St.George Leader
21 March, 2006
St.George-Illawarra Dragons are not for sale, at any price.
This was the message yesterday from Dragons chief executive Peter Doust and the Dragons' biggest stakeholder, St.George Leagues Club, now rolling in cash once again.
Speculation the Dragons, one of the NRL glamour clubs, could be sold stemmed from the 24 per cent shareholding WIN TV secured last week - one week before St.George Leagues' Club board elections and its annual general meeting.
Members have until this Thursday to vote on three positions, with Leagues Club and Dragons chairman Warren Lockwood, former Dragons chief executive Brian Johnston and businessman Ralph Piggott up for re-election at this Sunday's AGM.
They face challenges from the Dragons activist group R2K (Return To Kogarah) which has put up Troy Felice, Nick Stojanovski and James Young as alternatives.
The financially hard-hit Illawarra Steelers sold off almost half of their shareholding in the joint venture club to WIN, allowing the Steelers to repay most of the $8 million loaned to them by St.George Leagues Club.
Danny Robinson said yesterday that the cash payment of $6.34 million off the principle debt and $160,000 in interest places St.George Leagues Club in a "sound financial position", with $10 million in cash reserves.
Robinson made it clear St.George would not be selling off its 50 percent shareholding in the Dragons. And Peter Doust said the club was "not for sale, at $50 million or any price. Not while St.George and the Illawarra Steelers are involved in the business of propagating rugby league."
Andrew Gordon, executive chairman of WIN Corporation and owner of Australia's largest regional television network, said at last week's announcement that he did not intend for the district to "lose hosting NRL matches to WIN Stadium".
The deal is conditional on the Dragons arranging a new licence agreement with the NRL until 2011 and negotiating a similar-term agreement with Wollongong Sportsground Trust to allow WIN Stadium to host half of the Dragons' home matches, along with an NRL pre-season fixture annually.
Andrew Gordon will be appointed to the Dragons board as one of the Steelers representatives, along with WIN Corporation chief executive George Papadopoulos, in an ex-officio capacity.
Warren Lockwood said an essential component of the Dragons strategy was "sustaining viability of the Steelers and their contribution to the Dragons".
He said the repayment of capital and interest on loans will enable the St.George licensed club to plan for its next phase of refurbishment and better cope with the pressure from increasing poker machine tax.
Doust said a cynical person might suggest the Dragons would have been better off "battling along without the Steelers and not playing in Wollongong".
"However, we would not have managed to develop the might of our vast
rugby league power base, stretching from here right through to Batemans Bay and which rivals the Penrith and Parramatta districts, even Brisbane."
Robinson said while the Steelers had experienced loan repayment difficulties, they had, in fact, contributed $900,000 in cash into the joint venture partnership in the past two years."
"In a commercial sense, it was better the Steelers contributed to the football side of things and not to the tax-man," he said.
Privately, they're worried
St.George Leader - Tuesday, March 21, 2006
St.George lobby group R2K is concerned about the precedent of private investment in the St.George-Illawarra Dragons.
"If you can awake one morning and discover that 24 per cent of the Dragons has been bought by a private company such as WIN TV, what checks and balances are in place to stop St.George and Illawarra from selling the remainder of the Dragons without consultation from members?" Dragons board candidate James Young said.
R2K is running three candidates for this week's St.George Leagues Club election and a key policy of its campaign is that the Illawarra Steelers should be charged full interest on their $8.29 million concessional loan with St.George Leagues.
R2K believes the Illawarra Steelers will still struggle to meet their funding commitments to the Dragons.
Young said: "I'm sure club members welcome the return of essential funds, but it must be remembered that the Steelers have failed to pay interest on just over a million dollars in the last 12 months. While the WIN rescue package reduces the Steelers' debt crisis, nothing has changed to suggest that they will be able to pay interest on the remaining $1.8 million or reduce the amount of funds that St.George has to grant to the joint venture each year."
The R2K candidates are seeking an additional NRL match at OKI Jubilee Stadium, want to revive St.George Leagues Club's auditorium and Grange Restaurant and want improved entertainment, sport and social club facilities.
Dick Caine is among local identities who have voiced their support for the R2K candidates.
St.George businessmen Rajni Kant and Dennis Preece have also put their names up for election at this week's AGM.
