WA BEARS

[BuffaloRules]

Hindsight's a wonderful gift! There was actually a lot of money behind the club at start up Im told. They were doing tours to Sth Africa in 1994, they were giving the 12 WARL clubs a significant grant each to strengthen their systems, they brought over a stack of players from the East that they housed and set up with jobs and placed across the WARL clubs and signed some pretty decent talent on and off the field.
Its a shame SL came along and we didnt get to see if they could have sustained it or not.

We are not arguing the reasons why they joined SL though … Im saying that Geyers quote is an often mentioned myth that doesn’t stand up to the most simple scrutiny

Even if they had stayed loyal the arl would’ve cut them

Arl couldn’t save heartland Sydney clubs, gold coast or crushers

No chance Perth would’ve made it

Yeah ..they probably wouldn’t have survived …the decision to bring 4 teams in at once was probably too ambitious even without SL, considering the pennies Kerry Packer was paying them in TV money

 

[Wb1234]

We are not arguing the reasons why they joined SL though … Im saying that Geyers quote is an often mentioned myth that doesn’t stand up to the most simple scrutiny



Yeah ..they probably wouldn’t have survived …the decision to bring 4 teams in at once was probably too ambitious even without SL, considering the pennies Kerry Packer was paying them in TV money

I think four could’ve survived

Giving packer the pay tv rights for nothing was stupid

Even siding with packer was dumb

 

[BuffaloRules]

I think four could’ve survived

Giving packer the pay tv rights for nothing was stupid

Even siding with packer was dumb

Unfortunately it was on the back of a tough TV market and they didn’t have any other choice....channel 10 had the rights and went bust , and channel 7 were AFLing as normal and weren’t interested ..

Packer was the only one interested and demanded they gave up the Pay Tv rights as well….

 

[Wb1234]

Unfortunately it was on the back of a tough TV market and they didn’t have any other choice....channel 10 had the rights and went bust , and channel 7 were AFLing as normal and weren’t interested ..

Packer was the only one interested and demanded they gave up the Pay Tv rights as well….

From what I heard the pay rights weren’t included

But when Murdoch asked for them they went and gave them to packer for free to keep Murdoch away

Dunno if that’s news Ltd bs or not but could be true

 

[Perth Red]

We are not arguing the reasons why they joined SL though … Im saying that Geyers quote is an often mentioned myth that doesn’t stand up to the most simple scrutiny



Yeah ..they probably wouldn’t have survived …the decision to bring 4 teams in at once was probably too ambitious even without SL, considering the pennies Kerry Packer was paying them in TV money

He is right, kind of. The imposition of the extra teams travel costs pushed them SL way. They had budgeted for their original costs and seemingly were comfortable with that. As I mentioned they were not scrimping on set up.
But we'll never know if it was just going to implode anyway or not, so a pretty pointless discussion.

What i do know is the game was thriving here in1995. 12 first grade clubs, 14 reserve grade clubs, 10,000 registered players, players being paid to play in the WARL, adverts in the east coast papers for players to move West to WARL clubs etc.


Hopefully the Perth Bears and the WA govt funding can be the catalyst to a new revival for the grassroots here.

 

[Wb1234]

He is right, kind of. The imposition of the extra teams travel costs pushed them SL way. They had budgeted for the their original costs and seemingly were comfortable with that. As I mentioned they were not scrimping on set up.
But we'll never know if it was just going to implode anyway or not, so a pretty pointless discussion.

They didn’t go to super league bc of an extra 100k in costs

They thought arl had no chance and wanted to go on the winning side

Plus thought news Ltd would bankroll them forever

 

[BuffaloRules]

He is right, kind of. The imposition of the extra teams travel costs pushed them SL way. They had budgeted for their original costs and seemingly were comfortable with that. As I mentioned they were not scrimping on set up.
But we'll never know if it was just going

Cmon man … you want to argue why they went to SL…and he is arguing that the Travel costs they never paid is what killed them …

 

[Perth Red]

They didn’t go to super league bc of an extra 100k in costs

They thought arl had no chance and wanted to go on the winning side

Plus thought news Ltd would bankroll them forever

it woudl have been nearer $500k. Flights in the mid 90's to Perth were very expensive and they were paying for them and the visiting teams so 20 times a season costs of travel and accommodation for 20-25 people.

 

[Perth Red]

Cmon man … you want to argue why they went to SL…and he is arguing that the Travel costs they never paid is what killed them …

Its Geyer lol. The travel costs never killed them, the travel costs drove them to SL.
News Ltd wanting a Melbourne club over a Perth club is what killed them.
But you could argue News ltd got that chance as the travel cost imposition drove them into their arms, so he is kind of right.

 

[BuffaloRules]

From what I heard the pay rights weren’t included

But when Murdoch asked for them they went and gave them to packer for free to keep Murdoch away

Dunno if that’s news Ltd bs or not but could be true

No…. Not true… Packer had the rights sown up already …he insisted on them before SL had ever been heard of, and the ARL had no other option but to give him what he wanted

 

[Wb1234]

it woudl have been nearer $500k. Flights in the mid 90's to Perth were very expensive and they were paying for them and the visiting teams so 20 times a season costs of travel and accommodation for 20-25 people.

500k for one side ? Cmon

Let’s just say the reason was greed rather than having no choice bc of the big bad arl

 

[Perth Red]

500k for one side ? Cmon

Let’s just say the reason was greed rather than having no choice bc of the big bad arl

Do the maths. 20 games x 25 people x $1200 per person (and I'm being conservative, Sydney flights alone cost me $1200-$1500 return when I got here in 1999) = ............

 

[BuffaloRules]

It’s Geyer lol. The travel costs never killed them, the travel costs drove them to SL.

I’m not going to go down that road again today …im arguing against what Geyer said …it’s a dumb argument and nothing to do with why they went to SL … I suspect they would have joined anyway like most of the other out of Sydney teams did … unlike Perth though …most of the others survived

 

[BuffaloRules]

Do the maths. 20 games x 25 people x $1200 per person (and I'm being conservative, Sydney flights alone cost me $1200-$1500 return when I got here in 1999) = ............

Now do the dumb rent deal for the WACA..

 

[Perth Red]

Now do the dumb rent deal for the WACA..

How much was the WACA rent deal? Ive never seen any details of it.

 

[BuffaloRules]

How much was the WACA rent deal? Ive never seen any details of it.

Apparently another dumb way over priced deal that the Reds management committed too… I don’t know the amounts ..like you don’t know what the travel costs are

 

[Jetka100]

Well..I’ll remember it …for sure he has got things done when those before him couldnt , but I still think it’s ok to be critical about some of the processes … particularly in this sub forum where everything is analysed to the nth degree

Also - getting the teams in ( Perth and PNG) is the easy part …they both have long journeys ahead of them and it will probably be decades until we know the success or otherwise …having said that I still support the expansion he has undertaken

The biggest legacy for PVL will be this next TV deal …fingers crossed they can take a big leap and get the money that the game deserves

I agree that there is certainly room for improvement, but like you said, sometimes we can place a bit too much emphasis in these forums on how the sausage is made, rather than enjoy what comes off the BBQ. I’m just glad the naysayers didn’t win out and Perth will have a team again and the N in NRL actually means a bit more. Not really that fussed over the Bears thing, but if it helped get the deal done and it brings a few of those previous supporters back and improves attendances at Sydney matches, then great. I am hoping it will be called the Perth Bears to emphasise it is a WA team, first and foremost.

 

[Wb1234]

Do the maths. 20 games x 25 people x $1200 per person (and I'm being conservative, Sydney flights alone cost me $1200-$1500 return when I got here in 1999) = ............

Edited for return flights

 

[BuffaloRules]

Google AI now quoting Geyers comments published today as evidence for the Western Reds financial demise …lol …

AI doesn’t know what happened in the world before the Internet existed …and needs to rely on what’s on the internet for the “facts “ from the past …its going to be scary when AI takes over

 

[Perth Red]

Edited for return flights

haha AI. very artificial not so intelligent.