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Stand aside, here come the mighty Bears

Roar Rookie
23rd October, 2014
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Roar Rookie
23rd October, 2014
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1150 Reads

The success in 2014 of foundation and reinstated club South Sydney, with the accompanying surge in TV ratings, has highlighted the benefits of reinstating another foundation Club – the Bears.

Fans crave history and tradition in a code that has done its utmost to destroy itself in recent times.

It is timely to recall that only one team voted to keep Souths in the competition post Super League – North Sydney.

They were guaranteed survival if they relocated to Gosford, a move they had been contemplating for 20 years, and did so, pumping all their resources into a new stadium only for the promise to be reneged.

Rumours circulate that there have been numerous other promises from senior officials to approve the Central Coast Bears over the past dozen years. Bears officials won’t comment – they retain a sense of honour. If the NRL has a shred of integrity, they will address this gross injustice.

In coming months, the NRL will decide if and where to add new teams to the competition, to add value to the next TV rights deal. The Central Coast Bears have targeted 30,000 Facebook friends in the interim (they currently approaching 27,000) and have 8000 disgruntled financial members who have been in limbo for three years.

They must be added to the NRL as a matter of urgency and the reasons are manyfold.

The Central Coast and north shore of Sydney comprises 23 junior teams and a population of almost one million. That is a far larger catchment than almost every existing NRL team in NSW.

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Travel times by heavy rail negate the realistic opportunity for the mass transport of large volumes of supporters from the region to existing NRL grounds in support of other teams. The closest accessible grounds are Allianz Stadium or ANZ stadium, and both require nearly two hours travel time from Gosford and one hour from the north shore.

The Central Coast also doesn’t have enough heavy industry or corporate headquarters to generate sponsorship for a stand-alone team. It requires the corporate support of the North Sydney Bears zone (North Sydney, St Leonards, Chatswood, North Ryde and Hornsby), which represents the second largest corporate zone in NSW and the third (behind Melbourne) in Australia.

A Central Coast stand-alone side is not possible. Even the Mariners are beginning to link with the Northern Suburbs Football Association and are hosting a game at North Sydney Oval against Melbourne Victory in coming weeks

The NRL lost more than 40,000 fans as a result of the Bears being removed from the competition post Super League. Being a foundation club, many were multi-generational fans incapable of supporting any other team. The majority have switched to other codes and many would only return with the reinstatement of the Bears. Northbridge Football Club has grown from a tiny club in 15 years to the largest junior football club in the southern hemisphere, and the Willoughby Wildcats have grown from obscurity to the largest junior AFL team in Sydney as a result

The Sydney-based Bears fans will also boost home attendance figures of the other Sydney teams when compared with interstate options, in particular local rivals Manly, the Roosters, Dragons, Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown and Parramatta.

Rugby league junior player numbers are stagnating on the Coast and are on life support on the north shore without an NRL team. The closest geographically, Manly, is incapable of providing support due to its financial state and a historic enmity that ensures few on the north shore could ever support the Sea Eagles.

Their ground is crumbling, corporate facilities are appalling and there is no hope of major refurbishment in light of the NRL’s decision to relocate games to major stadiums. The Sea Eagles cannot grow the game from their current base (in fact they will shrink over time), yet the Central Coast Bears can, instantly.

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There is a natural connection between the Central Coast and northern Sydney, both geographically and historically. The Coast was part of the North Sydney catchment until 1947 when both it and Manly broke away due to North Sydney’s goodwill. The Coast wore red and black as representative colours until the 1980s. It is as seamless a merger as St-George Illawarra, except in the Bears’ model the regional partner gains almost all home games.

The Bears were also one of the most watched (and successful in terms of winning percentage) teams in the 1990s, with a large following in Queensland due to the number of Bears players coming from north of the border, similar to Melbourne now. This remains the case, and polls have consistently shown Queensland fans preferring the Bears’ admission over other Queensland teams. This would add to national TV ratings appeal.

Both Manly and the Roosters have historically wielded incredible influence at both NRL executive level and through the media via a posse of tame reporters. Many would say they use this power to oppose the Bears (the Roosters openly championed the Titans’ admission in 2005), and it’s easy to see why. Without any current competition in the region, both clubs have been very successful since 1999. Should the game be held back to allow two clubs to benefit so unfairly?

John Quayle calls the admission of the Central Coast Bears an absolute no-brainer. The cards may fall that way naturally as two new teams are required to add value to a TV deal. If the Titans begin playing out of Suncorp regularly they become the alternative TV option to the Broncos each Friday night.

I think it’s obvious to all (and history would suggest so) that the Gold Coast could not be sustained long term if another Queensland side was admitted. A venture that adds value and heals old wounds at little or no cost makes perfect business sense – enter the Central Coast Bears.

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