The solution is simple. Consistent, unwavering support year in, year out.
Sorry, I disagree with just about everything you said in that paragraph! There may be only 2189 members on this forum but are you suggesting the Sharks have only 2000 odd supporters in the Sutherland Shire? Clearly, that ain't true as we get about 10 thousand people to games each week, even though we are going poorly.
Like I said earlier, if everyone of those ten thousand were a member - and had been for ten years - we wouldn't be in this situation. There are more than enough Sharks supporters out there; they just need to put their money where their mouth is. As for Shire folk not being interested in the footy - we have one of the biggest junior comps in the world and Foxtel subscriptions in the Shire are one of the highest in the country. That's the problem, everyone likes the footy, they just won't get off their arse to support the team.
There was an article recently on the financial performance of each NRL club. One of the best was the Dragons owing purely to their large membership (20K+) base and strong merch sales. Like us, their Leagues Club is struggling and cut it's grant to the NRL club but they are going strong simply through bums on seats.
As for a rich benefactor, let's just see how that goes long term for these privately owned Clubs. It's early days yet but so far these Clubs have cost their owners millions of dollars. How long will they continue to put up with losing that sort of money? What happens if they decide to cut their losses and get out? Not alot of long term security there, I would suggest.
