Crusaders’ Andy Ellisleft, bottom left, tackles the Waratahs’ Dean Mumm as his captain Phil Waugh jumps to make room for a pass during their Super 14 rugby union game at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, March 21, 2009. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
After more than 30 years of support, I am seriously considering dropping my financial and emotional support for the Waratahs, throwing it behind the Melbourne Rebels, and taking more time to attend Randwick’s games in the Sydney Grade Rugby competition.
There are two reasons for this:
1. The Waratahs disloyalty to its loyal and long time supporters and
2. the exciting announcements emanating from down south.
On one side of the ledger is 30 years of blind loyalty to the Waratahs.
I was born in NSW and so I supported the NSW Waratahs. (I was born and raised in Randwick and played Juniors and Colts for them. I love the way they play)
I have not missed a Waratahs home game for ten years.
In reality, this passion has been severely diluted by the persistent, continuing deep seated ten year frustration, on and off the field, of being a Waratahs supporter.
The net result is that my blind loyalty is now more like a disenchanted lover actively eying off the prospects.
On the other side of the ledger, I have read of the appointments of Waldron and McQueen. Hill will be a bonus if and when he is appointed.
There is the excitement of being involved in something new, unknown, but already kicking big goals with these appointments.
Add to this the attractive “Uber-Australian” Rebels brand values: the underdog, the David v Goliath positioning, professional, clever, experienced, practical but not TOO serious, refreshingly honest, the team not individual comes first, youthful, ground breaking. etc.
Add to this the satisfaction of finally giving the Waratahs a bloody nose. The Waratahs don’t rate my support. They think that I’m welded on.
More fool them.
Then deduct (or possibly add) the unpredictability of the new enterprise.
For me, this decision is not about winning games and winning competitions. If this were the case, I would have left the Waratahs many years ago.
On this analysis, the Rebels win hands down, and so what started as an academic exercise, suddenly warrants closer inspection.
There are other questions that must be answered:
1. How reliable is my assessment?
Surprisingly, I can trust that the Rebels will be very well managed on and off the field. Just look at the track record of Waldron and particularly McQueen in building self-sustaining new entities.
The Brumbies organisation is impressive for its culture and playing record, even a decade after McQueen’s departure.
The Waratahs CEO/Coach team doesn’t remotely compare to the Rebels.
Every Waratahs fan can attest to this through their multitude of ridiculous decisions on and off the field and press pronouncements.
And so I come to the qualitatíve matters.
2. Loyalty to my state of birth: The Waratahs no longer represent NSW. The Waratahs no longer comprise the best NSW players.
3. What will my friends say? Nothíng. Most no longer have any interest in the Waratahs.
4. What is my gut saying? Life is too short to put up with dickheads and it will be a fun ride on something that is not life or death.
5. So logistically how would this work? As an SCG/SFS member, I already have 4 tickets to Waratahs home games. I would only attend the big Waratahs games to catch up with my mates. The Waratahs decision to progressively move more big games to Homebush now fits beautifully with my plans. I can get a Members ticket from a mate for the Waratahs annual Homebush game I really want to see. By no longer attending four of the low quality home games, I will save $600 in parking, merchandise and food.
6. But The Rebels are in a city hundreds of kilometers away. When will I see their games?
Away games for both The Waratahs and Rebels are on Foxtel. I currently don’t have Foxtel and so don’t see any of these games. No change there.
With the money I save from not blindly attending the rubbish Waratahs home games, I will spend $90 for a one year subscription to Fox Sports live internet and download coverage of all S14/15 games.
There is a fine line between loyalty and reality. Loyalty is not to be taken for granted, should be returned and can be moved if circumstances dictate.
The net effect would be that the Waratahs have successfully converted a life long supporter into a “fair weather”, one game a year attendee, a full time supporter of a competitor franchise and an internet Super 15 subscriber.
The net financial outlay is a saving of 80 percent to me.
Consider this article as the final attempt to reconcile, the final attempt to get a lover to change her ways so that the relationship can recover. Rarely does it achieve the outcome.
I don’t need to take a decision yet. The Waratahs have one last season at retaining me as a supporter and the rebels have 12 months to convince me to jump ship!
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
but guys like holmes and betham????
Bay35Pablo
Roar Guru
LAS, Yikes indicated elsewhere that the development part of the site didn't appear to have been updated since 2006. So what do you reckon? Some Junior Waratahs aren't on paid contracts but are in the training program, thus non-professional.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
But call me silly or am I missin' something? Or could it be that the Tahs cant keep their web site up to date?? Set out below is the squad for the Lismore trial. Why cant I find some of these players on the official site, either under HSBC Waratahs Profiles or HSBC Junior Waratahs Profiles (professional and non professional) Non professional????? NON PROFESSIONAL??????? Sosene Anesi, YES Nemani Nadolo, YES Rory Sidey, YES Tom Carter, YES Peter Betham, NO Daniel Halangahu (capt), YES Josh Holmes, YES Locky Mccaffrey, YES Chris Alcock, YES Dave Dennis, YES Hendrik Roodt, YES Kane Douglas, YES Dan Palmer, YES Damien Fitzpatrick, YES Jeremy Tilse. YES Res: Luke Holmes, NO Ofa Faingaanuku, YES Chris Thomson, YES Will Caldwell, YES Brendan Mckibbin, YES Ben Seymour, YES Adam Darcy, YES Paddy Ryan, YES Dylan Sigg, NO Hugh Perrett, NO Tom Azar, NO Alex Rokobaro, NO Jacob Woodhouse. YES Surely it is not that difficult to have an up to date web site of the current players. geez, while you are there, we could even try to get all the information on each of the players. Call me old fashioned!
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
st george is like the All Blacks. got all the glory with other peoples players. The All Blacks used the islanders!!!!!! i think the records should be expunged to remove all mention. Uuuppps, I dont need to because the st george illawarra dragons havent won anything other than a fight with the liquidator and hence the merger with the steeler. having said that, Illawarra had the same fight. Seems to be the area is busted and broke. it wasnt a merge. it was a take over............................... with a big fat cheque that they spent on busted players. things are getting better now, but its been a long time!!!! 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0, 38-0,
Central North
Guest
Equal parts.. from the start it was always reported that the Dragons had the $$$ and the Steelers had the players. While I don't necessarily agree (Gasnier, Mundine, Thompson for starters)... I'd say in terms of money/talent contributions it could easily be painted as an equal partnership. And when you take into account the almost full eradication of any Steelers identity/branding I'd say the Dragons side of the merger comes out well and truly on top.
Diplomatic Immunity
Guest
CN, No disrespect was intended. The Dragons have always benefited from the pool of players around the region, agreed. But for someone to try and suggest that the Saints history simply no longer exists and that the Steelers came into the merger in equal parts is just delusional.
Central North
Guest
DI, that post is ugly and disrespectful to the many Steelers fans out there - like me and most of my family - who support the Red V today and did so prior to 1982. The Illawarra and the Dragons shared links long before the merger. Graeme Langlands and Craig Young are number three and four on the Dragons all time list of first grade appearances, and both hailed from Wollongong. Post merger too, the likes of Ryles, Timmins, Cooper, Barrett (yes, via Temora and St. Gregs, though he did play junior reps for the Steelers), Poore, Hornby, Young, Morris x 2 have brought plenty to the "St. George" Dragons. But hey, the Steelers brought nothing. Our shorts and socks lived for a few years, and we get to bathe in the reflected glory of the great St. George teams of the past (like Souths, so proud of their list of titles... the last of which came over 30 years ago..). So we should be thankful, right? You'd think over a decade of enjoying the benefits of the merger - the shoring up of the player and supporter base, as you so callously put it - would have taught "St. George" fans to have some kind of respect for the southern end of their mighty club. Not so, it seems. Finally - apologies for straying off topic.
Travis
Guest
As I said, Dragons fans are deluding themselves. Truth will win out in the end, no matter what Dragons fans think. The St George club is dead. The new club is a coporate entity, not a members club anyway. Long live the St George Illawarra Dragons corporate entity as it pursues its maiden premiership in the NRL. If they win it, they will join the West Tigers on 1.
captain nemo
Roar Guru
I'll accept your challenge Dip. I don't know what this has to do with rugby but hey, while we have this thread drift. As a bloke who grew up in the Illawarra and played both league and union at Rep level, we use to look on St George as the easy beats at Harold mathews/ Jersey Flegg level. If you didn't beat St George by 50, you had a shocker. Illawarra was always chokers with talent. Dapto canaries, Thirroul Butchers, Port Kembla, Wests Illawarra,Collegians, Kiama just to name a few produced 100 times more players than the Drags, and yes mate, dragons have the history(based in part by the boys from the gong who came up the road for a game) but illawarra have the players. Look at the amount of Illawarra boys running around in almost every club in the NRL. when the 2 clubs merged, they wouldn't let Illawarra have its own reserve/Toyota cup team because they were touching up the junior dragons too much. So to answer your question of where is Illawarras proud heritage, ask some wollongong boys who played for the dragons in grand finals, like Changa Langlands, slippery Morris, Craig Young just to name a few. Dragons success was based on Illawarra's wealth of talent in the day.
Diplomatic Immunity
Guest
And so we should. At least with the Tigers and West’s mergers they were long standing historical clubs with proud histories. What did the Steelers bring to the equation...... NOTHING. Where is their proud heritage? The only positive things that came out of that forced merger were that at least they had the same club colours and it shored up the Illawarra region for supporter and player base. I challenge you to take a trip down the Princess Hwy to the Saints league's club and stand in the foyer with a placard telling all and sundry that all that has gone before nothing exists, that the clubs history only exists since 1998. In fact they should stand and applaud the equal partnership between the now defunct St Geroge and the mighty Illawarra Steelers. Yer, go on have a crack at that and see what reception you get.
Travis
Guest
Obviously they cannot add a premiership to BOTH Saints’s and the Steelers because there is only one entity. Correct. The St George Illawarra Dragons are one new entity. You Dragons fans are deluded. You say that Wests Tigers are a new club, but that somehow the St George Illawarra Dragons are the same club that existed before the merger. You think that your club is somehow different to Manly, Norths, Balmain and Wests in their mergers. You also treat the Steelers side of the merger with contempt.
Diplomatic Immunity
Guest
Travis, you very conveniently rewrite history. Saints record stands irrespective of the fact we were pushed to take a forced merger with the Steelers. Obviously they cannot add a premiership to BOTH West’s and the Tigers because there is only one entity. When Westpac took over St George do I now have a mortgage with Westapc / St George or just with Westpac. Clearly with just Westpac. The same logic applies here. You would do very well in China rewriting history.
MyGeneration
Roar Guru
You're a cruel man but fair, Travis. Did someone mention "Manly 40 Melbourne 0 – NRL GF, 2008" before? Just thought I'd point that out in case anybody missed it. ;-)
Travis
Guest
How many premierships have Wests Tigers won? A: One. They didn't add a premiership to both Balmain and Wests when the Wests Tigers won. It's absurd to treat Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra differently. They are both new clubs and started on zero. St George Dragons are no different to Balmain, Magpies, Illawarra, Glebe, Mariners and Norths. They don't play in the NRL.
Robbo
Guest
That really is clutching at straws Travis. For the record I am a Roosters fan.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
travis, I could not have said it better myself. ohhhhh yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!
Big Kev
Guest
in your opinion, unfortunately for you the vast majority of people find League boring and prefer Union.
Big Kev
Guest
codes will never merge because only in Australia would there be any desire from a RU standpoint, nowhere else in the world is RL even on the radar!
Travis
Guest
That Dragons club doesn't play in the NRL any more. The current Dragons club has played in a GF but didn't win it.
Diplomatic Immunity
Guest
LAS, ouch, yes I am, strangely enough, familiar with the 38-0 defeat to your Chookies. However whilst slightly off topic I think you will find that the Dragons are still 3 premierships in front of the Chookies and hold the longest GF winning streak.