I'm becoming more interested in the Australian game and particularly the teams in and around Sydney. I'd welcome any information from knowledgable contributors regarding the Sydney teams. Here's a few questions you could help me out with,

How many teams are there actually in Sydney, are places such as Penrith and Cronulla within the city limits or towns in their own right. Were they originally seperate from Sydney before the urban sprawl encompassed them ?
Who is the biggest club support wise, i.e if successful could pull in the biggest crowds ?
How many are still original individual clubs and how many are merged such as Wests Tigers for example ?
Do clubs historically draw support from certain areas, i.e directly around the stadium, or do some attract a city wide audience ?
Are there any particularly fierce rivalries between certain teams and their supporters ?
Do certain teams attract a more "working class" supportbase as opposed to teams in more affluent areas ?

Any replies would be appreciated, it always helps to get a flavour of the clubs rather than just reading match reports whilst not understanding the character and tradition of the clubs.

There are 9 clubs in Sydney (including St George Illawarra) at the moment and they are

Parramatta (Established in 1947)
Canterbury (Established in 1935)
Cronulla (established in 1967)
Penrith (established in 1967)
South Sydney (original club from 1908)
Sydney Roosters (established in 1908 were called Eastern Suburbs for 90 odd years, still the same club though)
Manly (Established in 1947)
Wests Tigers (merger between two original clubs starting back in 1908, Western Suburbs and Balmain, merged in 1999 I think)
St George Illawarra (Merged team from St George and Illawarra, Saints came into the comp in 1921, Illawarra (wollongong 1981)

Parramatta hate Manly, Canterbury, Penrith, Wests Tigers, Souths And St George Illawarra.
Canterbury hate Parramatta, St George Ill, Roosters, Wests Tigers and Souths.
Cronulla really only has a hate for St George Ill.
Penriths main rival is Parramatta followed by Wests Tigers and when winning, the roosters.
South Sydney hate everyone.
Sydney Roosters hate south's, Bulldogs, St George Ill and sometimes Parramatta.
Manly hate everyone and everyone hates Manly
Wests Tigers main rival would be Parramatta, followed by in no order Canterbury, Penrith, Souths, Manly, Roosters and St george Ill
St George Illawarra Hate Cronulla, Parra, Canterbury, Roosters, Souths, Wests Tigers and Manly.

The top 4 supported clubs are easily Parramatta, St George Ill, Canterbury and the Wests Tigers.

Each club can get big crowds when going well, Parramatta would have the biggest bandwagon though.

It's a myth about the working class, RL is followed all over Sydney, don't listen to what certain types from other sports say, it's bs.

Hope that helped, if you want to know anything else, I'll do my best mate.

Well explained EF...

Though I do have to disagree with the "working-class" myth. I think this is where the roots of the game always have and more or less always will be. Because of its sheer popularity in Qld and Aus, it is supported by everyone all ages, genders, ethnic backgrounds etc... But walk into any local Rugby league clubhouse to have a beer or watch a match and there is a distinct difference between the 'type' of crowd you will find there, compared to a local Rugby Union clubhouse... Yawnion still has that elite, snobby vibe about it and it is still evident I think. Not sure how things were down in Sydney, but I know in Brisbane, League is a game played mostly by public schools, while union is played mostly by private schools...

I think across the board, the two most hated clubs are easily Manly and Roosters, especially if they're having good seasons...


Depending on how 'into it' you're getting Leeds Owl, you may also be interested to read up on a few of the clubs who are no longer in the NRL, most prominently Newtown Jets and North Sydney Bears... Also, (sorry if you know this already, but) if you read up on the 'post-Super League' years you will see that South Sydney came very close to joining them in the lower leagues...

Yeah I agree about the snobs, but they still watch when no one is watching them if you know what I mean

langpark's correct of course.

In Sydney the foundation clubs from 1908 still exist and play in various grades, they just don't have a team in the first grade competition, which is at present called the NRL

North Sydney (Bears) 1908, forced to merge with Manly in 99 and bowed out of the joint venture despite it clearly saying in the contract that the licence would go to Manly if that happened. They play in the NSW Cup as Souths feeder side. U16s and U18s. They also played in U20s until 2008 when the NRL started a comp.

Newtown (Jets) 1908. After going arsé over tit financially in the early 80s still play in the NSW Cup. They are currently the Roosters feeder side.

Balmain (Tigers) 1908. Still have team in every comp NSW Cup, U16s, U18s as well as having a merged first grade side and U20s side with Wests (Magpies) who are exactly the same 1908 etc. etc.

Sth's have the biggest membership and if they can ever get it together on the field will arguably be the biggest club in Sydney

Sth's
Bulldogs
Tigers
St's

rest are small suburban clubs that struggle to draw a crowd and keep their heads above water financially



St's seem to have the biggest fanbase outside of Sydney of any of the teams

Most of them play in cr4p grounds not suited to where the game needs to head to. It is likely there will not be 9 Sydney teams by 2030 imo as the game once again strives to become national with big city clubs like Perth, Brisbane2 and Wellington eventually joining the NRL and small suburban clubs struggle to keep pace.

lol, JB, you just love winding up us eels fans.

Can't wait to see your team come back in so we can wipe that smugness from your face

yes I do enjoy a bit of fishing!

In all seriousness though I would love to see the IC buy Parramatta stadium, co invest with the NSW govt to spend $200mill creating a moden 35K seater stadium on the site and have an NRL owned stadium in the West that the Eels, Bulldogs and Tigers used.
I'd move Sth's and St's plus Roosters to SFS (criminal that the best RL stadium in Sydney gets used so little) and Manly, Panthers and Cronulla can stay in their small stadia with no fans until they realise that relocation is their best option.

There was talk a few years ago about redoing Parra stadium, 40k or so I think with a roof.

Would be an awsome stadium if that ever happened.

I could only see it happening if 3 clubs shared it. It is ridiculous that clubs keep trying to scrape a few million to improve all these sub standard stadiums. 35k would be fine with any massive blockbusters moved to ANZ. If Eels, Dogs and Tigers shared it, it would make it viable and much more likely the NSW govt would invest in it.

Clubs pay $100k lease fee to use it per game and keep the gate takings. That would be a nice $300k per game income if they avg 20k which is a hell of a lot more income than they are currently getting from their stadium deals.

Would also stop the game looking ridiculous on TV when you see 60k empty seats at ANZ.

If they are going to redo it, just put a 60k stadium there and be done with it.

The 3 teams when playing each other are getting bigger and bigger crowds each year, won't be long before they are getting 40k +.

I think it will be a long long time till any Sydney team avg's 40K+. a 35k stadium will be perfect for those three teams and then for any games that threaten 40k+ they can use ANZ which isn;t bad with that sort of number in it. Big issue at the moment is seas of empty seats at grounds, no point in having a 60k stadium that only gets 20-25k most weeks (and thats if those teams can pick up their crowds, Parras is nearer 15k isn't it?)