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SOUTH Sydney fans are entitled to feel confused. They are entitled to feel uncomfortable. And yes, they are entitled to feel bullied.

These probably aren't the feelings Russell Crowe sought to evoke with his Christmas message to Rabbitohs supporters this week.

But he definitely wanted to stir something inside the red and green faithful, because caring benefactors don't issue vague threats about their ongoing commitment without a good reason.

Crowe's reason was to increase membership, with the lofty mark of 15,000 season ticket holders in mind.

So he took a gamble. He decided to scare them into action, like a poker-faced card shark staking all his chips on an indiscernible hand.

You'd better start paying up, Crowe told them, because I can't continue to cough up.

He then neglected to elaborate what this means for Souths if the membership doesn't grow.

If the fans decide to call his bluff.

Does it mean Crowe will click his tongue in exasperation, and draw another seven-figure cheque to balance the books?

Or does it mean he will pay whatever he can afford, and let the balance sheet go to hell? What then? It doesn't take a Hollywood imagination to figure the Rabbitohs would quickly perish.

But if Crowe is still the man he was three years ago, it can't happen.

Because when he and business partner Peter Holmes a Court bought South Sydney, the pair traded on the faith of members that they could be entrusted to safeguard the Rabbitohs' survival.

This was worth infinitely more than the measly $3 million they paid for a 75 per cent stake in the code's most famous outfit.

Now, within just three years of that historic day in March 2006, both co-owners have taken turns at giving Bunnies fans the jitters.

First it was Holmes a Court, who midway through last season said he could not guarantee Souths' survival. The statement was very different from the promises and commitments, all dripping in confidence and steely-eyed resolve, that were pledged during the bitter campaign for control against former patriarch George Piggins.

Although it was a poorly disguised attempt to frighten fans into becoming financial members, the decision to inflict a mortal pall on a supporter-base that had recently seen its beloved team die once was in bad taste.

And who knows what effect it had on prospective sponsors? What corporate type would seek to associate their brand with an outfit whose existence suddenly depends on the goodwill of Redfern battlers?

So Holmes a Court was shuffled off into the background, leaving Crowe to briefly take up the twin posts of master and commander.

Now, just six months later, the Oscar-winning actor is reading from the same script. His delivery was slicker and more charismatic than Holmes a Court, and that's probably why Souths fans haven't revolted on this occasion.

But the message is the same. Pay up - or else.

There's no sense in making threats like this. It might trigger a few hundred new memberships immediately afterwards, but the resultant scars of uncertainty and doubt help no one in the long run.

And another thing: Isn't it the responsibility of owners to foot the bill in a privatised entity?

They get to make the decisions, hire and fire whom they please. As long as they enjoy such power at the expense of members, then surely the cost belongs to them.

Self-sufficiency and profit is the ideal of every corporate enterprise, thus Crowe's desire for a membership base that bankrolls each season.

But until that is achieved, he and Holmes a Court are honour-bound to keep Souths alive in the same way Manly godfathers Scott Penn and Max Delmege have resuscitated the Sea Eagles.

No one ever hears them - or Warriors owner Eric Watson - introducing fear and doubt to sell memberships.

Souths have so many more valid selling points. They are back at Redfern. They boast the current Rookie of the Year. We're told their jersey sponsorship is the most lucrative in the NRL. And they already have 6000 paid-up members - more than any other Sydney rival.

There's more reasons to be hopeful than fretful in 2009.