Titans V's Sharks (Southport)

[Darren Lockyer]

thats alright because we'll be well estabilished by then and will be the only driving sport on the coast. Like melbourne with afl

[TITAN PETE]

By the time they relocate another has been afl club the Titans will already have won a couple of premierships :win: !!!!!!!!!!!

[DIEHARD]

The only thing we need to worry about, is making sure in the kids eyes, rugby league and the Titans are number #1! We need to secure the fertile juniors and then the AwFuL can do it's worst...

[West_Titan]

I'd personally like to see an AFL team here on the Coast. The main reason is beacuse i like sport and having another team here winning premierships will only be a positive for the Gold Coast. AFL is not that bad and can be exciting to watch with awesome highlights. With a new NBL team on the horizon, all i can say is -
Bring on the Gold Coast Sharks.

We'll show Australia just how talented the people of the Coast are!!!!

[Roolander]

I'd personally like to see an AFL team here on the Coast. The main reason is beacuse i like sport and having another team here winning premierships will only be a positive for the Gold Coast. AFL is not that bad and can be exciting to watch with awesome highlights. With a new NBL team on the horizon, all i can say is -
Bring on the Gold Coast Sharks.

We'll show Australia just how talented the people of the Coast are!!!!

Agreed , the coast now is big enough for both codes , those who think its not are paranoid , bring on as many codes as possible.

[DIEHARD]

I hate to disrupt the group hug. But we cant play happy families with AFL or Union. As it is their mission to destroy and discredit us, snap us off at our grassroots and steal our territory. It's war between the codes.

Just look at the blatant spoiling tactics used by the Sharks and AFL to try and hamper the Titans maiden premiership campaign. It's pathetic.

If the NRL didn't put a club on the Coast...I'd have gone insane. I couldn't stand it.

It's all great to be a fan of both codes. But Im firmly in the PRO RUGBY LEAGUE camp and people like me balance out the AFL zealots.

[Grimmace]

Tie me Kangaroos down, sport
18Nov06

THE North Melbourne Kangaroos have entered into a multimillion-dollar joint venture with local club the Broadbeach Cats, renewing hopes of a Gold Coast AFL team.

The deal is for a Kangaroos-Cats social facility near Gold Coast Stadium, costing about $25 million.

It will be seen as a significant blow to the chances of local powerhouse Southport Sharks one day holding a second AFL licence in Queensland.

The plan has been unveiled at a time when the Gold Coast is emerging as a major player on the national sporting scene.

The Gold Coast Titans kick off in the National Rugby League next year, a team in the National Rugby Competition will be based on the Coast from August next year, and soccer's Olyroos are set to play internationals at the same venue.

The Kangaroos-Cats social facility would include an auditorium, restaurants, bars and gambling facilities and be operated under the banner of the Kangaroos Sports Club.

The complex would not include playing fields.

Although plans for the social club are only at a preliminary stage, it has been confirmed a five-member board, comprising two from Broadbeach and three from North Melbourne, had been established.

The Kangaroos have an agreement in place with the AFL to play 10 premiership games plus pre-season matches over the next three years at Gold Coast Stadium.

The Kangaroos are expected to earn about $1.5 million a season from the exercise.

But the cash-strapped Victorian club's meagre bank balance, and that of equally financially challenged Broadbeach, could be boosted significantly by returns from the social venture that could include 250 poker machines.

Project consultant Tony Lenan, a local solicitor and director of Firestar Developments, said the proposed club would bring big benefits to the Gold Coast as well as the two football clubs and would add to the AFL push into Queensland.

"We have had positive early discussions with Gold Coast City Council representatives and will now be advancing our preliminary planning pro-cesses," said Mr Lenan.

"The Kangaroos are very keen to increase their following and presence on the Coast and to work with the Cats to create substantial mutual success in the future."

The Southport Sharks, meanwhile, will keep fighting for an AFL licence.

President Alan Mackenzie was understandably disappointed to hear of the Kangaroos-Broadbeach liaison but described it as 'just another twist along the road'.

"We put our best foot forward to try and get a licence here on the Coast at a time when we thought one was available. If circumstances have changed since then, so be it."

Source: GC Bulletin

[DIEHARD]

WTF. This can't be for real, how could they get that off the ground.

Especially when we don't have a leagues club. :box:

[Titan_Matchu]

I don't get why so many Gold Coasters are so defencive over this the Titans will already have at the very least a three year head start on the AFL and I would prefer there being both an NRL and AFL team from the coast incase one starts doing bad.

[Nathalie]

IMO, AFL is some strange 'sport' that only people who got rejected from playing league play I come from Melbourne and I CAN'T STAND the sport!! No wonder AFL isn't a worldwide sport. I just hope that the AFL doesn't play any more games up here - *shudder* - but I do know that whatever happens, the league presence here is way too strong for AFL to even think about taking over.

[bondititan]

i'm a fan of all codes as they are different in all respects afl is like little athletics with a ball where league is wrestling comp you need to run in

[Queenslander]

AFL punts on Gold Coast
Chris Bassani
December 06, 2006 11:00pm

AFL chief Andrew Demetriou yesterday announced $30 million would be spent over the next five years on football development on the Gold Coast.

Demetriou was speaking at the Gold Coast launch of Melbourne club the Kangaroos at Southport Surf Life Saving Club. They will play 10 games over the next three years at Carrara.

Demetriou was flanked by Kangaroos chairman Graham Duff, coach Dean Laidley and players Adam Simpson, Daniel Wells, Nathan Thompson, Corey Jones, David Hale, Daniel Harris and Brent Harvey.

The league boss made it clear the AFL would be in expansion mode "for decades to come".

Demetriou hopes that by 2015 a premiership game will be played in Queensland in each round.

He promised the AFL would be a huge player on the Gold Coast and said the foundations would be set up in conjunction with the Kangaroos, AFL Queensland, Gold Coast City Council and the State Government.

The possibility of permanent relocation of the Kangaroos to the Gold Coast drew a guarded response from Demetriou and Duff.

"This is not a precursor to any relocation. We got behind the Kangaroos, who are prepared to be our partner in this venture for the next three years," Demetriou said.

"West Sydney and southeast Queensland are the fastest growing regions in Australia and it would not make sense not to be involved.

"Ideally, if you started with a clean piece of paper you would have two teams in Sydney and Queensland.

"In Queensland, I don't know what form it will eventually take but the AFL is not averse to a 17th team."

The process of building the foundations will be in the hands of a team of 12 people who aim to develop football at all levels and work with all stakeholders.

The AFL will help in the upgrading of Carrara which holds 14,000 people.

Demetriou believes a modern 20,000-seat stadium would be ideal but did not put a time frame on development.

He said the lessons learnt from the Canberra experience were that "if you get behind the community and stay for the long haul, they will get behind you".

Duff said: "The pleasing part of this venture is the interest shown not only by Gold Coast business but by national corporations who want to be involved with us on the Gold Coast."

"Carrara is now getting additional seating and we are very happy with all facilities, players, public and corporation."

Duff conceded being wary of joining with leviathan Gold Coast club Southport.

"They do a great job, they are very well run and I totally respect them," he said.

"But we didn't want to loose our identity. We want to stay the Kangaroos and we are very happy with our partnership with the AFL.

"We are open to co-supporting each other in a variety of ways with Southport or any other club including Broadbeach."

The Kangaroos will play four games in Queensland next year, three home games at Carrara and one away game against Brisbane at the Gabba.

Laidley said he had no concerns that the Kangaroos were playing home games in Queensland.

"We did it in Canberra and had a great winning record," he said.

"We will have clinics and work with the community as well as a practice game before we have our first game here.

"We are professionals and have the travelling situation these days down pat."

Carrara games for the Kangaroos are: round 4 v the Lions, April 21; round 8 v Carlton, May 19; round 12 v Adelaide, June 16.

The Courier Mail

[Future Star]

We dont want to flood the GC with sport teams so early, take it one at a time.
We need to wait before the NRL and NBL (next season) teams settle, theres already talk of a GC Soccer team...

[kioli]

We dont want to flood the GC with sport teams so early, take it one at a time.
We need to wait before the NRL and NBL (next season) teams settle, theres already talk of a GC Soccer team...

I reckon that the GC is big enough to support a 'big' team like the Titans and two smaller teams like the NBL and A-League clubs would be.

[Kingytek]

Kangaroos to move to Gold Coast: ex-GM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Kan...594402639.html
January 25, 2007 - 10:39AM

Former Kangaroos powerbroker Ron Joseph says it is inevitable that the club will eventually relocate to the Gold Coast fulltime.

The `Roos have signed a deal with the AFL to play a total of 10 matches at Carrara over three seasons, starting this year.

Joseph, a revered former Kangaroos general manager and board member who is a member of the club's hall of fame, said that number would gradually increase.

"Three games (per season at Carrara) will become six, six games will become nine, nine games will become 12," Joseph told Melbourne's Herald-Sun newspaper.

"I have no doubt about that and am happy for that to happen provided the North Melbourne identity is kept."

Joseph said the Kangaroos, who previously had Canberra as a second home before the switch to the Gold Coast, needed to make a permanent move to compete on an equal footing with other AFL clubs.

"If you are going to compete again, and when I say compete I mean to have a serious chance of winning a premiership, then they need to grab this opportunity," he said.

The club has constantly fought against speculation that its part-time move to the Gold Coast is a precursor for a full-time move.

President Graham Duff said Joseph had not been involved with the club for many years and he denied such a move was inevitable.

"Everyone wants to assume the Gold Coast is a foregone conclusion, but it is certainly not with us or the AFL," he said.