CC Bears Should take Legal Action

[little_aza]

Seriously, a lot of people in rugby league are not that smart. But - to suggest that the Bears put in millions of dollars (combined with the federal government) to build Gosford Stadium, set up offices there etc - then sat back and hoped to get a licence is ridiculous. Although, I can imagine News Limited 'journos" would like to rewrite history.

To say that CC Bears team with Gosford stadium and support from 2 great rugby league regions etc woud NOT be one of the best 14 is simply dishonest at best - laughable at worst.

You're saying that the CC Bears woud be inferior to such financial powerhouses as Newcastle, Manly and "wait for the big development approval" Cronulla.

NOTE: under the Trade Practices ACt, from memory, actions for misleading and deceptive conduct are not subject to the statute of limitations. there would also be a myriad of associated actions such as inducement to breach existing legal contracta.

Christ, what don't you understand from this?!?! What Fraitly said in the first line of their post sums up my entire legal rant in one sentence:

You make the claim that Norths were 'promised' a licence, but there is no evidence of this, except for Norths fans.

It's very simple Ronny - no one was expressly promised anything. Not Norths, not Easts, not Manly: no one.

So yes, they moved to Gosford and spent all that money in the mere hope of getting a licence. They thought what they did was sufficient, but at the end of the day, in the eyes of the NRL, it wasn't.

The NRL had their own criteria for assessing which clubs were most viable. Obviously they made a hollistic decision, balancing all things which they believed was for the best interests for the future of the NRL. It was a judgement call and a subjective test...I guess they favoured club mergers. Whether you or I or anyone else thinks they made the right decision here is completely irrelevant - it was their decision.

Legally they did nothing wrong by it - there was no promise, and no misleading or deceptive conduct - Norths knew just like everyone else knew there were going to be 14 clubs, and like everyone else they did what they could to be one of those 14. Sadly for them, they weren't. The NRL did not promise a thing, to any club. (NOTE: The Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) is now defunct and no longer exists as law.)


And Ronny, this more than anything shows why Norths haven't got a leg to stand on:

If Norths genuinely felt they had a legal case they would have pushed it earlier - but they knew they had no grounds.

 

[little_aza]

Look Ronny, I know you're upset about what happened to the Bears, and I agree, it sucks. But they were turfed out just like the Reds, Rams, Gold Coast, Crushers, Hunter Mariners and Souths were. Each one of these clubs have fair arguments as to why they should have stayed (well...maybe less so the Mariners?) but they just didn't make the 14.

Personally, if it were me who was deciding it? Based on what little I know of the situation in the boardrooms at the time, I would have 16 teams in 2000, looking something similar to (North to South):
North Queensland Cowboys, Brisbane Broncos, South Queensland Bears, Perth Sharks, Newcastle Knights, South Sydney-Central Coast Bears Rabbitohs, Manly Sea Eagles, Penrith Panthers, Parramatta Eels, Wests Tigers, Sydney Roosters, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs, St George Illawarra Dragons, Canberra Raiders, Auckland (now New Zealand) Warriors, and Melbourne Storm.

With a view in 2010 to expanding to an 18 team competition consisting of two of these possible locations: Gold Coast, Wellington NZ, Adelaide.

But I wasn't there at the time, and what they ended up doing, on the whole, worked. Anyway, such discussion is irrelevant to the topic of legal action by the Bears.

 

[Frailty]

Please explain. What "dodgy" things?

My main issues with 'dodgy' things are referring to decisions to axe Western Reds, Sth Qld Crushers, and Adelaide.

 

[Rockin Ronny]

Yes. It has changed. Ten years is a long time. And I have never worked for News Limited. I refuse to.

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
Demographics haven't changed at all. All that changes is the same baseless bits of crap trying to justify the continual exclusion of the Bears.

 

[Rockin Ronny]

It's very simple Ronny - no one was expressly promised anything. Not Norths, not Easts, not Manly: no one.

So yes, they moved to Gosford and spent all that money in the mere hope of getting a licence. They thought what they did was sufficient, but at the end of the day, in the eyes of the NRL, it wasn't.

Gee - good guessing. You sound like Gallop.

Actual facts were that the NRL said "North Sydney Oval is not good enough for NRL - you need to move". The board repesented to members and supporters that the NRL guaranteed a regional licence if we built a stadium at Gosford and relocated.

But - according to you, the Bears and the federal government risked spending millions of dollars to build a stadium which was unlikely to have any team.

You know - you're dumb enough to be an editor of the Telegraph.

 

[Spanner in the works]

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
Demographics haven't changed at all. All that changes is the same baseless bits of crap trying to justify the continual exclusion of the Bears.

So pretty much what you are saying is that Australia's population growth stopped in 2000, and that Sydney hasn't expanded. Now that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. You are an idiot.

 

[Rockin Ronny]

So pretty much what you are saying is that Australia's population growth stopped in 2000, and that Sydney hasn't expanded. Now that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. You are an idiot.

hey moron.
Unlike your IQ, the population did increase.
But it didn't stop the Central Coast/north shore being a potentially powerful NRL franchise.
Of course Sydney expanded, idiot - but it didn't swallow up the central coast and make it a suburb of Sydney.

 

[dgsfan]

Agreed. To spanner that is.

 

[Rockin Ronny]

Agreed. To spanner that is.

That helps my argument.

 

[Red&BlackBear]

Think what you will about Ronny but he speaks the truth in regards to the Bears. I do find it funny though that people on here whom have never had any affiliation with Norths, reckon they know what happened 10 odd years ago and believe they know more than actual Norths members and fans.

 

[Frailty]

Actual facts were that the NRL said "North Sydney Oval is not good enough for NRL - you need to move". The board repesented to members and supporters that the NRL guaranteed a regional licence if we built a stadium at Gosford and relocated.
.

Do you not see the glaring gap in the story.

NRL says you will need to move because NSO is substandard... Doesn't say - Move and you will have a licence guaranteed.

The BOARD said to members and supporters that the NRL guaranteed. You have shown nothing that the NRL guaranteed it.

Norths are a victim of their own management.

 

[Rockin Ronny]

Do you not see the glaring gap in the story.

NRL says you will need to move because NSO is substandard... Doesn't say - Move and you will have a licence guaranteed.

The BOARD said to members and supporters that the NRL guaranteed. You have shown nothing that the NRL guaranteed it.

Oh seriously, that is so dumb.

A football club is a corporate entity. Such a critical decision for a 100 year old club was a massive call - requiring negotiation over an extended period plus significant consultation with members and supporters to get approval for the move. Of course the licence was guaranteed, you twit. It wouldn't have been approved otherwise.

If the licence wasn't guaranteed, then the charade of "likely to be insolvent" in 1999 would not have been necessary. This was the only way to get rid of the NRL licence guarantee and exclude the Bears from being included in the criteria discussions. This was of great benefit to news limited who wnated to get the teams down to the magical 14 number.

Then, wow, "coincidentally", Manly - who were geuinely in financial trouble - end up with Gosford stadium, a few millon from the NRL, a licence and a team called the "Eagles".

 

[Spanner in the works]

hey moron.
Unlike your IQ, the population did increase.
But it didn't stop the Central Coast/north shore being a potentially powerful NRL franchise.
Of course Sydney expanded, idiot - but it didn't swallow up the central coast and make it a suburb of Sydney.

Didn't you just say the demographics didn't change? Are you confused?

 

[bottle]

The whole ' To Bears or not to Bears' argument aside, the contention that the Central Coast is, or will be considered, a part of Sydney is wrong. It is wrong in fact, wrong in geography and wrong in common sense.
To say that the extensive National Parks system that sits between the two will be eaten up by housing developments in the next twenty years, as one poster claims, is abject nonsense. All such an argument does is damage to one's credibility. You can have a different opinion by all means but when you go to the length of making up hysterical arguments like that you render yourself irrelevant and subject to ridicule.
Proximity aside, the Central Coast is as much Sydney as the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast are Brisbane. Indeed the corridors linking the Gold and Sunshine coasts will become homogeneous with Brisbane in terms of housing infrastructure a long, long time before Sydney and the CC ever will.
I live in Sydney, my parents live on the CC. They are two different places. Sure, it takes almost as long to drive up and see them as it would for me to drive to Cronulla to see the Sharks play due to the geography of where I live in Sydney and the prevailing road systems. Hence the transit time arguments are valid. The homogeneity arguments are not.

 

[RHCP]

Think what you will about Ronny but he speaks the truth in regards to the Bears. I do find it funny though that people on here whom have never had any affiliation with Norths, reckon they know what happened 10 odd years ago and believe they know more than actual Norths members and fans.

But this is a Central Coast team, not a tenth Sydney team? What does this have to do with Norths?

 

[Red&BlackBear]

But this is a Central Coast team, not a tenth Sydney team? What does this have to do with Norths?

Re-read my post. The reply I gave is in regards to 1999 and the regional license which Ronny is debating. Which was a Norths topic. This is a Central Coast team, correct. But like aforementioned my comments are directed at the 1999 fiasco.

 

[Frailty]

It's the NRL's fault that Norths had delays in the construction of the Central Coast Stadium, and that North Sydney didn't have home games in 1999, and were making no revenue?

You're right, it is the NRL's fault that the club vetoed the members to merge with Manly.

Norths situation was disappointing, but you can not place blame on the NRL... Rather look at the Board who stuffed the club up not the NRL.

 

[Perth Red]

you want them to take legal action for something that may or may not have been promised in 1999?

 

[SingleSpeed73]

Oh - that's right, Einstein.
Without Arko, you would have been gone in 2 seconds under the criteria.

Norths disapeared quicker than that... :lol:
I would agree to a Norths readmission ....if you weren't all for it, your comments really destroy any favour fellow posters would have towards your extinct team

 

[Rockin Ronny]

Didn't you just say the demographics didn't change? Are you confused?

Listen, idiot.
Nothing in demographics changed so much that the central coast/north shore combination would still not be a powerful addition for the NRL. But morons like you argue that there was some seismic shift that changed everything.

Note this: there are a lot of people (from a range of organisations) who would be extremely concerned if the events of 1999 were brought clearly to light. In my opinion, if the CC Bears are about to be rorted again, they should go hard and make an absolute shitfight out of this whole issue stemming back from the 90's to today.

As for the argument that this would damage the game - that's irrelevant. The greatest damage done to this game was the gutless sellout to News Limited and the attempted assassination of two foundation clubs.