Never mind the Bears, bring back the Dirty Reds

With the Dolphins set to enter the NRL in 2023 and the likelihood of further expansion to 18 teams in the not-too-distant future, we’ve been assailed by a constant stream of articles imploring the NRL to bring back the North Sydney Bears.

The only thing Bears supporters might disagree about is where the resurrected team should be based.

It’s an imperative we’re told. The market’s there, we’ll bring disillusioned supporters back into the fold and reclaim a piece of the game’s heritage that was squeezed out by Manly and wantonly cast aside by the NRL.

Sorry, Bears fans.

This argument ignores the history of an even older club, the Glebe Dirty Reds.

Glebe was a foundation club and Dirty Reds fans – of which there are many – can and rightly should argue that this gives their club precedence over other pretenders to a future NRL license.

We’re told there are already too many teams in Sydney and not enough playing talent to support another team. There’ll no doubt be naysayers who insist that Glebe has neither the money nor assets to compete at the elite level.

I’m here to tell you they’re wrong. A thriving market and great opportunity lie just down the road from NRL headquarters and has been there since the New South Wales Rugby League’s short-sighted decision to expel the Dirty Reds in 1929.

It was a decision rumoured to have been driven by the skullduggery of Souths and Balmain. Whatever the case, NRL expansion is an opportunity to right a historic wrong.

The Dirty Reds live on through the Glebe-Burwood Wolves, a powerhouse of the Ron Massey Cup. They were joint league leaders when the 2020 season was suspended. Granted only one game had been played, but the signs were very good. A premiership was surely just around the corner.

The club has significant corporate backing, including a nearby licensed venue and a well-known pie-maker. The club website does a roaring trade in retro merchandise.

The thriving Glebe market is comprised of about 11,500 people, all of whom are rugby league diehards.

There’s also huge potential for growth due to the game’s equally ill-advised decision to axe neighbouring Annandale in 1920. There’s another 9000 or so rugby league diehards.

Sure, Glebe and Annandale had their tiffs over the years, but I’m told their long years in the wilderness have forged a strong camaraderie and mutual love of the extant Dirty Reds.

How do I know all this? It’s the vibe.

Anyway, that’s more than 20,000 diehard league fans, currently unserved by an NRL club and bearing a long and deeply held historic grievance. 20,000, people!

What’s not to like?

In recent years, ‘boutique’ rugby league grounds have come back into fashion. They’re more expensive than modern stadia but they look better on television and are a reminder of rugby league’s suburban heritage.

Glebe’s traditional home at Wentworth Park is about as boutique as it gets and is one of the grounds where Australian rugby league was born back in April 1908.

Glebe’s historic 8-5 victory over the Newcastle Rebels at Wentworth Park on the game’s founding day is still widely commemorated and celebrated in the area.

There’s a groundswell happening at Glebe. You might not have noticed it, but it’s there.

So, never mind the Bears or the so-called experts who insist that Sydney can’t support another NRL team and that the game must expand its footprint.

The game’s future lies in its long-abandoned past in Sydney’s inner-city. Bring back the Dirty Reds!