The Burrow (supporters' group)

The The Burrow is an organisation linked to South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby League Football Club, based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

The group is independent of the club. Its primary aim is to represent the interests of the club's supporters, and facilitate lines of communication between the supporters and the directors of the club. The organisation was formed at a meeting at the Gorse Hill Hotel in Stretford in April 1995 as a protest group against official club policies regarding standing during matches.

The group have been opposed to foreign ownership of the club, opposing both the unsuccessful takeover attempt by Rupert Murdoch, and the later successful takeover by the current owners, the Glazer family. The group has also opposed rising ticket prices which they believe make the club's games inaccessible to the "true" owners, the supporters.

The South Sydney Rabbitohs continue to have a large supporter base in their traditional areas of South-eastern Sydney, despite having moved from Redfern Oval two decades ago, whilst also enjoying wide support throughout other rugby league playing centres around the country.[8] The official South Sydney supporter group is known as "The Burrow."[9] While their active supporter group is known as "Gate38" which is made up of young men who were involved in the "scumgate" scandal in 2013.[10] The Rabbitohs also have a large supporter base in Perth, where they rival the Fremantle Dockers in supporter size.

The Rabbitohs have the highest football club membership in the National Rugby League, with total membership exceeding 35,000 as of June 23, 2015. The total member number also includes more than 11,000 ticketed members to date, the highest of the Sydney-based NRL Clubs. It was announced during the 2010 Charity Shield game that both St George Illawarra and Souths had exceeded the 10,000 milestone, making the 2010 season the first time two Sydney clubs have entered the season with 10,000 ticketed members each. The club has members from every state in Australia and international members located in 22 countries. Football club membership had peaked at some 22,000 when the club was readmitted to the National Rugby League for season 2002.[11]

"Group 14", a collection of the club's backers which comprise an influential collection of businessmen, politicians and media personalities, was formed before the Rabbitohs' exclusion from the NRL in 1999.[12] Members included Andrew Denton, Anthony Albanese, Deirdre Grusovin, Mike Whitney, Laurie Brereton, Mikey Robins, Ron Hoenig, Nick Greiner, Ray Martin, Cathy Freeman, Candice Warner and former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally.[13][14] They contributed to South Sydney's bid for reinstatement, following the club's exclusion from the competition at the end of the 1999 season. A sustained campaign of public support that year, unprecedented in Australian sporting history, saw 40,000 people[15] attended a rally in the Sydney CBD in support of South Sydney's cause.[16][17] In 2000 and 2001, public street marches took place in Sydney with in excess of 80,000 people rallying behind the Rabbitohs.[18] The club also has a number of high-profile supporters as well, many of whom were dominant figures in their battle to be readmitted into the premiership in 2000 and 2001.[19][20] In 2007 supporters set a new club record for attendance with an average home crowd figure of 15,702 being the highest ever since the introduction of the home and away system in 1974.[21][22]

The Burrow Appreciation Award

Season Winner Ref
2007 Paul Mellor
2008 Luke Stuart
2009 Nathan Merritt
2010 Chris Sandow
2011 Michael Crocker
2012 Adam Reynolds
2013 Issac Luke [23]
2014 Sam Burgess [24]
2015 Jason Clark [25]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/city-east/nrl-grand-final-south-sydney-rabbitohs-supporters-group-the-burrow-in-full-voice-for-big-game/story-fngr8h22-1227077930034
  2. ↑ http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/burrow-call-the-tune-as-diehards-sing-their-heroes-praises-20120916-260lp.html
  3. ↑ http://www.triplem.com.au/sydney/sport/nrl/news/2013/9/rabbitohs-fan-chris-dounis-has-membership-revoked-for-offensive-scum-sign/
  4. ↑ http://www.cairnspost.com.au/sport/local-sport/south-sydney-rabbitohs-and-newcastle-nrl-fans-hop-on-down-to-the-best-game-in-town-at-barlow-park-cairns/story-fnjpuwsz-1227012478907
  5. ↑ http://www.theavenuesurfers.com/the-burrow/
  6. ↑ http://the-burrow-songs-rabbitohs.soft112.com/
  7. ↑ http://southsydneycentral.webs.com/documents/The%20Burrow%202011%20Song%20Book.pdf
  8. ↑ "Supporter Groups". South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club. Retrieved 26 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "About us". theburrow.com.au. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  10. ↑ "Fans Banned For Scum Sign". Triple M. 13 September 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
  11. ↑ Jackson, Glenn (20 December 2006). "Pride in the Rabbitohs jersey – and dollars, too". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  12. ↑ "Mission Impossible" 23 September 1999 Australian Story archives at abc.net.au
  13. ↑ Swanton, Will (5 March 2006). "Souths power bloc backs Crowe bid". The Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  14. ↑ Walter, Brad (18 February 2006). "Souths support group enters Crowe fray". The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia: Fairfax Media). Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  15. ↑ Reclaiming the Game: Fandom, Community and Globalisation, by Michael Moller, from the APINetwork website.
  16. ↑ In George We Trust, produced by Helen Grasswill, Australian Story transcript, 2 August 2001, from the ABC website.
  17. ↑ See the chapters Reclaim the Game and Taking it to the Streets in Mark Courtney's Moving the Goalposts, Halstead Press, 2000.
  18. ↑ See "The Souths Revival", page 150 of Strategic Sports Marketing by David Shilbury, Shayne Quick and Hans Westerbeek, Allen & Unwin, 2003 at Google Books
  19. ↑ See South's 2009 Corporate Partnership Brochure.
  20. ↑ "Warne's new job: being Shane Warne". The Sydney Morning Herald. AAP. 7 January 2007. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  21. ↑ "Rabbitohs make ANZ Stadium home for next 10 years". rleague (from a South Sydney press release). 8 Feb 2008.
  22. ↑ http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/about/supporter-groups.html
  23. ↑ http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2013/10/10/issac-luke-collects-the-2013-the-burrow-appreciation-award.html
  24. ↑ http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2014/10/10/sam_burgess_collects_the_burrow_appreciation_award_for_2014.html
  25. ↑ http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2015/10/09/jason_clark_collects.html

External links

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