Why the NRL should embrace the Gold Coast Bears

C’MON NRL, bring back the Bears. Let’s get some character and colour back into our dreary competition.

C’MON NRL, bring back the Bears. Let’s get some character and colour back into our dreary competition.

They were the perennial hardluck story — but everyone had a soft spot for them.

Who could forget the day great old prop Bill Hamilton met The Queen after the 1976 Amco Cup final — but forget to put his teeth back in.

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Who could forget the day forward Freddy “Fearless” Teasdell was fined $200 by coach Brian ‘Chicka’ Norton for using a yoyo when sitting on the bench for first grade.

Who could forget the day three kids jumped the fence at halftime to escape another looming loss, only for police to punish them by ordering the trio back inside for the second half.

The Bears were perennial underdogs.

Who could forget the day a journo rang then club secretary Harry “Akker’ Forbes searching for a number for fullback John Booby. After cattle-stealing papers for 30 seconds, Forbes came back and replied: “One!”

Who could forget the day hooker Ross Warner stuffed comic books down the front of his socks as shin pads.

Who could forget the year Norths signed field goal expert Barry Glasgow from Wests in 1970 only for the field goal value to be reduced from two points to one the following year.

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Who could forget the day senior journo and Bears tragic Jon Geddes sat on the Bears bench for a story. After a player dropped a ball, a filthy Bears coach Peter Louis send out a loud message on the two-way: “Get Josh Stuart on, get Gary Larson on, I don’t care, get bloody Geddes on.”

Who could forget the day three players stripped naked at the North Sydney Leagues Club sportsman bar after a game and got a cab into Kings Cross.

Who could forget the day three players ran a competition on who could last longest without washing their playing gear?

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Who could forget the Norths player who was sunbaking on a wall at his home before falling asleep, plummeting six feet, knocking himself out and waking to be covered in ants.

Who could forget winger Les Kiss dancing back to halfway playing air guitar after scoring a try.

Who could forget the day a coach asked one of his players why he was so lethargic at training.

Turns out the player, an electrician, touched a live wire, fell off a roof and was almost electrocuted.

We love characters — and the Bears were full of them. Let’s end the politically correct players and coaches who speak in cliches.

Bring back the Bears.