I usually forego reading Peter FitzSimons because he merely rides a high horse down the middle of the road, but I relented this week as he joined the ‘let’s revive North Sydney’ bandwagon.
The thrust of FitzSimons’ argument was that the Bears brand is still around – by which metric you’d first revive the Newtown Jets – and that by expanding their pawprint to the Central Coast, you’d have the requisite number of fans to ensure a thriving club.
“Half their home games could be played at North Sydney Oval, the other half to be played at the second most beautiful field in the country, at the old Grahame Park (now Central Coast Stadium), right by Gosford Water,” FitzSimons wrote on Thursday.
Now I’m going to nitpick a small issue with the above sentence – not just because I’m a pedant, but because it’s illustrative of the real solution to the Bears’ problem.
Central Coast Stadium isn’t right by Gosford Water – it is next to water in Gosford, but that’s not the name of the barrier estuary the city is situated upon.
No, the former Bluetongue Stadium sits on Brisbane Water, which is either a lazy lack of research or an intentional error to distract from the fact that if you want to revive the Bears, you’re not going to do it anywhere near Sydney.
The club needs to get serious about relocating – and an hour up the road isn’t going to cut it. A red-and-black comeback only has legs if the body of water they’re set to play near is the Brisbane River, not Brisbane Water.
Peter V’landys has been forthright about his preference for having a game of footy played at Suncorp Stadium every week, which a second Brisbane team facilitates.
Of course, the beauty of that second team being the Brisbane Bears – rather than the mooted Brisbane Bombers – is that the Bears do have that established brand and a core of fans who are eager to see them return to the league.
(Photo by Getty Images)
And while most of those former fans wouldn’t travel up to Queensland for home games, they’d be well accommodated six(ish) rounds a year by opposition Sydney teams. No, it isn’t as good as a dozen a year at your home ground, but it’s the same number and for the same amount of travel as if half your games are played on the Central Coast.
Granted, Sydney fans are notoriously poor at turning out for live sport, but then isn’t that how North Sydney supporters ended up in this mess in the first place? FitzSimons may claim Bears fans are “still there”, but the fact they attracted an average of 9217 per home game in their final standalone season illustrates why they went bust in the first place.
If rusted-on fans exist, the club needs a lot more of them than North Sydney – even with its thriving CBD – can provide. Brisbane offers that opportunity.
As for the common suggestion that a Brisbane team needs to be from Brisbane, well, how do we know? The Broncos came from nowhere but established their identity quicksmart and despite some lean years on the field of late they remain the benchmark from a business perspective.
Besides, the Bears have lain dormant for a long enough period of time that anyone under the age of 25 would have no memory of the Sydney factor. Fill the first-grade side up with Queensland talent – and, most importantly, ensure they are winners – and the whole ‘from NSW’ thing would be forgotten pretty quick.
Plus they would be the second Brisbane team the rest of the league actually wants.
Last year Phil Gould made the argument that clubs prefer the opposition they are hosting to have history – think St George, Manly or Souths. Well, what’s better than a foundation club that also performed the greatest Lazarus act of all time?
As for a precedent in terms of a relocated team? How about those fickle Sydneysiders turning South Melbourne – a team from the Harbour City’s sworn enemy – into one of the AFL’s glamour clubs.
Surely a town as mad for rugby league as Brisbane could make the Bears viable.
Ultimately, the Bears as a brand are worth exploring but North Sydney as a home – even with the added extra of playing half their games on the Central Coast – is not.
It was tried, it failed, and Sydney – as I’ve pointed out before – already has too many teams, while Brisbane is short.
Send the Bears to Brisbane and everyone wins.
It is a no-brainer – or, in the words of Peter FitzSimons, “Friends, this is a condescending way to conclude.”
Micko
Roar Rookie
Apparently it's official: reportedly Lachie Murdoch has agreed he'll support a 2nd Brisbane NRL franchise after a meeting with the NRL CEO V'landys, paving the wy for entry in 2023.
Beergardener
Roar Pro
To quote Phil Gould - "No, No, No, No, No!". There is absolutely no way us Brisbanites would support an ex-Sydney team just because it was forced on us. Least of all an unsuccessful one. I can't think of one Sydney team that would survive here if it was transplanted. It is not like we are Melbourne, with no established history in RL. We have our own culture and history here, and to see that disregarded just to save a failed Sydney team would be a kick in the teeth for Redcliffe, Ipswich, Wynnum etc fans
Mick Holland
Roar Rookie
PGNEWC I like the idea of the Sunshine Coast Dolphins with a new stadium on the Sunny Coast while taking a few games to Redcliffe however Brisbane Jets playing at Suncorp would be the answer to Suncorp being used every week
PGNEWC
Roar Rookie
Should be Ipswitch or Redcliffe as an established presence already for SE Queensland not the bad luck bears
Andrew
Guest
And I would ask this "North Sydney Bears brand" resinates with how many people? Probably plenty of people in Peter FitzSimmons circles - the grey haired blazer wearers who attend an opening every day sitting through a bunch of old stories for their free tea and sandwhich piece. But is that who the NRL is trying to market to? The North Sydney "Brand" has been dead for years. It isn't hibernating or just lying dormant. it is dead. Nobody under 30 knows or cares about the Bears.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Or the F... Off Back to Sydney Bears? Nah we don’t want scraps thanks. Plenty of league history in Ipswich and Redcliffe.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Yeah I’d place him well and truly in the small “l” liberal camp. Which is nice, but nit far if at all from the centre of the road. Depends which road I guess. And he’s like Philip Adams - most of his pieces oddly seem to be about ... himself.
Nick
Roar Guru
It was an article written with an enormous amount of "I live in Cremorne/bay" bias. If he lived in Newtown, he'd be agitating for the bluebags to return.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
As an (ex) Brisbane boy; Nope. No matter how blithely you state that Brisbanians would forget 'North Sydney', I don't want any team with Sinney roots in Qld. It's just wrong.
Nick
Roar Guru
I agree. Added to the fact that they would receive ZERO goodwill from anyone in the Queensland Cup when they side behind the Burleigh Bears in solidarity. Not to mention the Burleigh Bears would probably sue.
Nick
Roar Guru
If I'm Peter v'Landys considering this piece, I'd be asking three really important questions 1. Don't the Burleigh bears have the bears name and brand trademarked in Queensland? 2. Weren't we unable to name the Gold Coast Titans, the "Dolphins" because an amateur club in Coogee already locked away the name? 3. Would we survive a court case when they sue us?
Nick
Roar Guru
That's a salient point. He's purports himself as a historian, when in reality he's a entertainment-historian. He would be unable to write a PhD because, as you say, all his topics have been researched assiduously before. There's nothing new in his narrative.
Rellum
Roar Guru
The Bears, Newtown, South Brisbane, Valleys and all the older and State League teams hsould be playing in a joint comp, or at least a knockout comp with the NRL teams during origin
Wise Old Elf
Guest
Plan B, enter the Bears into the new national rugby club competition. Bring Newtown back while there at it too.
Big Daddy
Guest
Trouble is mbp the Central Coast Leagues is not the money pit it used to be. Also Manly Leagues have been losing money.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
A rather poorly written article... On one hand the author tries to claim that a club's history is important ("well, what’s better than a foundation club that also performed the greatest Lazarus act of all time?"), but then provides directly contradictory evidence to the contrary ("The Broncos came from nowhere but established their identity quicksmart and despite some lean years on the field of late they remain the benchmark from a business perspective."). I still don't understand why the Central Coast shouldn't have a team. And why that team shouldn't be the Bears.
mbp
Guest
it is a great move. rejuvenate the bears in brisbane. im sure it would be as successful as the sydney swans move to sydney. then get manly to team up with central coast leagues club to make manly tuggerah.... (similar to st george illawara).
JGK
Roar Guru
North Sydney Oval is utterly unsuited to modern day professional rugby league.
Sam
Guest
The only people applauding a 2nd team in Brisbane are the state govt - leeching off another tenant who won’t make a drive unless crowd is over 22000. Better to have a team in Rockhampton. They would support it big.
TheHandOfFear
Guest
I'm pretty sure "Brisbane Bears" is a name that's still trademarked by the AFL.