Perth Bears NRL boss Anthony De Ceglie facing daunting task

Perth Bears chief executive Anthony De Ceglie will have a fight on his hands as he tries to woo sponsors and fans in a city that doesn’t care about rugby league.

Perth Bears CEO Anthony De Ceglie at North Sydney Oval. Picture: Julian Andrews

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The inaugural boss of the NRL’s newest club faces daunting challenges as he looks to win over local sponsors and fans in a city that cares little for the sport and seemingly less for him.

NRL chair Peter V’landys last month appointed erstwhile Seven national news director Anthony De Ceglie as the first chief executive of the Perth Bears in the hope the veteran news man and west coast native would be able to open doors in the city. However, it seems many of them have slammed shut on Mr De Ceglie, even though he officially started in the role only this week.

The Australian contacted 10 leading businesses headquartered in Perth, as well as the city’s dominant media player, Mr De Ceglie’s former employer, Seven West Media, to see if any would consider aligning with the side – only to be told they were all either uninterested in backing the Bears, or completely disinterested in even discussing the club.

A spokesman for Woodside Energy said the business wished the Bears “every success” but the petroleum and gas giant’s “focus with regard to football in Western Australia remains our partnership with the (AFL’s) Fremantle ­Dockers”.

It was also a hard no from Roy Hill, the iron-ore mining company majority-owned by the nation’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, with a spokesman indicating the business refused to sponsor “any dangerous sports – so it’s not something we would ever look at”.

The same went for the rest of Mrs Rinehart’s vast mining and agricultural empire, with Hancock Prospecting noting the billionaire’s ongoing commitment to instead pouring millions into the national swimming, rowing, synchronised swimming and beach volleyball teams.

“Mrs Rinehart has already demonstrated a strong commitment to Australian sport, and is the largest, single non-government contributor to the Olympic effort in Australian history,” a spokesman said. “But she only supports sports that are non-contact, not dangerous, and that help lift Australians up and show our national pride on the world stage.”

Fellow WA billionaire Andrew Forrest, who owns the city’s rival Super Rugby franchise, the Western Force, was not even up for discussing the Bears – this despite the fact the two teams will share a new high-performance training centre funded by the state and play out of the same 30,000-seat stadium.

Andrew Forrest. Picture: AFP

Gina Rinehart.

Perth-based giant Wesfarmers – which owns Bunnings, Kmart, Target, Officeworks, Priceline Pharmacy and Soul Patterson Chemist – and mining giant Mineral Resources were both equally indifferent to the Bears – though the later remains a key sponsor of the AFL’s West Coast Eagles and maintains the ongoing naming rights for that club’s training ground, MinRes Park.

BankWest was similarly conflicted, with a spokesperson saying the financial institution was not in a position to comment “at this time” before pointing to the bank’s ongoing deal with the Fremantle Dockers.

WesTrac, which is chaired by Ryan Stokes, the son of Mr De ­Ceglie’s former employer and one-time staunchest supporter, Seven West Media chairman Kerry Stokes, declined to comment on Perth’s new NRL club.

The flurry of rejections and mass indifference comes as one of Perth’s best-connected businessmen, former Reserve Bank of Australia boss John Poynton, unleashed on Mr De Ceglie, telling The Australian half the city’s key figures “hated his guts” and warned the one-time newspaper editor was about “to be taught a lesson” when he “walks back into town”. “That’s the problem about making a prick of yourself – it’s hard when you have to come back and face the very same people,” Mr Poyton said.

Another well-connected Perth corporate leader was heard making similar comments at a function last week, suggesting: “Life catches up with everyone, and it’s going to be fun seeing life catch up with Anthony.” The rookie chief executive was expected to spend the next fortnight learning the ropes at the NRL’s headquarters at Moore Park, in Sydney’s inner east, before returning to his home state where he will need to try to quickly re-establish relationships with the city’s business and media communities.

Ryan Stokes. Picture: John Feder

One of the first tasks will be ­attempting to win over his former newspaper and its editor, his one-time mentor and former editor-in-chief of The Australian, Christopher Dore.

However, the masthead’s parent company, Seven West Media, insisted all of its coverage of the Perth Bears would be soley dictated by the local community’s interest in the sport – and that was currently non-existent.

When asked if there was any way in which Mr De Ceglie could convince SWM to partner with the new club, chief executive Maryna Fewster added that would have to be a hard “pass” – at least for now.

“Rugby league isn’t quite at the level of support in the community to warrant one of our major brands partnering with it,” Ms Fewster said.

“Maybe one day if the Bears find a fan base one of our suburban Perth Now or regional papers might have a look – but for now our values don’t quite align with the code.” 

On the bright side, Mr De ­Ceglie’s return to Perth will coincide with the arrival of the NRL’s showpiece second State of Origin clash, which is scheduled to be played in the city on June 18.

The contest, which is routinely one of the highest rating broadcasts on Australian television each year, transcends the traditional sporting divide, with the first game, won by NSW in Queensland’s Suncorp Stadium homeground 18-6 last week, managing to increase its year-on-year ratings – even in Perth.