Meet Daniel Dickson the businessman who brought the Bears back from the brink
He describes himself as loose, authentic and a little bit crazy. Meet Daniel Dickson, the man with a wacky dress sense who helped revive the Bears after almost 30 years out of the game.
Dressed in a range of dazzling coloured suits from his personal tailor in China, this is the diverse Sydney businessman who pulled off a rugby league miracle.
The Bears had been out of the game for almost 30 years, but Daniel Dickson, the club’s chairman, fought tenaciously to revive them.
“I was never giving up and never going to walk away,” Dickson declared.
“I like to win – I don’t like losing.”
Now a Perth Bears director preparing for the club’s first-ever board meeting, Dickson owns and runs five businesses with wife Debbie while revealing a zany side to a personality he describes as “loose, authentic and a little crazy.”
Dickson, 49, isn’t your quintessential, conventional chairman.
He wears theatrical outfits, has a bouffant hairstyle, has a toilet-trained rabbit named Reggie and adores Elvis Presley, who he has named one of his kids after.
“I’m a different cat,” he said.
“Debbie told me that being boring is the number one criminal action in our household. What people think about me has nothing to do with me.”
Before dragging the Bears back from obscurity, Dickson made headlines in 2001 for running onto the field past Parramatta Stadium security to congratulate his great mate, Jason Taylor, who had just become rugby league’s all-time point scoring record holder.
Dickson has now achieved the impossible and tells the inside story behind Norths’ historic return, predicting the Perth Bears could reach the finals in 2027, the club’s debut year, while revealing how many marquee players the fledgling clubs would need.
I HATE LOSING
Dickson is strong-willed and has a win-at-all-costs demeanour.
“I am tenacious and I was never giving up. I was never going to walk away. I like to win and I like to see something through,” he said.
“I don’t like losing. If you say you’re going to do something then you do it. These are things your parents instil in you.
“I won’t give up – that’s the easy way – but there were times when I thought we were right up against it. There were times when we were told no but I was never willing to say no.
“One door shut and another opened.
“But there wasn’t a time when I ever felt this was beyond us. No one will ever know the belief that you have to have. Once a Bear, always a Bear.
“There was a lot of pressure on us internally at periods of time and it took its toll on the board. Remember, our board members are volunteers.
“They do it for the love of the game, the club and history. There were times when we questioned each other and it wasn’t all smooth sailing, put it that way.
“People remember the Bears being in the comp and it was a beautiful time in rugby league. I am also blessed to know the people around us were very tight.”
IT’S A MIRACLE
Dickson led a Norths board which achieved the impossible. He was written off, dismissed, even mocked, but Dickson would live to create his own history.
“Over the past few years, we knew the NRL didn’t want another team in Sydney hence why we took the North Sydney out of the North Sydney logo,” he said.
“But you’ll never take North Sydney out of the North Sydney Bears – a 1908 foundation club.
“I was worried taking Norths from the logo wouldn’t sit well with the fans but we told them our story and they loved it. The NRL then realised we could be relocated somewhere.
“It’s also a great story for the NRL – the first two city-team to go away from its grassroots.
“It’s been a journey over the past five years that I’ve been involved but there have been plenty of people flying the flag before me since that dreaded day the Bears were kicked out of the comp in 1999.”
They were many false starts over the past five years in particular.
“I didn’t love the ‘Bring back the Bears’ concept because it was getting to a stage where people were throwing it out like it was another attempt,” he said.
“There weren’t actually that many attempts but some failed starts on what we thought would be the right move.
“We wanted an authentic shot at the stumps.
‘We had to line up everything properly to be taken seriously, get back the history and heritage which the NRL would be attracted to, and then start saying, ‘Where do we want to go?’”
They always had a number of options.
“Perth was the final location but there were plenty of other places along the way we were discussing with the NRL where the Bears could find a new home,” he said.
“We wanted to be part of the game’s growth and expansion and to bring our fans back to rugby league.”
