Herd on the Terrace: Bears Perth the hidden lure in Roger Cook's North Sydney, National Rugby League deal
Herd on the Terrace: Bears Perth the hidden lure in Roger Cook's North Sydney, National Rugby League deal
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
2 days ago
- West Australian
Premier Roger Cook issues fresh defence against Government's handling of proposed bare-knuckle fight in Perth
Premier Roger Cook has issued a fresh defence of his government's handling of a proposed bare-knuckle fight in Perth next month, saying it was better to have a controlled event, rather than it going underground. Mr Cook said he 'appreciated community concern' about the championship event — a spin-off of the UFC — earmarked for RAC Arena in July. But he said there was a greater risk if bare-knuckle fighting occurred in an unregulated environment. 'I appreciate community concern around bare-knuckle boxing and understand that combat sports are not for everyone, myself included,' Mr Cook said. 'While we understand there is risk to be balanced with any sports, there is an anticipated greater risk in serious harm to people who participate if it's not conducted in a controlled, permitted and regulated environment. 'Let me be clear: This is not an event the WA Government is sponsoring financially.' WA's boxing regulations were amended by former Sport Minister David Templeman in February to recognise the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship as a sanctioning body. The Combat Sports Commission has said additional conditions would be put in place — if the fight went ahead. But the Australian Medical Association WA says the event should not proceed — and if it did, it would send the wrong message to the community in the face of domestic violence and other vicious crimes committed in the community. 'The fact that the State Government has paved the way for this activity to occur in Western Australia is baffling,' AMA WA boss Dr Michael Page said. 'We are dismayed. 'What was the rationale? Did they consider this in light of family and domestic violence?' Mr Cook says Sports Minister Rita Saffioti has taken fresh advice on the proposed event from the Combat Sports Commission, which was made up of experts in the field. 'It advised bare-knuckle boxing is another emerging discipline, alongside kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts, that has started to grow here in Australia, since its following in the US and the UK,' Mr Cook said. 'The advice from the Combat Sports Commission is that it requires stringent rules and regulations so it isn't driven underground. 'With the Commission regulating this sport and events associated with it, it means there are strict rules applied and carried through such as having multiple ringside medical practitioners and a threshold to the minimum experience for participants.'
ABC News
23-05-2025
- ABC News
As North Sydney Oval stands eternal, the Bears live between past and future
North Sydney Oval is a place where time stands still, which can be a good thing on the right day because it'll make you want to stay forever. The ground has been used for more than 150 years, so a timeless quality comes with the territory, and you can feel that age from the famous fig tree at one end to the grandstands that dot around the oval in such irregular fashion. You would never build a ground for rugby league to these specifications. It is too idiosyncratic, too asymmetrical, too clearly a product of decades of growth and changes happening to one part of the ground at a time. But this is what gives North Sydney Oval its character. It was not planned, it is lived in. You can feel the age in the best possible way and in a world consumed by a need for efficiency, parts of it are gloriously archaic. The Duncan Thompson Stand, with its green roof and wooden benches, has stood in some form for almost a century and the upgrades over the years have stopped the ground from falling into disrepair while retaining its genteel spirit. It is the oldest of rugby league's suburban outposts. They laid the first cricket pitch here in 1867, 10 years before the first Test match, almost three decades before rugby league was ever thought of and just a few months before the final British ship transporting convicts landed in Australia. The Bears first played here in 1910 and even now, a quarter century after Norths went into hibernation and two decades after the last NRL games at the venue, it has still hosted the third most games of any ground in first grade history. With the Bears being reborn across the desert in Perth, it's natural to wonder if that number can grow again, even if it's by one a year. In their pre-life, the competition's newest club is caught between two worlds, between the future in the west and the past, so much of which lives on at North Sydney Oval. It's what sustained them through the wilderness, as was the dream that the Bears could come back again to the only real home they've ever known even as they prepare to find a new one on the other side of the country. It's why it was reasonable to expect a bigger crowd than usual for their first home game since the announcement, because surely this was a time to celebrate the end of the struggle. But given the temperature never got above the mid-teens and the rain constantly threatened, the crowd for this game against St George Illawarra was close to the same as ever, maybe a little less. On a day it was 24 and clear in Perth, winter had well and truly set in at Norths. But it was alright, because there have been so many days like this before, where it's not about marquee signings and premiership returns but about being there for one another. The former can't happen if the latter didn't keep the home fires burning. It's match days like this that have kept the club alive all these years, as North Sydney Oval acted as a meeting place for the diehards who never gave up hope, the rusted-on Bears who couldn't let go as much as they tried because no other team felt right, the dreamers and the nostalgia addicts, and the types who have a certain kind footy itch that the NRL and the stadiums that look like spaceships can't quite scratch. It is a community ground and North Sydney has been a community team for some years now. Greg Florimo once said that it was this aspect that made keeping the Bears going worthwhile, even if they never got back to the top grade. He may have never given up hope of a first grade return but as the years mounted and various expansion chances came and went, Florimo and everyone else who kept the red and black spirit alive did so because every rugby league community needs a place to go and a team to hold close to their heart, and this was North Sydney's. Florimo is here today, shaking so many hands and getting so many pats on the back it's as though he's a soldier come home. Given all he's done for this club, he kind of is. There's always a couple more Bear personalities floating around — Jason Taylor pokes his head in, so does Channel Nine presenter James Bracey in a faded Bears shirt that puts some of the faux-vintage numbers to shame. Anthony De Ceglie is here too and the newly appointed CEO of the Perth Bears could have walked the ground anonymously not too long ago but now he's the shepherd of the new side everyone knows him. The crowd is alive with chatter over the possibilities in Perth, who could be coach, who they might sign, what it will be like when the Bears colours run out there again in the big league, even what to expect from the city itself when they head over for that first game because many of them have never been. The action on the field, where Norths — currently acting as Melbourne's feeder club — are locked in a bitter struggle with the Dragons, is tough and willing and even on an oval field it's personal in a way NRL games never can be. The Bears score first through backrower Matt Stimson and are dealt a blow when fullback Zac Makelim is injured after 25 minutes. They manage to take a 12-6 lead into halftime before the visitors — who boast a score of NRL experience through Lachlan Ilias, Raymond Faitala-Mariner, Hame Sele and Cody Ramsey — grind out a 28-18 win. Nobody seems to mind all that much. There are enough families here that the face paint stall is almost as popular as the front bar. It all feels a long way from the smoke-filled backrooms where captains of industry and politicians struck the deals to make the Perth dream a reality. The Bears still print monthly match-day programs and their next home game in early June will be part of the annual Beer, Food and Footy Festival, which is exactly as good as it sounds and should lead to the biggest crowd of the year. Kids slide up and down the muddy Doug Walters Stand, which is actually a hill, as beleaguered parents chase after them. A few fans duck over to Percy's as the second half rolls on, because it's as warm and dry as its beers are cold. The Bears lose, but it's still a fine place to spend a Sunday, even a cold and wet one. The match itself is only a part of the experience at places like this. Winning is always better than losing but there are always more games to be played and if results were all that kept fans going nobody would stick with footy for long. You come to hope for a win, you stay because it's a part of you and you are a part of it. Like a lot of the ancient suburban grounds, North Sydney Oval is a great place to be while football is being played, which is not the same thing as being a great place to watch football. The same is true of many of Sydney's oldest rugby league temples and on that scene, the Bears again find themselves caught between two worlds. North Sydney Oval is more pastoral than Western Suburbs' Lidcombe Oval, more picturesque than Newtown's Henson Park, and a little more advanced than both besides. It wasn't so long ago that it hosted the women's State of Origin match, attracting a crowd of just over 10,000, which is close to the maximum the ground can safely hold. That game has since outgrown the venue, which is why Bear Park is closer to the two aforementioned grounds than it is to Manly's Brookvale Oval, St George Illawarra's Kogarah Oval or Wests Tigers Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Stadium. North Sydney Oval is a beautiful place but the heart can't obscure what the head knows to be true. which is if the Bears were ever to realise their final dream and return here for just one day, the ground as currently constructed means their best shot would be a trial game and more NSW Cup matches like this one. Significant work would need to be done for the ground to host an NRL game. The question isn't the quality of the facilities, which have been upgraded to a high enough standard for the ground to host a women's Ashes ODI earlier this year, its the just the size of the place. For the Bears to justify moving a game there, a crowd of 10,000 would not be enough — especially, if mooted, the game would be against old rivals Manly. With that in mind, and NRL attendances booming in general, shifting the game to neutral territory at the new Sydney Football Stadium is the more viable option for the Bears debut season in 2028. That's not to say, as the vision for the Perth Bears becomes more solid, a return to North Sydney Oval cannot happen. It could take some years so the gears will have to start turning sooner rather than later but the goodwill for the Bears will never be greater than right now, when the old colours become new again and the resurrection finally comes to pass because even as a red and black sun rises in the west their links to this place will still be strong. The local council in North Sydney, which has shown a great commitment to the ground for many years, has spoken positively about an upgrade and it would benefit more than just the Bears given the amount of men's and women's local and professional sport the venue hosts. The link the ground has with the Bears is eternal, but it's not just their place — the game against the Dragons was just their second home match of the year due to a late handover with the cricket season. The NRL seems behind the cause as well. Part of the reason the Bears were chosen for expansion is because of their heritage and North Sydney Oval is a bricks and mortar link to what's come before. What to do with Bear Park is the same fundamental question that hangs over the Perth Bears. It starts here, and this is perhaps where it will be hardest, but it's something they will confront time and again. How much of the past, which is proud and meaningful and gives them a credibility money cannot buy, can serve the future? How much can that future, which depends so much on Perth taking this team to heart just as the northsiders did all those years ago, draw from their past? Just as there's a difference between a local oval and a stadium, between a wooden bench and padded seats, there's a difference between being a club and a franchise. Most NRL teams are torn between the two. North Sydney is more the former but any new NRL club must be more the latter. The Perth Bears must find a way to live in the space between.
ABC News
12-05-2025
- ABC News
Gone west
And now to the news that some NRL fans had spent almost three decades waiting for: JAMES BRACEY: Well hello and welcome to Nine's very special coverage of the unveiling of the national rugby league's newest franchise, we're coming to you live from HBF Park here … - Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025 And that was the Nine Network startling its day-time viewers who last Thursday were enjoying Drive TV's Car of The Year and dragging them willing or not to this announcement from the Western Australian premier Roger Cook: ROGER COOK: … the Perth Bears are about to become part of the national rugby league competition. - Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025 After 26 years in the wilderness the North Sydney Bears are back, albeit a five-hour flight away in Perth, and Nine's James Bracey was so beside himself he had to preface his question with a little speech: JAMES BRACEY: … we're broadcasting live on Nine right around the country at the moment, which emphasises the monumental occasion this is for the sport of rugby league, particularly penetrating an AFL state like that is WA, but how important is it to this franchise to be associated with the Bears on the east coast? PETER V'LANDYS: It's extremely important … - Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025 Nine even swung a second reporter onto the story who watched the announcement live in the North Sydney bear cave with tearful fans: DAMIAN RYAN: We saw the tears rolling out of your eyes BEARS FAN: We've waited since the 15th of October 1999 for this - Nine (Sydney), 8 May, 2025 As you would expect, our two news channels Sky and the ABC also cut live to Roger Cook's press conference. Seven did not and left unsullied … the delectable pleasures of 'Carrot Cake Murder': ALISON SWEENEY: … no murder investigation for you. But you can have a cookie … - Carrot Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery, Network Seven, 8 May, 2025 And there were more bakery treats for its WA audience too … CHEF: … set aside a couple of spoonfuls of this to coat the madeleines at the end … - The Morning Show, Network Seven, 8 May, 2025 Delicious … Seven News in Perth did report the story during its news that day. And this was how its stablemate The West Australian had presented the story that morning: THE BAD NEWS BEARS Rugby-mad Roger Cook forces WA taxpayers to pay Sydney's NRL rejects $65m to play in Perth - The West Australian, 8 May, 2025 Oof, rejects from Sydney? The West knows exactly how to rile a sandgroper. And it just so happens, the paper's editor has been happily prosecuting this case for months dedicating acres of space to what he says is an 'extravagant' piffle: Roger. Mate. Stop trying to make rugby league happen. - The West Australian editorial, 14 February, 2025 West Australians … won't tolerate extravagant spending on a team no one asked for in the first place. - The West Australian editorial, 12 March, 2025 And describing the Premier as: … a self-confessed rugby league nuffy … … one of a handful of blokes in WA who support rugby league and reckon it's a goer in our State. - The West Australian editorial, 24 March, 2025 The West's subtle opposition did not escape the NRL specialists at News Corporation which, it should be noted, also has a financial interest via streaming rights in both sports: The state's leading newspaper, the West Australian, has been vicious in its coverage of the NRL's expansion push to Perth. - The Sunday-Mail (Qld), 23 March, 2025 And why are the Nine and Seven media empires in opposing corners? … The West Australian is owned by Seven West Media, which has control of the Seven Network, the free-to-air broadcaster which inked a $1.5 billion deal with the AFL in 2022. Billionaire Kerry Stokes is chairman of the Seven West Media empire fanning the flames of NRL expansion discontent. - The Sunday-Mail (Qld), 23 March, 2025 While the West Australian's owner Seven West has free-to-air rights to the AFL, Nine holds the equivalent rights to the NRL, a point not lost on Mr Hot Chips himself Peter V'landys, rugby league's chairman: PETER V'LANDYS: Well I think the media coverage has been a bit biased in the sense that the main newspaper here is owned by Seven West Media that has the AFL rights lets be quite frank, so they don't want us to be here because they realise we're going to be competitive and we're going to take some of their lunch, and we eat a lot ... - Sky News Australia, 8 May, 2025 Never one to shy from a fight, The West's editor Chris Dore bit back the following day. And he told Media Watch: … the idea that somehow our coverage at The West Australian is dictated, or even remotely influenced, by some fanciful proposition that a rugby league team in Perth would diminish the AFL and therefore somehow have a financial impact on the broadcaster is laughable. - Email, Christopher Dore, Editor-in-Chief, West Australian Newspapers and The Nightly, 12 May, 2025 Adding this little dig for the newspaper he used to helm: I know this is hard to grasp from reading the NRL-Las Vegas-loving boys at The Daily Telegraph who inhale every word uttered by their messiah Peter V'landys, but they have taken you for a ride if you believe the spin. - Email, Christopher Dore, Editor-in-Chief, West Australian Newspapers and The Nightly, 12 May, 2025 Of course, the real game here is being played off the field. Peter V'landys with his top-shelf connections has been extending the reach of his NRL empire not only in the West but with a new team in PNG while also trying to cultivate lucrative US betting markets which means more games more fans and more money for the next round of broadcasting rights, negotiations for which are reportedly imminent. These sports TV contracts are so lucrative they are becoming existential for Australia's distressed commercial TV networks, so it really should come as no surprise that impartial interrogations of the politics of footy might be thin on the ground.
