11th May 2004
Phil Gould

Dear Phil,

Firstly, thankyou for being a standout against Super League over the years.
I am pleased to see you keeping expansion of the competition in the news.
You make a number of valid points about the agendas of various stakeholders
in the NRL.

Members and supporters of current NRL clubs are not aware of a lot of the
detail regarding clubs applying for entry/re-entry into the competition, nor
the great emotional stake that the many supporters such as myself have.
Both Central Coast and Gold Coast have stronger claims for inclusion than
some current NRL clubs in the current financial and demographic situation.
As far as the future is concerned, the Central Coast is a "must have" for
the NRL, as is another team in SE QLD (either Gold Coast, a second Brisbane
team or even Ipswich/Toowoomba area).

I am therefore troubled that your article on 9th May lacks balance, by
giving the Gold Coast a lot more space (and  positive tone), compared to the
Central Coast being given just one paragraph, (with only a negative slant).

I will address these negative issues:
1. Pressure on the already delicate Newcastle licence.
-Central Coast and Newcastle are within similar driving time from each other
as Brisbane and Gold Coast. You mention elsewhere in your article "give them
(Gold Coast) an alternative to the Broncos" and "have one game a week in the
region (ie S.E. QLD)". Why is the C.Coast/Newcastle relationship any
different? Newcastle stands to benefit a lot from a neighbourhood rivalry.
-Historically the Central Coast has enough local talent to form the backbone
of its playing strength. The Newcastle area can boast the same. many players
have left Newcastle for a chance to play first grade elsewhere.

2. "Central Coast is only 45 minutes from Sydney" .
-Yeah, from upper North Shore!  From other parts of Sydney it takes somewhat
longer.
-When the Bears were encouraged to move to the C.Coast by the league
heirarchy, their survival was "assured" as an out-of-town team. Why are
journalists now writing that Gosford is part of Sydney (for the sake of the
16th team exercise) ?  It never was, and never will be unless vast amounts
of national park are resumed for residential & commercial use, to join the
two together.

3. "Sydney Clubs too, have a right to feel threatened"
-Are you saying that the C.Coast are not "just viable" but are a powerhouse,
a sleeping giant, to be feared by the Sydney clubs?
-Have a look a Newcastle away games played in Sydney, and the number of
busloads of Newcastle supporters that attend. Newcastle (an out-of-town
team) brings the benefit of increased gate receipts (and rival crowd
atmosphere) to those Sydney clubs that Gold Coast, Wellington, Melbourne,
Nth QLD, Canberra, Warriors, Broncos do not. The C.Coast can be expected to
bring the same benefit as Newcastle to those "threatened" Sydney clubs. In
fact, they have plenty of North Sydney Bear supporters (currently
hibernating from rugby league) to attend the Sydney away games with an even
shorter commute than those busing it from Gosford.
-Not the $2.5m grant again! As you rightly point out, that is $166k per
club; chicken feed in the perspective of what's in the best interests of the
game, which is the issue on the table. I understand the grant is from a pool
of monies generated from TV rights, merchandise etc. Surely Central Coast
(or Gold Coast) would generate additional income to add to the size of that
pool, making more funds available for distribution!

The NRL has asked all the clubs to make submissions/comments regarding
expansion. However the NRL Partnership Committee is the SOLE legal
decisionmaker in this matter.
Normally "brainstorming" is beneficial in reaching a solution, but there are
too many narrow agendas being pushed by the clubs, motivated by short term
(misguided) self interest, not to mention the games administrators and
owners and journalists.

My humble opinion is:
-bring in both Central Coast and Gold Coast (yes, 17 teams and keep the bye,
but not necessarily increase the number of games)
-Failure to bring in both will leave tens of thousands of disappointed
people. Both areas are ready, but to destroy their dreams (after being
oppressed by Super League/News Ltd since 1995, kicked out of the comp, then
have a perfectly good case for readmission rejected) would just be one kick
in the guts too many for most. It would be time to walk away and stay away
for good.
-do not relocate a club to the Gold Coast. Quite a number of fans from
various clubs have called for melbourne to be relocated. It would only
alienate the relocation club and the G.Coast too.
It must be said that the Bears relocating to the Central Coast is the
exception; the Bears have had a lot of C.Coast players in the club for a
long time (in the 90's, about one third of graded players), so there is a
strong supporter acceptance of this link on both the North Shore and Central
Coast.
-Get on with it NRL! They have had years to consider expansion, and now they
have viable entrants.

Phil, I hope you can see that I have put plenty of thought into this. I
wouldn't have taken the time if I didn't think you would, to read it.  I
hope you will use points raised in this e-mail at the opportune moments to
cut through the BS that appears elsewhere in the media.

Kind regards
Phil Colless
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