16 March 2002:
Return to Kogarah information night, Kogarah RSL

The Search for a St George Home Ground

The complexities of this issue are very apparent. Both sides can make make good points.

Basically, the R2K people want a 50/50 split between Wollongong and St George for home grounds. Quite simply, they want a return to Kogarah. This is a community driven proposal.

With respect to the St George club and to ex-player and Football Club CEO, Robert Stone, I believe I can summarise the reasoning for not playing at Kogarah Oval in one word: money

Now I don't know the figures but we were told by the club that they make more money playing out of the SFS. OK, fair enough.

But I have this nagging feeling that its more important to have a home ground in the St George district. The returns this will bring to the local community would be enormous.

Frank Hyde, now 86, spoke passionately about the importance of community. To his credit, he did not harp on about the 'good ol days'. On the contrary, he spoke of the great advances we have made as a society and how wonderful the world is. 
However, the ex-player and legendary radio commentator brought home a depressing fact that we are losing the very essence of community when we flatly refuse to cater to the needs and requirements of the people who these technological advances were meant to serve.

By taking away the St George home ground, he said, we are denying future generations the opportunity to watch their local team and are therefore undermining community foundations.

Tony Squires from the ABC sports show, 'The Fat' made a sharp speech, cracking a few jokes as he sometimes spoke at a hundred miles an hour. But he made an important point. He said that the SFS is a 'share house'. He went on to say that he is getting too old to live in share houses with people and he would have thought St George was also old enough to have its own home as well.

The majority of the night went along a similar path and in a way, we were preaching to the converted. That is, the True Believers were all there and quite frankly a few hundred people all agreeing with each other is hardly going to move mountains.

However, as ex-player John Dowling was reminding us about Super League being the root cause of many of the current troubles, he pointed out Leagues Club CEO, Peter Doust who was observing the proceedings from the back of the hall.

The fact that Peter Doust was in the audience and Robert Stone talked and answered questions was proof that this is not a minor issue to the club.

There were other issues raised. Namely, the compromises regarding club history. It was unanimous that the club has won 15 grand finals and that joint venture has no right to ignore this. It is indeed extraordinary the club has published 'news' that the 2001 First Division Grand Final win has been listed as the 'Dragons first premiership'. Not only is this historically incorrect, it also cuts across the grain of opinion which believes in maintaining the history of the St George Dragons as being part of the St George Illawarra Dragons.

But it was the R2K discussion that was getting the most interest and the night reached a climax as individuals got up and spoke their mind. This brought Robert Stone back into the fray as he entered into debate with members of the audience.

It was during this time that the club revealed that many of the barriers of the past are no longer there. In particular, the NRL home ground criteria means nothing. This doesn't take away the fact that the R2K proposal is a costly and complex issue but at the very least, we now know that the NRL will probably not stand in the way of Saints playing at Kogarah.

Perhaps the most effective statement came from the floor when long time supporter, Carl reminded us all that the first step is always the biggest. His recommendation that Saints play just one game at Kogarah next year was by far the the most rational way to tackle this issue.
But as he spoke about taking this step I could hear voices saying '50/50...one game is not enough' while at the same time I could sense the club's view that one game was too many.

I urge the club and its supporters to resolve this issue and to do so quickly. This has the potential to rip the club apart.

By its very nature, the R2K movement will not go away.

Related topics:
R2K website
Dragons discussion board

For information on home ground issues and the search for a St George home ground - click here