Totally wrong I’m afraid to inform you, I’m also happy for one game per season at North Sydney Oval against Manly as there are more than enough away Sydney games for old Bears fans such as myself.
Sure I would’ve love a Central Coast Bears team but clubs like the Roosters, Manly and Newcastle are dead against it happening and the NRL don’t need another NSW team unless some clubs fold first and with the handouts the NRL give clubs that’s never going to happen.
I'm also a Bears fan, and you're either allowing your emotions to cloud your judgment or misinformed.
There are sizeable portions of what's left of the Bear's fanbase that have made it very clear that they're only interested in supporting the Bears again if they "come back" (they never really went anywhere, but whatever) under specific circumstances. Those circumstances are different depending on the group or individual, but sizeable portions of them have made it abundantly clear that they're only interested if the Bears come back in locations such as NS, the CC, NSW, etc, among other demands.
So it's nonsense to suggest that GROTD is 'totally wrong' when he says that there are many Bears fans that won't support the club unless they're based at NSO.
Also, the idea that a team that would ostensibly be relocated to Perth, or anywhere else for that matter, would/should play any games out of Sydney is an insult to Perth and it's people, and forewarns of the Bears true intentions for the side...
I’m sure that the NRL will have a clause in the NRL license that it’s Perth or nothing to make all parties make this work.
Which would be totally unenforceable given the NRL's contractual commitments to broadcasters and other partners unless the NRL were willing to kick the Bears out of the League again on short notice, which is extremely unlikely in my opinion.
It's be a PR disaster, and the NRL has shown an unwillingness to enforce similar clauses in the past. The Dragons for example were contractually obliged to increase the number of home games they played in Wollongong over the years until the vast majority were played there annually. They've done the opposite and nobody has done anything to stop them, not even back when the Steelers started making tentative complaints about it.
The Bears would more or less be able to do as they pleased once they got their hands on the license, and the media and traditionalist fans would almost certainly support them if they were smart about it.
The Bears would never dog Perth how Manly dogged them, that was gut wrenching and really the NRL’s fault.
Once it was announced that the Northern Eagles’ NRL licence would go back to Manly Warringah if the joint venture failed, Ken Arthurson and Bob Fulton were rubbing their hands together plotting “how can we f**k this up to get our baby back”.
Firstly, how is it the NRL's fault that the Bears agreed to a merger where the licence would revert back to Manly's ownership if it failed? They never should have agreed to such a deal in the first place, but that's a giant tangent.
Secondly, you are extremely naive if you truly believe that the Bears wouldn't screw a partner if they thought it was in their interests and that they could get away with it. Besides, the Bears have made it clear on numerous occasions that they aren't interested in partnering with anybody in an NRL side unless they're dominant shareholders and effectively have complete control of the club.
In the case of Perth specifically they've only had contact with the WA government to discuss potential subsidies that they'd offer the Bears to base an NRL side out of Perth. In that scenario the Bears and their investors would own the club completely, and there'd be no partner to screw.
I will 100% support the Perth Bears, WA Bears, West Coast Bears, whatever it gets called.
The Perth Reds should never have been thrown out at the end of the Super League War and the Bears should never have been punted at the end of 1999 especially having just moved to the Central Coast.
The NRL can right two wrongs with this 18th team, give the West Coast of Australia a NRL team and give old Bears fans a team they can follow.
You wont have to support the Perth/WA/WC/whatever Bears, because one of the Bears non-negotiable demands is that they have complete ownership and control over the brand, and the board have made it clear to members and fans that they won't accept any significant changes to the brand.
The team will be called just 'The Bears' if they win a license for a Perth based side, and there'll be no other major changes made to the brand such as a new logo (other than potentially an update of the current logo) or colours. The board would probably face a vote of no confidence if they went back on those promises as well.
Spoken like a good politician, telling the fans what they want to hear, let’s see what happens when push comes to shove, when both parties are in serious negotiations, sure the Bear is non negotiable, the red and black is non negotiable, fair enough but if you look at the Perth Reds Super League Jersey 1997 there isn’t much difference between that and a Bears jersey.
Over the last 10 years in the S.G.Ball competition the Reds/Pirates and the Bears colours were very similar.
Throw in a little yellow (instead of white) with the red and and black for compromise, ready made jersey for the indigenous round lol.
What do you mean spoken like a good politician?!
Those non-negotiables aren't nonsense sound bites that Dickson and Moore have thrown out in interviews, they're minimum standards agreed upon by the board. They're non-negotiables in every sense of the term. The Bears won't work with any potential partner that won't accept them.
Also what serious negotiations? As far as what's been made publicly available the Bears aren't in discussions with any potential business partners from Perth, i.e. they're not discussing a merger with the Pirates, split ownership with the WARL, or any other organisations or individuals, though I'm sure they'd be open to it.
As I said before the only serious discussions they've explored in Perth/WA so far are with the government. Those discussions would be exclusively about what subsides, grants, and incentives the WA govt would offer for an NRL side based in Perth, and would have little to nothing to do with branding and the such.
