Western Bears

Last updated

Western Bears
Names
Full nameWestern Bears Rugby League Football Club
Club details
ColoursPrimary
  Red
  Black
Secondary
  White
  Gold
Competition National Rugby League
Ground(s) Perth Rectangular Stadium (capacity: 20,500)

The Western Bears, (or Perth Bears) officially the Western Bears Rugby League Football Club, is a proposed rugby league football club to be based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded as a partnership between the Western Australian Rugby League and the North Sydney Bears in a bid for a team from Perth to rejoin an expanded National Rugby League in 2027. It would play out of Perth Rectangular Stadium.

Contents

The bid was rejected by the NRL in October 2024. However, the NRL are now directly negotiating with the WA Government to admit the Bears into the competition as a possible Perth Bears expansion team [1] .

The team's primary colours are to be the traditional red and black of North Sydney, with the Bears' secondary colour of white joining a secondary gold colour.

History

There has been no elite rugby league team in Perth since the Western Reds folded in 1997. [2] Since the Reds were not included in the NRL’s inaugural season, Perth is the largest Australian city without a team in the competition. Advocates for a Perth-based team have argued it is necessary for the NRL to consider itself a ‘truly national’ competition. The Reds name was revived in 2006 as the WA Reds, competing in the under-18s S. G. Ball Cup with the intention of eventually fielding an NRL side. The team rebranded as the West Coast Pirates in 2012 [3] and continued competing in the S.G. Ball Cup until the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from being able to compete from 2020 onwards. [4]

Western Australia had indicated they were always prepared to go it alone and resurrect the previous Reds moniker in an effort to get a team back in the top-tier competition. [5] This was conditional if they were unable to finalise a partnership with North Sydney, as they wanted to ensure the team was under the control and ownership of WA. [5] They wanted the team to be a true Western Australian one. [5]

Western Australia were also interested in aligning with Newtown Jets, however the NRL had made it clear that their preference was to resurrect North Sydney instead of the Jets. [5]

In August 2024, the North Sydney Bears and a Western Australian consortium headed by Cash Converters founders the Cumins family, signed off on an agreement to lodge an application for the Western Bears to enter a team in the 2027 NRL season. [6] [7]

In October 2024, the Australian Rugby League Commission rejected the Western Bears consortium proposal stating the $20 million bid fell short of its expectations. [8] [9]

In November 2024, the NRL announced it could soon officially declare the Perth Bears as the competition’s 18th team following urgent talks between ARLC chairman Peter V’landys and the WA government. Despite the NRL knocking back a Perth-based consortium’s proposal the previous month for falling short of the financial requirements, the NRL held constructive talks with the West Australian government about an expansion team in Perth [10]

Logo and colours

North Sydney Bears jersey (1994-1999) 2024 North Sydney Bears Colours.png
North Sydney Bears jersey (1994-1999)

The team's primary colours intend to be the traditional red and black of North Sydney, with white being the club's secondary colour since the 1992 NSWRL season. Gold is added as a tertiary colour, although it is disputed whether this was supposed to be a nod to the history of the Western Reds, the state colour of Western Australia, or both.

The Bears logo is expected to be redesigned for the new side. [11] This would be done through an adaptation of the Bears logo to suit NRL competition requirements and full integration of the red and black colours that are synonymous with the Bears. [12]

Stadium

Perth Rectangular Stadium would be the home of the Western Bears Nib Stadium.jpg
Perth Rectangular Stadium would be the home of the Western Bears

The majority of Bears home games are to be played out of Perth Rectangular Stadium. The proposal is for the stadium to be used not only for league purposes as a home base, but shared with soccer’s Perth Glory and rugby union’s Western Force.

With the support of the Government of Western Australia being firm backers of the Bears, a grant of $300 million was pledged to upgrade the venue even further, if a licence was granted to a Perth team. [13]

The club is committed to playing one NRL home game each year at either North Sydney Oval, Central Coast Stadium or the Sydney Football Stadium in recognition of the club's Sydney supporter base. The match was proposed to be against arch-rivals the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. [14] Further, one pre-season game would have been also be played at North Sydney Oval each year. [14]

North Sydney Oval AFLW at North Sydney Oval.jpg
North Sydney Oval

Fan support

The Bears and Western Australia are widely supported for re-admission into the NRL by players and fans alike. [15] Although the first bid was rejected, Perth-born players in particular remain supportive of Western Australia competing in the NRL once again. [16]

The WA Government have strongly and financially backed this team and could have had the potential to have a support base of over 200,000 fans both in Western Australia and across the North Shore of Sydney and surrounds. [17]

The demographics of Perth also suggest a team will have a strong chance of survival. Perth has large expat British and South African populations that can be expected to find rugby league more appealing than Australian rules football. Western Australia is the second fastest growing state in terms of population and is flush with mining industry cash. [18]

The Bears are working with other NRL clubs and venues to allocate sections for Bears fans at East Coast away games where the majority of games would have be played. If the licence had been successful, Western Bears Foundation member packages would have been available, and proposed Bears packages would have allowed Sydney fans to attend Sydney-based regular season and trial season home games and multiple away games. Exclusive content and events would have also be made available to foundation Western Bears fans. [12]

NSW Cup

The North Sydney Bears would remain in the NSW Cup and act as a feeder team to the Western Bears if the bid was successful [18] [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melbourne Storm</span> Australian rugby league football club

Melbourne Storm is a rugby league club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blue jersey with gold and white trim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Sydney Bears</span> Australian rugby league football club

The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based on Sydney's North Shore. The club competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the premier rugby league competition in Australia. There have been on-going bids to resurrect the club in the NRL as either The Bears, based in Perth and Sydney, or as the Central Coast Bears, based at Gosford. However, as of November 2024, the bid to be based Perth is the Favourite. However, the bid is partnership and not officially considered a relocation. The North Sydney Bears are expected to keep their headquarters in Cammeray, or at least on Sydney’s North Shore

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold Coast Titans</span> Australian Rugby League Football club, based at Gold Coast, Queensland

The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the Titans have played their home games at Robina Stadium in Robina, Queensland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Force</span> Australian rugby union club, based in Perth, WA

The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. Following their axing they played in the National Rugby Championship in 2018 and 2019, replacing the Perth Spirit, and Global Rapid Rugby from 2018 to 2020, an Indo-Pacific competition organised by Andrew Forrest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Eagles</span> Defunct Australian rugby league club, based in Gosford, NSW

The Northern Eagles were a rugby league team that competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) between 2000 and 2002. The club was formed during the rationalisation process of the NRL by forming a joint venture with the North Sydney Bears and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in 2000. The team shared home games between Brookvale Oval and Central Coast Stadium, Gosford, New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adelaide Rams</span> Defunct rugby league team in South Australia

The Adelaide Rams was an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team was formed in 1995 for the planned rebel Super League competition. The Rams lasted two seasons, the first in the Super League competition in 1997 and the second in the first season of the National Rugby League (NRL) in 1998. The Rams were not a successful club, winning only 13 out of 42 games. However crowd numbers in the first season were the fifth highest of any first-grade club that year, but dwindled to sixteenth in the second season. The Adelaide club was shut down at the end of the 1998 season as a result of poor on-field performances, dwindling crowd numbers, financial losses and a reduction in the number of teams in the NRL. They remain the only team from the state of South Australia to have participated in top-level rugby league in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WA Reds</span> Defunct Australian rugby league club, based in Perth, Australia

The Western Reds were a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. Founded in 1992 as the Western Reds, they entered into the Australian Rugby League competition in 1995 before defecting to the rival Super League competition in 1997, where they rebranded themselves as the Perth Reds. However, by the end of the year the Reds had become a casualty of the Super League War peace deal and were shut down. The name Reds was named after the native Red Kangaroos. The Reds entered a state of limbo for the next decade but were revived as a lower-level club in 2006 by the WARL and ARL, under the name WA Reds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NRL Western Australia</span> Rugby league in the state of Western Australia

NRL Western Australia is responsible for administering the game of rugby league football in the state of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perth Rectangular Stadium</span> Stadium in Vincent, Western Australia

Perth Rectangular Stadium is a sports stadium in Perth, the capital of the Australian state of Western Australia. Located close to Perth's central business district, the stadium currently has a maximum capacity of 20,500 people for sporting events and 25,000 people for concerts, with the ground's record attendance of 32,000 people set during an Ed Sheeran concert in 2015. The land on which the stadium was built, known as Loton Park, was made a public reserve in 1904, with the main ground developed several years later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barassi Line</span> Imaginary geographic line of football codes in Australia

The Barassi Line is an imaginary line in Australia which approximately divides areas where Australian rules football or rugby league is the most popular football code. The term was first used by historian Ian Turner in his 1978 Ron Barassi Memorial Lecture. Crowd figures, media coverage, and participation rates are heavily skewed in favour of the dominant code on either side. Most other sports are unaffected by the dichotomy; Australian cricket, for example, has maintained consistent national interest throughout its history, though soccer faces more competition for participation in areas where Australian rules is more popular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold Coast United FC</span> Australian soccer club in Queensland

Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast United senior teams competed in the Brisbane leagues until the club disbanded after the 1979 season, allowing Broadbeach United Soccer Club to form its first senior team in 1980 at the same grounds.

In Western Australia, rugby league is played at amateur level by 31 clubs across 5 regional leagues with a total of around 7,900 players. It attracts an audience mainly for the State of Origin series.

The Australian Football League, currently an 18 team competition, has a history of expansion since 1908 when its 8 club competition, formed as an 1897 breakaway from the rival Victorian Football Association, grew to 10 teams. Many clubs have been proposed since this time, particularly since the 1980s when the league began to expand nationally. Only 3 teams have left the competition in its history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Coast Bears</span> Proposed rugby league club

The Central Coast Bears were a proposed professional rugby league club based on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia.

The Expansion of the A-League Men is the ongoing process of establishing new clubs in the A-League Men. The A-League Men was established to replace the National Soccer League as the top division in the Australian football league system. It is the only professional football league in the country. Founded in 2004 with eight teams commencing competition in the 2005–06 season, the league has since expanded into new markets across Australia and New Zealand. From the 2024–25 A-League Men season, 13 clubs will compete in the league, after Auckland Football Club was granted an expansion license.

The National Rugby League is the top level rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand. It was formed in 1998 after the merger of the Australian Super League and the Australian Rugby League. Inaugurally containing 20 teams, rationalisation cut this number down to 14 by 2000, before the competition expanded back to 16 in 2007 and 17 in 2023. Debate regarding the expansion of the competition to 18 and even 20 teams is ongoing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brisbane Bombers</span>

The Brisbane Bombers Rugby League Football Club Limited, commonly referred to as Brisbane Bombers were a proposed Australian professional rugby league football club to be based in the city of Brisbane, the capital of the state of Queensland. Founded in 2011, the Bombers sought entry into an expanded National Rugby League (NRL) for a decade, with their bid strategy based around a rivalry with the Brisbane Broncos, dubbed "The Battle for Brisbane".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Coast Pirates</span> Australian rugby league club, based in Perth, Western Australia

The West Coast Pirates Rugby League Football Club, officially referred to as The Cash Converters West Coast Pirates for sponsorship reasons, are a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded by the Western Australian Rugby League as a bid for Perth to rejoin an expanded National Rugby League in 2026. If successful, the Pirates would play out of HBF Park, with the support of the Western Australian Government through a $96 million upgrade to the venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NRL Women's Premiership</span> Australasian rugby league football competition

The Telstra NRL Women's Premiership (NRLW) is Australia's national rugby league competition for female players. The first season of the league began in September 2018 with four teams. The league is run by the National Rugby League (NRL) and is contested by a subset of clubs from that competition. The current Premiers are the Sydney Roosters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolphins (NRL)</span> Australian rugby league football club, based in Brisbane

The Dolphins are a professional rugby league football team, based in the Redcliffe Peninsula area of the City of Moreton Bay, that competes in the Australian National Rugby League (NRL).

References

  1. ↑ https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-on-verge-of-agreeing-terms-for-western-australia-government-to-save-expansion-bid-perthbased-bears-to-become-18th-team/news-story/66feac997170388ff1e91eb164c0aa52
  2. ↑ "Hunt backs Perth bid to unlock talent pipeline". National Rugby League . 14 August 2024.
  3. ↑ "Introducing West Coast Pirates - Western Australia Rugby League announce name and logo of NRL bid". Fox Sports . 27 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Brandicoot Domains".
  5. 1 2 3 4 Western Bears set for NRL inclusion after North Sydney, WA bid team sign historic agreement Daily Telegraph 8 Augist 2024
  6. ↑ NRL’s newest franchise set to be formally announced... as details including logo revealed Fox Sports Australia 9 August 2024
  7. ↑ West Australian consortium stands its ground on control of new NRL team The West Australian 9 August 2024
  8. ↑ Western Bears expansion bid formally rejected by Peter vlandys and ARL commission Daily Telegraph 8 August 2024
  9. ↑ The WA premier and $500m came to Sydney. The Perth Bears dream is alive and well Sydney Morning Herald 21 November 2024
  10. ↑ https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-inch-closer-to-possible-perth-bears-expansion-amid-resumed-talks-with-wa-government/news-story/f29ee3fd598c661e3e9fc3eb65c1b020
  11. ↑ "NRL's newest franchise set to be formally announced... as details including logo revealed". Fox Sports. 9 August 2024.
  12. 1 2 3 / Western Bears, NRL's newest team, reveals colours, home ground and North Sydney Oval plans Daily Telegraph
  13. ↑ "Exclusive: HBF Park Set for upgrade with Western Bears set to become Perth's NRL team". 6PR . 12 August 2024.
  14. 1 2 There's a bear in there will NRL's foundation club truly live on in Perth bid Sydney Morning Herald 11 August 2024
  15. ↑ "Most Rugby League Fans Say Perth Should Host Next NRL Team". stevemascord.com. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  16. ↑ "Goodwin Says It's Time To Go West Again". stevemascord.com. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  17. ↑ https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/06/16/transitioning-into-new-territories-while-still-honouring-tradition-why-bears-are-the-best-pathway-to-the-nrl-for-perth/
  18. 1 2 Tedeschi, Nick (15 August 2024). "Western Bears can thrive in Perth as NRL learn lessons from darker times". The Guardian .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.