Mate, it's already been done. I live in Pymble - you can't really get more North Shore than that and Rugby League in junior form is pretty much non existant.
Soccer, AFL, Rugby Union and cricket all have a presence but League is nowhere to be found until you get to Belrose which is officially part of the Northern Beaches and not the North Shore.
The Central Coast Bears have done bits and pieces with the local Public Schools but that was a few years ago now. Without funding the CC Bears are going to struggle to do anything in the area.
I can see why the Bears don't want Manly promoting themselves in the area, but they really shouldn't have a choice. If you walk around the schools the one thing "League" you do see is kids in Manly gear. The kids have voted with their feet and have started following Manly. The Bears have been gone too long to get kids to support them. Manly should be given the opportunity to develop the area under the understanding that if the Bears ever come back in the area will revert to Norths.
Manly would then need to take a risk on the area - one which I think is well worth their taking.
Yeah, I'd agree, few places still have strong League support at the junior level, and those that do play against Manly juniors. Kids that are into League on the North Shore are predominately Manly fans- it needs to be formalised and the area made part of Manly's catchment.
I have got a couple of work mates that live on the lower North Shore (Mosman & Cremorne). Their first love is Union, but they used to follow the Bears.
Now their kids are mad Manly fans.
Manly should be taking over this area.
I work on the North Shore and also go out a lot there. My work mates that live on the North Shore are mostly in their early-late 20s, not one of them is a Bears supporter. Most follow the Wallabies and Manly. I've asked them if they'd support the Bears if they returned on the CC, most said no, that they don't like going to the Central Coast, and they didn't really care about the Bears.
That's the case for mostly everyone under 30 on the North Shore (
especially those in their teens and younger)- they don't care about the Bears, their return would mean very little to them, especially considering that they'd be based on the CC.
The reality is the North Shore is never going to have a full time team (sorry but Manly just don't cut it and that's partly by their own choice) so at best they're only ever going to be able to have a team that gives them a minor presence in the competition.
And why wouldn't Manly cut it, given 20 years to work with the area and the full support of the NRL? You're thinking too much in the present, and too much of the old Bears supporters. You have to think of the future, and of the juniors and kids on the North Shore.
But a minor presence is better than no presence at all and to Bears fans (who clearly still exist in significant numbers that rival some current NRL clubs) and to those in the region who support the game but only have weak club affiliation, a club that builds upon a previous local history that also proactively tries to engage with their area will have a strong appeal.
You keep talking about Manly filling that role but again they've had a decade to fill the hole yet the hole's still there. Manly will benefit from renewed interest in the region and yes there will be fans that start to choose between the Bears & Sea Eagles.
You're criticising Manly for not yet filling that hole, but that's ignoring that Manly had to rebuild their support on the Northern Beaches first, were left almost broke from the merger, and until recently, were hated on the North Shore. If Manly jumped straight in after the death of the Bears, they would have been blasted for it and it would've set any efforts they were prepared to make back a long time. It's now been a decade, the hatred has faded
significantly, Norths' juniors play in a comp with Manly's juniors, and Manly's finances are much more stable than they were. Add to that the fact that there's more money coming into the game and a bigger grant for each club- now is the perfect time for Manly to take the area.
But remember this is only part of the Central Coast Bears bid. The Central Coast is a bigger market and will continue to out grow several existing NRL teams market's. To have no plan for the region is a joke.
Note that I agree that the CC should get a team down the track, but not while Sydney has 9 teams, and not the CC Bears, if they were to hang onto the North Shore.
I actually agree with that but that doesn't mean that CC Bears/Manly paradigm has little or no benefit. All the expansion areas have different benefits to the game.
That's right, only the West Coast Pirates and Brisbane 2 have a lot, lot more to offer the game than the CC at the moment.
I agree about the lack of support from the NRL but to keep blaming your problems on a dormant club currently with little power is a bit much.
As I've been saying, Manly has tried to do work on the North Shore, and keeps getting Florimo and co running off to the NSWRL, complaining about us. We still do, but when you finally break through the drama and red tape, and get reps at events, players doing school visits etc. organised and happening, you've still got Florimo watching us and trying to prevent us from spreading into the area. In the past few years Manly's done school visits, and, no joke, Florimo and co. will organise for Bears NSW Cup players to attend as well, at the same schools.
No other club who has dropped to NSW Cup antagonises another club and their efforts like that.
Manly's first concern is the Northern Beaches, we have a limited budget and development work to do here as well, we shouldn't have to put up with anything like that when trying to develop the North Shore.
Isolation? There's an entire city to expand to. You don't see clubs like South Sydney complaining about being surrounded/isolated.
They've expanded their club city-wide (in the same manner that AFL teams have grown outside their enclaves) and that's why they'll prosper.
As much as you want it to, "gifting" (even if that were possible) Manly the North Shore & Central Coast isn't going to solve the divide between the haves and have nots and it's a stop-gap solution at best.
And how well has this worked for Cronulla? That idea isn't going to work for every club. By the way, I'm not saying Manly should be given the Central Coast- I'm arguing against the CC + NS idea, which I think is a terrible idea for the North Shore long term in terms of RL support and strength.
What would happen if Manly abandoned Brookvale for a new stadium if it was built not too far away? Say at Frenchs Forest? How about Chatswood?
Frenchs Forest could maybe work, I'm not sure where though- it is accessible from Warringah Rd, Wakehurst Pkwy and Allambie Rd, which is a big plus. Chatswood- possibly, the big worry is how congested the area is though. Chatswood Oval could be a site that could be used, but the streets around it are so narrow and busy, it'd make getting into and out of a nightmare.
What makes Brookvale good is that it's on the main bus line- it's super easy to get a bus there, plus it's also only 20-45 minutes away from a lot of North Shore locations by bus.
But that's precisely the point; we now have the ARLC to decide the future direction of the game - not any single bid.
The ARLC will rather:
wait for a bid like Perth & West Brisbane to be ready
than let a bid like CC in.
Why would young kids living on the North Shore have any affinity to a team that got the chop before they were born, and why would they choose to support them if they re entered the competition playing on the Central Coast?
Exactly right.
The CC bears were always planning on playing 2-3 games a year at North Sydney oval..
"Will all our home games be played at Gosford?
All of our home games will be played at Bluetongue Stadium except for one. We will endeavour to play the Heritage round at North Sydney Oval along with possibly one trial game."
The timing is everything and every passing year the NRL is frittering away a potential audience. I agree that 15-20 years from now that would all be perfectly valid but there's still plenty of fans and families that grew up with the Bears and would re-embrace them.
Exactly- the CC Bears would lead to a short term burst in popularity on the North Shore amongst their old fans, but long term, it's a terrible idea. We have to think about what will happen to the area in 15-20 years time and not go for the short term shot in the arm that old Bears fans would provide.
