Central Coast Bears - Stand Aside

[Red&BlackBear]

RUGBY League team Central Coast Bears popped into Westfield Hornsby on Sunday for a membership drive.

League legends and club members David Fairleigh and Greg Florimo, and Tony Roach, were there for photo opportunities and to sign autographs and memorabilia.

The club signed up 90 new members in one day, bringing their total membership to 3713.

The club hopes to reach 5000 members by March 31, the day they will submit their bid proposal to the NRL’s games ruling body, with hopes of becoming the next team admitted into the NRL.

http://hornsby-advocate.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/bears-closer-to-nrl-dream/
​

 

[Red&BlackBear]

The Best & Less range

 

[dgsfan]

Gross.

 

[russ13]

CENTRAL QLD NRL BID (AND HISTORY OF PAST EXPANSIONS)

Posted on November 24, 2010 by Tribe13
Written bySean Fagan for Tribe13.com.au
Excerpt from interview with Aaron Stevens, ABC Radio Capricornia (24 Nov 2010).
League Historian Sean Fagan says there are elements a team requires to be successful.
“Generally it’s got to be based on the local community wanting the team and having the resources to support it,” says Sean.
“Even Newcastle and Illawarra, which are strong league areas, have struggled financially to keep their teams going.
“As we’ve seen with the Gold Coast where originally they struggled in the first form when they came in 1988 but when they returned it’s a completely different story because the city had changed in its make-up and support.”

He says it’s vital the community is behind a bid for a league team for it to survive.
“I think it was different when Perth came in, for a couple of years there’d been a consortium trying to put a team together but it wasn’t like the whole local community was behind it,” says Sean.

“Rugby league had been played in Perth since the 1950′s but it wasn’t a mainstream sport and while for its first game against St George, Perth drew over 20,000 people…within two years that dropped down to crowds of below 10,000.
“So it really needs a strong local community to support it and sustain it for a long period.”
So does Perth deserve a second chance at having a team?

“I don’t think it’s their fault given what happened last time, it was just the timing to do with super league and rationalisation of the competition and the peace arrangement with the ARL,” says Sean.

“If they’d entered a competition that was having no internal problems and no internal war right across the whole board, it certainly would have got a lot further along.

“But I don’t know the NRL will go back there this time as its first priority, I think you’ve really got to go where the population is and while it’s good to put a flag on a map and say you’re spread all around the country, if the bulk of the people are living on the Eastern seaboard, in my view that’s where the teams should be…”

He says you’d have to look as far back in history as the Maroons of the 1920′s to find a period when Queensland were as dominate over New South Wales in the rugby league as now.

“It’s probably a reflection on the state itself, the growing population number, it’s a rugby league state, we’ve now got three Queensland teams in the NRL possbily four so it’s just constantly building that strength and those numbers,” says Sean.

“If I had to pick another team first, I’d pick another Queensland team based on the premise that if you take a view you’re looking 30, 40, 50 years ahead, that most of the population of Australia is going to be located in NSW and QLD and not the AFL states.
“And that’s where rugby league at the moment is strongest and if it wants to basically remain that way, now is the best opportunity it’s got to keep the other codes at bay…”
Source: ABC Radio

http://tribe13.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/central-qld-nrl-bid/

 

[Red&BlackBear]

Mark & Duncan from 9s The Block have been great ambassadors for the Central Coast Bears. It's been magnificent to have the boys showing off the colours and supporting the bid on Tv during a national broadcasted show. Go the Bears!!

 

[Red&BlackBear]

Just a reminder that the Central Coast Bears membership drives will be @

Ducks for Bucks
@ The Entrace WHEN: Sat 27th November, 12pm-7pm

Central Coast Bears Presidents Cup Grand Final
WHEN: Sun 28th November from 12pm
WHERE: Avoca Bowling Club

 

[mightybears]

Gross.

because getting merch in best & less before we even have a team worries you?

 

[dgsfan]

No. Whilst I don't think the Bears should be admitted (too many teams in NSW), I was mearly commenting that they look bad.

 

[Timmah]

Most NRL merch isn't that good, who cares.

 

[Dragon Slayer]

Russ 13 thanks for posting that interesting article.

I think it truly highlights the need to go to QLD next with expansion of the NRL team base. I hope the powers at be at the time see it that way as well.

There isn't enough player talent to really to have another team admitted but the growing population in QLD in the future is a compelling case.

I don't really see how the Central Coast Bears bid really adds much to the NRL. It just puts another squeeze on the Sydney teams for player talent and they don't add to T.V revenue like another QLD team would.

Whats more the Central Coast bid has become quite arrogant with their approach. It's almost like they are demanding entry in the NRL competition. I'm afraid you just pull a ticket and wait in the queue like everyone else until your number is called out. There are other much more worthier bids out there. They should acknowledge that their bid isn't as superior to others as they make out.

 

[Timmah]

So you claim they're arrogant and then go on to claim other bids are more worthy in the same breath? :lol:

 

[Broncos93]

Whats more the Central Coast bid has become quite arrogant with their approach. It's almost like they are demanding entry in the NRL competition. I'm afraid you just pull a ticket and wait in the queue like everyone else until your number is called out. There are other much more worthier bids out there. They should acknowledge that their bid isn't as superior to others as they make out.

Is it arrogant or ambitious? Kudos to the Bears for hitting the streets and really promoting and marketing their brand. There's nothing wrong with getting ahead of the competition, and considering the Reds is the next most developed bid, without much more than an SG Ball team and some minor marketing going on, the Bears have a right to claim their bid as superior to everyone elses. The Bears have everything to take the field bar a license.

Would you call the Dragons arrogant for parading that they were the best team this year? Hell no, they earnt that right, through playing better than anyone else this season. Why should the bears be deemed 'arrogant' for being the most ambitious and assertive bid team? They have 3700 people who pay up to support the cause, so clearly they deserve it the most.

 

[dgsfan]

The Bears won't really add anything to the competition. Another club in Sydney/NSW? Another club averaging 16,000? Teams in QLD and Perth will greatly add to the TV deal. Will Sydney even support another half arsed Nth Sydney Bears abortion? Ratings were up on last year in Sydney but down in QLD. We don't need another team in NSW.

 

[BunniesMan]

Is it arrogant or ambitious? Kudos to the Bears for hitting the streets and really promoting and marketing their brand. There's nothing wrong with getting ahead of the competition, and considering the Reds is the next most developed bid, without much more than an SG Ball team and some minor marketing going on, the Bears have a right to claim their bid as superior to everyone elses. The Bears have everything to take the field bar a license.

Would you call the Dragons arrogant for parading that they were the best team this year? Hell no, they earnt that right, through playing better than anyone else this season. Why should the bears be deemed 'arrogant' for being the most ambitious and assertive bid team? They have 3700 people who pay up to support the cause, so clearly they deserve it the most.

This.

 

[Dragon Slayer]

So you claim they're arrogant and then go on to claim other bids are more worthy in the same breath? :lol:

I have stated my opinion as a neutral you f**king idiot!

Do the maths.

Which state has an over supply of teams and which state has an under supply of teams?

 

[BuffaloRules]

The Bears won't really add anything to the competition. Another club in Sydney/NSW? Another club averaging 16,000? Teams in QLD and Perth will greatly add to the TV deal. Will Sydney even support another half arsed Nth Sydney Bears abortion? Ratings were up on last year in Sydney but down in QLD. We don't need another team in NSW.

This.

Central Coast - Relocation not Expansion.

 

[Didgi]

Most NRL merch isn't that good, who cares.

Who cares? The paying supporter. $160 for something that looks like sh*t and won't be current within a couple of years.

 

[bobmar28]

I have stated my opinion as a neutral you f**king idiot!

Do the maths.

Which state has an over supply of teams and which state has an under supply of teams?

Sydney has 9 teams which is way too many. QLD has 3 teams which is way too few. There is no need for another team in the Sydney region, ( Central Coast ).

 

[Red&BlackBear]

Following David Gallop’s whistle-stop tour of Central Queensland this week, it was amusing to read comments forecasting that Rockhampton could be the base of the next NRL franchise.

Like any good lawyer, his comments have been full of platitudes, but little of substance. Yes, we all knew Central Queensland is entering a boom phase and yes, we all knew it has a keen League population base and yes, the NRL would be mad not to check it out for future expansion……but in 2013?

His only new comment has been today on radio, stating that the Gold Coast model has grown TV audiences and thus heartland bids can expand the game.
When talking heartland bids, David Gallop consistently has said ‘fish where the fish are’.

So where are the fish?

Rocky’s population is 80,000 and the nearest decent sized town, Gladstone (107km away) has 30,000. So to claim they have more than 110,000 as a reachable catchment area is fanciful. How many will travel to away games? 50? 100?

Forget the Ipswich bid this time around. This is being cobbled together at the last second by a Club which draws a few hundred to its games and whose Leagues Club sells $2 steaks (provided you buy a beer). Its only being created following more David Gallop remarks six months ago that the western Brisbane corridor must have an NRL team eventually. Again, we all agree with him… eventually. Make it a true independent west Brisbane bid with a new name and colours, dump the Jets name and I’m all for a team come next TV deal.

Ipswich has a population of 170,000 and combined with Logan City (280,000), a 450,000 population which will grow to 600,000 in 15 years can probably sustain a team once they put together a strong, community bid… if News Ltd allow competition for the Broncos in an already crowding landscape.

As Bear proponents say, and I’m now converted to their thinking, Central Coast Bears have a population of almost 1.1 million, comprising 320,000 on the Central Coast and 750,000 in northern Sydney. The Central Coast is growing rapidly so in 20 years time that will swell to well over 1.2 million.

As heartland bids are not affected by strategic points on a map, its irrelevant whether they are in QLD or NSW, it just matters how many fish there are and if they are biting. The only bid that can prove they are biting is Central Coast, as they have I see over 3,700 financial members, more than some current NRL teams! I also see their Facebook site has over 21,800 fans, more than Newcastle, Cronulla, Penrith, Canberra and the Cowboys.

So the Central Coast are financially secure and have the pond with the most fish, who are biting hard. Brisbane has a pond still under construction and we don’t know if there are many fish, or if they will bite. The fish are biting for sure in Rockhampton, but there aren’t many in the pond at all.

So if the League bring in just one heartland team, where would you fish?
Just think – two could be accommodated, one from NSW, one from QLD if the Sharks were culled or moved to Perth…. no doubt the IC will examine all options.

http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/11/26/fishing-for-heartland-expansion/

 

[Rockin Ronny]

I have stated my opinion as a neutral you f**king idiot!

Do the maths.

For you, as a Sharks fan, here's some maths.

Your club has been broke for decades.
You have been rescued from bankruptcy by the league at least 3 times.
You joined superleague as a alternative to bankruptcy.
You have been spruiking about some bullsh*t property development saviour that will probably give you $1 million per annum - when you patently need $15-20 million to be successful.

Now, you come here to talk about "maths" and expansion. If rugby league wasn't run purely on agendas and fiefdoms, your club would have been booted out 30 years ago.