Poor relations !

Many people in the Illawarra will be enraged at the slap in the face the state government has delivered to this region.

At the same time that they voted twenty million dollars to Newcastle to build their western grandstand, they voted a mere eighty thousand dollars to progress the western grandstand at WIN stadium.

This money not even turns sod to get the seating underway. The money is to hire a consultant to determine if local business will finance the grandstand in return for shop space underneath.

This follows a similar delaying tactic in 2005 when then premier Bob Carr granted a hundred thousand dollars - for another survey to see if the hotel industry would build the grandstand in return for a hotel site.

The state government has valid reason to be cautious in spending money on WIN stadium. A question mark hangs over the head of the merger consortium of St George Rugby League club and the Steelers, imposed by the League against the wishes of both teams.

A sizeable proportion of St George supporters want their team to return to Kogarah when the merger agreement expires - and a similar number of Steeler supporters want to see their team remain in the Illawarra as a stand alone team.

The Steelers are very much the junior member of the amalgamation. St George retained their uniform and colours - and the Steelers gained a small name placement on that uniform. St George is totally financing the combined team with no input from the junior member's leagues club.

Half the home games are played at WIN stadium - and half played in Sydney. As a result, attendance figures by the supporting public are poor.

In comparison, the Newcastle Knights were permitted to remain a stand alone team by the League and they have fanatical supporters who fill their stadium for home games.
The state government has confidence that money spent on the Newcastle accommodation is money well spent, but in contrast they can not be sure that Wollongong will even have a team in the national competition a short time from now.

It would be ridiculous for a major city and it's huge surrounding area to be unrepresented in such a major sporting contest. It is up to the League to sort things out and put it's house in order.

If it fails to rise to the occasion it should remember that support for Australian Rules is on the boil and that code is looking to form a second team in Sydney and another on the Gold Coast.

If League turns it's back on the Illawarra it should not expect that gap to remain a vacuum - and if the Illawarra turns to a competing competition the state will quickly have a reason to complete seating capacity at WIN stadium !