Dragons NRL team could drop St George & Illawarra from their name and be known as ‘Southern Dragons’

NRL outfit St George Illawarra might be known simply as the Southern Dragons as the club asks its fans if they should make a stunning move that will allow them to turn their backs on 102 years of history.

Club members were sent a survey including the question: “What naming convention should the St George Illawarra dragoons use as their formal identity?”

They were given the choices: St George Illawarra Dragons, Southern Dragons, Greater Sydney Dragons, The Dragons, or others.

The poll also asked fans if they agreed that ‘the era of St George and Illawarra Steelers has passed and we must now look to the future as one’, according to the daily telegraph.

Trent Barrett was an Illawarra great (pictured) before becoming one of the Dragons’ best when the joint venture was formed in 1998. Now half of the Steelers club could disappear from his name as the team puts a big change on the cards.

Calling the team ‘Greater Sydney Dragons’ is one of the options members have been given in a survey sent out by the club (St George’s star Ben Hunt pictured)

Supporters were also offered the opportunity to provide feedback on whether the St George and Illawarra fan bases have much in common, whether the clubs’ combined histories guide and inspire the current team, and whether the team should unite under a “single identity”. ‘ to ensure success.

Steelers great Michael Bolt lashed out at the proposed trade Thursday.

“It sounds like a case of jealousy and bitter grapes,” he said. Nine.

‘The players almost all live down here [the Illawarra]they train here, the new $50 million center of excellence is here, and it seems the people of St. George aren’t happy.

‘But I can tell you one thing, they will drop the name ‘Illawarra’ from the title and there will be no more joint ventures.’

St George was founded in 1920 and merged with the Illawarra Steelers to form the NRL’s first joint venture club in 1998 when the Super League war concluded.

The Steelers were always the junior partner and that was reflected in the uniform, which used the St George Dragons logo and the famous Dragons red V design on the jersey. Illawarra were represented by a slight change in the red used in the strip.

Based in Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, just south of Sydney, the Illawarra side of the club does not have the financial clout of the St George side, which is based in Kogarah in Sydney’s southern suburbs. .

News of the possible name change divided opinion among Dragons fans.

Some fans are outraged at the prospect of ‘Illawarra’ being dropped from the team name (Steelers great Rod Wishart pictured running the ball against Manly)

Other Dragons fans are looking forward to the days when St George was the only name associated with Red V (Dragons players pictured celebrating a try in round 25 last season).

‘S t. George Illawarra Dragons is the absolutely perfect name. Anything other than that is ridiculously disrespectful to at least one side of the merger,” Jack Martin tweeted.

‘Wow!!!! Please be true. Let’s go back to the mighty “St George Dragons”!!!! I used to wish this with my old man,” wrote journalist Taylor Auerbach.

‘St George Dragons ends the Illawarra legacy. Southern Dragons doesn’t work because it’s not the exclusive team… The Dragons; not a fan of losing geolinks,’ another fan tweeted.

‘St George Dragons are one of the strongest brands in the sport. We never should have walked away from him in the first place,” wrote a staunch Red V.

‘St George Illawarra Dragons encompasses what the club was built (merged) on. Don’t break with history’, said another fan of footy.

Even if the club drops Illawarra from its name, it will still retain strong ties to the area thanks to its plans to build a multi-million dollar High Performance and Community Center at the University of Wollongong.