LL:ART: The Rabbitohs: "We never gave in"

[Communist Party of Australia]

The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper
of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday,
July 18th, 2001. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills.
Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795.
CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au>
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   The Rabbitohs: "We never gave in"

The decision on July 6 by the Federal Court which opened the way for the
South Sydney Rabbitohs to participate in next year's rugby league
competition, is an example of how the power of the people's collective
action can triumph over corporate greed. It was at once a blow against
the domineering and ruthless media monopoly and a victory for the
world-wide movement against corporate globalisation, of which the
takeover of sport is part.

by Tom Pearson*

The hijacking of rugby league by Rupert Murdoch is in concert with the
drive by the transnational corporations to appropriate anything and
everything that will turn a profit. Ordinary people everywhere are
fighting this with a deep-rooted determination, as was reflected in the
mass actions of Souths supporters.

The full bench of the Federal Court found that the Murdoch-controlled
National Rugby League (NRL) had acted illegally when it cut Souths from
the competition in 1999. The Court ruled that the NRL had breached the
Trades Practices Act; that the Club's exclusion was a restriction of
trade. Souths are now definite starters in the 2002 competition.

The decision casts the future of the forced mergers of other clubs in
doubt. Wests Tigers (Western Suburbs and Balmain), Northern Eagles
(Norths and Manly), and St George Illawarra were made to amalgamate when
Murdoch's News Ltd and Kerry Packer came to an agreement and News Ltd
set up the NRL.

It has been a long battle in and out of the courts -- funded mainly by
supporters - over the past two years.

Souths have won through because one of the elements which holds the
community together is their sport: sporting clubs operating as
membership-controlled entities; volunteer parents as coaches, managers
and organisers of their children's games; the vast and interconnected
schools sport system; publicly owned swimming pools, sporting fields and
cycle ways.

Such conscious awareness of ownership and democratic control fuels pride
in achievement and forges community relationships. Such connections can
run deep.

After Souths lost their first attempt in court, in December 1999, one
Souths member told how he and his father, who had died two years before,
had gone to nearly all Souths games since he was a child.

The very existence of the Souths football club was a link to the memory
of his father, a link that Murdoch would not understand and tried to
cut.

At the massive protests organised by Souths, News Ltd newspapers were
burned in the streets.

At the rallies, Club President George Piggins made the telling point
that if the other Clubs had refused to accept the mergers foisted on
them, the resistance against the hijacking of the game would have been
tremendously stronger. "We had faith in our supporters and our
community", he said. Unity is strength.

The Souths juniors' competition has been hurt as young players left to
try their luck at making grade in other districts.

"It's going to give all the children in the area something to strive for
now", said juniors' coach Darren McCarthy. "We have lost a hell of a lot
of kids to other clubs and other districts because they had no career
path through to a first- grade NRL team."

Following the Federal Court decision, George Piggins summed up the
community's never-say-die spirit: "We've been fighting for this day
since 1994, when the Super League war [Murdoch's breakaway competition]
started, and we're here today because we never gave in."

  * Tom Pearson is a life-long South Sydney supporter."
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