Western Bears: NRL’s newest team reveals colours, home ground and North Sydney Oval plans

North Sydney and Western Australia’s NRL bid team have revealed how their partnership will work, where games will be played and the colours that the Western Bears will wear.

the Bears are back. Sub image

The Western Bears has been officially launched after North Sydney and Western Australia’s NRL bid team confirmed their partnership to be part of rugby league’s expanded competition.

Whilst this masthead exclusively revealed the Western Bears were the frontrunners to become the NRL’s 18th team the parties had remained tight-lipped until now.

They finalised their proposal last Wednesday as the NRL’s moves towards a 20-team competition.

“The Western Bears Club will make the NRL a truly national competition, returning top-flight rugby league to Perth and drawing on the heritage of the North Sydney Bears, which dates to 1908,” they said in a statement.

“This will 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 mighty Bears.

The Bears are expected to play one regular season game per year at North Sydney Oval.

“The Western Bears will be one club, one fanbase, unified by backing a new generation of Bears.”

The Western Bears also confirmed that their Perth based home games would be played at HBF Park, with a regular-season home game to be played in Sydney.

The match could be played at North Sydney Oval or Allianz Stadium as part of a heritage round fixture with the hope it will be against arch rivals Manly. The Bears would wear a heritage North Sydney jersey for this match.

North Sydney Oval may also host a pre-season fixture.

“Western 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 will be played,” the Bears said. “Upon licence confirmation, Western Bears Foundation member packages will be available, and proposed Bears packages will allow Sydney fans to attend Sydney-based regular season and trial season home games and multiple away games. Exclusive content and events will also be made available to foundation Western Bears fans.”

The North Sydney Bears will remain in the NSW Cup and act as a feeder team to the Western Bears.

Confidentially agreements stops the relevant parties from talking in-depth however North Sydney chairman Daniel Dickson said the Bears would make a return to the NRL.

Bears legend Greg Florimo. Picture: Getty Images

“After 25 years in hibernation it will be great to see the Bears back where they belong in the NRL,” Dickson said. “We appreciate the opportunity to partner with the WA Government and WA consortium group to bring the dream to reality and the hard work of all parties involved.

“The Western Bears will re-energise our passionate fan base and introduce a new market to our proud history and heritage. One club with a national footprint is great for the game.”

Western Bears chairman Peter Cumins – who oversaw the WA consortium bid – said this was an opportunity to bring top-flight rugby league back to Perth.

“Many thanks to the Premier of Western Australia Roger Cook for his magnificent support and to Daniel Dickson for his significant contribution to bring this fantastic alliance to fruition,” Cumins said. “Should our bid be successful, we intend to make the Western Bears a club that Western Australians can proudly embrace and to bring together Bears fans from the East Coast to the West Coast.”

While the Bears are on the verge of being resurrected, Newtown have also made their case to be part of an expanded competition.

The Western Bears will be the NRL’s 18th side announced later this year while PNG will be 19th. Newtown have partnered with Ipswich to form the Jets after making their own submissions last week,

“After Newtown Jets pulled out of the WA bid process, we were approached by the Ipswich Jets to do a joint bid for admission to the NRL,” the Jets said.

“Ipswich Jets presented an entirely different proposition to WA which includes joint control and ownership in any new NRL club. The proposed team will be called the Jets and play in Newtown colours when in NSW. The Newtown RLFC board has considered this ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ for Newtown to return to top-level Rugby League with an interest and equity in the new club and accordingly decided to join the bid.”