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The BIG thing that happened in Newcastle last night

Anthony Sharwood

by Anthony Sharwood

01 Apr 01:05pm

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Filed under: Nathan Tinkler, Newcastle, Newcastle Knights, Nrl, Rugby League, Satire, Sport

52 comments

Mining magnate Nathan Tinkler has a very BIG presence in Newcastle. He also has a very BIG bank balance. And as of last night, he has the green light for his $100m takeover of the Newcastle Knights NRL team. That’s BIG money.

A massive vessel on the wharf. In the background.

Tinkler’s people had to secure the approval of 75 per cent of Knights members last night. They achieved this comfortably, with 97 per cent of the 2,500 who turned out voting in favour of the Tinkler takeover. That’s a BIG endorsement.

The future of Knights CEO Steve Burraston, who originally opposed the bid, is now unclear. As the picture below the fold shows, he too is a very BIG figure in the Hunter region.

There ain't room in this town for the two of us. Literally.

Many extremely BIG Newcastle identities turned out in favour of the takeover last night, including Paul Harragon, aka The Chief, aka the man behind the consistently unfunniest segment in the history of television – the “THAT’S GOLD!” segment – which The NRL Footy Show refused to can for a bafflingly long time.

Why do Newcastle identities always get snapped with ships in the background?

Actually, what I am saying? It’s The Footy Show. Of course they thought it was funny.

Anyway, all in all, a BIG night for a BIG club which has won two BIG premierships in its 23 years, and which will now be placed to hit the BIG time again, a position they haven’t occupied since the dark days before Newcastle boy Mikey Robins’ lap band surgery.

Another sizeable Novocastrian. Pic: Marc McCormack.

In fact, this is the biggest thing to happen in Newcastle since that really BIG ship, the 76,741 tonne Pasha Bulker, got stuck off Nobby’s Beach.

In Newcastle, they call this a dinghy.

As for whether the takeover will ultimately serve the club well, that’s anyone’s guess.

On the positive side, Tinkler now owns 700 racehorses, the Newcastle Jets soccer team, some mines, some companies, some BIG cars, a couple of BIG houses and loads of other really BIG stuff. And it all seems to be in reasonably good nick.

That said, Knights fans will be hoping he goes a little easier on the team’s coaches and other personnel than he has on his racehorses trainers. By all accounts, at least five of Tinkler’s racehorse trainers have either been sacked or resigned. And he’s only been in the racing game a few years.

It’s way too early to call, but there are those quietly saying today that Newcastle could be in for a mighty BIG headache down the track.

Most commented

52 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Lenard says:

      12:11pm | 01/04/11

      Yeah, we got it. You think hes fat.  Nice one.

      Reply

    • AdamC says:

      12:21pm | 01/04/11

      True, Lenard, bit of a nasty edge here, Ant. The envy oozes out of every pore of this article!

      On the issue of rich dudes buying sports clubs, this seems like a new phenomenon in Australia. Haven’t we taditionally had more of a membership association model? This private ownership structure may alienate the supporters from the club.

    • Rosie says:

      01:26pm | 01/04/11

      Mr Sharwood, I am disappointed and therefore have to change my opinion of you.

      The first time I got to know you, you were, I thought joking Aussie style about Warnie’s new set of sparkling white teeth on his first TV show. It was obvious to the observant and when I read your article about it on Punch I thought it was a typical Aussie jurno write up of another Aussie with international fame.

      I have now changed my mind about you, I think you have what they call “the tall poppy syndrome” rip them down as fast as you can!

      Yes it was a big thing that happened in Newcastle last night, a man by the name of Nathan Tinkler with his millions of $$$$$$$$ was able to buy the Newcastle Knights NRL team. Good luck to him and how lucky are the Newcastle Knights and the people of Newcastle! Kudos to you Mr Sharwood for being observant yet again to describe to us Nathan Tinkler’s frame, something we can see for ourselves on TV.

    • Octavius says:

      12:20pm | 01/04/11

      Seriously Mr Sharwood…..and you get paid for this drivel?

      Reply

    • Nafe says:

      12:25pm | 01/04/11

      Don’t forget the other Big thing to happen was Liberal Party taking control of Newcastle for the first time ever. Well done Tim Owen and Team.

      Reply

    • Seano says:

      06:06pm | 01/04/11

      Speaking to family and friends who vote in Newcastle most of them see this as a one off clear out of some bad rubbish not the establishment of a new dynasty for the Libs.

    • richo says:

      12:49pm | 01/04/11

      I think Tinkler has talked a very big game, what with murmurs of ticket prices to be set at $3.75. The whole she-bang seems unsustainable to me. His idea of a Newcastle super club incorporating the Jets, Knights, a basketball and netball team plus his v8 supercar team make it seem like he has bitten off more then he can chew. His money won’t last forever and with tickets at $3.75 the revenue streams won’t be enough to sustain it in the long run.

      The people of Newcastle are rejoicing and in the short term they may love the bloke, but when those ticket prices start increasing and when the huge promised influx of money starts to dry up I wonder if they’ll still love the bloke.

      He better hope the NRL and A-League teams get better TV deals in the future as that is the only way the clubs will be sustainable with those ticket prices.

      Reply

    • Leo Marvin says:

      02:57pm | 01/04/11

      Yes but at $3.75 a ticket you will sell out the stadium, at present they are not anywhere near filling the stadium at $20-30 a ticket so effectively they will be recieving roughly the same amount in gate takings, however with more people there up goes your sales of beer, hot chips, ice-creams etc. Best leave the business side of things to NT richo, thats why he’s now the owner of 2 sports teams and your here commenting on the punch.

    • Gregg says:

      03:25pm | 01/04/11

      There’s something in that too Leo and if you take a place like Alice Springs as an example of melding sporting interests together, I can remember one club there that had a great social vibe because they had brought various sporting clubs together, something that in a place like Alice, separate interests staying separate would not have had the better social numbers.
      Newcastle has a far larger population but there is no reason that the principle could not work there either and in deed there could even be on field bonuses for cross fertilisation on fitness training ideas etc., who knows even with the racehorses!
      A few of our modern day mining magnates have been something of rags to riches stories and if the bloke can enjoy spending his money, he might as well for unless he gets into Biggest Loser weight mode, he may not be around for an awful long time.

    • richo says:

      04:11pm | 01/04/11

      Leo, he doesn’t own Ausgrid stadium (formerly Energy Australia), the Government do. The food and beverage company’s sign a lease with the stadium owner (the Government), so in no way will more food and drink sales help the Knights or Tinkler as he does not own the food and drink company’s within the stadium, nor the stadium itself.

      He rents the stadium. Just like if you rent a house, you don’t get part of the profits if the owner decides to sell it. Another example is if I were to rent a shop to start a takeaway, I would only have to pay rent to the owner, I would not have to pay a part of my profits to him.

    • Tim says:

      01:00pm | 01/04/11

      Yeah,
      that’s what I think too Ant.
      They may have fallen for the cash in the short term but I think there could be some very severe problems with this arrangement in the future.
      Tinkler is not some bottomless cash pit.

      Reply

    • Ben Gray says:

      01:00pm | 01/04/11

      I can’t believe I lost a minute of my day to this article. Please fire the author, out of a cannon, into the Sun. (With apologies to Futurama).

      Reply

    • Super D says:

      01:02pm | 01/04/11

      Seems like every one of the fat bastards mentioned has done more for the community than the author.

      Reply

    • Tony of Poorakistan says:

      01:11pm | 01/04/11

      I have no idea why anyone would want to buy an NRL team, especially Newcastle. I’ve driven past their ground when a game has been on and you’d swear there were more security people and cops than actual attendees. 
       
      Compare that to Football Park in Adelaide when the Crows are playing . . .

      I know which team I’d rather shell out a 100 mill for.

      Reply

    • Tim says:

      01:47pm | 01/04/11

      Yeah but Tinkler isn’t from Adelaide.
      And anyway, he filled his limit of pansy teams when he bought the Jets.

    • Lisa says:

      01:51pm | 01/04/11

      Tony, perhaps he bought the Knights because the fans are dedicated and stay at the ground until the dying minutes of the game. That’s why they have so much security, to assist with ground control at the end of the game. The crowd are rushing for their cars at 3/4 time in Adelaide, especially if the Crows are losing.

    • Nafe says:

      02:30pm | 01/04/11

      Tory, The Kinghts generally get in the top 3 crowds on average per year. They year they won the wooden spoon they averaged 17,000 people per game.

      Tinkler was born and bread in musswellbrook in the upper hunter.

    • Seano says:

      02:58pm | 01/04/11

      Having no idea what you’re talking about seems to be your MO. Newcastle have consistently the highest average home attendance in the NRL. The NRL also out rates AFL on TV.

    • Davo from St Kilda says:

      07:54am | 02/04/11

      @ Seano - no, rugby doesn’t out rate AFL on TV over the whole country. In fact, AFL has about double the average TV audience nationwide that rugby has. Get your facts straight, champ.

    • Anthony Sharwood

      Anthony Sharwood says:

      03:33pm | 02/04/11

      Hey Davo, are you looking forward to Karmichael’s debut tonight? I’ll be watching… pretty sure you’re a Blues fan, right?

      By the way, while we’re talking about getting our facts straight, I believe we’re talking about that great indigenous Australian game of rugby league, not rugby, right?

      Go the Suns tonight!

    • Martin Hopes says:

      03:47pm | 02/04/11

      @ Ant - At least Karmichael woke up and smelt the roses wink

      If he performs even half well than he will have done a good job…I’m tipping it will be too quick and tough for him!! - Cheers

    • Luke says:

      01:12pm | 01/04/11

      I think its a bloody good thing.  Im from the Hunter, not a knights fan (go the Panthers!!!) but the knights are such a integral part of the whole region.  I’m so glad they’ll be around for another 10 years at least, and they may win a premiership or two now they have a bit of cash.
      Ant, its not just the BIGGEST things that come from Newcastle, but also the BEST!!!

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      01:17pm | 01/04/11

      I know this gets said so often around here that it loses value after a while but this has to stand out as one of the poorest excuses for journalism or editorial cointent that The Punch has ever allowed to stain it’s website.

      When you strip away all the not so subtle fat jokes you are only left with the last two lines of actual content, and that content was small enough to have fit in a facebook status update.

      Sharwood, as deputy editor of The Punch you should be setting the tone, not dragging the site down.

      Reply

    • Andrew says:

      01:51pm | 01/04/11

      There was supposed to be humour in the piece? I just assumed you were once hurt by a fat person and felt the need for revenge, I never considered the fact that you were trying to be funny.

      Considering that 90% of the piece seemed to be a poor attempt at slagging off people’s girth and only a few lines were anything like “serious discussion” I don’t find it at all inappropriate for 90% of the comments to be “remorselessly bagging” you for what was, at the end of the day, an article done in pretty poor taste.

    • Tim says:

      02:25pm | 01/04/11

      Actually that reminds me Ant.
      Daylight savings ends this weekend.
      Dammit.

    • Tom says:

      02:37pm | 01/04/11

      Ants, far be it from me to kick you when you have sprung so valiantly to your own defence, but there were no seeds of “serious discussion” in your own piece. It was all “nudge, nudge, wink, wink”.

    • Anthony Sharwood

      Anthony Sharwood says:

      01:36pm | 01/04/11

      To those of you remorselesly bagging me, fair enough if you think the humour doesn’t work. That’s a fair cop.

      But really, it’s Friday, can we all lighten up just a little? This isn’t the world’s biggest story outside of Newcastle. Rather than commissioning, or writing, some heavy over-important piece about the philosophical and financial implications of private team ownership, we - or rather I - decide to treat the Tinkler takeover with a light brush.

      Commenters like Tim, Richo and Tony of Poorakistan have used the piece as a conduit to have a serious discussion of the issue, which is great. Sometimes the silly begets the serious and the other way round.

      Anyway, I started at 6am today. I’m going home to have a good sook now. Seeyas on the weekend

      Reply

    • JDM says:

      01:58pm | 01/04/11

      Oh Dear, poor journo starts at 6AM and is going home at 1.30pm! Pretty tough day at the office eh? All 7.5 hours work must really be killing you.

      Still it was pretty BIG of you to come on and defend your sense of humour (or lack of one).

      I love a good laugh, but this just wasn’t very funny.  Still 7 hours a day… good work if you can get it.

    • Anthony Sharwood

      Anthony Sharwood says:

      02:20pm | 01/04/11

      @JDM. I’m still here and willbe for a while, so there. Also you must be a Qlder, cos that was 2.30, not 1.30 when I chimed in earlier. Seeya again.

    • Jim Jam says:

      01:39pm | 01/04/11

      Fat Head slags off Fat Guts.

      Yep, real news value there.

      Or so the slapdash drones of Planet Murdoch fancy .

      Reply

    • Dee says:

      01:55pm | 01/04/11

      Well ANT, at least you’re a BIG enough man, to admit the BIG mistake you made, with the BIG time rant you made against, this not very BIG issue.  Have to give you a BIG pat on your BIG league writer, for BIG time newspaper back, at least for that!  Perhaps as an amends, to the BIG legion of readers who have been disappointed in this effort, you could write a piece based around something ANT sized?  Ok, stopping there… before I pre-empt, the topic wink

      Reply

    • JoJo says:

      02:06pm | 01/04/11

      I thought this was funny. And I’m fat. So there.

      Reply

    • Fat Bastard says:

      02:28pm | 01/04/11

      It’s well known that fat people like us have a better sense of humour than the skinny ones.  I bet the people whinging are all 50kg soaking wet.  Eat a few pies and learn to enjoy life.
      Just remember skinnies-us fat bastards can eat you.  Well, we could if we could catch you.

    • Cynic says:

      04:33pm | 01/04/11

      Fat people HAVE to be funny, they have nothing else going for them.

    • Woodsy says:

      02:45pm | 01/04/11

      I think there are enough serious articles flying around on this website to allow this one to slip through. Worth a shot, probably didn’t hit its mark, who cares. The BIGGER issue here is that it’s nearly happy hour!

      Reply
    • Anthony Sharwood

      Anthony Sharwood says:

      02:54pm | 01/04/11

      Woodsy, that is more sense than I’ve heard anyone talk all day. off for beers!

    • Rover of North Cooma says:

      02:59pm | 01/04/11

      I agree with everyone who thought this was dire. It wasn’t funny when Wayne Swan did it to Clive Palmer and it’s not funny now.

      Doesn’t anyone at The Punch have to run their stuff by another set of eyes before it goes online? Are there no standards at all?

      Reply

    • Seano says:

      03:10pm | 01/04/11

      I’m a long time member of the Knights and like the other 97% of members I voted for the take over.

      Whilst there has been lots of speculation over giving this one man too much power Jack Newtown on skyI’m a long time member of the Knights and like the other 97% of members I voted for the take over.

      Whilst there has been lots of speculation over giving this one man too much power Jack Newtown on sky news this morning alluded to problem if we hadn’t “I shudder to think what would have happened”. He’s right. The Knights typically post a half million dollar loss or a small profit, with 4 million in debts and no licensed club behind us we were a bankruptcy waiting to happen.

      What we needed was miracle or a benevolent benefactor. Tinkler’s deep pockets may just save the club and with investment in our excellent Rugby League nursery and a secure financial future there is every chance that the Knights will turn around over the next few years from top 8 hopeful to top 4 contenders.
      As for Burraston of course he opposed the deal he had a well-paid position that will likely now become redundant. IMO he’d done a shit job anyway, not sorting out our financial situation off the feel or putting a consistently competitive team on the field.

      Now if he can just talk Wayne Bennett into going to Newcastle the future would be really bright!

      Go the Knights!!!


      news this morning alluded to problem if we hadn’t “I shudder to think what would have happened”. He’s right. The Knights typically post a half million dollar loss or a small profit, with 4 mil in debts and no licensed club behind us we a bankruptcy waiting to happen.

      What we needed was miracle or a benevalent benefactor.

      Reply

    • Old Bert says:

      03:39pm | 01/04/11

      Anthony, an emphasis on BIG “can”, (got my fingers up doing the hook thing),  lead to the BIGgest Loser. That’s all I have to say. Nothing more worthwhile a comment here.The real question you’re afraid to ask, is whether the Knights will get Wayne Bennet as coach, isn’t it? The answer is NO, they won’t.

      Reply

    • Shirley Of Bankstown says:

      03:43pm | 01/04/11

      Poor little Nathan needs to spend time with his Aunty Shirley and I will slim him down with love and good heathy cooking. Hes sooooooooooo fat. Someone has to say it.

      Reply

    • Ben C says:

      04:04pm | 01/04/11

      Are we following the American model of sport too closely, where teams are privately owned by millionaires or billionaires instead of the members? Is this creating a level playing field, or are we relying on salary caps to provide that? I know that sport was moving towards being a business, what with the professional movement, but is it becoming too much of a business? Is it taking away the enjoyment factor?

      Reply

    • Seano says:

      06:03pm | 01/04/11

      Actually Tinkler sees the whole thing as an investment in his community. There’s no way you can make money out of running an NRL team.

    • Jojo says:

      08:40pm | 01/04/11

      Tell you what might create a level playing field - rolling Nathan Tinkler up and down it a few times…

    • jane wallace says:

      04:14pm | 01/04/11

      Newcastle Knights do not need Andrew Johns or Matty Johns now
      They will just win the NRL premiership anyway.

      Reply

    • Mick S says:

      06:32pm | 01/04/11

      You’ve really got to feel sorry for the BIG mining companies who are doing it so tough.
      No wonder they can’t afford a BIG NEW TAX.

      Reply

    • Spanky says:

      07:39am | 02/04/11

      I bet tinkler has heard all the fat jokes before, anyone who has some weight on has, nothing new here just another poor journo with low IQ and nothing important to say trying to be funny but failing.  I bet Tinkler could buy and sell your sorry arse many times over it would prob be cheap as chips after reading this crap.  Hey you should get a job in the mines work a decent day for a decent pay lol.

      Reply

    • Mick says:

      02:33pm | 02/04/11

      I get the sentiment of your drivel. But fat jokes? Really? The tenuous link to Mikey Robbins? Su Cruikshank was a great Novocastrian. She was also quite big. AND in a wheel chair for as long as I can recall! Perfect fodder. How about the BIG earthquake? Or even the BIG rock which stayed on a road near Nobbys Beach so long it became a moss-covered tourist attraction. The criticism of your “humourous” article is valid. It just proves to me you have no insight into the privatisation of the Knights and its impact on the team and the city. It also shows your ignorance as to the significance of the Knights to Newcastle. Pull that BIG bald head of yours in.

      Reply
    • Anthony Sharwood

      Anthony Sharwood says:

      03:31pm | 02/04/11

      How come you can’t call BIG people BIG but you can call BALD people BALD? Just askin’...

    • Ben says:

      05:13pm | 02/04/11

      Because you’ve defined him as being big. Would you have a photo caption of a bald man saying “look at that bald empty area, the desert in the background.”

    • Mick says:

      03:00pm | 04/04/11

      Pretty sure I mentioned your head was big as well, not just bald.

 
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