WA BEARS

[Wb1234]

Are you comparing Manly and North Sydney to say India and Pakistan? That’s real hatred.

Nevertheless, the idea that a 7 or 8 year old in North Sydney who could start to follow the game and who has never seen the Bears play won’t follow Manly or any other club or indeed the sport because the Bears aren’t in the competition is not founded in any logic. People in North Sydney, like the rest of Sydney are literally swamped by wall to wall pro-League media. If they choose not to consume or follow the game, it’s because they don’t want to. It’s not like they don’t have the choice.

Their parents will be bears fans

 

[Colk]

Sydney & the NRL doesn't work like that, it's a collection of regions & rivalries. Ppl supporting team without no connect to area is rare. Even rarer for kids to take up game if parents aren't fans themselves.

Besides that argument being emotional rather than rational, by virtue of your argument, you would suggest to have a side in every region of Sydney as that is the only way by logical extension to satiate every person in Sydney. Do you not understand the problem with this contention?

The problem with this argument beyond economics (there isn’t the corporate base for nine sides as there is in Sydney let alone having more sides) is that you are severely overstating or overestimating the support the game has in Sydney. In comparison to say soccer competitions in Europe and South America or fumbleball in Melbourne, league support is middling rather than exceptional. You only have to look at attendances and memberships in Sydney to see this. So if you put another side in Sydney where do you think the support is coming from? It’ll be coming from supporters of the other NSW sides and in effect negatively affecting their support.

 

[Colk]

Their parents will be bears fans

Massive assumption.

Most Bears fans would be what 50 years old or above, at least over 40. Their kids would be well and truly old enough to make their own decisions by now. Also kids follow a side for a variety of reasons: because they are successful, because they like a certain player heck even because they like a logo or jersey.

 

[Wb1234]

Sydney & the NRL doesn't work like that, it's a collection of regions & rivalries. Ppl supporting team without no connect to area is rare. Even rarer for kids to take up game if parents aren't fans themselves.

Massive assumption.

Most Bears fans would be what 50 years old or above, at least over 40. Their kids would be well and truly old enough to make their own decisions by now. Also kids follow a side for a variety of reasons: because they are successful, because they like a certain player heck even because they like a logo or jersey.

Kids do follow teams for a lot of reasons

massive one is which team their parents followed

north shore is a huge rugby league desert in Sydney

full of rich people

really really rich

the only reason the central coast bears aren’t in the nrl is politics not merit

If you want to say politics it’s fine I’m arguing their merits

 

[The Great Dane]

You don't know & understand Sydney. Should be apparent when you guys all agree chatswood with it's skyscrapers is a small suburb.

You don't understand basic economic realities.

The amount of skyscrapers in Chatswood is literally irrelevant. BTW, if they were somehow relevant other clubs would have been capitalising on them for years by now.

Manly is hated rival to north Sydney region & has never stood chance of growing it's support there. Interesting ppl under playing support bears have been old rivalry dies hard.

I wouldn't be surprised if the average age of Bears fans is pushing 70 at this point, and nobody born after the early 90s is even old enough to really remember a time when the Bears were in the league.

That's 30 years, or a generation and a half, of people whom don't remember a time when the Bears were really relevant, have had no real tangible connection with the Bears, and have literally no reason to hold strong feelings for or against them. Many of them will have also grown up supporting other teams from around Sydney, and I see no reason why reintroducing the Bears is going to shift many of them from supporting their current teams.

In other words, only literal geriatrics really care about, or are even capable of truly understanding, the Bears old rivalries at this point, and there's less of us with the coming of each new year...

 

[Wb1234]

You don't understand basic economic realities.

The amount of skyscrapers in Chatswood is literally irrelevant. BTW, if they were somehow relevant other clubs would have been capitalising on them for years by now.

I wouldn't be surprised if the average age of Bears fans is pushing 70 at this point, and nobody born after the early 90s is even old enough to really remember a time when the Bears were in the league.

That's 30 years, or a generation and a half, of people whom don't remember a time when the Bears were really relevant, have had no real tangible connection with the Bears, and have literally no reason to hold strong feelings for or against them. Many of them will have also grown up supporting other teams from around Sydney, and I see no reason why reintroducing the Bears is going to shift many of them from supporting their current teams.

In other words, only literal geriatrics really care about, or are even capable of truly understanding, the Bears old rivalries at this point, and there's less of us with the coming of each new year...

Lmao this is total bs

 

[Wb1234]

North Sydney territory is literally some of the best real estate on earth let alone Australia

 

[The Great Dane]

A middling club by Sydney standards is what I said they’d be

I said middling at best, in other words if everything works out perfectly...

so after almost 25 years of being kicked out they would be bigger than many other clubs that never got kicked out and have been getting ten million plus from the arlc for years

they could boot manly today and a central coast bears team would add far more to the game

That's a whole other debate, for the purposes of our current discussion it's pretty irrelevant though.

Adding another Sydney club wouldn't be a good idea and isn't a realistic prospect.

Though the sport should be talking about further rationalisation of Sydney it's never going to happen, and there's no realistic chance that the Bears could replace one or more of the other Sydney clubs in the league.

Even though the Bears almost certainly would be a stronger club than at least a couple current Sydney clubs, they still wouldn't have the commercial pull that clubs in other large metro markets would.
In other words, yes the Bears probably would be a stronger NRL club than e.g. Manly, however they definitely wouldn't be stronger than either Perth, Adelaide or a third Brisbane side, and in the long term a second Melbourne side would grow to be significantly stronger than them as well if they were well supported.

wa bears won’t be the disaster you make it out to be

wa gains a lot by linking with the bears with little lost

It absolutely would end in disaster when you consider the Bears 'non-negotiables'. There're very good reasons why you never see other relocated clubs splitting games between markets for example...

In saying that, a 'WA Bears' (or potentially other markets) could hypothetically be successful, however the Bears have made it clear that they'll never willingly agree to the changes necessary to make that possible. Frankly, that's because they have no interest in making those changes and have designs on returning the club to Sydney sometime in the future, which the NRL can never allow to happen.

 

[The Great Dane]

Lmao this is total bs

If that's true it'll be easy to prove wrong!

Unfortunately for you everything I said there is undeniable reality;

. The average age of NS Bears fans almost certainly would be above 60 and pushing 70 at this point.

. The very youngest people whom actually remember the Bears when they were relevant would have to be very, very late 20s (28/29 at the youngest), realistically over 30 at this point.

. Nobody under that age would have a tangible first hand connection to the club.

It is what it is, pretending otherwise won't do anything to change it.

 

[Wb1234]

I said middling at best, in other words if everything works out perfectly...

That's a whole other debate, for the purposes of our current discussion it's pretty irrelevant though.

Adding another Sydney club wouldn't be a good idea and isn't a realistic prospect.

Though the sport should be talking about further rationalisation of Sydney it's never going to happen, and there's no realistic chance that the Bears could replace one or more of the other Sydney clubs in the league.

Even though the Bears almost certainly would be a stronger club than at least a couple current Sydney clubs, they still wouldn't have the commercial pull that clubs in other large metro markets would.
In other words, yes the Bears probably would be a stronger NRL club than e.g. Manly, however they definitely wouldn't be stronger than either Perth, Adelaide or a third Brisbane side, and in the long term a second Melbourne side would grow to be significantly stronger than them as well if they were well supported.

It absolutely would end in disaster when you consider the Bears 'non-negotiables'. There're very good reasons why you never see other relocated clubs splitting games between markets for example...

In saying that, a 'WA Bears' (or potentially other markets) could hypothetically be successful, however the Bears have made it clear that they'll never willingly agree to the changes necessary to make that possible. Frankly, that's because they have no interest in making those changes and have designs on returning the club to Sydney sometime in the future, which the NRL can never allow to happen.

Yes they would be stronger than Perth or Adelaide

and they would have zero issues getting corporates

indeed they would attract corporates who have largely shunned they game

eg Citibank as sponsor

and Sydney doesn’t have too many teams that’s just lazy thinking

It has teams in the wrong areas an leaving other parts neglected

 

[flippikat]

Lol, funny listening to "expansionists" talking about giving up on large lucrative region where the game dominates the media & mind of most sports fans. Makes you realize they more interested in points on map than growing game.

Lol.. we're not talking about giving up on a region - in fact, if we're going to stick to the old district & feeder concept (which arguably is a relic), it's more disbanding North Sydney & carving the area up between the Roosters, Sea Eagles & possibly Eels, so that they have that pathway.. much like how re-draws of the map were done in the past.

Suburbs in the North Sydney district (as it was) will still have affiliation to an NRL club, only it'd be the Roosters for those near the Harbour, Sea Eagles for those a bit more North, and maybe Eels for those a bit more west.

The fact that the map hasn't been properly reviewed & restructured in a LONG time is a huge problem here.

 

[Pippen94]

You don't understand basic economic realities.

The amount of skyscrapers in Chatswood is literally irrelevant. BTW, if they were somehow relevant other clubs would have been capitalising on them for years by now.

I wouldn't be surprised if the average age of Bears fans is pushing 70 at this point, and nobody born after the early 90s is even old enough to really remember a time when the Bears were in the league.

That's 30 years, or a generation and a half, of people whom don't remember a time when the Bears were really relevant, have had no real tangible connection with the Bears, and have literally no reason to hold strong feelings for or against them. Many of them will have also grown up supporting other teams from around Sydney, and I see no reason why reintroducing the Bears is going to shift many of them from supporting their current teams.

In other words, only literal geriatrics really care about, or are even capable of truly understanding, the Bears old rivalries at this point, and there's less of us with the coming of each new year...

You don't understand young ppl

 

[Pippen94]

Lol.. we're not talking about giving up on a region - in fact, if we're going to stick to the old district & feeder concept (which arguably is a relic), it's more disbanding North Sydney & carving the area up between the Roosters, Sea Eagles & possibly Eels, so that they have that pathway.. much like how re-draws of the map were done in the past.

Suburbs in the North Sydney district (as it was) will still have affiliation to an NRL club, only it'd be the Roosters for those near the Harbour, Sea Eagles for those a bit more North, and maybe Eels for those a bit more west.

The fact that the map hasn't been properly reviewed & restructured in a LONG time is a huge problem here.

Yes they were - go read posts. Ppl in central coast & north Sydney won't get onboard with those teams.

 

[MugaB]

Yes they were - go read posts. Ppl in central coast & north Sydney won't get onboard with those teams.

I grew up in macquarie park, right in the middle of all three, i went for the bears, im a penrith fan now... those three teams i hate.. most of my mates are hopeless eels or tigers supporters, i reckon most ppl who are league fans have a choice for that local team, but aren't willing to travel to a game, especially if they don't like the local team..
When i was growing up bears had an excellent roster, made finals most of seasons i watched.
You only have to look at the divisiveness of the one team city the broncos are, to know if your going to have the haters or the casual fans, compared to the hardcore fans who shell out for memberships, let alone actually attend,
You'd then times that in Sydney by 9... its about factions in Sydney, you wont want to jump over to another team, unless you really like that team... so whats the option of the local casual NS fan ... eels, roosters, or manly... probably none as each of those clubs are scum ... yes there are another 6 clubs but few folk are going to jump over when the teams are situated across the other end of town, like i did...

 

[DIOGENES]

This thread has the wrong premise. We should be pushing for the Perth Jets

 

[Get Rid of The Donkeys]

Sydney is the home of rugby league

but let’s ignore some of the best and richest bits so rival codes can thrive here

The game began in Huddersfield in 1895 you dope!

New Zealanders brought it to Australia in 1908.

Sydney & the NRL doesn't work like that, it's a collection of regions & rivalries. Ppl supporting team without no connect to area is rare. Even rarer for kids to take up game if parents aren't fans themselves.

So how does every other sport develop a following in this country?

The A-League is better supported than the NSL with teams that didn't exist pre-2006, with a couple of exceptions. Perth Glory were the biggest club in the NSL but struggle in the A-League. Brisbane Roar are an extension of a Dutch club from Richlands, which is a small suburb in southwestern Brisbane. At first they were known as Holandia and became Brisbane Lions. The AFL had to pay them off to use the name, which forced the soccer club to become the Queensland Lions. It's another reason to hate fumbleball.

Yes they were - go read posts. Ppl in central coast & north Sydney won't get onboard with those teams.

Stiff shit for them. If they're going to be picky then they can go without a team. They're not important.

 

[Perth Red]

How's western reds club going since they been out of league for about same amount of time

trolls back

 

[Perth Red]

You’ve had a go at other posters for exaggerating support. Also, were is the operative word here. People in North Sydney literally have nine NRL teams in Sydney that they could support and if they don’t support any of them, they don’t like the game.

It’s time to move on.

Apparently too hard to travel 10km to watch nrl for people in NS lol. The sooner the nrl puts the bears out of their misery and hand the area to the roosters the better for the game in Sydney.

 

[westerntiger]

The sooner the nrl puts the bears out of their misery and hand the area to the roosters the better for the game in Sydney.

Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing is stopping the people who live in that area from supporting the roosters.

 

[Perth Red]

Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing is stopping the people who live in that area from supporting the roosters.

The long held false hope that one day the bears will be back is, fuelled every 5 years or so by old farts in the sydney media.