By special request and for the 4000th time.
babybear said:
In 1998 the NS Bears made the bold desicion to relocate to the
CC,under the encouragement of the then NRL CEO Neil Whittaker...With the
"14" team Comp expected for 2000 the Bears saw this as a great
opportunity, and as hard as it was we as members voted to leave our
ancestral ground to build a brand new Stadium at Gosford($32 million at
the time) which the Bears put in a significant amount of their own
millions.The plan was and still is to become the CC Bears.
Agreed. Moving to the central coast made the bears a regional team and not a Sydney team which meant they would be judged against teams like the cowboys, Raiders etc as opposed to Wests, Balmain, Manly etc. Why they thought this gave them a better chance to get in is beyond me, but it was still their choice, I guess. Unfortunately they didnt make the 14 teams because they were placed in receivership (due as i think i understand Dr Death and others argument) was due to poor decisions by the then existent North Sydney Board and somehow traceable back to a relationship of some sort with News limited.
2)We got into financial difficulties with the delay to the Stadium being
ready,and the then board having us play home games all over the place in
'99, to what reason we still wonder,we were placed into administration,
with the idea we may become insolvent....
Agreed. aS previously stated, this meant they were excluded from the 14 team competition due to the terms of the Superleague/ARL peace agreement which they had willingly agreed to a short time earlier.
3)Northern eagles--- Well what a disaster, as we always said it would
have been, Why would you put 2 teams together which detested each other so much,(and still do) and force them into a shotgun wedding, is beyond me.Bears people were up in arms when the name was called the
Eagles(Manly) the Jersey looked like Manly,the Coach was Manly, even
though the Bears had bought Grahame Murray out from England to be the
inaugral Coach of the CC Bears in 2000,, Manly stuck with Peter
Sharp....and what happened Murray went on to Roosters and got them to
their first Grand final since '81,, enough said about that one.
Actually, the Northern Eagles were far from a total disaster. They started off with great teams. I agree that the joint venture butchered the coaching and playing staff (How you could join two reasonably strong teams like Norths and Manly and come out with a crappy team like Northern Eagles is beyond me). In their first year, when they were reasonable on the field, things went quite well and they were very well supported at both the Central Coast and Brookvale. I am unsure whether or not many bears supporters actually supported them though. Unfortunately, as the joint venture went on, the Bears constantly attacked Manly through the press (obviously in the hope that the venture would fail and both teams would get a new licence). This combined with the everyone hates Manly theme which had been widely promoted by the ARL to build up local rivalries during the ARL/Superleague war and the general poor form of the Eagles slowly lead to the club falling apart. When Manly eventually got sick of it and pulled out, Norths were left with nowhere to go and Manly retook over their licence. A dirty trick, but since it was Manlys licence and Norths were causing trouble as opposed to trying to make the joint venture work (Manly may also have adopted the same behaviour) it was something norths could do nothing about it. The Central Coast, stupidly thinking they also would get a team if they boycotted games (combined witht he other factors mentioned) eventually dropped all support and the crowds became pitiful. No one could blame Manly for pulling the pin on the central coast like they did. Truthfully, no one can really blame the CC too much for boycotting the Manly eagles because they were brainwashed by the News Ltd Media and the North Sydney bears. (is it any coincidence that the bears are now a full feeder team to the News owned Melbourne Storm?)
4) Singo... at the beginning of 2001 you could see the Eagles weren't
going to last, and by mid year the J/V was doomed...when the split came
the licence reverted back to Manly and the grand old Foundation club of
1908 North Sydney was left out in the Cold....when the Administraters
got in touch with John Singleton the agreement was made that he will
take care of our 2 million debt and in return we get out of Admin. he
gets 80 % of Bear Stadium ;Gosford and the Bears retain 20% on the
condition the Team that plays out of Gosford full time will be the CC
Bears and wearing predominantly Red and Black......as I understand and
from our N S Football club AGM less then 2 weeks ago this agreement
still stands........Any team that plays out of Gosford will be known as
the Central Coast Bears and wearing Red and Black.
Call me traditionalist, but i have always thought of the Red and Black as the Wests Panthers, but that is just me. If the Bears are prepared to move to CC and the CC to accept them, then that is great. If i understand things, you are asking the Central Coast to Support a team owned 80 percent by one person and 20per cent by a sydney club? It isnt impossible but it isnt ideal either.
5)After the demise of the Eagles the Bears played on the CC for a couple
of years in the lower grades until the CRL under the leadership of David
Barnhill /told the Bears they were no longer welcome up there and had to
leave so in 2003 we had to leave the Stadium we built and go back to
North Sydney Oval...Thus the CC Rip were formed on the CC in the
U/20,,U/18;;and U/16.....once again the Bears were left out in the Cold.
Interesting.... So the Central Coast have already rejected the bears once?
6) The Dolphins....at the end of the J/V in July 2001 murmurings began
from the Gold Coast...even though it had failed a number of times up
there to readmit GC.The media Momemnetum has grown for the GC to point people think it's a fate compli that GC will get the 16th licence.....I
am one who begs to differ.....If you compare both areas you will see the
differance in comparrison...A) The Bears have the state of the art
Stadium on the CC :The gold Coast need a new $50 million stadium
built..
The CC have a good stadium, not perfect but good. GC would like a 50 million stadium built, but in no way need it. They have a stadium at carrara which has been used for NRL football before and could be again. It is ideally located, has first class lighting and has a decent capacity to the point where, if the club is able to fill it each and every week they would be very happy. It is probably on par with Leichardt or WIN stadium. If they had to move a big game, temporarily, they could always use Lang Park or QEII, both of which are far better than the CC stadium could ever dream of becoming.
B) the Bears have the finacial backing with John Signleton saying
he'll underwrite everything for the Bears(Even though Manly claim it was
them ;it was the Bears who first talked about Privitisation) ..Gold
Coast have enough finance to last for 1 season......
John Singleton is one person, with a very ordinary track record in rugby league admin (See Newtown, Wests). So what if he underwrites them. He is also underwriting a major CC stadium with no tenant, isnt he. Gold Coast have enough finance, guaranteed for a season (before a ball is kicked) and also are the 6th largest city in Australia, with Arguably the 4th or 5tyh largest economies in Australia to draw sponsors from. An economy which is probably double or triple the combined econome of Singleton and Central Coast. CC need singleton to survive financially, GC dont.
C) the Crowds both
areas have good crowd figures but I believe the CC can sustain it...GC
have had 3 chances before with limited crowds, the CC would have
supporters from the CC and the North Shore combined. 100 of thousands of potential suppporters.
Both sides do have good crowds. GC are slightly larger and more likely to sustain, because unlike the CC there is not the option of driving 100km each week (or jumping on a train) and watching the team that you have supported all of your life. Something which will particularly hurt when the team struggles on the field in the first few years, as it will. Importanly, GC have doubled in size since there last entry and are now linked for the first time to brisbane by railroad, which increases their crowd potential even further. They will now, also, for the first time have the chanc e to capitalise on the anti bronco feeling in Brisbane which although overstated, is still substantial.
D) corporate money and sponsors.....you have North Sydney business district enough said on that as well
Yeah, North Sydney business district will support a team based 100km away. If you are using that as a guide, then the combined Brisbane/Logan/Gold Coast/ NSW Northern Rivers/Ipswich Business districts which are all within about 100km would dwarf the North Sydney business district anyway.
6)If the Central Coast Bears were reinstated you would be able to have 2
fiercly fought local derbys....one against Newcastle on the CC and One
against Manly possibly at NSO it is a win win situation you'd get 23000 to each game.
I would love to see how many North Sydney/Manly derby games cracked the 20000 mark, not many i bet. Still, either way, they are dwarfed by the old Gold Coast-Brisbane derby games which generally drew 50000 plus in brisbane and full houses on the gold coast. CC or Newcastle wouldnt have a stadium big enough to fit those crowds in.
7)They say it's been 10 years since Super Laegue well to every Norths fan the legacy of SL lives on...to heal that final wound(As I believe
David Gallop said last year) put the Bears back into the NRL and then let all of us enjoy RL again. Stop being so bloody selfish.
And the reason why the Bears have been harder hit than the Gold Coast, when both lost their team is?
Well these are just some of the arguments....
How about letting us know some of the good arguments?
The Bears have been hit
from pillar to post since 1999 but are still battling on in the 4 grades
even after the NS Leagues club cut our funding this year from 650.000 to
350 000, the Mighty Bears are stll managing to mix it with the Best on
the oval with the Premier League, the Jersey Flegg , the S.G. Ball and
finally the Mighty Harold Mathews...
So the Bears funding is cut by 300,000 yet they want to increase there player budgets by the extra 3 million it costs to run an NRL team. No wonder they went broke.
Critics say the Bears are dead....well I can tell you we've taking some big knocks but under the
Leadership of Greg Florimo and President Miek Gibbons we will continue
to battle on until we reagain our rightful place in the NRL as the
Central Coast Bears.....
No one other than their own supporters say they are dead. They can and should flourish outside of the NRL. ONe day, they may even come back as the CC Bears, but it will be well after the GC are up and running. It may even be after Wellington, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and others are up and running, although the CC bid may at least have an argument against these areas. Against the Gold Coast, they are dwarfed and dont. They would be better served aiming for 17.
A final point Why would the someone of the
Calibre of Gary(the Wiz) Freeman want to take such an interest in our
club Coaching the Premier League if he thought it was all over for the
Bears....
To coach a premier league side (nothing wrong with that). Why you think he had NRL Clubs knocking down his door?
Why would the Melbourne Storm use us as the feeder tam for the
NRL if they thought it was all over for the Bears.
To get players from Sydney as well as Brisbane? and perhaps because they think it is all over for the bears as an NRL club and wish to help stop a traditionalist club from going broke.
...Think about it.....The Dolphins have now lost their logo and their merchandise......that was just plan arrogance on their behalf, No tears here for them....they just assumed they had the 16th licence.....Prepare yourselves because the Bears aint done yet.....Go The Mighty Bears.
They lost their logo because it was a stupid decision to use it. So what. The GC bid has no reliance on the logo at all. It is their corporate and population base that demands the team. I mean they could even succeed as the Red and Black Gold Coast BEars. Dare i say it, but they would be far more successful than the CC Beas could ever hope to be.
All in all, CC do have a decent bid, it is just that it doesnt stand up to the GC bid in comparison. It is probably better than some existing clubs bids, but the NRL is hardly going to kick those clubs out.
