The city has also supported a successful sporting team for 100+ years in the form of the Cats, in addition to providing Socceroos from the local region. Participation numbers don't show the whole story, as shown by Sydney FC who continually fail to draw a crowd befitting of their stature in spite of gargantuan participation numbers in NSW.

@Waz
Upset Smurf. 
The premise of the bid that i heard from Craig Foster on interview is that they are taking the untapped population in Sydney's south around St. George/Hurstvile down to Sutherland Shire. 
Just lazy from the Smurfs in not trying to tap this area fully. Just like when the Wanderers started. I live in the far west of Sydney and never wanted to travel to Eastern Sydney to watch football especially when it was all bling and more like Hollywood. Sydney FC let 2 players visit my grassroots club before the Wanderers were formed and these 2 players were NOT allowed to kick a ball with the 30 or so kids there that night. You might guess my reaction.
Back on topic, the Wollongong bit imo has no substance as it is geographically separate. The other issue with Wollongong is that Wolves think they own that region. Wollongong should be separate but probably a new franchise.

@ kaifusi

So the worst bid in the country has a $300m stadium planned, a dedicated training ground and is backed by Chinese billionaires... what does the best bid look like then lol?

I get all the other stuff you’re talking about (community engagement etc) but that can’t start until the ffa release a formal date and that mythical criteria they keep promising to release.

But in reality it's 3712 registered players. Considering the HAL only converts less than 1/5th regular participants in to attendees, it doesn't inspire much confidence.

But of course FFA is the sort of organisation that would jump on the bid becaues of some ideological fascination with getting the game on to channel 7 so we can get neutered again

Newcastle'd be a better analogy, IMO.

If you've got 12 teeth, you're overqualified.

This bid is most probably the worst of all the applicants across the country. A complete mess. They just say random things like "of course everyone will love us, why wouldn't they?"

They seem to completely ignore the fact that the Gong want nothing to do with them, and all the hardcore football fans in the area are already members of another club. 

No research, no fan forums. Just big names and Chinese money. A completely hollow bid which is the last thing the league needs right now. We needs bids from passionate owners, passionate locals who are going to support their team til the end, win or lose, and give the league a real boost of enthusiasm. Southern expansion are even more plastic than Melbourne City. 

The region has a smaller population than the Illawarra and they have less than half the number of registered players but the point that ways strongly in their favour over the Illawarra is that it is part of the Melbourne TV ratings region which is a big plus if we ever get onto a major FTA channel.

What's Geelong like as a town? I never hear anything about it. I know they love their AFL team and that's about it. Is it like a less attractive Victorian version of Wollongong? 

We can also lay claim to Steve Horvat, Matt Spiranovic as well as Australia's greatest Socceroo - Adrian Leijer

Apart from if you ask him what he thinks of the HAL

Well that settles it surely geelong gets a gig?

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/totalfootball/ep-16/8042650

Geelong - he's a junior coach at the North Geelong Warriors these days, as well as running coffee distribution business.

Where does Skoko live these days?

all for a Southern bid to represent Sutherland region, but only if Wollongong have their own side. 

They don't deserve to be grouped with that.

Who cares if every Socceroo came from there ?

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.

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. 

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.

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

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.

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...

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

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. 

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

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

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?

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.