Manly target 2013 for China NRL match
By Crystal Ja, 13 Sep 2012
- Tagged:
- Canberra Raiders, China, Manly Sea Eagles, NRL, NRL expansion, Rugby League
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Premiers Manly are fast-tracking plans to play an NRL match against Canberra in China, with hopes it can be scheduled as soon as early 2013.
Originally Manly wanted to move one of their 2014 premiership home games from Brookvale to Shenzhen, about an hour north of Hong Kong, an idea driven by their main backer, IT company Kaspersky, which has a big consumer base in China.
But Canberra boss Don Furner told AAP this week the timing had been brought forward.
“They’ve come back only yesterday and said `we’re keen to do it in 2013′,” he said.
“So it’s going a bit faster than I thought.”
The Raiders are more than willing to get involved to boost their relationship with their own major sponsor, Huawei, which has its head office in Shenzhen, while there are also potential financial flow-ons with merchandising.
Best of all, Furner said: “I’d rather play Manly up there than Brookvale.”
The deal still needs the approval of the NRL, which would allocate byes to the teams the following week, and Fox Sports, which has broadcasting rights, but Canberra believe it could be locked in within several weeks.
It would be the first time the NRL has ventured into China, although Kaspersky was also behind an exhibition AFL match between Melbourne and Brisbane in 2010, which attracted some 7000 people at the 10,000-capacity Jiangwan Stadium in Shanghai.
Shenzhen Stadium was built last year and can hold up to 60,000.
“If only a third of Huawei’s employees come to watch, it’ll be a sell-out,” Furner said.
© AAP 2013- Explore:
- Canberra Raiders, China, Manly Sea Eagles, NRL, NRL expansion, Rugby League
September 13th 2012 @ 7:33am
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 7:33am | Report comment
Nobody turns up to watch them in Australia, who would turn up to watch them in China.
Manly being the poor club they are supposed to be, better off going out and doing some community work, improve the image of the club from Mud .
No wonder the game cant grow, the Bulldogs would have been a wiser pick to promote the game overseas, a family friendly club, not a bunch of brawlers.
September 13th 2012 @ 7:53am
steve b said | September 13th 2012 @ 7:53am | Report comment
Shenzhen will be a sell out,, their are some Major Companies their and they love their Sport ,and what a way to repay your sponsers i think it’s a great move ,the players will also love it ,they will get treated better than any where they have been ….
September 13th 2012 @ 6:40pm
Anthony said | September 13th 2012 @ 6:40pm | Report comment
NRL selling out a stadium that holds 60,000? In that case, better play all NRL games in China! Leave Sydney to the AFL
September 13th 2012 @ 8:03am
Andy said | September 13th 2012 @ 8:03am | Report comment
You should write for the Telegraph Oikee you would be a star, leaving Kent and Richie for dust. Also, people do turn up to watch the eagles because they hate North Sydney (the rich side of Sydney), and love to see a team from that area lose especially a successful one. People’s views on the eagles have definitely been influenced by the media over the years, who love to death ride Manly to the point where even neutrals will not support them. Now they wonder why they cannot get a big crowd to one of their matches at the SFS (western/South Sydney area.) which i find to be hilarious.
September 13th 2012 @ 6:44pm
Anthony said | September 13th 2012 @ 6:44pm | Report comment
Yes, Andy – the rest of Australia is bemused that the main NRL news in Sydney this week is, “Will there be more than 15,000 at the Manly final Friday night?” It would be funny if it wasn’t a serious question! And NRL bloggers complained that the Swans only got 19,000 when they played a Final against Nth Melb.
September 18th 2012 @ 2:31pm
Epiquin said | September 18th 2012 @ 2:31pm | Report comment
Huh? The SFS is in the heart of the Eastern suburbs, the other ‘rich’ side of sydney.
September 13th 2012 @ 8:50am
Chui said | September 13th 2012 @ 8:50am | Report comment
“I got you babe”
“I got you babe”
OK campers, rise and shine…………..It’s Groundhog Day.
September 13th 2012 @ 10:39am
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 10:39am | Report comment
Punxatory pete, never missed a repeat yet. Classic, maybe this is why i have a repeating habit.
September 13th 2012 @ 10:20am
planko said | September 13th 2012 @ 10:20am | Report comment
LOL a family friendly club is the image greenberg sells some people believe it. Manly and Canberra are sponsorsed by International Organisations that could benefit greatly from this. It is fine line in this game between just right and illegal. The fact is that club’s like MANLY are completely essential to the competition and once you get rid of them another team will have to fill the void and give your life some meaning OIKEE.
September 13th 2012 @ 8:25am
eagleJack said | September 13th 2012 @ 8:25am | Report comment
Morning oikee! Good to see you have started this fine Thursday morning in the same way you started yesterday…. and Tuesday…. and Monday…. and Sunday…. and…..
This is a great initiative by both Manly and the Raiders. Kaspersky and Huawei will be very pleased which can only be a positive for the future of the game.
As for nobody watching Manly in Australia. Well only the Broncos, Bulldogs, Knights, Rabbits and Dragons had bigger home and away crowd averages for 2012. But darn using actual statistics isn’t your thing is it oikee?
September 13th 2012 @ 10:31am
planko said | September 13th 2012 @ 10:31am | Report comment
Imagine the void in Oikee’s life if Manly was thrown out !!!
September 13th 2012 @ 8:35am
B.A Sports said | September 13th 2012 @ 8:35am | Report comment
Why would Manly take a home game against the reigning premiers to a neutral ground?….;)
Go Canberra….
September 13th 2012 @ 8:42am
Andy said | September 13th 2012 @ 8:42am | Report comment
It will be good to see Canberra win a premiership, it will mean that you will be stuck with the greatest coach ever in Furner for another ten years.
September 13th 2012 @ 10:30am
Renegade said | September 13th 2012 @ 10:30am | Report comment
I actually think Furner is a good coach….his criticism his unwarranted.
September 13th 2012 @ 10:37am
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 10:37am | Report comment
That is the problem, too many people are to ready to criticise. They need to step back and take a breath. Much like i do every day, smell the roses.
September 13th 2012 @ 9:25am
Tigranes said | September 13th 2012 @ 9:25am | Report comment
Cant see this being a big success, soccer dominates Chinese sport too much.
September 13th 2012 @ 9:26am
turbodewd said | September 13th 2012 @ 9:26am | Report comment
There is clearly no mega- plan behind this so it is interesting but pointless.
September 13th 2012 @ 10:05am
seanmaguire said | September 13th 2012 @ 10:05am | Report comment
No, no Turbodewd there will be a team in China in ten years. If we can just get 1% of Chinese interested.
Seriously though its a great idea to move games around a bit but I hope we do a country round fairly soon. I know there aren’t always facilities but it would be a great idea.
September 13th 2012 @ 11:05am
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 11:05am | Report comment
The whole game might not be around in 10 years the way things are going and our marketing and commission running the game.
You only have to look at super league, stumbling, bumbling on its last legs. Wales team gone, Bradford, heartland team gone hanging now by a thread, up for sale to highest bidder, 400 thousand, i can buy a house cheaper than that in which i would collect rent.
Hull KR, our great derby rival with Hull FC, gone nearly. The super league rights, sold for naught, the guy who run the show, gone to Tennis(why hang around once you created this mayham.
A complete meltdown in England, no vision, no strenght, no hope. Have a look at our happy reports from this week.
Manly centre Steve Matai will be available for the preliminary final should the Sea Eagles beat North Queensland on Friday night. The decision to let Matai off so lightly for his ugly tackle on Canterbury winger Sam Perrett is a disgrace, providing little in the way of a deterrent for the NRL’s worst repeat offender. Even more galling is Manly coach and perennial whinger Geoff Toovey’s public complaint about the one-match ban. Toovey can count himself unbelievably fortunate that he will have the star centre’s services next week if his side gets that far. Versatile Kiwi Dean Whare will shift from the flank into the centres, where he faces the ominous task of marking in-form Cowboy Brent Tate, while Sydney Roosters-bound Michael Oldfield will start on the wing.
Sydney crowds let the NRL down
Despite being the most eagerly anticipated first-week finals clash in many years with more subplots than a season of The Wire, the Canterbury v Manly showdown attracted a crowd of just 36,420 to Stadium Australia, again highlighting the lethargy of Sydney-based rugby league followers. Sea Eagles fans are notoriously reluctant to travel, but the NRL would have been bitterly disappointed with the turnout for such a high-powered encounter – particularly given the match between also-rans Parramatta and St. George Illawarra drew almost 10,000 more people to the same venue five days earlier. This does not bode well for the Manly v North Queensland sudden-death final at the Sydney Football Stadium; the same teams played before just 13,972 fans at the SFS in last year’s qualifying final. Meanwhile, AFL crowds of 84,625 (Hawthorn v Collingwood) and 44,460 (Geelong v Fremantle, an interstate team) attended finals at the MCG, and crowds in Adelaide and Perth both topped 40,000.
Dally M bumbling embarrasses the game
Fox Sports is threatening to pull its coverage of the Dally M Awards from next season in the wake of the embarrassing acceptance speeches made by a number of NRL stars at last week’s event. The shyness and awkwardness of Prop of the Year Sam Kasiano and Winger of the Year Akuila Uate quickly descended from endearing to cringe-worthy, while Second-rower of the Year Nate Myles – a representative veteran who should know better – attempted to be glib but came across as arrogant. It was a poor advertisement for NRL clubs’ media training programs. The decision to use comedian Tahir Bilgic for several of the on-the-floor interviews backfired badly, with his nonsensical line of questioning making a mockery of everything the Dally Ms stand for. Asking a grouchy and disinterested George Piggins, who blasted the author of his speech, to present the night’s first award also proved to be a poor decision. There were positives – Ben Barba’s gracious speeches despite his nervousness, Ryan Phelan’s performance as host despite the awkward atmosphere, and the spirited pre-recorded introductions by Braith Anasta, Michael Ennis and Nathan Hindmarsh – but the entire format of the code’s night of nights needs a drastic overhaul.
Grand final entertainment hits a bum note
The NRL has badly missed the brief in procuring quality musical entertainment for grand final day, with interminable ‘punk’ band Good Charlotte and nondescript Irish pop-rock posers The Script announced to perform before the biggest game on the rugby league calendar. These bands would not have come cheap, either – their awful albums shift plenty of units (predominantly to tone-deaf teenagers). Meat Loaf’s AFL grand final meltdown last year and Billy Idol’s infamous 2002 NRL decider power cut were infinitely more entertaining than this year’s acts promise to be. The golden rule should be either getting a respected veteran act, or a newer band/singer with a bit of critical recognition behind them – like the AFL has done this year by securing The Temper Trap. It’s hardly surprising, though, given the NRL marketing department has deemed fit the use of a dreadful B-side by an irrelevant 1980s stadium rocker in Jon Bon Jovi as the game’s anthem for two straight seasons (and counting).
September 13th 2012 @ 1:11pm
Crosscoder said | September 13th 2012 @ 1:11pm | Report comment
Oikee.sometimes the sun shines and sometimes it doesn’t.When I read your posts,the sun never seems to appear from behind the clouds when it comes to rugby league.
The people who are growing the game at grassroots and indeed in new virgin areas,are optimists,not eternal pessimists.
i’ll bet when the tooth fairy made his/her first appearance you claimed you were short changed.Whern Santa left his toys in the stocking,you whined they were already superseded.Manly appears to be the wicked witch on the yellow brick road,and the ARLC are totalitarian leaders with only themselves to look after.
Real life has its ups and downs.Rugby league has had its fair share of downs,but it has survived despite itself and the whiteanting from within.
$1bn plus no first and last rights to hamstrung the game,,games in China,WC in the UK,games against PNG and NZ,comps in Europe,and NTh America,Yep the sky is falling in .Oh wait the Broncos were knocked out early.
Please follow the SAS motto,who dares ,wins.Just enjoy the ride mate,it could be the adventure of a lifetime. He who hesitates is lost.
September 13th 2012 @ 2:39pm
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 2:39pm | Report comment
Atta boy CC shoot the messenger. Hey, i did not report these stories, the papers are, not really sure why your coming down on me. If you keep up with my posts, just yesterday i was saying sack the media, start up our own. The bad stories outweight our better stories.
Keep up CC.
September 13th 2012 @ 3:09pm
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 3:09pm | Report comment
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-finals-manly-fans-challenged-to-turn-up-to-support-their-team/story-e6frfgbo-1226472962633
Here is another just today from our mate.
Do we really have to worry about crowds. Our crowds have been weak for years, yet we still grew the dollars.
Maybe less teams in Sydney will boast crowds, take the game off Sydney, watch them squel like piggies.
September 13th 2012 @ 4:40pm
Crosscoder said | September 13th 2012 @ 4:40pm | Report comment
When the Broncos crowds are sellouts or close to it,and when the Titans boost theirs ,then you have an argument.ATM they are nothing to write home about.The Broncs crowds for rl heartland are not worth bragging about nad you want to cut Sydney teams.
The code’s aggregate crowds are up this year ,averages second to 2005.Yes they can be better ,and perhaps the 20 week scheduling will help.
Not a case of shooting the messenger Oiks,just a case of overall game perspective.
The one thing I have found with rugby league is the number of pessimists that are fans.I have been following this game too long and so it continues.
Manly is just a symptom a of a badly planned and expansive metropolis.Getting from their home territory to the SFS on a friday night ,at peak hour ,and with family in tow,would be a nightmare.
I don’t follow Manly,nor do I care much about them.OK use buses instead,then kids get home at >>…………..it’s in teh Manly DNA have car ,will not travel.
And this gets me back to the point of centralising stadiums in Sydney,itt will only work for Souths and the Dogs,end of story.
September 13th 2012 @ 6:07pm
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 6:07pm | Report comment
They (government ARLC) really need to build a nice 50 thousand stadium in Sydney, somewhere.
Not sure if they can expand the SFS and fix it up a treat, or do something else.
There is no more chances. Chances is plural.
There are no more chances. This is the way it should read.
Trust me, the other code is not as smart as they think they are, you will understand “what i am talking about” when you see and listen to the ad.
September 13th 2012 @ 9:48am
Bulldog Brandz said | September 13th 2012 @ 9:48am | Report comment
Why the negativity? There’s no harm in trying, I’m not a Manly or Canberra fan but I think this move would be very successful. It could potentially attract more TV viewers and sponsors to the NRL and the clubs. This is a great move and if the NRL rejects it they are stupid, I think a crowd of 30,000+ is more then capable. If the move is successful it should be staged there every year as it would gain worldwide exposure and development of the game in south east Asia.
September 13th 2012 @ 11:10am
Renegade said | September 13th 2012 @ 11:10am | Report comment
Totally Agree mate.
Whenever rugby league takes some intiative and tries to take steps forward…..the fans seem to always be negative towards it.
September 13th 2012 @ 11:21am
TC said | September 13th 2012 @ 11:21am | Report comment
That’s right. Have a go. Absolutely zero harm in trying it. Some Chinese might like it, others may not, and life goes on. If the sponsors are wanting it to happen, the worst that can happen is that the whole venture breaks even.
Good on the NRL for giving it a go.
Other sports and sports fans can go please themselves.
China has a growing sports market, and it’s foolish for anyone to suggest that any single sport dominates it 100%. That’s incorrect.
There are Pay TV and sports betting companies looking for more product, and the NRL is a proven professional sports product.
TC
September 13th 2012 @ 10:43am
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 10:43am | Report comment
Germany, Afganistan and middle east, America, China, Jamaica, Serbia, all those sorts of places are good areas to grow.
September 13th 2012 @ 11:29am
planko said | September 13th 2012 @ 11:29am | Report comment
Bronco’s would never take a game overseas cause they are too self centred like their fans !
September 13th 2012 @ 11:35am
Andy said | September 13th 2012 @ 11:35am | Report comment
When was the last time the Broncos did anything to try and spread the game Oikee they seem to be living off their past success. Kind of like the old bloke who likes to recount that he was a champion at something when he was 5.
September 13th 2012 @ 11:37am
TC said | September 13th 2012 @ 11:37am | Report comment
Didn’t they welcome the Crushers with open arms?
TC
September 13th 2012 @ 11:54am
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 11:54am | Report comment
What , do you 3 amigoes think your being clever or something having a go at me and the Broncos. ?
I am just trying to inject some passion and spirit into growing the game. Look, the Broncos brand is well known for a start.
The London Broncos are called this because of the strong name the Brisbane Broncos brand.
The Broncos are working in partnership with PNG rugby league, you know, behind the scenes, not to mention the support network that covers most of south east Queensland.
Our feeder clubs and local clubs around Brisbane also support Island Teams Like Tonga Samoa and Cook Islands and the work Petro does with Fiji is second to none.
Mate you going to fire shots at me, you had better have plenty of gunpower and cannons loaded.
The Broncos are one club mate, and are working their butts off behind the scenes , the South east is a area the size of a small country alone. All this on a nothing budget dont forget, the 1 billion has not even come into play yet.
September 13th 2012 @ 12:14pm
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 12:14pm | Report comment
The Broncos cheergirls are sponsered by Venuatui hotel chain. The network of support and sponsers is wide and veried.
September 13th 2012 @ 12:07pm
oikee said | September 13th 2012 @ 12:07pm | Report comment
Along with what i have mentioned, Brisbane Broncos have announced they wont be buying outside their own grassroots for players.
Mate, i whinge and carry on like a pork chop, but gee whiz deep down, i admire the Broncos for such a admirable (probably fool hardy) response to bringing through local talent.
On top of all that, we still lose players like the Ben Barba’s, the Kasiano’s, the Anthony Millfords, Cam Smiths and Josh Papalii’s, but still, at least we are feeding, keeping the code healthy as, sweet as bro.
Someone said the other day, will i support a Broncos who go 10 years, 20 years without a premiership, mate, i would never support anyone else, the Broncos are winners without even winning, they support a large, very large community that just keeps giving and giving.
That is the Broncos underbelly strenght. is why when they are down, really low, i make sure i get out to support them.
Taking a game overseas takes away time and effort for the work you are doing everywhere else. I support Manly and Canberra for taking games overseas, and the Bulldogs for their efforts in spreading games around the place.
September 13th 2012 @ 1:03pm
Johnno said | September 13th 2012 @ 1:03pm | Report comment
John Ribot’s living the dream lol.
September 13th 2012 @ 1:19pm
Crosscoder said | September 13th 2012 @ 1:19pm | Report comment
Not one child in China will be without a Steeden tucked under his/her little arm, and a signed ET autograph,under my watch: perhaps Ribot circa 1995.
I however applaud any initiative by any NRL club or the Kangaroos to promote the code outside heartland areas.The internal ,my backyard navel gazing by clubs, is one of the reasons the code has not reached its full potential.