Bears

[King Salvo]

I suppose...but a true Bears team belong in the Northern part of Sydney which stretches up to the Central Coast perfectly.

They have a stadium & a good population to support them.

Perths been tried & failed...Central Coast was stupidly never given a go.

Poor old Bears fans have been shafted for a long time.

The Western Red had to pay for all the travel costs / accommodation /meals etc for all travelling sides to Perth plus their own when travelling to away games so no wonder why they got into debt and were axed from the comp.

3 Grades playing on the same day back in those days.

The NRL pays for this now for all NRL Clubs

[Rooster_Mark]

Quite simple really, it would be another Sydney side.
On the Bears, Western Australians are very parochial, and will not support it if it becomes a de facto North Sydney side. This expansion will fail if it is not a genuine WA team. I have lived in Perth, and they carry a chip on their shoulders about "Easterners"......should be a Pert Quokkas, or something similar, their own colours.

Yeah this is a an own goal of epic proportions by parachuting the Bears into Perth. If the Bears had the 200K supporters they are claiming, they wouldn't have folded in the first place. Where those supporters are not, is Perth. Give them their own team, otherwise you limit how invested the Perth fans will be. My wife was born and lived in Perth for more than 10 years and has family there still. They aren't League fans to begin with but won't get onboard as it's not seen as a Perth team.

Contrary to popular belief, the Western Reds didn't really fail as were just a casualty of the Super League War.

[King Salvo]

Yeah this is a an own goal of epic proportions by parachuting the Bears into Perth. If the Bears had the 200K supporters they are claiming, they wouldn't have folded in the first place. Where those supporters are not, is Perth. Give them their own team, otherwise you limit how invested the Perth fans will be. My wife was born and lived in Perth for more than 10 years and has family there still. They aren't League fans to begin with but won't get onboard as it's not seen as a Perth team.

Contrary to popular belief, the Western Reds didn't really fail as were just a casualty of the Super League War.

Naught to do with supporter numbers - finance issues and sustainability as a result of the ARL vs Super League stoush - Norths leagues was around 5 million in debt and went into administration - The delay in the completion of the Stadium in Gosford didn't help their cause either.

Players wages went through the roof - doubled /trebled and even quadrupled for the top tier players - Even Reserve graders were signing for 200k plus a year for 2 plus years such was the inflated salaries at the time.

Clubs that signed with Super League were to receive 30 mill each - 6 million each year for 5 years.

When the comps (ARL/Super League) merged in 1998 - The Super League Aligned clubs were each paid out the remaining 24 million - NRL Salary Cap was 3.25 million in 1998 - 25 player rosters

ARL aligned Clubs had to dip into their Leagues club coffers to fund their football operations. - players wages and what not.

[The Lip]

Quite simple really, it would be another Sydney side.
On the Bears, Western Australians are very parochial, and will not support it if it becomes a de facto North Sydney side. This expansion will fail if it is not a genuine WA team. I have lived in Perth, and they carry a chip on their shoulders about "Easterners"......should be a Pert Quokkas, or something similar, their own colours.

Who doesn’t love a pair of Pert Quokkas

[roosterproud]

If these gumbies running the nrl were serious about growing the game they would move magic round instead of feeding the wealthiest most protected club in the drongos. Move majic round to Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide or Perth. But no. They will continue their hand outs to the the drongos who have Never played a home game at magic round always been gifted with the away game providing continual Home ground advantage.
the gumbies are puppets to news ltd who are major share holders in the drongos. The same guys who draft the draw. You know the ones who gave the drongos 10 out of the first 13 rounds at sandcrap stadium and only leave quidland 8 times all year. No bias.
rant over

[Mr Whippet]

Who doesn’t love a pair of Pert Quokkas

In our DNA.

[ism22]

200,000 Bears fans? There wouldn't even be 2,000 Bears fans out there. The Perth team should have been a phoenix team of the old Reds or a new entity completely the NRL needs to get away from this nostalgia for an era where the game was a local Sydney comp.

I think you're right that much of this is about nostalgia.

People love the concept of being linked to a traditional club with deep links to a bygone era. However, how many would become massive League fans

Souffs fans are special because they got backing from a Hollywood actor, a random as duck billionaire (seriously what did Holmes a Court ever do?) and a future PM (politics aside, anybody who denies he has political sway is tripping). Their removal from the comp was also done stupidly, in a way that courts were able to overturn it.

Within my social network I know two valid Bears fans, so they do exist. One is a previous board member and the other's an old f@rt who always had a Matchbox version of the big black Bears van in his office. Both are quite senior lawyers but nothing more. IDK how much traction the bears have. Also, IDK whether expansion is actually good for the game given the limited talent pool.