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There would be thousands of lost and frustrated North Sydney Bears supporters salivating at the prospect, however remote, that the banished club will take over Manly, and bury their long-term rivals forever.
This is no idle threat, no pie in the sky.
In the red corner, the Bears are geared up with an artillery of heavy financial hitters who mean business, and the cashed up and successful North Sydney Leagues Club.
In the blue corner are the Manly Sea Eagles, languishing on and off the field, and cash-strapped – a vulnerable target,
How about the irony in this situation?
At the turn of the century, the NRL amalgamated Manly and Norths to become the Northern Eagles, which was doomed from the get go.
The obvious happened, Manly gobbled up Norths to regain their own identity, leaving the Bears to reform in various minor competitions to hardly exist.
Now the boot is on the other foot, with Norths full steam ahead to make Manly lose their identity, and that will be forever.
No club, no Brookvale, no Lottoland, no nothing,
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Rex Mossop will be tuning in his grave, while one of the greatest administrators, Ken Arthurson, is in a state of shock.
The current move comes on top of a failed bid to take over the Titans. With all due respects, that was a dumb move, as half the home games would have to be played on the Gold Coast – useless to the Bears faithful.
The current move is for half the home games to be played at Gosford and iconic North Sydney Oval, with the famous fig tree at the northern end, and the Ken Irvine scoreboard at the south.
Now there’s one mighty Bear, the greatest winger I’ve ever seen in either code. Memories will flood back to his sensational runs in a team that found a different way to lose every other round.
But Ken Irvine was a winner in every sense of the word, so too the likes of John Gray, the English dual international hooker who became the first around the corner goal kicker in Australia.
Brian Carlson was a superb footballer in the centre, or at fullback, and no-one will ever forget the passion of Billy Moore, the tackling machine Gary Larson, and the blockbuster back Greg Florimo, to name just a few.
Florimo has kept the Bears’ flag flying in no man’s land, he’s hung on like grim death for nearly 20 years. Justice will be done for his dedication if this bid kicks a goal.
The Big Bear Supermarket in Neutral Bay is no longer with us, but it lives on in the North Sydney Bears since the 1950s when it sponsored the club.
That Bear is gone, but the footballing Bear is ready to rise again.