Secret merger talks that would have delivered 1999 NRL premiership
WHILE Melbourne Storm are entrenched as an NRL heavyweight these days, secrets talks from 20 years ago could have delivered those riches to the Gold Coast.
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GOLD Coast’s NRL history could have been lined in riches – including the 1999 premiership – if secret plans for a merger between the Chargers and Hunter Mariners had gone ahead.
In revelations that could have drastically shifted Gold Coast’s sporting landscape, Paul Broughton, the godfather of rugby league on the Gold Coast, has revealed the clandestine talks at the end of the 1997 season in which the Chargers would have accessed multiple Origin and Test stars.
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Those players largely ended up at the team that did get the green light for entry, the Melbourne Storm.
With the Super League war ending in 1997, the Mariners were stripped of their licence under a streamlined competition planned for 1998.
Gold Coast’s national league incarnation, the Chargers – who had in 1997 qualified for the finals for the first time – were also due for the scrapheap.
ARL powerbrokers held talks with then Chargers CEO Broughton about merging the Gold Coast and Hunter, or even possibly the Chargers and financially-crippled South Queensland Crushers.
While unaware of the financial machinations behind any deal, Broughton said under the proposal some of the club’s home games would be played in the Hunter region.
Talks were so advanced both clubs had agreed Mariners CEO Bob Ferris would head up the merged entity.
However, the plans were ultimately rejected, leaving the newly-created Storm to absorb many of the young talents – including future internationals Scott Hill and Brett Kimmorley – into their roster.
Within two seasons Melbourne would shock the NRL and claim the premiership.
Tomorrow, the Storm contest a ninth grand final amid an 18th playoff campaign in 21 seasons.
That success, Broughton says, could have been ours.
“I believe in year two we would have won the premiership just as Melbourne did. We would have won in 1999,” the long-serving administrator, 88, told the Bulletin.
“Think of the team they would have had plus with the players the Chargers had. You would have had a very useful unit.
“Some of those junior players went on to play State of Origin.
“The negotiations that went on, I wasn’t privy to the amount of money.
“But I was privy to the discussions that if the Hunter Mariners were to merge with the Chargers and play here with a certain amount of games in Newcastle then News Limited (publisher of the Gold Coast Bulletin) would guarantee a five-year tenure.
“If the offer was taken up Melbourne Storm would have never made it and we would have been the team (playing today).
“If it had come off it would have been absolutely powerful.”
Late ARL director Tom Bellew, who also held the role of Chargers chairman from 1996 to 1998 and whom Broughton described as a “smart man”, ultimately opted against any merger given Gold Coast’s strong financial position and “great Carrara Stadium deal”.
The Chargers, though, would wind up at the end of the 1998 season – in which they finished 19th out of 20 teams – as the united competition sought to cull club numbers.
Broughton resigned as CEO at the end of the 1997 season but admits to a broken heart when the Chargers did fold.
“I couldn’t see any real future on the Gold Coast without the assistance of the ARL,” he said.
“When all the mergers went on it broke my heart.
“They were going to cut teams and the Gold Coast was always going to be one.
“What people failed to realise is that we had three teams – firsts, reserves and under 20s.
“It’s heart breaking for me but I could see what was going to happen.”
Broughton can only dream of the impact a merger could have had on a Gold Coast sporting landscape crying out for success to this day.
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“Nothing unites a city more than a winning football team,” he said.
“I saw Newcastle in 1997 and overnight people from outside areas became Novocastrians.
“That would be the same on the Gold Coast; people everywhere would become Gold Coasters.”
Broughton spent the seasons following the collapse of the Chargers trying to revive an NRL franchise in the city, a dream that bore fruit in season 2007.
“I honestly think 2019 is going to be a big year for the Titans,” he said.
“Nobody from the Gold Coast goes to live in Sydney or Perth, they all come to live here.
“Even a (rugby league) stalwart like myself, I fully hope the AFL is successful because for this city to be successful we need all codes going well.”
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MARINERS AND CHARGERS MERGED TEAM
1. Robbie Ross (Mariners)*
2. Marcus Bai (Chargers)
3. Graham Mackay (Chargers)
4. Kevin Iro (Mariners)
5. John Carlaw (Mariners)*
6. Scott Hill (Mariners)*
7. Brett Kimmorley (Mariners)*
8. Martin Bella (Chargers)
9. Richard Swain (Mariners)*
10. Troy Stone (Mariners)
11. Scott Sattler (Chargers)
12. Tyran Smith (Mariners)
13. Jeremy Schloss (Chargers)
BENCH
14. Noel Goldthorpe (Mariners)
15. Paul Marquet (Mariners)*
16. Jamie Goddard (Chargers)
17. Tim Maddinson (Mariners)
OTHER PLAYERS: Damien Driscoll, Robbie McCormack, Wes Patten, Willie Poching, Neil Pinccinelli
*Won the 1999 premiership with the Melbourne Storm
**Ross, Bai, Mackay, Iro, Hill, Kimmorley, Bella, Swain and Smith all played Test matches
***Sattler, Schloss and Goddard played State of Origin
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