From News.com.au  15 November 2000


THE South Sydney faithful are rallying to the cause. In one of the biggest protest marches seen in Sydney in recent years, 80,000 people filled the streets last weekend. 


The talk is of court appeals. Reclaiming the game. Revolution.


But the talk within the South Sydney boardroom was very different in May last year, five months before the NRL's deadline for transition to a 14-team competition, upon the receipt of a bluntly worded assessment prepared by consultants to the club.


That, and another document obtained by The Australian, paint the picture of a club unable to even field a team the next season, irrespective of whether it passed the NRL's criteria. It is a picture steadfastly rejected by Souths chairman George Piggins, who accuses the consultants once hired of working to undermine, rather than preserve, the club's future.


It is also a picture Souths would have preferred not to be seen at all, particularly by those flocking to the Rabbitohs' cause. Lawyers acting for Souths moved to prevent them being tendered as evidence in the Federal Court. The same lawyers last night attempted to prevent the publication of this story.


The documents were prepared by Complete Marketing, a consultancy commissioned by the club's Number 14 supporter's group and paid $270,000 by the Souths Juniors Leagues Club to review the club's management structure and improve its marketing. Their contents are generally known within NRL circles. They were available to the other clubs which joined the NRL in response to the Federal Court action. Neither has been published before now.


The purpose of their publication some 13 months after Souths were axed as an NRL club is not to rub salt into the wounds of Souths supporters or defend the way the NRL applied its contentious criteria. Federal Court Justice Paul Finn has already found the NRL -- part-owned by News Ltd, publisher of The Australian, -- was right in law, though perhaps only in law. Souths have vowed to appeal.


But at a time when the debate over Souths is well and truly alive, the documents provide an independent assessment of the financial situation faced by the foundation club in its final year in the NRL and an insight into the political machinations controlling the Souths boardroom at the time.


The first document, written by Complete Marketing director Bernie Lange to George Piggins on May 4, 1999, is an interim report of its management review. After a month inside the club, Lange warns Souths "lacked professionalism in the majority of its practices" and the "management skill base to compete with other NRL Clubs on even terms both on and off the field."


There was also the problem of a "recurring and potentially insurmountable funding problem". The club faced an estimated revenue shortfall of $700,000 and a "near impossible task" of meeting its budget for the 1999 season.


"Without an immediate and massive overhaul of the Club's management infrastructure and practices the Club will not be in a position administratively or financially to field a team in the NRL competition in 2000, regardless of the NRL criteria," the report concludes.


The second document, written by Lange's associate, Mark Colley, is dated November 20, five days after the club learned it was out of the NRL competition, and addressed to Souths Junior Leagues Club president Henry Morris.


"The club being excluded from the NRL was absolutely inevitable," it reads. "The club has never had a Plan B to deal with the outcome of the criteria process. It did not approach the issue strategically and as a consequence has had such a distorted view of the process it has been incapable of responding appropriately and in many cases reasonably.


"It is our view that George Piggins, as club chairman, has perpetuated and generally been responsible for this practice and was allowed to by the previous board. He has not offered leadership at crucial times in the board's decision making process, preferring to conduct any debate inside the club about its future in public through the media.


"In many respects the football club has no-one to blame for its predicament other than itself. A lack of money is an effect, the News limited imposition of the criteria is an effect. The root cause ... is the football club itself."


The letter gives particular mention to the club's long-held practice of lending money back and forwards between the football club and leagues club. The leagues club is in serious financial difficulty now and has been since it borrowed $6 million for a major redevelopment in the early 1990s. Colley warns the football club is "wasting away" as a result of this "rob Peter to pay Paul" mentality.


Neither Andrew Denton or Michael Whitney, leading members of Number 14, could be contacted last night.


But George Piggins, a man who stood atop the steps of Sydney Town Hall last Sunday to urge the faithful on, completely dismissed almost every finding within the documents.


In an interview with The Australian granted before the intervention of Souths solicitor Nicholas Pappas, Piggins characterised Lange and Colley as fly-by-nighters intent on winding up the club's 92-year history from the moment they walked in the door.


Piggins rejected Colley's assessment that the club was insolvent. He said the club was $1.8 million in the black at the start of the 1999 season and was owed $1 million in outstanding league grants.


Piggins said he was "locked out" of the decision-making process by Lange and Colley, who both served as club chief executives, and the Millennium Committee, a body largely comprised of members of Number 14.


Piggins accused Complete Marketing, along with some members of the board, of pursuing secret merger talks behind his back.


"The reason they never got their own way at Souths was because of me," Piggins said.


"I stood in their road and stopped them from saying we were insolvent when we weren't.


"If we were insolvent according to the Complete Marketing documents, how was it that the NRL deemed us to be solvent when we passed the first cut of the criteria?"


Lange stands by his assessment. He argues Souths were insolvent because at the time, it was more likely the club would have to answer its major creditors -- most notably the leagues club -- before it heard from any of its major debtors.


As to clandestine plans to pursue a merger or remove Piggins from the board, Lange denied the allegation. "We were employed as consultants to advise the club on the facts," he said. "All the information was shared appropriately."


Piggins is a hero to the faithful. Under his chairmanship, the fight to save South Sydney has become a rallying point for anyone disaffected not only with the NRL, but professional sport and modern society.


Former Rabbitohs captain Sean Garlick told Sunday's crowd to "maintain the rage".


But one inside view is that more reason and less rage would have served Souths better.


There were board members, notably Botany mayor Ron Hoenig and NSW State Government Minister Eddie Obeid, who wanted to explore the option of a merger to at least guarantee a South Sydney presence in the competition. Anyone who attempted to raise the issue was immediately branded a traitor.


"George was not going to be the person to sell out Souths and those loyal to George remained loyal right up to the point of self-immolation," one insider said. "It became a cause celebre against the NRL and News Ltd."