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AFL Chief Andrew Demetriou has confirmed that a bid has been lodged with the AFL for a 17th license to take effect next season, for a club to be known as South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The company lodging the bid is believed to be South Sydney Rugby League Ltd, which was recently purchased by a consortium headed by actor Russell Crowe and businessman Peter Holmes A Court.
"It's simple economies of scale" explained Holmes A Court. "We have paid $3 million for a club, which has a binding 5-year contract for the 80,000 seat Telstra Stadium. Last week we attracted 17,000 to watch our rugby league team, but we have a plan to fill the other 63,000 seats."
Under the plan, the rugby league and AFL teams could play double-headers. We would play the rugby league game first, then we would only need a short turnaround time to take down the league posts and repaint the ground. The AFL posts could remain standing all day.
The new AFL team would wear the distinctive red and green hoops and sing the famous "glory glory to South Sydney" song. "Think of the benefits to the fans" said Holmes a Court. "They would only need to buy one set of merchandise for two different sports. That's a lot of money that could be saved by the fans which could then be fed into the pokies at the leagues club. That's if they'll let me in."
Former Souths player, coach and administrator George Piggins, who led the fight against the Crowe and Holmes a Court takeover could not be contacted for comment. But he was believed to have investigated a similar scheme involving double-headers playing out of Gosford's Express Advocate Stadium. Due to the shape of that ground, the AFL team's home games would have been required to be played under International Rules. Holmes a Court ruled out that suggestion, but added "It would have been the biggest home ground advantage in AFL history".
The company lodging the bid is believed to be South Sydney Rugby League Ltd, which was recently purchased by a consortium headed by actor Russell Crowe and businessman Peter Holmes A Court.
"It's simple economies of scale" explained Holmes A Court. "We have paid $3 million for a club, which has a binding 5-year contract for the 80,000 seat Telstra Stadium. Last week we attracted 17,000 to watch our rugby league team, but we have a plan to fill the other 63,000 seats."
Under the plan, the rugby league and AFL teams could play double-headers. We would play the rugby league game first, then we would only need a short turnaround time to take down the league posts and repaint the ground. The AFL posts could remain standing all day.
The new AFL team would wear the distinctive red and green hoops and sing the famous "glory glory to South Sydney" song. "Think of the benefits to the fans" said Holmes a Court. "They would only need to buy one set of merchandise for two different sports. That's a lot of money that could be saved by the fans which could then be fed into the pokies at the leagues club. That's if they'll let me in."
Former Souths player, coach and administrator George Piggins, who led the fight against the Crowe and Holmes a Court takeover could not be contacted for comment. But he was believed to have investigated a similar scheme involving double-headers playing out of Gosford's Express Advocate Stadium. Due to the shape of that ground, the AFL team's home games would have been required to be played under International Rules. Holmes a Court ruled out that suggestion, but added "It would have been the biggest home ground advantage in AFL history".
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