Doesn't matter - it won't be there long. It is too valuable a piece of real estate. Close to 2 stations - it will be sold for medium or high density housing. Better for the Southern Expansion bid to quickly build their stadium so St George can have a place to play (that football would control).      

Shark Park alienates too many of their target audience. That is the reason for the stadium at Loftus. It can draw from both the Kogarah line and the Sutherland line. They should concentrate  on the Shire, St George and even Canterbury-Bankstown areas and leave the Gong out of it.

Wollongong is not part of the Sydney tv zone. They will not get their own team over a bid like this.

In fact it puts them quite down the list.

It would be even better and much cheaper if they played all their games at Win Stadium in Wollongong. Then I'd get behind them even if they technically represented Southern Sydney. I'd even support giving a couple of games each season to Kogarah!

Just think tas, canberra, woolongong, fnq, fremantle, geelong and one each from a capital should form their own league. Ffa obviously dont give a f and will always chase the biggest shiniest dollar leaving other regions with crumb and gestures, breeding resentment and mistrust at every step. There is no intent to ever let teams outside major capitals in and so funds should somehow be found to make another league and F FFA and their requirements.

100% 

As a Sutherland shire native I can assure everybody on this forum there is no identity connection between us and the Gong. I and most others here view people from northern Wollongong the same as we view people from Lake Conjola: You're all "south coast" to us. 

The naivety of this bid frustrates the hell out of me and my objections have nothing to do with being a Sydney fan. 

Come on now, there's no need for insults. 

The feeling is more than mutual lol

It would create a tense rivalry tho if both Southern Expansion and the Wolves were admitted, but it would never happen 

I've never known someone from Cronulla. But in the years I lived in Canberra I met a few people from the Gong. They hated the shire with a passion.

Why did they hate the shire? Personally, I'm completely indifferent to it. Cronulla is nice enough for a visit about once every 6 years (though apparently full of surfie Anglo racists). Sutherland is just a train stop on the way to Sydney. I see no reason to hate it. At least it's close to the beach. Western Sydney, on the other hand, is the most miserable collection of places I've ever been to. I hate the West with a passion (but feel affection for the Wanderers and their fans for some reason). 

theres gonna be alot of them if sydney fc and melbourne victory continue to dominate. i have high hopes for newcastle jets to keep improving, knowing that the ledman group is looking after the club well

its up to everyone, including my team to catch up.

oh and im pretty confident wollongong wolves will be in the a-league one day. just support the new side for now and when wollongong do come in to the league, stab em in the back.

St George fans usually. Others hated the anglo centric racism. One guy said there was no way of explaining shire boganism because it's relatively affluent, they were just genetica bogans. another couple hated it because it was "taken over by lebs" (their sentiments). Another couple simply "dunno just do."

Maybe it's a one way thing like the Adelaide/Melbourne rivalry?

Whatever it is, I can't see much shared identity when you've got 45 km of forest separating the two areas.

I'm guessing you are from east of Gymea. Most native shire folk from east of Gymea only reluctantly consider Sutherland to be part of the Shire, Loftus southwards may as well be Wollongong. From the southern suburbs of the shire perspective this bid makes a lot of sense. I grew up going to schools that were populated by half shire and half Illawarra kids. Most people around here spend just as much time in Wollongong as in the shire.
In terms of the bid I am more concerned about the Kogarah element than the Wollongong.

@chill

The way you explain it seems like the Shire would have a better connection with Wollongong than the North East or North Western parts of outer Sydney that also fall under the SFC banner.

Their lifestyle is the most similar but these regions like to keep to themselves, and are so far removed from each other that the only time people from either the Shire or Northern parts of Sydney go to either opposing area is to have a short holiday. 

There use to be an old saying in Wollongong that to get to the shire you needed to have your passport stamped.

The geographical ties bind the areas but they are so far removed from each other culturally that it’s not funny. Wollongong is very multi-cultural whereas The Shire is seen more as Anglo-Saxon...well that’s the way I was bought up to think of it tbh lol

Sooner ICAC expose this the better

If that's the case then this bid is doomed to fail. Sounds like it'd be the equivalent of a joint-Geelong/Melb Western Suburbs team.

Funny that Iemma's even involved, given he fought for the monoethnic clubs' right to exist in the NSL's final decade.

And we continue with the same model with little on any known research to work forward with.

We continue with this Franchise Farce.

Populate a 2nd Division now!

Base entry to the 2nd Division on Facilities existing or confirmed.

Allow 2nd Division Clubs to establish, consolidate and develop their football culture and human infrastructure.

Expand A-League by promotion.

How Hard Is It?

I've always found Wollongong's ethnic diversity to be very similar to the Shire's, at least the North of Wollongong. Looking up the census data it shows both areas are very similar in ethnic makeup and population size. With the question over of what Australian descent means in either area. Most people are of predominantly English/Irish decent. Wollongong just has a slightly larger Balkan population.

https://profile.id.com.au/sutherland/ancestry?WebID=10
https://profile.id.com.au/wollongong/ancestry

bring back the Fury :) but seriously

Phase 1
Canberra & Wollongong teams now..
Phase 2
3rd melbourne team ( sth melb )
Tassie team ( if they build recatngular stadium )
Phase 3
Second div 
Phsae 4
Pro/Rel

It's not about ethnic diversity, but geographical distance. Sutherland is 56km north of Wollongong city. It's much too far. They're completely and utterly separate regions with no natural connections,  so it seems crazy to expect me to support a team based in Sutherland. They may as well be in North Sydney and claim they represent the Illawarra. It's just stupid. 

What geographical ties? They're not even that close. 

I have a hard time understanding your post from a geographical perspective. You make Wollongong sound much closer to the shire than it really is. I know of no schools populated by half Illawarra and half shire kids. Where are they? Also, it's ridiculous to say that Loftus is practically Wollongong, being 54km away...

They're both South of the Georges River...hence why they're "geographically tied".

Like I said before, many feel that Wollongong is a southern suburb of Sydney, yet there is such a distance (56kms including the National Park) between the outer suburbs of Sydney, and the Wollongong area, it's hard to really feel close to anything that will be based out of the Shire.

You will probably find that a lot of kids from Helensburgh / Stanwell Park travel to Heathcote or Engadine to go to High School...its closer than Bulli High from memory.

I'd suggest that's the area where chillbilly is referring to

I'm pretty sure that Stanwell Park is closer to Bulli than it is to either Engadine or Heathcote, though you do have a point about Helensburgh. Still, Helensburgh is the very northernmost suburb and is hardly representative of Wollongong as a whole. It's so far removed from everything else that it's barely in the Illawarra at all.

That is where I am referring to. Its not as clean cut a divide as many make it out to be. I'd expect Loftus down to Coalcliff and a lesser extent down to Bulli to have a number of people willing to go either way.

Derider, I wasn't saying Loftus southwards is part of Wollongong but commenting on the insular attitude of many within the shire towards other parts of the shire. 

Love it when anyone tries to justify a bid by saying that 2 top (Australian) players have come from the area in the last 60 years...  Wow...  TWO of them.  Must be a hotbed.