As the final siren sounded on Sunday afternoon a crowd of Bulldogs supporters stormed onto the field to lift their local hero off the ground.
The game was club stalwart Josh Reynolds’ last appearance at Belmore Oval before departing for the Wests Tigers in 2018.
I didn’t think tales like these existed anymore. Like Parramatta premierships they always appeared to be dead and buried in the nostalgia of the 1980s.
The story had all the ingredients of a fairy-tale. The setting was the spiritual home of the Canterbury-Bankstown Rugby League Club, a place synonymous with names like Steve Mortimer and Terry Lamb.
The main character was Josh Reynolds, a local junior who attended primary school a stone’s throw away from the ground. He had been shown the door by the club he had first represented at age 14, before rising through the junior ranks to play 133 first-grade games, including two grand-finals.
A miracle comeback victory provided a fitting conclusion to the script and was well-deserved for the Belmore faithful who had come out in droves to say goodbye to one of their own.
Reynolds’ story comes at a time in which the local identity of rugby league clubs have never been under more threat. Suburban grounds appear to be headed to the grave as teams set up bases at neutral grounds located miles away from their local principalities.
Home ground advantage means nothing at these places as television crews do their best to hide the mass array of empty seats.
Yet on a sleepy afternoon in suburbia a bunch of passionate supports showed that clubs are still fuelled by the tribal support of their local communities.
Don’t tell these fans Reynolds never won a grand final. He is simply one of them, a local kid whose boyhood dreams of representing the local area became a reality.
Todd Greenberg, take note.
Roger Ramjet
Guest
A return to local grounds will never happen as sponsors pay big money and receive private boxes/food/drink etc so no way they will pay that money to sit on a hill with club pleb supporters- would you?
Nasturnium
Guest
So do you fix local grounds when the NRL is trying to upgrade the 2 big grounds and Parra to get them to play. The Councils aren't stupid.
Big Daddy
Guest
Part of the NRL compliance some years ago was to have a home ground with adequate seating, good facilities and reasonable transport access . It looks like the NRL have gone the reverse on that. Cronulla, Penrith and St George have made good attempts to upgrade their facilities. Maybe manly or souths could play some matches at north Sydney oval. The NRL must make some effort to increase crowds at inner city grounds.
kk
Roar Pro
Belmore on a Sunday afternoon has always been my idea of heaven. W,L or D.
Big Daddy
Guest
Let's look at the draw for round 19. Only match in Sydney is manly v wests at brookvale. Once again the people of Sydney have been ripped off.
Nat
Roar Guru
I'm on the fence with that one Rory. I'm a Bronco member and have sat in nearly every seat at Suncorp over the years. Last year however, I got the chance to sit in the Chook Pen with my Roosters member mate. Chooks vs Dogs and they were in the bay to the left. Aside from being heavily questioned as to my presence there, the atmosphere and chants created atmosphere meant I had a great night as an objective observer. On TV, the stadiums look empty but I listen for those chants and know the fans are having a good time. Unfortunately for grounds like Belmore and Leichhardt Oval the writing is on the wall and big stadiums are the future. The game has to grow larger than the suburban teams and grounds. I can't help but wonder if they couldn't organise regular double headers at these stadiums with members/fans only bays to get some bums on seats and atmosphere there.
Wayne
Roar Guru
I mean in stance of using SFS/Homebush over local venues.
clipper
Guest
Were any fans locked out? There were 13,103 people there and the capacity is 19,000 - why would they lock anyone out?
irons
Guest
of course it's tribal....the rugby league structure in sydney is largely built on community representation. you only have to look at the names of the football clubs and their junior catchment areas! canterbury-bankstown, cronulla-sutherland, manly-warringah, st george, etc as the metropolitan has grown, the original inner-city clubs have disappeared, replaced with clubs representing these outlying areas. the NRL have modeled their ground strategy on the AFL. apart from perhaps the western bulldogs, community representation isn't as strong among the Melbourne AFL clubs, and it couldn't be with the 'suburbs' Hawthorn, Richmond, Collingwood, Carlton, North Melbourne and Melbourne all relatively close to the city and sharing suburban boundaries. if this had worked in sydney, we would see Glebe, Annandale, Balmain, & Newtown still represented in the NRL. the NRL really should've looked to London football clubs as a model, where teams continue to exclusively play in the boroughs they represent. supporters would be more likely to venture out to their club's home game, rather than think about the trek to a generic stadium they share with 5 other clubs, and then decide to stay at home.
Wayne
Roar Guru
Originally I'm not a fan of locking fans out for small capacity venues. But the "bay to yourself" is way worse
At work
Roar Rookie
While I agree with your sentiment Sean, it's the just the unfortunate effect of money. Dogs think he's worth $500k (my guess) a season, but he wants $800k so has to go elsewhere to get it, not much can be done about it unfortunately. Even if there were no salary cap, clubs still need to be smart about how much money they spend, even if it's for home grown players like Reynolds.
Sean
Guest
Can't help but feel very disappointed the club let Reynolds leave. He's worth more to the club than just how he plays. The club has clearly made a mistake, and you can't help but wonder how it will affect us next year.