Turf wars washup – Why we decided to keep Rabbitohs banners flying in Coogee
The turf war is now settled – Rabbitohs banners are flying at Coogee and Kensington and Roosters banners at Clovelly and Randwick. But some Roosters and Rabbitohs fans are not happy. Mayor Scott Nash explains how Council analysed the results.
“Roosters are not happy” screams the Southern Courier this week, “blokes at work voted for Souths 27 times” says a Roosters’ supporter and “you didn’t have to give any evidence of where you lived” says another.
This is the response to Randwick City Council’s turf wars community consultation – and it seems everybody has something to say.
I’ve even had emails from Souths supporters asking why Rabbitohs banners are not flying in Clovelly given more people voted Souths than Roosters.
Well, sometimes you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t!
But I owe it to the supporters of both teams, our residents and all those that voted to give you the full story on how we settled the turf wars once and for all.
So here goes…
In September 2014 Randwick City Council embarked on its biggest and possibly most controversial community consultation campaign ever.
The question was simple – where should we fly Sydney Roosters banners and where should we fly South Sydney Rabbitohs banners?
The answer was a little more complex. In just seven days, a staggering 5,000 people took part in an online survey, #turfwar trended on Twitter, Russell Crowe called on Souths supporters to stand tall and the communications machines of the Roosters and Rabbitohs cranked into full gear.
Of the 5,000 responses, 73 per cent were from Rabbitohs supporters, 22 per cent from Roosters supporters, and the remaining 5 per cent supported either both or neither teams.
But this wasn’t a popularity contest, nor was it just about local residents.
And the results…