The Bears

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

They'd be better off going to Adelaide, as Perth could very well get themselves a license of their own, in around another 5-10 years, Adelaide is where the Bears could own without a rival bid or RL presence would upset the applecart, also having a link to sydney would help SANRL even more, to me its a no brainer, they can still have their 4 NSO games, the rest in Adelaide... but even 4 seems too much

I cannot see that garnering much public support. Nor can I see it being financially viable.

The Bears are done. The only way we'll ever see the brand back in the NRL is if the Burleigh Bears acquire the Titans' licence, but I doubt the ARLC will allow them to change the club's name.

 

[Foreign Legion]

Adelaide Bears!!!

 

[AdelaideSharky]

Adelaide Bears!!!

As a now Adelaide resident I doubt we'd want a transplanted Sydney team masquerading as an Adelaide team, we'd want a return of the Rams.

 

[Colk]

I cannot see that garnering much public support. Nor can I see it being financially viable.

The Bears are done. The only way we'll ever see the brand back in the NRL is if the Burleigh Bears acquire the Titans' licence, but I doubt the ARLC will allow them to change the club's name.

If you are looking at any location wherein a relocation would work it would be most likely be Adelaide.

 

[Colk]

As a now Adelaide resident I doubt we'd want a transplanted Sydney team masquerading as an Adelaide team, we'd want a return of the Rams.

Do people remember the Rams that well?

 

[Perth Red]

Do people remember the Rams that well?

There's still a lot of love for the Reds here in Perth so Id imagine it would be the same for the Rams. A lot of that has to do with the feeling the clubs were duded in the peace deal and would have been successful if given the opportunity to keep building.

 

[ReddFelon]

It's not my preferred choice but I'd be okay with the Perth Bears. My WA parochialism would kick in for sure. That being said, the Bears just kinda suck ass.

 

[Colk]

There's still a lot of love for the Reds here in Perth so Id imagine it would be the same for the Rams. A lot of that has to do with the feeling the clubs were duded in the peace deal and would have been successful if given the opportunity to keep building.

Interesting. It is a bit of a double edged sword though. The name could be a reminder of the fact that they did fail.

Also, the target market is not the immediate generation but the younger generations.

I would love the Rams to be back but what is the likelihood of the Rams or a team with a new identity for Adelaide as opposed to a relocated club going there?

 

[Colk]

It's not my preferred choice but I'd be okay with the Perth Bears. My WA parochialism would kick in for sure. That being said, the Bears just kinda suck ass.

I’d imagine that it would be very difficult for a Manly fan to have any affinity for the Bears

 

[Perth Red]

Interesting. It is a bit of a double edged sword though. The name could be a reminder of the fact that they did fail.

Also, the target market is not the immediate generation but the younger generations.

I would love the Rams to be back but what is the likelihood of the Rams or a team with a new identity ok Adelaide as opposed to a relocated club going there?

Not locally, apart from RL hating fans of other sports the general feeling is the Reds started well and could have been great if given the chance. The failure is very much seen as failure of the games leaders, not of the Reds brand. When the WARL relaunched th WA Reds in 2008 there was strong support and we got 1500-2000 to Jim Beam cup games.
can’t speak for Adelaide and the Rams brand but the Reds are still much loved in WA.

main problem for Adelaide is in need ten years plus development to be nrl ready On its own. That is a long term investment and strategy needed by the game and we know how well they do that!
A Bears in Adelaide would be a fast track but you’d be forever worried that they would be pushing for a move back to NS as their real long term goal.

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

If you are looking at any location wherein a relocation would work it would be most likely be Adelaide.

It would have to be a current NRL team to work. The Bears are irrelevant as they've been playing park football since 2000. There are an entire generation, now in their 20s, living in Queensland and NSW who've never seen the club play at the highest level.

I can't imagine too many people in Adelaide would be familiar with the Bears. The Fitzroy Lions would be more familiar in that part of the world. It would make more sense to bring back the Rams than to send the North Sydney Bears to Adelaide.

 

[ReddFelon]

I’d imagine that it would be very difficult for a Manly fan to have any affinity for the Bears

It's actually an odd situation. I was a Reds fan in the 90's (admittedly a child) because my dad was one of the corporate backers who supported Laurie Puddy (the joys of Fremantle shipping yards having forklift contracts). When the Reds left my mum had been a huge Sea Eagles fan despite being from the North Shore, mostly because my grandfather felt that Shoremen treated New Zealanders unfairly in the 50's.

But also, I have found the post-2000 Bring Back the Bears crowd to be absolutely insufferable, also Billy Moore is like a dumber Gordon Tallis.

 

[Colk]

Not locally, apart from RL hating fans of other sports the general feeling is the Reds started well and could have been great if given the chance. The failure is very much seen as failure of the games leaders, not of the Reds brand. When the WARL relaunched th WA Reds in 2008 there was strong support and we got 1500-2000 to Jim Beam cup games.
can’t speak for Adelaide and the Rams brand but the Reds are still much loved in WA.

main problem for Adelaide is in need ten years plus development to be nrl ready On its own. That is a long term investment and strategy needed by the game and we know how well they do that!
A Bears in Adelaide would be a fast track but you’d be forever worried that they would be pushing for a move back to NS as their real long term goal.

I definitely agree with your last point. It would have to be a complete takeover by the Adelaide side for example. It’s possible but that would be the biggest concern.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

The big issue of relocating any existing club is you pretty much face alienating that club's fanbase.

Be it rugby league, AFL or Chinese checkers fans are all for relocation and mergers as long as it's not their own club.

The media and fans on the cesspit that is social media and some fans in here have had a strong habit of constantly putting my own club in the conversation of relocation but ask yourself besides those who support a club for the name of the mascot attached to the club's name what do you really lose?

You lose those who support their club because that's the area they grew up in.

As someone who chose my club because it was the area I grew up in I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole even if they relocated to my now adopted home city.

 

[MugaB]

The big issue of relocating any existing club is you pretty much face alienating that club's fanbase.

Be it rugby league, AFL or Chinese checkers fans are all for relocation and mergers as long as it's not their own club.

The media and fans on the cesspit that is social media and some fans in here have had a strong habit of constantly putting my own club in the conversation of relocation but ask yourself besides those who support a club for the name of the mascot attached to the club's name what do you really lose?

You lose those who support their club because that's the area they grew up in.

As someone who chose my club because it was the area I grew up in I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole even if they relocated to my now adopted home city.

Agreed, but if it was the only way to get themselves an Nrl Licence, whist still getting a few token home games at NSO, im sure "The Bears" would agree to it, its not a complete relocation, if they are still getting a handful of games in sydney, plus all the away games in sydney, still serve the general norths fans, if they are willing to travel to SFS, Manly, Parra etc.
To me as long as the NRL isn't forcing a current NRL club away to a foreign state, this works purely for gaining another market in SA, aswell as bringing back a heritage club, if the Newtown jets were given this opportunity, maybe they might take it also?

 

[Colk]

The big issue of relocating any existing club is you pretty much face alienating that club's fanbase.

Be it rugby league, AFL or Chinese checkers fans are all for relocation and mergers as long as it's not their own club.

The media and fans on the cesspit that is social media and some fans in here have had a strong habit of constantly putting my own club in the conversation of relocation but ask yourself besides those who support a club for the name of the mascot attached to the club's name what do you really lose?

You lose those who support their club because that's the area they grew up in.

As someone who chose my club because it was the area I grew up in I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole even if they relocated to my now adopted home city.

The other point of that argument though is that relocation is a way of getting that club into a market that has greater potential in terms of support and more importantly greater financial independence

On that point you would say that’s worked in other competitions

Anyway all of these conversations are really mute at this point in time because there’s not going to be a side from Adelaide and there’s not going to be a side relocated from Sydney or elsewhere.

I guess I see the only possibility of an Adelaide side is through a relocation as we’re at a point where the amount of teams is already fairly high.

 

[T-Boon]

The big issue of relocating any existing club is you pretty much face alienating that club's fanbase.

Be it rugby league, AFL or Chinese checkers fans are all for relocation and mergers as long as it's not their own club.

The media and fans on the cesspit that is social media and some fans in here have had a strong habit of constantly putting my own club in the conversation of relocation but ask yourself besides those who support a club for the name of the mascot attached to the club's name what do you really lose?

You lose those who support their club because that's the area they grew up in.

As someone who chose my club because it was the area I grew up in I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole even if they relocated to my now adopted home city.

cronulla fans mean business with this threat. They don’t even care about the team enough to travel 10 minutes down the road to kog.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

The other point of that argument though is that relocation is a way of getting that club into a market that has greater potential in terms of support and more importantly greater financial independence

On that point you would say that’s worked in other competitions

Anyway all of these conversations are really mute at this point in time because there’s not going to be a side from Adelaide and there’s not going to be a side relocated from Sydney or elsewhere.

I guess I see the only possibility of an Adelaide side is through a relocation as we’re at a point where the amount of teams is already fairly high.

Tbh relocation has only worked in one instance and that was the Sydney Swans in the AFL.

Even in that case it took the Swans 14 years and being bailed out financially by the league twice to get any sort of relevance in Sydney.

People see the Swans as the poster boys of how relocation works but think about it would the Swans have the fanbase they do if it wasn't for the team going on that run to the GF in 1996 and our game shooting ourselves in the foot with the Super League War and the merger debacles that lead to Norths' demise in the first place?

If anyone bothers to look a vast majority of the Swans fanbase in Sydney are those Bears fans and fans of other traditional clubs like Balmain who decided not to support the Wests Tigers merger.

Relocation of any existing team to a city like Adelaide or Perth simply won't cut the mustard, it just causes more harm than any good.

You have to understand while the Australian sporting culture is similar to America where all clubs have moved cities at some point it is still vastly different.

 

[AdelaideSharky]

cronulla fans mean business with this threat. They don’t even care about the team enough to travel 10 minutes down the road to kog.

Why should we? It's not our home ground?

I went to our "home" game against Canberra in March when I was in town visiting my family before the proverbial shit hit the fan with Covid and I kid you not the feral weather aside which would've deterred people from going, there were more Raiders fans in that ground than ours. And why is that 1. It's not our home ground and 2. It's the home ground of our biggest rivals.

 

[mongoose]

As someone who chose my club because it was the area I grew up in I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole even if they relocated to my now adopted home city.

I don't get this mentality.... I would still support the Raiders if they relocated. My passion for the club would probably be diminished a bit but I wouldn't just give up on them or the sport itself.