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Western Bears
Club information
Full nameWestern Bears Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)The Bears
Colours  Red
  Black
  White
  Yellow
Founded2024 (2024)
Records
Premierships2: 1921, 1922
Runners-up1: 1943
Minor premierships2: 1921, 1922
Wooden spoons9: 1915, 1917, 1919, 1932, 1941, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1979

The Western Bears, officially the Western Bears Rugby League Football Club, are a rugby league football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded as a merger by the Western Australian Rugby League and the North Sydney Bears as a bid for Perth to rejoin an expanded National Rugby League in 2027. If successful, the Bears would play out of Perth Rectangular Stadium, also known as HBF Park for sponsorship reasons. There will also be one pre-season match and one heritage game played at North Sydney Oval in Sydney.

The teams colours are red, black and white, with yellow as a secondary colour.

History

Western Reds
North Sydney Bears

There has been no elite rugby league team in Perth since the Western Reds folded in 1997.[1] 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. 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. They wanted the team to be a true Western Australian one.

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.[2]

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. [3][4]

Months of protracted negotiations finally reached an end point on 9 August 2024, with officials from North Sydney and Western Australia’s bid team signing off on the historic agreement to resurrect one of rugby league’s most famous brands.

The Bears will return to the NRL for the first time since 1999[5]. The new franchise will be called the Western Bears, rather than the Perth Bears with the former being a nod to Western Reds — WA’s first professional rugby league team.

It is understood the agreement between the two parties included an adaptation of the Bears logo; one heritage match to be played in NSW, with the hope it will be against arch rivals Manly Warringah Sea Eagles. The match could be played at North Sydney Oval, Sydney Football Stadium or on the Central Coast where they will wear a traditional North Sydney jersey. A pre-season game will also be played at North Sydney Oval.

Logo and Colours

The main colours will be red, black and white, however there will be a tinge of yellow too, which again pays homage to the former WA Reds outfit. The Reds may have their own heritage jersey.

The Bears logo is expected to be redesigned for the new side.[6]

Colours for the Western Bears

Stadium

HBF Park, home of the Western Bears

The majority of Bears home games will be played out of Perth Rectangular Stadium. The stadium will be used not only for league purposes as a home base, but shared with football's Perth Glory and rugby's Western Force.

Since 2019, the stadium is known as HBF Park after WA's biggest health insurer took over naming rights at Perth's home of soccer and rugby.[7] After a significant grant by the government to improve facilities at the stadium, the capacity was increased to 20,500. With the support of the WA Government being firm backers of the Bears, a grant of $300 million was pledged to upgrade to the venue even further, if a licence was granted to a Perth team.[8]

It is expected that North Sydney Oval, home of the foundation club North Sydney Bears, will host one home match during the season as a heritage match and a preseason game.

North Sydney Oval

Fan support

The Western Bears are widely supported for re-admission into the NRL by players and fans alike.[9] Perth-born players in particular are supportive of Western Australia competing in the NRL once again.[10]

The WA Government have strongly and financially backed this team and could have a support base of over 200,000 fans both in Western Australia and across the North Shore of Sydney and surrounds.[11]

The demographics of Perth also suggest a team will have a strong chance of survival. Perth has large expat English 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, while Perth has been named the 12th most livable city on the planet. Attracting talent will not be an issue[12]

NSW Cup

By aligning with the North Sydney Bears brand, the Perth based team have tapped into a setup in Sydney that operates a successful NSW Cup side. [13]

North Sydney Bears will become the main feeder club to NSW Cup for this NRL side.

  1. ^ https://www.nrl.com/news/2024/08/15/hunt-backs-perth-bid-to-unlock-talent-pipeline/
  2. ^ https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/western-bears-set-for-nrl-inclusion-after-north-sydney-wa-bid-team-sign-historic-agreement/news-story/e2e69a4100e87e6bf69ae3da285e50bf
  3. ^ NRL’s newest franchise set to be formally announced... as details including logo revealed Fox Sports Australia 9 August 2024
  4. ^ West Australian consortium stands its ground on control of new NRL team The West Australian 9 August 2024
  5. ^ https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/western-bears-set-for-nrl-inclusion-after-north-sydney-wa-bid-team-sign-historic-agreement/news-story/e2e69a4100e87e6bf69ae3da285e50bf
  6. ^ https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/nrl-2024-western-bears-set-to-be-announced-as-new-team-18th-nrl-franchise-expansion-north-sydney-bears-western-australia/news-story/90c1a5938230d1ac8a0d206199bd58a8
  7. ^ "HBF to be new sponsor of Perth Rectangular Stadium". HBF Health. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2021.
  8. ^ https://www.6pr.com.au/exclusive-hbf-park-set-for-upgrade-with-western-bears-set-to-become-perths-nrl-team/
  9. ^ "Most Rugby League Fans Say Perth Should Host Next NRL Team". stevemascord.com. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Goodwin Says It's Time To Go West Again". stevemascord.com. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
  11. ^ 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/
  12. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/article/2024/aug/16/nrl-rugby-league-western-bears-north-sydney-thrive-perth-reds
  13. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/article/2024/aug/16/nrl-rugby-league-western-bears-north-sydney-thrive-perth-reds
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