I find it ironic that someone with a quarter of a brain thinks that their opinion matters.
I'll tell you who the Bears are. They are one of the first Rugby League teams in Australia, they are one of the original teams that helped create the original comp.
They existed before you, your dad and your grand dad. They are a team held together by families and friends, a team whose very fabric of existence goes beyond our generation or the previous.
Without Norths, Manly wouldn't exist. We are one of the most selfless clubs in Australia, we played our part in bringing Manly in, relocating out of Sydney for rationalization and backed by our own funds. No handouts, no salary cap drama's, no trouble.
We have had great players, great men and great people walk through our doors. We've had players sent to world war 1 + 2. We've had our team stripped of 60% it's playing roster to enable Manly to build their first squad. We've been through lean years, we've been kicked down and stomped on, we've been on the receiving end of literal cheat refs, incredibly poor decisions and just outright bad luck. But here we still are, united. Fans and supporters backing our great club with it's amazing traditions and optimism.
While you and your modern bogan views will give up on your team temporarily when they play bad, Bears fans don't. We don't give up and the fact that we're attracting more high profile sponsors, members and general fans then a few clubs and many of those aspect more-so than your club. It'd be wise for you to stfu. Because after all, you said it best. We don't have a team in the comp yet we're accomplishing just as much if not more then your club is off the field. A team that won't even sack it's mediocore coach unless they lose 25 games straight. Who is run by family and due to that has a major conflict of interest from board to coaching ranks. What does that say about your team? Yes your in the comp but keep going the way you are by ignoring history and that League memorabilia you're talking about will be the same place the Raiders will eventually be.
Think before you type mate. It would be in your best interest to do so.
The case you just made is not that we should expand to accomodate the Bears, but rather look at some current underperforming clubs and ask some serious questions.
The Sydney clubs have known for 30 years now that the NSWRL/ARL/NRL is/has become a national comp, and that their small markets and outdated facilities with low sponsorships isn't enough going forward - they must change their business models to survive.
Look at the best performing clubs right now off field in Sydney - Canterbury, Souths, St George, Wests. They have all adapted the way they operate - memberships, new markets, broadened sponsor apeal, some taking games outside Sydney, mergers.
Yet some clubs just trudge along acting like nothings changed (Sydney, Penrith, Cronulla and Manly especially). Yet pokies laws are changing, sponsors are harder to find in Sydney due to competition, media exposure is a fight - yet the future will see more "strong" big market clubs like Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland.
We all know that Gosford isn't a big enough market for a full time NRL side (Wollongong is bigger and it didn't work there), and that it would add next to nothing to the TV contract. Yet a strong North Sydney - Gosford franchise would fit the games needs far better than some current clubs do.
I maintain that it isn't expanding by adding clubs in NSW - its contracting back to the NSWRL. What we need is true expansion in Perth, and consolidation in Queensland. But the NRL might also need to tap Manly on the shoulder and point towards the Sunshine Coast or Gosford. It is then that the Bears become a viable option.
