Raiders' Canberra future on shaky ground

Post by **greeneyed** » June 11, 2006, 11:27 am

Raiders' Canberra future on shaky ground
Cash-strapped club considers relocation
Chris Wilson
Sunday, 11 June 2006

RAIDERS general manager Don Furner says the club can not guarantee its permanent base in Canberra beyond the end of this decade.

In an exclusive interview with The Canberra Sunday Times, Furner said the Raiders would consider taking up to three home matches out of Canberra after 2009 and the club has not ruled out relocation.

Furner said the fight to attract players, sponsors and crowds meant the Raiders would reassess their position when the NRL club's contract with Canberra Stadium expired at the end of 2009.

Furner said it cost up to $12million a season to run the Raiders and the Queanbeyan Leagues Club underwrites the Raiders' shortfall of $1.5-2million per year.

Canberra's deals with major sponsor Fone Zone and sleeve sponsor Aristocrat expire at the end of 2006.

The Raiders have been searching nationally for a major sponsor for more than 12 months. The club was set to start this season without a major backer until Fone Zone renewed, at the last minute, for a fourth year.

Sponsorship contributes about $3.5million of the Raiders' revenue.

"Securing a major sponsor for next year and going forward is very, very important to our future," Furner said. "If we can get one, that helps us stay in the area. If we struggle for another year to find one paying sufficient money, it tells us that maybe this area doesn't have the money."

When asked whether the Raiders would consider permanent relocation, Furner said "nothing's out of the question".

"If a city's not growing and doesn't have a lot of corporate support and another city is growing, well it's not out of the question," he said. "At the moment the NRL wants to have a team at Gosford and they've got between $8-10 million sitting there to encourage you to move.

"We would hate to leave this area but if things didn't get a lot better there's nothing to say we wouldn't look at that - at least look at it."

Furner said the Raiders had suffered financial losses hosting two of their six home matches at Canberra Stadium this season. The round-six match against the New Zealand Warriors attracted a crowd of just 7174.

Under an agreement with the ACT Government and Canberra Stadium, the Raiders must play all 12 annual home games at Canberra Stadium until the end of 2009.

Before signing that agreement, after the 2003 season, the Raiders had contemplated moving three home games to venues outside Canberra - Gosford, Wellington in New Zealand and Brisbane. Gosford had offered the Raiders its stadium rent-free.

AFL club the Kangaroos is currently deciding whether it will continue to play three competition games in Canberra from next year onwards.

Furner said the Raiders might consider a similar move, taking three home games to alternate venues from 2010.

"There's already two games this year where we've lost money opening the gates," Furner said. "You sit down and think 'what are we putting it on for?'. Gate-takings less cost of hiring, cleaning, security, maintenance, we've lost money. That doesn't take into account TV revenue, that's just purely the cost of opening the gates for an event.

"If we could take those two or three games that lose money every year away, yeah, absolutely we could make more money. That's something we'll definitely be looking at in the new agreement."

The Raiders run five grades - NRL, Premier League, Jersey Flegg (U20s), SG Ball (U18s) and Harold Matthews (U16s).

Furner said cutting any of those grades would risk the club's development process.

"It's a catch-22. You could cut that all back and do what some other clubs do, not spend hardly any money on [development] and then pinch players when they bubble up. But we're a development club, we've got no choice.

"Development is very, very expensive because there's no guaranteed return."

The Raiders celebrate their 25th season this year.

Canberra has lost three national teams in the past six years - the Canberra Cosmos (soccer), Cannons (basketball) and Comets (cricket) - but not all for financial reasons.

Furner said it was becoming increasingly difficult to compete on a national scale from Canberra.

"Thankfully we've still got strong licensed clubs behind us and that keeps us afloat. But take that away, the nature of Canberra is there's not a lot of big businesses here."

The Canberra Times

edwahu · Post by **edwahu** » June 11, 2006, 11:37 am

Wow, this is sure to help attract sponsors in the local market

Management should be shot for going public with this kind of whining crap.

Post by **greeneyed** » June 11, 2006, 11:40 am

I wonder why only 7000 turn up? Mismanagement!

I can only hope that this sort of public posturing is designed to put the ACT Government on notice that we need a good deal on the use of Canberra Stadium.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » June 11, 2006, 11:43 am

what the **** are they thinking?

edwahu · Post by **edwahu** » June 11, 2006, 11:44 am

It probably is political but at the same time its a very poor message to send when we are always putting across that we are a real part of the community in comparison to the Brumbies. Its just going to piss off supporters.

Honestly, to do this a week after the 25th anniversary is a joke.

Post by **greeneyed** » June 11, 2006, 11:46 am

edwahu wrote:It probably is political but at the same time its a very poor message to send when we are always putting across that we are a real part of the community in comparison to the Brumbies. Its just going to piss off supporters.

Honestly, to do this a week after the 25th anniversary is a joke.

That's what I thought too.

Roy Rover · Post by **Roy Rover** » June 11, 2006, 11:49 am

It's an obvious ploy to try and get more cash and a better deal out of the ACT Government.
If they're prepared to put up cash for North Melbourne to play 3 AFL games here are year why shouldn't they find some more money for the Raiders.
Having said that though I don't like Furner's angle. Sometime statements like that can become a self fulfilling prophecy.
Also he makes the point that the club wouldn't survive without the licensed clubs revenue. Hello? Isn't that the case with the majority of the teams in the league?!? Gotta spend that pokie cash on something!

edwahu · Post by **edwahu** » June 11, 2006, 11:54 am

Furner wrote: You sit down and think 'what are we putting it on for?'.

Big wrap for the loyal supporters there....
I am sure plenty of them have thought "What the hell did I turn up for" in the last few years.

tonio · Post by **tonio** » June 11, 2006, 12:02 pm

greeneyed wrote:I wonder why only 7000 turn up? Mismanagement!

I can only hope that this sort of public posturing is designed to put the ACT Government on notice that we need a good deal on the use of Canberra Stadium.

You have got to be kidding me.... clutching at straws GE. This is the NRL's fault.
The Raiders need a cap concession, as does Melbourne. The NRL should also advise Channel 9 to give all teams equal exposure on FTA. If we at least get FTA exposure, we would not have any problems.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » June 11, 2006, 12:03 pm

edwahu wrote:
Furner wrote: You sit down and think 'what are we putting it on for?'.

Big wrap for the loyal supporters there....
I am sure plenty of them have thought "What the hell did I turn up for" in the last few years.

well said

edwahu · Post by **edwahu** » June 11, 2006, 12:08 pm

President Clinton wrote:
greeneyed wrote:I wonder why only 7000 turn up? Mismanagement!

I can only hope that this sort of public posturing is designed to put the ACT Government on notice that we need a good deal on the use of Canberra Stadium.
You have got to be kidding me.... clutching at straws GE. This is the NRL's fault.
The Raiders need a cap concession, as does Melbourne. The NRL should also advise Channel 9 to give all teams equal exposure on FTA. If we at least get FTA exposure, we would not have any problems.

I agree about FTA but how could the NRL give us cap concessions when there are clubs who are reguarly finish below us that dont play ou of Canberra? How could they give Melbourne cap concessions when they have the 3rd best roster in the competition? The reality is we have player resources a lot of clubs would kill for.

Azza · Post by **Azza** » June 11, 2006, 12:23 pm

We won't be getting cap concessions and we won't be getting of FTA because we play a boring, unattractive style of football. At this moment we are one of the most dour teams in the competition - even our wins are usually painful to watch.

Until we start playing more attractive footy sponsors won't want anything to do with us, the borderline "fans" won't come to games and we won't get prime time coverage on FTA.

I really have very little respect for what Don Furner says. I see this as just a tactical move to try and get more government/corporate support. The bloke is a very poor leader for this club, and should get a good whack over the head from his dad and/or John Mcintyre.

tonio · Post by **tonio** » June 11, 2006, 12:27 pm

We need player concessions to attract those "star" signings which bring the crowds in. The days of loyalty to your club is long gone. We attract all the great juniors, but once we develop all these players, they leave. Why? The chance to play for a club in Sydney, a different life, greater oppurtunity, and more exposure for them, which means more money in their pockets. If we had a concession, such as, if you develop the player (JF, PL, to 1sts), 50% counts to the cap, we would be able to bid for some star players.
IMHO, if players like Daley, Stuart etc started playing in our era today, they would have come through our ranks, and eventually moved to a different club. O'Hara is a prime example. I honestly think, it all ends up coming down to us, not being able to have a FTA game. It's unfair on our club, and the players who play week in and week out, these players go unoticed. Players like Tongue for example, if someone did not have Foxtel to watch a game, they would not know how well he has played for us.

Post by **greeneyed** » June 11, 2006, 12:43 pm

We RELEASED O'Hara! We signed him from the Dogs and our coaching staff were unable to develop him fully.

I DO believe our current plight is due to mismanagement by the club. They have hired a boring coach and even wanted to extend his contract! No-one but the die hard fans want to go along seeing their team play boring unconstructive football, and a losing football team. The management and coaching staff are responsible for the roster we have. If we were a winning football team, the junior players brought through wouldn't want to leave. They would be wanting to win a premiership for the Green Machine.

Also, these leagues club figures ought to remember why the hell they exist! It is to support and promulgate football in the Canberra region!

Not in Gosford! Not in Wellington! IN CANBERRA!

The leagues clubs are not there simply for the sake of running a beer and food outlet with pokie machines. It is there to SUPPORT the football club!

Fine, run a hard negotiation with the ACT government... good on them for doing that... but to come out in public, the week after the 25th anniversary celebration (second rate though it was)... when the club makes all sorts of comments about how they are here 365 days a year for the local community.... and THEN to say.... "Oh, we might go and play at Mr Singleton's stadium in Gosford... he is offering it for 'free'".... when Singleton just made a widely reported public statement that there shouldn't be a team in Canberra, as it is "just full of public servants"....

I mean honestly! It defies belief!

tonio · Post by **tonio** » June 11, 2006, 12:56 pm

Our style of league should not dictate if we get a FTA game or not. Parramatta have played hardly exciting league this year and we played a very attacking game against them. I hardly see how they deserve more TV games than we do.

Tina Furner · Post by **Tina Furner** » June 11, 2006, 12:59 pm

League will die if Canberra and Melbourne are killed off from the NRL.
Management are disgraceful, to go public with this?

Post by **greeneyed** » June 11, 2006, 1:13 pm

edwahu wrote:
Furner wrote: You sit down and think 'what are we putting it on for?'.

Big wrap for the loyal supporters there....
I am sure plenty of them have thought "What the hell did I turn up for" in the last few years.

Precisely... they put it on as their mission is to promote rugby league in the Canberra district!

buram · Post by **buram** » June 11, 2006, 2:30 pm

SPEW!!! WIN games and you'll get big crowds Don

Raider Ultra · Post by **Raider Ultra** » June 11, 2006, 2:34 pm

Furner is an ****, get out of our club you toerag.

Butters · Post by **Butters** » June 11, 2006, 2:37 pm

It's a case of chicken or the egg. Do we get sponsorship because we win games or do we win games because of FTA, therefore sponsorship? We, as a club, need to be more proactive and show off our club to players as a proud strong club instead of painting a bleak picture of a fading football club. I am sick of the reputation the Canberra Raiders are gaining as a club on the demise or a club that is rebuilding, be positive and realise our club can be great now, not maybe will be great in the future. The Raiders will always be from Canberra, case closed.

DJ Raida · Post by **DJ Raida** » June 11, 2006, 3:18 pm

either way, i dont like where this is going

Raiders Fan · Post by **Raiders Fan** » June 11, 2006, 4:01 pm

This is seriously bad news.

pacman · Post by **pacman** » June 11, 2006, 4:02 pm

gosford?

edwahu · Post by **edwahu** » June 11, 2006, 4:15 pm

It would be a total farce if the Canberra District Rugby League were paying for a side playing out of Gosford instead of Canberra. Why not just play Union and move to Melbourne while we are at it?

The Naked Zombie · Post by **The Naked Zombie** » June 11, 2006, 4:41 pm

I'd hate to see the Raiders move out of Canberra, and doubt very much that its even a remote possibility, but I certainly wouldn't be complaining about them moving at least a few games to Gosford. Until a couple of months ago I lived five minutes from Bluetongue Central Coast Stadium (

), and will probably be back there sooner or later.

Yes, I'm sick of travelling to see the Raiders. From now on, the Raiders can come and see me!

But as said before, there's no chance of relocation. Maybe one or two games a season, but it doesn't help anyone to have matches moved out of Canberra.

Post by **greeneyed** » June 11, 2006, 4:46 pm

There shouldn't be ANY home games moved out of Canberra! NOT ONE! I would consider it on a one off basis if it was to promote the game in Perth or Adelaide... but to CENTRAL COAST or NEW ZEALAND? No way! There are other clubs that can promote games in those places ie the overpopulated Sydney market can go to Gosford... and the Warriors should cover New Zealand.

Canberra Milk · Post by **Canberra Milk** » June 11, 2006, 4:54 pm

edwahu wrote:
Furner wrote: You sit down and think 'what are we putting it on for?'.

Big wrap for the loyal supporters there....
I am sure plenty of them have thought "What the hell did I turn up for" in the last few years.

:clap

What a foul thing to say from Furner.

VictorTheViking · Post by **VictorTheViking** » June 11, 2006, 5:26 pm

What a Buffoon, fair dinkum, you blame it on the fans not turning up Furner???? Why on earth would fans turn up when a side isnt getting media exposure nationally or locally for that matter, when I lived in canberra (during the kevin neil era) there were ads running all week before home games, and even sometimes before away games aswell, the crowds used to be around the 12-13000 mark, and now they are dwindling.

If I were the army, and the rest of the loyal fans in canberra, id be demanding a please explain from this clown.

Post by **greeneyed** » June 11, 2006, 5:40 pm

I can only suggest people complain to the club direct:

reception@raiders.com.au

Post by **100%green** » June 11, 2006, 5:44 pm

Management are a joke. I have been saying what all of you have said and more all year to anyone who knows me. This is supposed to be our birthday and it`s been poorly organized. The AIS has flags celebrating the same birthday on all the roads round the stadium. Do we? NO. Did we have fireworks or any descent entertainment at our 25th game? NO. Was there descent advertising before the fan day or the 25th game? NO. There is a Brumbies action bus driving round Canberra, do we have one celebrating our milestone? NO. We need a change in management badly, they have lost touch with the fans and i`m curious if we have the right to vote like other clubs on who runs OUR TEAM? I agree we need to wing more games and play a more attractive game of football but channel 9 as major broadcaster needs to showcase all of the NRL, Melbourne are the no 1 side and they only get there first game today! Please. Also the Canberra public need to get behind the team more, I have noticed as anyone must the Canberra public tend to only follow winners which i think is poor as the city complains when anything gets taken away, but they don`t support it when it`s here. I `m going on a letter writing campaign tonight to the club, the Canberra Times and the NRL. There is no way as a fan i`ll let this happen!

Ezy · Post by **Ezy** » June 11, 2006, 5:44 pm

Kris_man wrote:
edwahu wrote:
Furner wrote: You sit down and think 'what are we putting it on for?'.

Big wrap for the loyal supporters there....
I am sure plenty of them have thought "What the hell did I turn up for" in the last few years.
:clap

What a foul thing to say from Furner.

I'LL F*CKING SECOND THAT.

'Your Team, Our Team, My Team' - that big bloody sign out the front of ACTEWAGL Park now has a huge, dark cloud cast over it.

****, its a competitive market out there, so lets start COMPETING instead of releasing these half-arsed comments and taking the easy way out.

Absolute tripe. This is one of the more shameful things to have come out of our management thus far, and thats saying a lot.

Um Jammer Lammy · Post by **Um Jammer Lammy** » June 11, 2006, 5:53 pm

I think this is a load of bollocks. As soon as we start winning all the band wagon supporters will jump on board and there will be more people through the gate. If we are in so much difficulty then why have we kept the most boring coach for 5 years. Rugby League is a product for entertainment. People want to be entertained for their money. Which is fair. So he have to change the product. Give it a make over. Score tries!

I remember in 2003 when we were playing our best we got big crowds. On television it looked quite full. Maybe 20,000 or so against the Dogs on one occasion I think.

I think maybe more day games would be beneficial. Its cold out there in Canberra at night. Which may put off the less fanatical supporter and the good time whores.

When we start winning everything will change. We will get Channel 9 games. The Tigers didn't get a look in for years now they have won a competition they are the Tigers. People know them more now. Benji Marshall.

Bottom line is our product isn't exciting, who would want to invest in a dud product like that.

Management need to change that so sponsers will go "These guys can and will draw a crowd and make us money" Hopefully that will start by getting in a new exciting coach to change the way we play. Its all about what happens on the paddock in my book. Everything starts and end with the 80 minutes.

Ezy · Post by **Ezy** » June 11, 2006, 6:07 pm

greeneyed wrote:I can only suggest people complain to the club direct:

reception@raiders.com.au

Done. I CC'd this letter to the Canberra Times as well.....

SUBJECT: SHAME Don Furner Jr

What a disgrace. Our local Rugby League team - the first team outside of Sydney to make an impact on the world's best Rugby League competition, has just completed its 25th year anniversary celebrations, and we have our General Manager whining about lack of support and threatening to take this fine club elsewhere.

One comment in particular - "You sit down and think, what are we putting this on for?" - has left a disgusting taste in my mouth as a season ticket holder and Legends member for the past 7 years. Believe it or not Don Furner, the Raiders still boast a fanatical supporter base despite all these years of underachievement, boring football and lack of insightful promotion.

These comments are not only hurtful, they are very badly timed. The team has just won consecutive games for the first time in months, we have a plethora of junior talent ready to step up, and a new coach next year will lead us into an exciting new era.

The ACT sporting market is a competitive one, so please - let the Raiders COMPETE before releasing damning comments about the club's future and its supporter base.

Post by **100%green** » June 11, 2006, 6:14 pm

the people in charge need to read this page!!!

goldie · Post by **goldie** » June 11, 2006, 6:20 pm

Raider Ultra wrote:Furner is an ****, get out of our club you toerag.

hear hear!!!!

What a disgraceful article. I am amazed he had time to say so much while he was taking such a massive dump on the supporters and the club.

Who runs Penrith - can we ship him up there with Super(suck)coach?

Time to stop making excuses and run the club better you nob. How about the comment about development being so expensive with no guarenteed return?????????? If there was a decent management structure with short to long term plans maybe the junior wouldn't leave so often you toss!!!!

HOW DARE YOU

Thanks for listening, feel much better. When I am not feeling so angry I will indeed write to the club and the NRL.

Raiders' Canberra future on shaky ground

Raiders' Canberra future on shaky ground

Re: RAIDERS' CANBERRA FUTURE ON SHAKY GROUND

Re: RAIDERS' CANBERRA FUTURE ON SHAKY GROUND

Re: RAIDERS' CANBERRA FUTURE ON SHAKY GROUND

Re: RAIDERS' CANBERRA FUTURE ON SHAKY GROUND

Re: RAIDERS' CANBERRA FUTURE ON SHAKY GROUND