Central Coast Bears’ hard work succeeding
Roar Rookie
By Mr.R.B.Bear, 2 Sep 2010 Mr.R.B.Bear is a Roar Rookie
- Tagged:
- Central Coast, Central Coast Bears, NRL, NRL expansion, Rugby League
140 Have your say
Another weekend, another successful membership drive. Over the past five days, the Central Coast Bears bid has had a shot to the arm. Almost Steve Rogers to Captain America like, the weakened Norths have been boosted by a super serum.
Now known as the Central Coast BEARS, the fledgling NRL franchise keep heading straight into their goals, full of momentum and there’s not a single thing anyone can do about it to stop it.
On Thursday 26th of August, the Central Coast Bears membership drive took post up in Lake Haven. Considered the most northern area of our territory and in borderline Knights country, the drive was a raging success.
$2,000 worth of merchandise sold and 96 members signed in one day. Truly, the supporters of this great club and promising bid must of been on cloud nine. Yet this was on a tiny scale compared to what happened in the next four days after.
Driving back down the Pacific Motorway for Saturdays Junior rugby league finals carnival held at the iconic North Sydney Oval, once again the Central Coast Bears posted up their membership stands and once again the results were fantastic. This time, on the back of a new $10 Junior Membership, the Central Coast Bears signed on another 50 or so new members.
The kids enjoyed every moment of the day and undoubtedly made better by the presence of their local NRL team. With memberships now at 2,500 and half way to our goal of 5,000 by March, things truly are looking good for the Central Coast Bears bid. But still the best was to come.
Sunday was a relatively quiet day but there was a storm of excitement building on the horizon and by Monday afternoon it rained, hailed and bucketed down some of the most promising news since the bid was conceived.
The NSW Labor Government had joined the Coalition (Mr. Joe Hockey in particular) and realised what an amazing opportunity the Central Coast Bears provide for the community of the Central Coast. $100,000 later and the ink is still wet on the dotted lines of the cheque.
The Central Coast Bears is now in a prime position to fully take advantage of an unbelievable wave of momentum.
NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, dressed in appropriate red and black colours, met with Greg Florimo and some of the smiling kids, who truly are the future of the Central Coast and the mighty Bears.
Finally the truth of it all starts to sink in.
Whilst other bids are happy with handshake and verbal agreements, the Central Coast Bears bid outright refuses to sit on their laurels. The only agreements that can be of any effect are contractual one. Agreements where money is physically pumped into an organisation and where initiatives are properly undertaken.
A fortnight ago, the Central Coast Bears announced a 10 per cent spike in memberships and new foundation sponsors. Many of those foundation sponsors are local Central Coast businesses. An important key to success is to incorporate community based companies into the team and the Central Coast Bears have just achieved this.
Now with local Foye Financial Services, CorpWrite, UBrandIt, Belle Properties BGC, CPS General, O’Gorman & Partners, Molly’s Cradle Wines, LA Group Building, Sorensen & Brown Solicitors joining the likes of Mortage House, Fortunity, Fone Zone, Sinalli, JJ. Lawson, Norths Leagues Club, Ooh! Media, NBN, ExCel Me, 2UE, StarFM, SeaFM, 2Go, Erina Fair, Rebel Sports and Good Gear. The sponsors are now part of the extended Central Coast Bears family.
With 2,500 members, the beautiful BlueTongue Stadium, $100,000 from the NSW Government and an undisclosed amount of equity. The further development of the coaching clinics, school and junior club programs and of course the successful Bears at work functions.
The next membership drive will again prove to be a storm of excitement.
The Central Coast Bears, 2013. If you thought it was hard to knock us back last week, it must be dead set impossible this week.
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rugbyfuture said | September 2nd 2010 @ 2:14am | Report comment
no offence, but i wouldn’t rely on money being offered by the labor state government….
oikee said | September 2nd 2010 @ 6:53am | Report comment
Agree, the last time the NRL trusted the labor party they conned them a beauty. Look no offence, but the Bears should only get promoted if we have a 20 team comp.
Central QLD is getting a brand new stadium built, signed off. They have a 30 thousand membership drive happening, its rugby league heartland also. They have the largest sponsers in QLD, the mining sector and the cattle barons, plus queenslands 3rd richest man running the bid. You ignore that, your a goose.
I would be happy to allow 3 new teams immediately come 2013. Bears, CQ and Perth. You could have a bye for each team during the year. You would have a extra game anyhow. So come 2017, you would then allow for a new bid from the other areas. This would turn the bidding into a frenzy. PNG, Wellington, second Brisbane team, maybe Adelaide. If they were all strong enough, you could enter them all and have a conference system. Lets think big, not small.
The commish will hopefully sort this out, we need bigger ideas, lets think big, small time thinking (dinosuar) is finished, the people want a team, lets give them a team and stop this nonsence.
Fez's are cool said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:45am | Report comment
I really don’t like Central Queensland. They have a stadium promise, massive corporate support and the advantage of being in Queensland. BUT, this will be built in Rockhampton, a city of a mere 65,000.
It would rely on travelling fans like the Cowboys do, but Rocky is half the size of Townsville, doesn’t have a city the size of Cairns down the road, and will canabilize the Cowboys fan base in the Mackay area.
The next Queensland side should be in South East Queensland. The NRL should be aiming to have a catchment of 1 million people for every club. South East Queensland has a population around 2.6 million, and huge projected growth. Ipswich/West Brisbane or Sunshine Coast/North Brisbane offers a lot more to the game than Central Qld does.
The Ipswich Jets have the same stadium promise as Central Queensland and all the same benefits of another Qld side, but fewer negatives.
bilbo said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:29pm | Report comment
Rocky’s population is a third of Townsville (185K), and Townsville is only a four hour drive away from Cairns, with an additional population of 140K.
Central Qld seems to be fuelled mostly by mining dollars – even if you got 30% of Rockhampton to attend every game, you would only have 20K and what happens when they are playing the Raiders on a wet monday night when they have lost their last five?
Of the current contenders for expansion clubs, CQ should be near the bottom of the pile – even in Qld. The priority, if we decide to have another team in Qld, is the Brisbane SEQ area, playing out of Lang Park.
The Ipswich and Logan bids are worth looking at, maybe even Toowoomba, but unless the game is played at Suncorp, it should not be considered. Maybe – and this is only a maybe – the club could play big matches at Lang, and smaller ones against less popular interstate teams, at a stadium in Ipswich – much like Geelong in the AFL.
Im only just over the line in being convinced about the Central Coast, who already have a stadium and have around 1m population within an hour drive – CQld would be a massive mistake.
Beowulf said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:04am | Report comment
CQLD only has a promise from Anna Bligh – irrelevant as she’ll be out of office next year. They have an online petition aiming for 30,000 fans – big deal. If it meant anything, the Bears could get 100,000. It’s people digging into their own pockets that counts. But I agree with your last statement – when people are crying out for a team, add them, provided they add revenue and their bid is a sustainable model.
Mr.R.B.Bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:54am | Report comment
I wouldn’t either to be honest, how ever like the article states, the money has already been handed over. This isn’t a handshake agreement. This is physical money being put into practice.
On another note, there are now $10 junior memberships, which are providing a great hit with the kids.
Crosscoder said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:00am | Report comment
I suggest a small contribution of $100,000 is hardly relying on the state Govt,for heaven’s sake,especially after said same Labor govt,chipped in huge sums for GWS at Homebush.
Eamonn Flanagan said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:45am | Report comment
Canberra has 2,000 members at $200 and close to $5million in the bank when they took their bid for an A-League team to FFA, oh and 15,000 pledges of support plus Govt support, stadium and trainng agreements and untold number of sponsors so despite the noble effort of the Bears seems like you’ll still need a Clive Palmer size cheque, or move to a new untapped Fox TV zone…the rest of the community effort seems to be total waste of time……or maybe that’s just in football.
good luck and keep up the good work…shades of how to build an A-League club – oh yeah you do this stuff BEFORE you get the licence – no brainer isn’t it – why didn’t any of the teams think of that – bar Melbourn Victory it seems!
Fez's are cool said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:56am | Report comment
My problem with the Bears bid is that it isn’t necissarily in the games or current clubs best interests.
They would be a great side in a rationalised Sydney, being a sort of “Sydney North” franchise. But this ignores the fact that there is already a side in that market, Manly. The Bears claim to take in 1 million people, but this ignores the fact the Greater Sydney area already has 9 clubs fighting for a share of the 5.5m fans.
Secondly, the Bears would further stretch the corporate dollar in Sydney. Compare this stress to the benefits of a team in the mining boom city of Perth (1.7m people), or another SE Qld side (2.6m people across 2 teams currently), or a Wellington/Christchurch (well over 1 million people) Southern NZ side. Hell, even hostile Adelaide with 1.1m people would be better.
The Bears will be a well positioned club, dominant in the North as St George is in the South, but it will have consequences though. The question must be, although its a strong bid, are there better alternatives?
The Bears will be admitted if better locations are unable to submit competitive bids. Every day that passes make it less likely the Bears will get in, as other bids improve.
Mr.R.B.Bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:42am | Report comment
Everyday the Bears Bid kicks into another gear. Other bids may be working hard but the standard has been set already by the CCBEARS bid. I believe quite the opposite, for everyday that passes it gives Mr. Florimo and his team another opportunity to get more sponsors and members. It’s working in our favor more so then anyones, due to the foundations already being planted. We can only work up from here. Many other bids are still working on their own foundations. A time and money costing exercise.
Fez's are cool said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:05am | Report comment
You can see that introducing the Bears will have dire consequences on a couple of current clubs… especially Manly (in its niche market) and Cronulla (because they are increadibly weak already).
I actually am a fan of the Bears bid because it will be a multi region “super club”, which is the future for the NRL. The problem I have is they will be stepping on other clubs toes to get there.
Manly are already saying they have massive issues because their stadium is inadequate, and its affecting revenue. They are looking at taking Broncos games to Suncorp and other games to other stadiums with better facilities. A strong Bears will crush Manly, and probably force them to relocate, much the same way St George Illawarra has helped destroy the Sharks.
As I said, its the way of the future, but its over the corpses of other clubs, which isn’t very nice.
Jammy said | September 2nd 2010 @ 7:53am | Report comment
‘Norths…..now known as the Central Coast Bears’. There’s the rub. The norths are only calling themselves central coast to get back in the competition. That and the myth that they were hard done by a cold hearted administration or Manly. The truth was the bears were past their use by date, hadn’t won a premiership for nearly 80 years, financially incompetent.There seems to be this perception because they have worked hard they deserve a spot in the big time, well I’ve worked hard where’s my lamborghini? And no I’m not a manly fan.
Fez's are cool said | September 2nd 2010 @ 8:06am | Report comment
Exactly. If you selected locations based on the overall return to the game, you would introduce Perth, Ipswich, Adelaide, Wellington/Christchurch, a second Melbourne side all before the Bears.
The problem is this – Sydney needs a club like the Northern Eagles taking in all of the North and the Central Coast, much like the way St George Illawarra operate in the south.
What its got is a niche club in Manly, and a Bears side wanting back in. The Bears understand the need of the NRL to have a single strong North franchise, and as Manly are unwilling to fill that role, are dangling the carrot in front of the NRL.
But spreading 5.5 million fans across 10 teams is a terrible situation. We need to aim for roughly 1 million fans for every club, but without damaging the brands of current clubs. The Bears will hurt Cronulla, being the weakest club, and Manly.
I am in favour of such rationalisation, but is it in the games best interest to get current clubs to fill the games needs, or bring in new clubs that will damage the current set up?
Mr.R.B.Bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 9:46am | Report comment
Uneducated on the matter nether the less my friend. Norths connection with the Central Coast stretches back to the very foundations of Rugby League in Australia. Through the decades, though not as apparent, the connections have still been there and remained strong. In 1991 the original idea to relocate to the CC was conceived, however initiative wasn’t taken until 1998. This isn’t something that’s been worked through for a week, this is a project (a community one at that), that’s been in effect for a couple of decades now.
The resources spent on the CC by the BEARS is unquestionable. Go to the main page and have a look at what we’re all about. The Central Coast BEARS, a team for the coast, for the people.
Beowulf said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:00am | Report comment
Norths moved to the Central Coast in 1999 and the intention was always to rebrand as the Central Coast Bears, so CC Bears is nothing new – its been on the drawing board for around 20 years. In helping Manly get established in 1947, the Bears knowlingly limited their chances of success in Sydney FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME. Check out Manly’s website – they acknowledge it. They had 12mill in equity and if they had been allowed 1 or 2 games at Bluetongue when they relocated, they would have been solvent and now an NRL powerhouse.
Col the bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 8:15am | Report comment
Believe the money is already there from the state govt for the new business manager position to get the bid all tied up dot the Is and cross the Ts before the bid is handed in in march 2011.and it was 100 new members who signed up at the north Sydney grand final gala day.to becomes Central Coast Cub a great initiative to get the kids special membership.with a new mascot for the kids as well. Tonight is our 3rd Bears@work since our launch since business initiative is on the central coast tonight specifically evening for local business to get involved with the CC Bears bid and so far great success.recently the CEO from Macquarie bank come on board .believe he was a bear supporter as a kid at bear pk.
Col the bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 8:20am | Report comment
1million pop who font have a team representing them st the moment that’s why the bears should be there.
Mr.R.B.Bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:19am | Report comment
Yep again people, WE ARE NOT RELYING ON THE LABOR GOV. No where in the article do I say that. We are relying on ourselves (being the bid team, the Central Coast community, our sponsors, members & the BEARS brand). The key for success lies within us, not with an organization. It’s nice to be given a grant but it’s foolish to assume that’s whats driving this bid. The driving force is to give the beautiful people of the CC a team which has had grassroots in the area since 1908 and to give thousand and thousand of the red&black army their beloved BEARS back. 350, 000 pop on the CC. 700, 000 pop on the North Shore. For 90′s years the BEARS roamed this area and for another 90′s years we will continue to do so.
The main emphasis of BEARS is the Central Coast.
Tristan Rayner said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:33am | Report comment
I note the first race at Wyong today for their two-day carnival is the Central Coast Bears Maiden Handicap – the group is certainly happy to splash around a few $!
Mr.R.B.Bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:54am | Report comment
Thanks for that Tristan. Didn’t know about that race.
Mr.R.B.Bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 10:51am | Report comment
Reminder to all that the Bears @ Work – Central Coast
WHERE: Quattro’s Cafe – Platinum Building – Erina
WHEN: TONIGHT @ 6pm
The all new King of the Gorganites said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:40am | Report comment
Central Coast wants/needs RL – but we dont want the Bears imposed on us.
Give it up and stick to North Sydney Oval.
Fez's are cool said | September 2nd 2010 @ 11:56am | Report comment
You need to get over your hang ups here.
Its either the Bears now, a partial relocation of the Sea Eagles in the future, or no NRL level rugby league.
Thats just the way it is.
Territory Terry said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:15pm | Report comment
Who is “we” anyway, I assume it’s you and half a dozen other naysayers – that’ll be more seats at the Bears games in 2013 for the true league fans!
Col the Bear said | September 2nd 2010 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
Eammon also we have foundation members which weren’t mentioned I don’t think.. we have over 30 now at 5000 dollars a foundation membership.. Here Come The Mighty CC Bears…. plus more and more sponsors coming on board every week now.. a lot of these sponsors are on board because they see it as a great opportunity to see the foundation club Bears back in the comp. and they want to be apart of it, .and at the same time a fresh new market on the Central Coast which has been crying out for the team for decades.. the Central Coast Bears kills 2 birds with one stone..
the Central Coast get their team and the North shore have a team to support again..
We’re just completeing what should have been done back in 99.. there was even NRL merchandise beginning to trickle out in 99 for the CC Bears, i know as I still have some..this is just completeing a huge error and we get our team back..