Watch: North Sydney Bears fans celebrate teams return to the NRL
North Sydney’s greatest servant was reduced to tears as long-suffering Bears fans broke into a wave of euphoria after the foundation club was formally returned to top-flight rugby league.
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Overcome with tears, North Sydney legend Greg Florimo claimed the Bears’ historic and emotional NRL resurrection was “one of the greatest stories in Australian sport.”
And rusted-on Bears fan Dave Kerslake added: “This is the biggest comeback since Lazarus. The Bears’ return is the biggest turn-around in sport of any team, anywhere in the world.”
Long-suffering Bears fans broke into a wave of jubilation inside North Sydney Leagues Club on Thursday when their foundation club was formally returned to top-flight rugby league as the Perth Bears.
Bears supporters, arguably the most resilient in rugby league, celebrated long and hard at an NRL Announcement Watch Party inside their Cammeray-based Leagues Club where hundreds of fans were proudly decked out in the club’s famous black and red colours.
Fans openly hugged and wept amid raucous cheering that their beloved Bears were back.
They were remarkable scenes of raw passion, excitement and a sense of relief that the Bears had been revived after a 26-year NRL hiatus. Fans broke into a stirring and joyous rendition of the club’s unofficial theme song, Stand Aside Here Comes the Mighty Bears.
Fans then started chanting: “North Sydney, North Sydney.’ Another yelled: ‘Red and black attack.’
“This is one of the greatest stories in Australian sport,” said a teary Florimo, who played 285 first grade games for Norths between 1986 and 1998. “There is a lot of emotion. We haven’t been in the comp for 26 years so Bears fans have been feeling some pain.
“I feel for them but they have stuck solid and they are here to celebrate. They are Bears fans through and through and they’ve been rewarded today.”
Bears CEO Gareth Holmes added: “What a day for the Bears and rugby league. This day is 26 years in the making.”
Norths were kicked out of the NRL as a single entity after the 1999 season - which prompted a disastrous merger with Manly - with many Bears fearing the club’s days in rugby league’s premier competition had evaporated. When Manly was mentioned over the club’s loudspeakers on Thursday, fans united in a hefty boo.
“I’m sick of supporting whoever is playing Manly. This is one of the happiest moments of my life,” said lifetime Bears Jarrod Baker.
Nina Sullivan revealed she had a relative named Sid Deane, who was at Bears’ first meeting back in 1908.
“I have been involved in rugby league and the Bears for 50 years,” Sullivan said. “I used to sit in the foyer selling raffle tickets because the club needed some money.”
Also among the throng of Bears fans was News Corp cricket writer, Ben Horne, a tragic Norths fan.
“I have been a Bears fan for 35 years so they haven’t been in the competition for my whole adult life,” Horne said. “I never thought they’d come back – I was just resigned to watching the footy without a team.”
Another elated Bears fan was media personality and celebrity landscape gardener Jason Hodges, who said: “Today means 26 years of staying loyal. Part of me has always been missing - I can’t wait for when they run out in 2027. I’ll be crying that day, whether that be in WA or Sydney.”
Watching the announcement in his retro 1992 Citibank sponsored jumper, Hodges added: “I will probably have every holiday for the rest of my life in WA.”
Bears fans have had their hearts broken multiple times in recent decades through false promises of a return to big time footy. Norths fan Katie Low said: “We have been listening to the Bears’ theme song since 6am over our house speakers.”
Perth Bears will be rugby league 18th franchise with PNG to enter a year later to form a 19-team competition.
Originally published as Watch: North Sydney Bears fans celebrate teams return to the NRL
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