Southport Sharks Want the Kangaroos
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 6:08 pm
Wow, this is huge news:
Coast circles AFL team
Andrew Hamilton
March 18, 2006
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/s ... 10,00.html
QUEENSLAND could soon have its second AFL club, with a Gold Coast outfit bidding for the North Melbourne Kangaroos.
The Southport Sharks football club wants to buy a majority shareholding in the Kangaroos and relocate the AFL team to the Gold Coast.
Southport CEO Paul Wyatt said the Sharks had earlier made an unsuccessful takeover bid for the Kangaroos.
The Sharks had proposed buying a controlling interest in the Kangaroos, which would have relocated to the Gold Coast but would have continued to play half its home games in Melbourne.
The ambitious power grab was vetoed by the Kangaroos' board, with then chairman Allen Aylett a particularly strident opponent.
But the landscape has changed with Mr Aylett's departure at the end of last season and with the AFL growing increasingly keen to secure a presence on the Gold Coast, the Sharks are compiling a fresh bid.
"This (previous bid) hasn't been public knowledge, but it has been canvassed behind closed doors over a couple of years," Mr Wyatt said.
"Out of all the existing Melbourne clubs, the Kangaroos would be the easiest to acquire a controlling share of because they are privately owned.
"They couldn't see the vision under the old regime, but it's something we've recognised would work and we intend to continue to pursue it."
The Courier-Mail understands some of the Kangaroos' owners are growing tired of the club's continued poor financial performance.
Selling a share to the Sharks or becoming a fully members-owned club based on the Gold Coast would not only ensure the Kangaroos survival, it would underpin long-term financial stability.
The Sharks have 45,000 members, annual pokies-driven revenue of $200 million and $26 million in capital.
Mr Wyatt said it was unlikely the AFL would grant Southport its own licence and the club considered its best chance of entering the national competition was to form a partnership with an existing club.
That meant buying a majority share of the Kangaroos or backing the relocation of a struggling member-based club such as Hawthorn or the Western Bulldogs.
Southport has the backing of the Gold Coast council.
Mayor Ron Clarke said it was time the AFL realised there were too many Melbourne-based sides to make the competition a truly national one.
The AFL is bracing for a territorial war with the NRL in the fast growing Gold Coast region.
The Titans enter the competition next year and the AFL is clearly concerned about losing what support it has in the region to rugby league.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou made his intentions clear this week when he said the Gold Coast was the No. 1 priority.
