Rabbitohs to post profit in 2009
29th August 2009
IN four short seasons, South Sydney has been transformed from problem child to prototype. A club that stood on the verge of oblivion is expected to post a profit in the region of $500,000 this year -- the only NRL side in Sydney to achieve the feat without the aid of poker machines. The turnaround has been truly remarkable. The Rabbitohs were on their knees when Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes a Court took control in 2006. It's been an expensive exercise, but the pair are finally seeing some fruits from their labour. Only last season, the club lost more than $4million. But a significant boost in membership, and some cost-cutting behind the scenes, has put the Rabbitohs back in the black. In a city where losing money has become the norm for clubs, the Rabbitohs are swimming against the stream. They have done it by looking outside the square. Yesterday, their lateral thinking continued when they announced a ground-breaking sponsorship with V8 Supercars. Remarkably, it's all been achieved without on-field success. The Rabbitohs will miss the finals this season, something co-owner Crowe made clear yesterday wasn't acceptable.
"I want to win every year," Crowe said. "You have to understand that. It's not good enough, it's just not good enough and it's not what we're geared to do. This season is the first time a South Sydney squad has scored more than 500 points in an NRL season. "You consider that compared to where we were in 2006 before we (Crowe and fellow co-owner Holmes a Court) took over. "There's been a lot of progress going on. What we want to achieve is to be a regular competitive powerhouse in the NRL, not just an occasional season where you might do better than you have done before. "Every year, week in, week out, we want to be competitive."
As for the NRL's list of off-field issues this year, Crowe made it clear the emphasis should be on educating the players to accept their responsibility as role models. "I think the NRL is in the situation where they are learning just how strong they have to be and just how tight they have to keep things, and I think that benefits everybody particularly with sports where a front page of the wrong tone can affect how people feel about what they're going to do that weekend or how they might spend the money" he said. "We (Souths) spend a lot of time focusing the players on what they can do in the community and how they can strengthen the bonds in the community between the club and the people we play for, and the members who are stakeholders in what we do. "Every time something comes up like that it affects all of us, it affects all clubs."
"The season is not over yet but we're tracking towards a profit for the first time without any poker machine money," chief executive Shane Richardson said. "No other Sydney club has done that. It wasn't that long ago we were going to have to move to the Central Coast, and we were going to have to join with this club or that. "The reality is now we're building a club for the long term and strong. We have that feeling now. People like Beau Champion don't kiss the rabbit (on their jersey) after scoring tries for no reason -- they do it because they have been brought up steeped in South Sydney and they want to be part of it."
So has Souths become the prototype for other Sydney clubs? Crowe suggested one size didn't fit all. Instead, he used the question to talk about the things that make the Rabbitohs unique. "We are the oldest club," he said. "We have what I believe is one of the greatest corporate symbols in the history of world sport in the running rabbit." The challenge for Souths now is to sustain their success. Winning would help. "We have a lot of strengths that we're putting together for the long term," Richardson said. "We have the bricks in place to sustain it. We just have to get to the top. I have been doing this for 17 years and I have lost more money than you can poke a green stick at. "I think we have a template where we can make it better, where we can make the game strong. We have a product and brand everyone wants to be involved in. "We are competing to become the best club. In 12 months we have shown what we can do -- we need to continue to do it. "Sitting back and waiting for poker machines and television deals isn't going to solve the NRL's problems."