illawarra. Anyway, that was years ago now. As Brett says Illawarra agreed to it all so no complaints.
April 1st 2010 @ 1:41pm
Matt said | April 1st 2010 @ 1:41pm | Report comment
Maybe in terms of the football team.
St George had Illawarra by the balls from the start. Illawarra leagues was collapsing under debt. All they had to offer as a club was juniors. They would not have survived the criteria.
St George faced a dilema. They would pass the criteria, but would struggle in the new comp. And, thanks to Super League, Cronulla went from bankrupt to having a $7m warchest. Both clubs wanted to be the only southern sydney side.
Illawarra was a pawn in the struggle between St George and Cronulla. Cronulla offered Illawarra a merger, but got shot down. St George offered Illawarra a huge loan and a guarentee of games, playing and coaching oportunities and the history support and wealth of the St George “brand”.
Look at them now:
* Cronulla are about to fold,
* Illawarra leagues have payed off their debt and are now turning a profit as well as having their stadium upgraded and getting guarenteed number of matches,
* the football club is having a lot of success,
* St George have continued their brand, upgraded Jubilee Oval and strengthened the clubs playing numbers
the hard decisions made 12 years ago are paying off massively for the Dragons – thats both the St George and Illawarra Dragons
March 31st 2010 @ 11:48am
sledgeross said | March 31st 2010 @ 11:48am | Report comment
Thanks Mushi. I can only think of Gasnier who was actually a St george junior at Reknown Utd.
And Sally, you are right, St george isnt dead cos it still exists as a record breaking club in the annals of history. But, as a first grade team, that particular incarnation is dead.
March 31st 2010 @ 12:28pm
Jeff the Accountant said | March 31st 2010 @ 12:28pm | Report comment
Im waiting for the Souths / Easts merger. And another team to start in NZ or Qld
April 3rd 2010 @ 9:03pm
RJ said | April 3rd 2010 @ 9:03pm | Report comment
St George-Illawarra premierships: 0
March 31st 2010 @ 12:33pm
GGG said | March 31st 2010 @ 12:33pm | Report comment
Im a parra fan but live in wollongong, I also used to support the steelers stongly, pretty much going to all their home games. Ive tried to support the merger but in the last 12 years ive probably only been to 3 home games and 2 of em were againts parra. U cant have a 50/50 merger then keep yr full team name, jersey and logo. I would of been happy for the steelers to merger but with a team that would of give em a fair share. Stg Illa really should be playing all their home games in wollongong, steelers gave up so much, why cant the dragons give up that.
March 31st 2010 @ 1:55pm
Ken said | March 31st 2010 @ 1:55pm | Report comment
Unfortunately they’d go broke, despite being probably the prettiest stadium location in the country the deal they get there is poor. I don’t remember the numbers but it’s come up a number of times through the years that playing out of the Gong costs the Dragons significant dollars compared to games in Sydney (Kogarah or ANZ). They would have stopped playing there years ago if it wasn’t so significant to the merger.
Not to mention the stadium itself is in dire need of renovation, the corp boxes are tiny, ratty little things – some with obstructed views – and the Western stand looks like it’s going to fall over in a strong breeze.
April 1st 2010 @ 1:48pm
Matt said | April 1st 2010 @ 1:48pm | Report comment
No they wouldn’t.
There was an agreement between St George and Illawarra that there would be a split alocation of games between Sydney and Woollongong.
What is interesting is that the original merger agreement between the two parties expires in 2012 from memory. But I doubt anything will change. Unless Cronulla fold.
Asside, the red used on the St George Dragons jersey is different to the crimson colour now used, which is that of the Steelers. Slight change, but noteworthy.
April 1st 2010 @ 4:51pm
Matt said | April 1st 2010 @ 4:51pm | Report comment
Just checked. Joint Venture agreement expires next year, 2011
January 1st 2011 @ 11:50am
Mark said | January 1st 2011 @ 11:50am | Report comment
Illawarra Steelers jersey was a scarlett colour. Not crimson