December 20, 1996: Bleak City Blues
Would Melbourne ever support its own rugby league franchise?
On this day 25 years ago, a story by colleague Richard Hinds appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald questioning whether Melbourne could support a team in a national rugby league competition.
The ARL had a few days previously announced it would admit in 1998 a team fielded by the Victorian Rugby League - but the news hard hardly been reported south of the …