Titanium_BD1103
11-02-07, 02:08 PM
From: www.news.com.au/sundaymail
Rise of the Titans
February 10, 2007 11:00pm
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5384804,00.jpg
LOCAL HEROES: Scott and John Sattler toast the Coast at Brannigans Tavern at Broadbeach. They have been involved since 1987 when John was a founding director of the Gold Coast Giants. Picture: MARK CRANITCH
Rugby league legend John Sattler tells GREG DAVIS the new Gold Coast club is here to stay.
DURING his rugby league career, legendary toughman John Sattler was never one to pull punches.
The captain of four grand final-winning sides during the golden era of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, his courageous effort to play most of the 1970 decider with a broken jaw is part of Australian sporting folklore.
So when he talks about rugby league, you would be well advised to listen closely.
A Gold Coast resident since 1980, Sattler has a simple message for anybody who thinks the National Rugby League's new club, the Gold Coast Titans, will suffer the same fate as previous failed franchises that sank without trace on the tourist strip.
"I shudder when people say they've tried rugby league on the Gold Coast and this new one won't work and all that . . . it's a load of bull****," the quietly spoken Sattler told The Sunday Mail.
The former Test captain is well qualified to make such a frank assessment.
The current publican at Brannigans Tavern at Broadbeach was part of the consortium that had just three months to assemble the Gold Coast Giants side for the start of the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League premiership.
Along with prominent rugby league identities Bob Hagan and the late Peter Gallagher, Sattler accepted a last-minute invitation from NSWRL bosses to join the Sydney competition well after the wheels were in motion to establish the Brisbane Broncos.
With a fulltime administration staff of just three people working out of cramped offices at the Palm Beach Hotel, the Giants consortium did its best with a very limited budget and in a very limited timeframe.
They were playing "catch-up football" before a ball was kicked in anger and the Gold Coast club, despite changes in name and ownership over the next decade, never recovered from such humble beginnings.
When the Gold Coast Chargers were finally booted out of the NRL at the end of 1998, it ended a tumultuous period on and off the field with the club lurching from one controversy to another.
As far as NRL administrators were concerned, the Gold Coast was off the rugby league radar. A black line had been put through its name.
No professional sporting franchise had ever prospered on the Coast and it looked unlikely to be given a shot at redemption.
Too many nightclubs, too many beaches and too many other distractions for any professional sporting team to keep their minds on the job and work effectively.
However, former Giants player Michael Searle and long-time league official Paul Broughton thought otherwise, and they put together a consortium for yet another attempt at establishing a successful organisation on the Coast.
Broughton and Searle started their gruelling campaign on March 15, 1999. After years of hard slog, their hopes and dreams were shattered on August 16, 2004 when the NRL decided against expansion. They were so close, yet so far.
However, agony then turned to ecstasy on May 27, 2005 when the Gold Coast was re-admitted to the NRL for the 2007 season.
Just a week away from their first historic trial game against Melbourne at Coffs Harbour, the Titans are in a very different place to their predecessors at the Giants.
For starters, they are not working out of a couple of back rooms at a local pub. The Titans have 27 fulltime staff, who occupy the entire floor of a highrise building in the Southport CBD.
The Giants had three months to establish a club, while the Titans have had 18 months to build their organisation. The Giants were barely able to boast a handful of sponsors, whereas the Titans have attracted support from more than 30 corporate heavyweights with a total sponsorship revenue of $5 million.
Sattler said there was simply no comparison between the Titans and Gold Coast sides of the past and it was the height of unfairness to draw any similarities between the two eras of rugby league on the Coast.
"There will still be the doubting Thomases out there but the ones who are doubting it are the people who don't realise the effort that's gone in and the backing that they've got and the players they have purchased," he said.
"It's got nothing in common at all except that it's a Gold Coast team.
"The first time around we never really had a chance.
There were no finances and we had virtually no time to try and buy players and while some were good, some would have been in reserve grade if they were at another club.
"What the Titans have done has been sensational. They have had plenty of time to get things right and they have been very professional about absolutely everything, from the administration to the buying of players . . . it's all been very well done.
"I couldn't be happier to see a team back on the Gold Coast and this one is here to stay."
The Sattler name is still an integral part of the Gold Coast organisation, with 2003 NRL grand final hero and former Queensland Origin player Scott Sattler, John's son, on the Titans staff as football manager.
Scott Sattler spent five seasons on the Coast as a player (1991-1993 and 1997-1998) and watched the formation of the Giants first-hand as an enthusiastic teenager by his father's side.
He said the Titans have the same passion for the game as the Giants and Seagulls organisations of years past, but the new Coast outfit had the professionalism and financial backing to ensure longevity.
"The game has changed so much from back then. There's so much money in rugby league now and there's a project team for every facet of the organisation," he said.
"Back in the early days it was a group of guys who had passion for the game and while that passion still exists, there's the commercial realities that you can't ignore.
"We were just fighting for survival back in those days and the club was a bit of a revolving door, with young guys using it as a stepping stone to go to a better club or older guys using it as a place to wind-down to retirement.
"In many ways, it (rugby league) almost had to be taken away from the Gold Coast so we could start again and build it up from a greenfield site. This time we appreciate what we've got and the community is right behind us, too.
"The support has been overwhelming and the fans have ridden the rollercoaster with us. They are a bit like the players now, they just want to see the first tackle in anger and there is a real excitement out there at the moment.
"Pretty soon their lives will revolve around how their football team goes. The first few days of their working week will be dictated by how the Titans went and that's something that the Gold Coast has never had before."
The Titans have focused on developing a catchment area from Coffs Harbour in northern NSW to Ipswich, west of Brisbane. They will have three feeder teams in the Queensland Cup with the Burleigh Bears, Tweed Seagulls and Ipswich Jets taking players not required by the first grade squad.
The club will pour more than $600,000 into junior development and schools annually while $1 million in regional development grants will go to junior and senior rugby league clubs over the next four years.
Gold Coast merchandise is flying off the shelves just like the tickets to the March 18 blockbuster against St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, which will herald the club's return to the big time.
Sitting in his office at Titans HQ overlooking the Southport Broadwater, Gold Coast managing director Michael Searle says everything is going to plan off the paddock.
He said the recent shock retirement of star signing Brian Carney and the bitter wrangle with Melbourne over the services of winger Steve Turner should not trigger any alarm bells with people who fear "the bad old days" have returned.
"We said at the time that if that's as bad as it gets, then we are going OK. Imagine what would happen if we lost four on the trot?" Searle said.
"I didn't see it is as major dramas. There was a lot of hoo-ha at the time but it was over stuff that was relatively insignificant and from our point of view they weren't big issues.
"When those things happen it's understandable that people get nervous but we always felt more than on top of those situations and we never reached for any panic buttons, we were calm all the way through it."
Searle, who made four appearances off the bench for the Giants in 1988, said rock-solid community support, strong corporate backing and a conservative approach in the bidding process for the licence had been the keys to success.
He said the Queensland Government's decision in May 2005 to fund a new rugby league stadium at Robina was the last piece of the puzzle for the Titans.
We've been able to get a really good platform with a really great family of sponsors and we've exceeded our expectations," he said.
"The game has developed to such a level now that if you don't compete at the upper end of the corporate market then you are not going to compete on the field, so I think the game has evolved and the city has evolved too.
"We been through some tough times in this process and I think the Gold Coast public went through the journey as much as we did. They hurt just as much as we did when we got knocked back the first time.
"However, when we got back on the horse, so did they and they kept showing up to the trial matches which sent a message to the NRL that this city was ready.
"We showed the NRL that we would run a lean business model and we were being conservative and responsible. In our business plan we estimated average crowds of 10,000 with a sponsorship revenue of $2.4 million and showed we could still run the football team and I think that gave them plenty of comfort.
"Without the gift from Peter Beattie and Terry Mackenroth and everything else coming together we might not have had a football team at the end of the day."
(The Premier and then-sports minister gave the stadium the go-ahead.)
But the Coast does have a football team and Searle said he was looking forward to seeing the dream of so many become a reality.
"We are going to enjoy this year. The last two years have been a really hard slog for a lot of people but we are all really going to enjoy this year," he said.
"At the end of the day, we are all just footy fans and just want to watch a Gold Coast team play. We want to go and barrack for the local footy team.
"I think we will all be humbled by the fact that we've been let back in and plenty of people have done plenty of work to ensure we've done it right."
NRL CEO David Gallop said the Titans' strong links with the local community gave the game's governing body the utmost faith in the competition's latest franchise.
"They have gone to such great lengths to establish themselves in the community which is very important," Gallop said.
"Nothing brings success like winning games of football but it's also important to have those links with all levels of the community and they have certainly done that very well."
He said past failures by Gold Coast teams were not a concern to the NRL.
"Past experiences on the Gold Coast aren't relevant any more. The Coast has changed and the competition has changed enormously," Gallop said.
"They have been very good listeners all the way through the process and they have been very careful to follow the models used by top teams across a number of sports."
This is an awesome article with one of the greats of the game... talking about how he sees the future for the GC Titans... and I hope Satts is right and the club has a long a successful future, and I am sure it will... :D
The reason for this is because as the article says there is now a team that is not only passionate, but professional as well. The fans are high in number but are also very aware of the work ahead and realistic and together with the players... there is a real sense of belief and spirit for success.
There is nothing to stop the Gold Coast Titans, besides themselves going to the greatest heights of all one day, because it seems like the plan and personnel are in place nicely, now just to execute and then who knows what will happen... :)
Rise of the Titans
February 10, 2007 11:00pm
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5384804,00.jpg
LOCAL HEROES: Scott and John Sattler toast the Coast at Brannigans Tavern at Broadbeach. They have been involved since 1987 when John was a founding director of the Gold Coast Giants. Picture: MARK CRANITCH
Rugby league legend John Sattler tells GREG DAVIS the new Gold Coast club is here to stay.
DURING his rugby league career, legendary toughman John Sattler was never one to pull punches.
The captain of four grand final-winning sides during the golden era of the South Sydney Rabbitohs, his courageous effort to play most of the 1970 decider with a broken jaw is part of Australian sporting folklore.
So when he talks about rugby league, you would be well advised to listen closely.
A Gold Coast resident since 1980, Sattler has a simple message for anybody who thinks the National Rugby League's new club, the Gold Coast Titans, will suffer the same fate as previous failed franchises that sank without trace on the tourist strip.
"I shudder when people say they've tried rugby league on the Gold Coast and this new one won't work and all that . . . it's a load of bull****," the quietly spoken Sattler told The Sunday Mail.
The former Test captain is well qualified to make such a frank assessment.
The current publican at Brannigans Tavern at Broadbeach was part of the consortium that had just three months to assemble the Gold Coast Giants side for the start of the 1988 New South Wales Rugby League premiership.
Along with prominent rugby league identities Bob Hagan and the late Peter Gallagher, Sattler accepted a last-minute invitation from NSWRL bosses to join the Sydney competition well after the wheels were in motion to establish the Brisbane Broncos.
With a fulltime administration staff of just three people working out of cramped offices at the Palm Beach Hotel, the Giants consortium did its best with a very limited budget and in a very limited timeframe.
They were playing "catch-up football" before a ball was kicked in anger and the Gold Coast club, despite changes in name and ownership over the next decade, never recovered from such humble beginnings.
When the Gold Coast Chargers were finally booted out of the NRL at the end of 1998, it ended a tumultuous period on and off the field with the club lurching from one controversy to another.
As far as NRL administrators were concerned, the Gold Coast was off the rugby league radar. A black line had been put through its name.
No professional sporting franchise had ever prospered on the Coast and it looked unlikely to be given a shot at redemption.
Too many nightclubs, too many beaches and too many other distractions for any professional sporting team to keep their minds on the job and work effectively.
However, former Giants player Michael Searle and long-time league official Paul Broughton thought otherwise, and they put together a consortium for yet another attempt at establishing a successful organisation on the Coast.
Broughton and Searle started their gruelling campaign on March 15, 1999. After years of hard slog, their hopes and dreams were shattered on August 16, 2004 when the NRL decided against expansion. They were so close, yet so far.
However, agony then turned to ecstasy on May 27, 2005 when the Gold Coast was re-admitted to the NRL for the 2007 season.
Just a week away from their first historic trial game against Melbourne at Coffs Harbour, the Titans are in a very different place to their predecessors at the Giants.
For starters, they are not working out of a couple of back rooms at a local pub. The Titans have 27 fulltime staff, who occupy the entire floor of a highrise building in the Southport CBD.
The Giants had three months to establish a club, while the Titans have had 18 months to build their organisation. The Giants were barely able to boast a handful of sponsors, whereas the Titans have attracted support from more than 30 corporate heavyweights with a total sponsorship revenue of $5 million.
Sattler said there was simply no comparison between the Titans and Gold Coast sides of the past and it was the height of unfairness to draw any similarities between the two eras of rugby league on the Coast.
"There will still be the doubting Thomases out there but the ones who are doubting it are the people who don't realise the effort that's gone in and the backing that they've got and the players they have purchased," he said.
"It's got nothing in common at all except that it's a Gold Coast team.
"The first time around we never really had a chance.
There were no finances and we had virtually no time to try and buy players and while some were good, some would have been in reserve grade if they were at another club.
"What the Titans have done has been sensational. They have had plenty of time to get things right and they have been very professional about absolutely everything, from the administration to the buying of players . . . it's all been very well done.
"I couldn't be happier to see a team back on the Gold Coast and this one is here to stay."
The Sattler name is still an integral part of the Gold Coast organisation, with 2003 NRL grand final hero and former Queensland Origin player Scott Sattler, John's son, on the Titans staff as football manager.
Scott Sattler spent five seasons on the Coast as a player (1991-1993 and 1997-1998) and watched the formation of the Giants first-hand as an enthusiastic teenager by his father's side.
He said the Titans have the same passion for the game as the Giants and Seagulls organisations of years past, but the new Coast outfit had the professionalism and financial backing to ensure longevity.
"The game has changed so much from back then. There's so much money in rugby league now and there's a project team for every facet of the organisation," he said.
"Back in the early days it was a group of guys who had passion for the game and while that passion still exists, there's the commercial realities that you can't ignore.
"We were just fighting for survival back in those days and the club was a bit of a revolving door, with young guys using it as a stepping stone to go to a better club or older guys using it as a place to wind-down to retirement.
"In many ways, it (rugby league) almost had to be taken away from the Gold Coast so we could start again and build it up from a greenfield site. This time we appreciate what we've got and the community is right behind us, too.
"The support has been overwhelming and the fans have ridden the rollercoaster with us. They are a bit like the players now, they just want to see the first tackle in anger and there is a real excitement out there at the moment.
"Pretty soon their lives will revolve around how their football team goes. The first few days of their working week will be dictated by how the Titans went and that's something that the Gold Coast has never had before."
The Titans have focused on developing a catchment area from Coffs Harbour in northern NSW to Ipswich, west of Brisbane. They will have three feeder teams in the Queensland Cup with the Burleigh Bears, Tweed Seagulls and Ipswich Jets taking players not required by the first grade squad.
The club will pour more than $600,000 into junior development and schools annually while $1 million in regional development grants will go to junior and senior rugby league clubs over the next four years.
Gold Coast merchandise is flying off the shelves just like the tickets to the March 18 blockbuster against St George Illawarra at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, which will herald the club's return to the big time.
Sitting in his office at Titans HQ overlooking the Southport Broadwater, Gold Coast managing director Michael Searle says everything is going to plan off the paddock.
He said the recent shock retirement of star signing Brian Carney and the bitter wrangle with Melbourne over the services of winger Steve Turner should not trigger any alarm bells with people who fear "the bad old days" have returned.
"We said at the time that if that's as bad as it gets, then we are going OK. Imagine what would happen if we lost four on the trot?" Searle said.
"I didn't see it is as major dramas. There was a lot of hoo-ha at the time but it was over stuff that was relatively insignificant and from our point of view they weren't big issues.
"When those things happen it's understandable that people get nervous but we always felt more than on top of those situations and we never reached for any panic buttons, we were calm all the way through it."
Searle, who made four appearances off the bench for the Giants in 1988, said rock-solid community support, strong corporate backing and a conservative approach in the bidding process for the licence had been the keys to success.
He said the Queensland Government's decision in May 2005 to fund a new rugby league stadium at Robina was the last piece of the puzzle for the Titans.
We've been able to get a really good platform with a really great family of sponsors and we've exceeded our expectations," he said.
"The game has developed to such a level now that if you don't compete at the upper end of the corporate market then you are not going to compete on the field, so I think the game has evolved and the city has evolved too.
"We been through some tough times in this process and I think the Gold Coast public went through the journey as much as we did. They hurt just as much as we did when we got knocked back the first time.
"However, when we got back on the horse, so did they and they kept showing up to the trial matches which sent a message to the NRL that this city was ready.
"We showed the NRL that we would run a lean business model and we were being conservative and responsible. In our business plan we estimated average crowds of 10,000 with a sponsorship revenue of $2.4 million and showed we could still run the football team and I think that gave them plenty of comfort.
"Without the gift from Peter Beattie and Terry Mackenroth and everything else coming together we might not have had a football team at the end of the day."
(The Premier and then-sports minister gave the stadium the go-ahead.)
But the Coast does have a football team and Searle said he was looking forward to seeing the dream of so many become a reality.
"We are going to enjoy this year. The last two years have been a really hard slog for a lot of people but we are all really going to enjoy this year," he said.
"At the end of the day, we are all just footy fans and just want to watch a Gold Coast team play. We want to go and barrack for the local footy team.
"I think we will all be humbled by the fact that we've been let back in and plenty of people have done plenty of work to ensure we've done it right."
NRL CEO David Gallop said the Titans' strong links with the local community gave the game's governing body the utmost faith in the competition's latest franchise.
"They have gone to such great lengths to establish themselves in the community which is very important," Gallop said.
"Nothing brings success like winning games of football but it's also important to have those links with all levels of the community and they have certainly done that very well."
He said past failures by Gold Coast teams were not a concern to the NRL.
"Past experiences on the Gold Coast aren't relevant any more. The Coast has changed and the competition has changed enormously," Gallop said.
"They have been very good listeners all the way through the process and they have been very careful to follow the models used by top teams across a number of sports."
This is an awesome article with one of the greats of the game... talking about how he sees the future for the GC Titans... and I hope Satts is right and the club has a long a successful future, and I am sure it will... :D
The reason for this is because as the article says there is now a team that is not only passionate, but professional as well. The fans are high in number but are also very aware of the work ahead and realistic and together with the players... there is a real sense of belief and spirit for success.
There is nothing to stop the Gold Coast Titans, besides themselves going to the greatest heights of all one day, because it seems like the plan and personnel are in place nicely, now just to execute and then who knows what will happen... :)