Talk:South Sydney Rabbitohs

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The original page is involved in a copywright dispute so I moved all the material that was not disputed here as it was not fair for other people to have their work deleted.GordyB 11:27, 23 Oct 2004 (UTC)

If you're not going to tell us anything at all about the club's history, will you at least provide a link that will?


Contents

[edit] suburb?

what suburb are they based in? -- Astrokey44|talk 11:45, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

The League's Club is in Redfern. They are from and still train at Redfern Oval. Dankru 05:17, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

The ownership structure of South Sydney is not "unique" as this article claims it is. The structure is virtually copied from the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles model with only minor variations. (UTC)

[edit] "Pride of the League"

Not once have I heard Souths referred to under this nickname, apart from Rabbitohs fans themselves. If someone is able to find a source such as a newspaper article where they are in fact referred to under this name and use it under references, I'll leave the nickname in the header. Otherwise I don't see why it should be kept in the article at all, unless it is moved elsewhere to somewhere more appropriate such as a reference to fans, etc. --mdmanser 07:35, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Souths are referred to as the "Pride of the League" on the Sydney Olympic Park website:
http://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Home_of_sport/home_teams/south_sydney_rabbitohs
The late Offical Historian of the South Sydney Rugby League Football Club, Mr Tom Brock, collaborated with Ian Heads in the writing of the official history of Souths, "South Sydney, Pride of the League", published in 1994. This is mentioned in Mr Brocks's biography:
http://www.sporthistory.org/TomBrockbio.htm
Also see the mention of "Pride of the League" under the heading of 'The History of the Rabbitohs and the Indigenous Community - By Ian Heads' on this page from the official Souths website:
http://www.souths.com.au/fanzone/viewnewsarticle.asp?ArticleID=1639
See also the heading of the Rabbitos Radio site:
http://www.rabbitohsradio.com/news.html
See also this the bottom of this page from the Tigers webite where its mentioned: "In 1925,South Sydney was dubbed 'The Pride of the League' and the Rabbitohs are known as this to this day."
http://www.thetigers.com.au/South%20Sydney%20Link.html

--Sattlersjaw 06:12, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

LOL@SOUFFS!

Edit: Serious question Sattler - when will South Sydney stop being so crap and actually become competitive again? I mean, do you invisage ANY form of success in the next 40-50 years?

How about you let us all know once you have gazed into your crystal ball.--Sattlersjaw 01:31, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Famous fans

Please see South's 2007 Corporate Partnership Brochure - on page 16 there is a photo of Shane Warne with his own personalised South's jersey, and on page 17 there is a photo of Tom Cruise (wearing a South's scarf) at a South's game with Russell Crowe:

http://www.souths.com.au/sponsors/Brochure_2007.pdf

[edit] Major Overhaul

Since the Sydney Roosters article is now featured, I figured I'd go on and help promote another National Rugby League team article to the same position. Given that there was already a lot of information on this page that seemed of good quality, I thought I'd give this one a go. So far I've done quite a bit to consolidate the history section, move around a few other sections and add in an honours section (see history for a summary). If some of you guys, such as Sattlersjaw, can find a few references and put them into the article, I'll help you guys finish this article thoroughly. Cheers, and all the best, mdmanser 08:40, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for helping to improve this article. I have added some relevant citations and references, a brief section on stats and records, changed some headings and made some other minor edits. Any further suggestions to improve the article are most welcome. It would great if this article can eventually be of a quality to get featured status as well. Sattlersjaw 05:02, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
Yeah I'll do some more work on the existing sections to give them the same feel as their corresponding ones on the Sydney Roosters page. I'll also expand the records section and hopefully do some more research on the stadium section too. But as you might figure out, my weakness would be locating references relevant to the club (as a Roosters fan I had no trouble doing it on that page). But I have to say, this article won't need much more work to get it to a featured standard compared to other club pages given the amount of work you've already put into it. That'll definitely help speed things up towards promotion. --mdmanser 07:58, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Removed Text From Page

I've removed a couple of news-related sections, but I'll paste them here in case they may be used in the future:

[edit] Alliances

[edit] Alliance with North Sydney Bears

On the 28th July, 2006 it was announced that the Rabbitohs had formed an alliance with former first grade foundation club the North Sydney Bears. Under the agreement the North Sydney Bears will act as the Rabbitohs’ feeder Club in the NSW Rugby League Premier League competition, allowing the Bears access to players contracted to the Rabbitohs who haven’t been selected in the NRL side.

North Sydney Bears General Manager Greg Florimo was quoted saying “We’re very excited to be involved with the Rabbitohs, particularly looking at the moves Souths have made recently, the move to privatisation and the strong recruitment drive that has taken place are very positive moves and we’re looking forward to being a part of the future.”

[edit] Alliance with Brisbane Eastern Suburbs Tigers

On the same date a further alliance was also announced withn Queensland Cup Club Brisbane Eastern Suburbs Tigers. Rabbitohs CEO Shane Richardson stated in relation to this alliance: "There is a wealth of talent in Queensland and we are looking forward to working with Easts in Brisbane in identifying the players we want to come through the ranks and play with our South Sydney junior players at the Rabbitohs in future years... these alliances we have formed will allow us to compete with other NRL Clubs that have established ties in the Queensland market."

[edit] Sponsorship

On 19 December 2006, Members Equity Bank was announced as the club's major membership sponsor for the next 3 years. This is the first ever dedicated membership sponsorship in the NRL.[1]

On 8 February 2007, it was announced that Virgin Blue has signed a two year sponsorship deal with the Rabbitohs. The Rabbitohs are the first rugby league team Virgin Blue has sponsored.[2][3]

[edit] Privatisation of the Football Club

Russell Crowe the Hollywood actor, has been a fervent Rabbitohs supporter for years, helping the club during their exile from the NRL. He has been criticised at times for an over-involvement suggested by his attempts to speak to the team during half-time. When Sydney Rugby League reporter Danny Weidler asked him why he did not buy the club, Crowe initially answered that there would be too many issues. However he and Peter Holmes à Court eventually tabled a bid worth $3 million. This was bitterly resisted by former football club chairman George Piggins who thought the bid insufficient. During an extraordinary general meeting of members on 19 March 2006, the pair won the necessary 75% of the vote.[4]

The club was officially handed over to Peter Holmes à Court and Russell Crowe on 7 June 2006.[5] Holmes à Court and Crowe own 75% of the football club through Blackcourt League Investments. The football club members own the remaining 25% of shares through the South Sydney Members Rugby League Football Club.

The privatisation is partial only and the broad membership retains full rights and effective control[6] over such items as:

  • club name ("South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club") and nickname ("Rabbitohs");
  • rabbit logos;
  • team colours;
  • home ground being a venue within the South Sydney District (excluding Telstra Stadium);
  • team song;
  • entry into a merger, joint venture, amalgamation or any similar form of arrangement with any other rugby league club;
  • any decision to publicly list the share capital of the South Sydney Rabbitohs on the stock exchange.

None of the above items can be changed or implemented without the approval of at least 75% of the club membership.[7]

Through these above arrangements Holmes à Court and Crowe have effectively gained management control over the club whilst members in have been vested with true protection and control over the club's key heritage elements.

The Football Club is now united and moving forward under this unique ownership arrangement.

[edit] Redevelopment of the Leagues Club

On 29 November 2006 the South Sydney Football Club was successful in its proposal for the South Sydney Leagues Club (which had previously been in voluntary administration), with Leagues Club members approving the Football Club's $13.1 million plans for the Leagues Club's redevelopment by winning an overwhelming 67% of the primary vote.[8]

This ensures that the Leagues Club would remain at its current location in Redfern, be totally redeveloped with new Football Club offices, a Hall of Fame, state-of-the-art gymnasium and with new retail and commercial businesses operating from its premises.[9] The successful proposal further ensures that the Leagues Club would be left debt free and with substantial cash reserves.[10] Private property group and Rabbitohs sponsor Trivest has subsequently formed a joint company with Souths to redevelop the South Sydney Leagues Club, with the deal valued at $35 million.[11]

This would turn the financial fortunes of the Leagues Club around so as to put it in a position were it can meet its charter of providing ongoing annual funding to the Football Club (something the Leagues Club has not provided for the last 20 years).

[edit] Suggestions

This is a very good article already - and, comparing it with Sydney Roosters there's not a lot that I can see that needs to be done aside from a thorough copy-edit and link check (the external citation link in fn 14 isn't working for example). However, I have a few random suggestions:

  • The famous fans in the Supporters section needs to be thinned out a bit more. I still think a few of the famous fans listed are pretty spurious (being present a single game and/or being a friend of Russell Crowe and hanging out with him at Telstra Stadium one night while in Sydney promoting your new album/film dosen't qualify someone as a Supporter).
  • I realise the Club Song is in the separate History article (as it is in the Roosters articles) but I don't really understand why this is the case - shouldn't it be in here with a broad overview of the club's supporter culture? Seems out of place in the history article.
  • Should the section on Privatisation and the Leagues Club be incorporated into the History section as subsections? Or perhaps the Privatisation section could be renamed 'Ownership' or 'Governance'? Also, what does this mean:
"broad membership retains full rights and effective control over such items as... home ground being a venue within the South Sydney District (excluding Telstra Stadium)."

Does this mean the membership retains control over where Souths play their home games?

  • Don't we have a better picture of Aussie Stadium than the Waratahs one?

CumberlandsAshes81 22:48, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Some good points there:
In response - (i) external citiation in fn 14 has been fixed. Maybe someone else can also do a thorough copy-edit and link check as someting else may have been missed. (ii) yeah, some of the fans are probably just friends/associates of Russell who aren't "real" supporters - Tom Cruise and Snoop Dog (both now removed) are the most obvious. (iii) Agree club song appears out of place in History article. Not sure where it should really be shown. (iv) Re privatisation, the membership does in fact retain control as to the venue for home games (excluding Telstra Stadium and a couple of games at Gosford per year). The venue has to be within the South Sydney district unless 75% of the membership decides otherwise. Whilst Telstra Stadium is the home ground this won't be an issue as Telstra is specifically exempted.

Sattlersjaw 03:19, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Good changes, Sattler -- The supporters section seems right now (no entries that will raise eyebrows). OK - in terms of the 'power' of the membership to mandate the home ground be in the Southern Districts - does this mean that the power invested in the membership to do so will only be exercisable when the current agreement with Telstra Stadium expires? When does that agreement expire? Or does the fact that Telstra is exempted from the power mean that the power is, in fact, useless, while ever management wants to play there? I'd like to see a pic of Redfern Oval (obviously it's currently a vacant paddock) or an 'artists impression' of the new ground - I know there are a few floating around of both the future and past versions on the net (not sure if any of them are public domain - maybe Sydney City Council has some public domain ones) CumberlandsAshes81 13:57, 2 March 2007 (UTC)
I believe the Telstra deal expires at the end of 2008. Unless the Telstra agreement is extended for a further period, I understand that Souths will look at moving back to Aussie Stadium. Since playing at Telstra is specifically excluded from the members' right to mandate a home ground, then the members' consent to play at another ground would only be relevant if (1) the ground is not Telstra Stadium, and (2) the ground is outside the South Sydney district. Currently within the South Sydney district the only viable home grounds for NRL games would be Aussie Stadium or the Sydney Cricket Ground. The revamped Redfern Oval would be too small in terms of ground capacity (around 12,000). So when the Telstra deals expires, if Souths plan to play their home games anywhere else other than Telstra, Aussie or the SCG, then 75% of the memberships approval would be needed before this could happen. Unfortunately the Redfern Oval pics on the City of Sydney website are copyrighted and need the CSC'c consent to be reproduced.Sattlersjaw 04:57, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
I remember all the shenanigans with the outfits from 78 onwards (78 was a minirevival - I think Darrell Bampton was captain and they started wearing green shorts, but as a Doggies supporter I never paid it too much attention...........we need some refs for this bitcheers, Casliber | talk | contribs 09:22, 23 March 2007 (UTC)