
Issue No 31		17 September 1999

Sport

George Piggins on Reclaiming the Game

You'll be hearing these words being repeated over the next few weeks as you the fans are asked to let the faceless people of the NRL know exactly what you think of their bumbling attempts to kill two clubs for next season.

And I can only hope that in this one last attempt to give the fans their say, that you'll come out in your tens of thousands for a rally planned for Sunday, October 10, at Randwick racecourse from 11am.

On Friday, representatives from Souths and Norths, with support from Manly and Newcastle, held a media conference to announce details of our protest rally and our intention to fight the NRL all the way down the line.

together with shadow foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton and State MP Deirdre Grusovin, the conference was also attended to by Norths Captain Jason Taylor and Federal Assistance Finance Minister Joe Hockey and was presided over by Andrew Denton.

It was a real show of strength and determination as each speaker outlined the inequities of the NRL criteria and the depth of feeling against what the NRL is trying to do to our clubs and our game. I don't think you could do a better job of sabotage if you tried.

But one thing became very clear at this conference. If anyone dares kick any team out of the competition, there'll be hell to pay.

We know this because since the media announcement, our fax machines at Souths have gone into meltdown. and our E-mail is even more clogged with thousands of messages of support from people all over the country.

this hasn't just come from Souths fans, but the rugby league public who are sick and tired of the NRL's tyrannical running of our game. The pledges of support come from fans of many of the former super league club whose futures are secure because they have the backing of New \s Ltd.

And each and every one of these messages from an angry and frustrated public is being forwarded to the NRL. As I've said many times before, people power is unstoppable. It can change governments and overthrow dictatorships and it can stop a community tragedy from occurring - the axing of any more clubs.

Our protest rally is a broad-based event and has already attracted very wide community support. The powerful Trades and labour Council in NSW has voted unanimously to support our efforts, so too have religious leaders, parliamentarians, media personalities, businessmen, tradesmen and the forgotten group in this whole debacle of the NRL - the fans.

I am a Souths person first and foremost, but I also believe supporters of other clubs have rights the same as us. They have the right to exist. After all, we have all contributed to propagation of the game.

If not for clubs like Souths, Norths, Manly and Penrith, this game would not hold the prominence it does in our part of the world.

If we have contributed to the betterment of the game, and there's no doubt about that, then we are all entitled to reap the rewards - and that is to have our community based club in the competition without unwarranted threats of death.

If the people speak, they can only be ignored at the NRL's peril. I am confident they won't just peak, but will scream the message so loudly it will deafen those who have so far refused to listen.

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Issue 31 contents

Interview: Sadly Vindicated
Laborďż˝s foreign affairs spokesman Laurie Brereton has spent the past year warning that East Timor would explode without a UN peacekeeping force. Now heďż˝s had to watch his predictions come true.

International: In the Bunker
One of the last reporters to leave East Timor, Workers Online's HT Lee remembers the week that Dili burned.

Republic: Tarred With the Same Brush
Neville Wran asks why it is that the most fervant monarchists are also the most eager union-bashers.

Unions: Hard Labour
Prisoner educators argue more attention needs to be given to rehabilitation through teaching, but theyďż˝re facing an uphill battle to convince authorities.

History: Labour and Community
A history conference in Wollongong next month will look at the changing role for labour into the next century.

Review: Bobbin' Up - 40 Years On
Forty years after its first publicaton and several European translations Bobbin Up, a classic of industrial fiction, is coming home.

Satire: East Timor Poll Triumph: Support for Jakarta Up 21 Per Cent
The Indonesian Government has declared that it is pleased with the result of the independence referendum in which 21% of East Timorese voted in support of maintaining links with Indonesia.

» Asylum Call for Independence Supporters

» Nurses Collect Vital Medical Supplies

» Industrial Faction for Pre-Conference Caucus

» Lees Backs Freeloader Laws

» Outsourcing Decision - Banks Under the Gun

» Reith Forces Truckies to Speed

» He Talks the Talk - But Can He Walk the Walk?

» Commission Tells AGC to Get Into the Nineties

» Cost-Cutting Puts Clinical Waste in Landfill

» Prisons Reject Free Computers

» US Defence Giant Eyes Welfare Sector