Meet Daniel Dickson the businessman who brought the Bears back from the brink
He describes himself as loose, authentic and a little bit crazy. Meet Daniel Dickson, the man with a wacky dress sense who helped revive the Bears after almost 30 years out of the game.
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Dressed in a range of dazzling coloured suits from his personal tailor in China, this is the diverse Sydney businessman who pulled off a rugby league miracle.
The Bears had been out of the game for almost 30 years, but Daniel Dickson, the club’s chairman, fought tenaciously to revive them.
“I was never giving up and never going to walk away,” Dickson declared.
“I like to win – I don’t like losing.”
Now a Perth Bears director preparing for the club’s first-ever board meeting, Dickson owns and runs five businesses with wife Debbie while revealing a zany side to a personality he describes as “loose, authentic and a little crazy.”
Dickson, 49, isn’t your quintessential, conventional chairman.
He wears theatrical outfits, has a bouffant hairstyle, has a toilet-trained rabbit named Reggie and adores Elvis Presley, who he has named one of his kids after.
“I’m a different cat,” he said.
“Debbie told me that being boring is the number one criminal action in our household. What people think about me has nothing to do with me.”
Before dragging the Bears back from obscurity, Dickson made headlines in 2001 for running onto the field past Parramatta Stadium security to congratulate his great mate, Jason Taylor, who had just become rugby league’s all-time point scoring record holder.
Dickson has now achieved the impossible and tells the inside story behind Norths’ historic return, predicting the Perth Bears could reach the finals in 2027, the club’s debut year, while revealing how many marquee players the fledgling clubs would need.
I HATE LOSING
Dickson is strong-willed and has a win-at-all-costs demeanour.
“I am tenacious and I was never giving up. I was never going to walk away. I like to win and I like to see something through,” he said.
“I don’t like losing. If you say you’re going to do something then you do it. These are things your parents instil in you.
“I won’t give up – that’s the easy way – but there were times when I thought we were right up against it. There were times when we were told no but I was never willing to say no.
“One door shut and another opened.
“But there wasn’t a time when I ever felt this was beyond us. No one will ever know the belief that you have to have. Once a Bear, always a Bear.
“There was a lot of pressure on us internally at periods of time and it took its toll on the board. Remember, our board members are volunteers.
“They do it for the love of the game, the club and history. There were times when we questioned each other and it wasn’t all smooth sailing, put it that way.
“People remember the Bears being in the comp and it was a beautiful time in rugby league. I am also blessed to know the people around us were very tight.”
IT’S A MIRACLE
Dickson led a Norths board which achieved the impossible. He was written off, dismissed, even mocked, but Dickson would live to create his own history.
“Over the past few years, we knew the NRL didn’t want another team in Sydney hence why we took the North Sydney out of the North Sydney logo,” he said.
“But you’ll never take North Sydney out of the North Sydney Bears – a 1908 foundation club.
“I was worried taking Norths from the logo wouldn’t sit well with the fans but we told them our story and they loved it. The NRL then realised we could be relocated somewhere.
“It’s also a great story for the NRL – the first two city-team to go away from its grassroots.
“It’s been a journey over the past five years that I’ve been involved but there have been plenty of people flying the flag before me since that dreaded day the Bears were kicked out of the comp in 1999.”
They were many false starts over the past five years in particular.
“I didn’t love the ‘Bring back the Bears’ concept because it was getting to a stage where people were throwing it out like it was another attempt,” he said.
“There weren’t actually that many attempts but some failed starts on what we thought would be the right move.
“We wanted an authentic shot at the stumps.
‘We had to line up everything properly to be taken seriously, get back the history and heritage which the NRL would be attracted to, and then start saying, ‘Where do we want to go?’”
They always had a number of options.
“Perth was the final location but there were plenty of other places along the way we were discussing with the NRL where the Bears could find a new home,” he said.
“We wanted to be part of the game’s growth and expansion and to bring our fans back to rugby league.”
MAY 8, 2025
This was the famous date when V’landys formally and finally announced the Bears had been revived and would play in the NRL from 2027.
“There were tears more than anything, and jubilation. I think some people still didn’t think it was possible – are we actually back?” Dickson said.
“That day, we got about 11 hours’ notice, and all the media came down to Norths Leagues Club. That was the moment the fans realised we were back, when everyone was celebrating.
“I was streaming it on my iPad sitting in a Los Angeles Hotel with my wife Debbie.
“We had a glass of red wine. It was a nice, personal moment and surreal but I still knew how much work there was to do.”
On the day it was announced, the Bears sold $30,000 worth of merchandise.
“Which is fantastic for a tier-two rugby league club,” he said.
“It was frustrating that it took that long to get going but beggars can’t be choosers. We hung in there and it’s a story we want to stand behind after 27 years.
“It was such a historic moment.
“A foundation club, this story was written years ago. I am enormously proud.”
THE LEFT-FIELD LARRIKIN
Dickson has a rotating in-built closet where clothes and suits of all colours are hung, including an authentic Elvis costume. He has suits in bright red, pink and lime green.
“I am a bit of a different cat. I have a very different wardrobe. I have a fantastic tailor in China and I go there two or three times a year. I think he dreads seeing me,” he said.
“I will go and choose a fabric at the markets next door and he will tell me the fabric is for curtains. I say, ‘Great, I want a jacket out of that’.
He explains that his exuberant fashion is because of his long arms and body.
“I have always dressed in a slightly different way. It’s just me,” he said.
“You have to bring light to life.
“People also take the mickey out of me because of my hair. Everyone says it’s a wig but it’s not a wig. One bloke on the Bears socials called me the ‘hair man’, not the chairman.
“My hair is voluminous and I might be partial to a blow dry here and there. All things that men don’t do. I think I’d be a very ugly bald man so I have been gifted with hair.”
Asked to describe himself, Dickson said: “Loose, a little crazy. On the fashion side, I am different. I am authentic in how I deal with things in life and I’m passionate.”
I LOVE ELVIS
Dickson has pictures of Presley on his wall inside his north shore home.
“I’m a big fan,” he said.
“I am the youngest of four and my family and I don’t know where it came from.
“I was only two when Elvis died but for as long as I can remember, I have really enjoyed him. So much so, as much as my wife wasn’t going to let me name our kids Elvis, our eldest son, Jordan, his middle name is Aaron, as in Elvis Aaron Presley.
“Both our sons, Jordan and Bailey, were christened at North Sydney Oval in their own custom-made Elvis suits. They are well-rounded kids who think their dad is a weirdo too.”
MARQUEE TARGETS
Dickson knows his club will need some big-name players.
“I would say 400 per cent we need marquee players,” he said. “I don’t think one is going to cut the mustard. We’re going to need players who attract other players.
“I have seen lists of players who will be potentially available. You take 10 of those players and you’ll create a phenomenal club.”
He concedes the relocation will be a big shift for players.
“But it’s also going to be very exciting for a young family. I think it will be an easy sell for those who want to plant their career in rugby league,” he said.
“Perth is a great place to live and there are plenty of opportunities there.
“Working backwards, we need to have 12 to 13 players who form the nucleus of our 2027 squad playing in the NSW Cup next season, to get their DNA into our system.”
CRANKY CRITICS
The Bears are already facing rugby league fans condemning the club and their chances of success.
“I have been dealing with these people for five years, longer than that. People say the Bears won’t work. You can kick the Bears but they just keep coming back,” he said.
“Those who aren’t believers, I don’t think they are ever going to believe.
“And there are plenty of them out there. I say to them, ‘Just come to the games’. They can throw stones but it’s been proven that you can’t keep the Bears down.”
BUSINESS BRAINS
Dickson and Debbie own five diverse businesses: a commercial furniture company, which has serviced pubs, clubs and casinos for the past 16 years, a digital platform business, vitamin supplement company and a wine distribution business.
And he is also a partner in a commercial cleaning company.
The pair also had a skin care business for 24 years which was sold several years ago to a private equity group.
The Dicksons retain part ownership of that company and he remains a director.
“My wife and I have five different businesses together and we have always built what we’ve made,” he said.
“We have businesses built around culture and think the Bears are a fantastic culture story.”
Asked how he found the necessary time to focus on business and the Bears, Dickson said: “My wife asks me the same question. You give a busy person a job and it will get done.
“I get a lot done in a day and I have some amazing people around me who are very accommodating of my ways.”
YOU’RE A LUNATIC
Dickson and his mate David Hall, not the former Bears player, broke through security to congratulate Taylor on-field for his record at Parramatta Stadium.
“We ran the gauntlet,” Dickson said.
“I stormed straight through the security. ’JT’ (Taylor) said on the field that we were lunatics. He was the MC at my wedding and I was groomsman at his.
“We actually got kicked out of the ground by the cops but ‘JT’ got replaced and he told them we had been kicked out so I got a phone call and the police officer that kicked us out welcomed us back in. We didn’t get the $5000 fine.
“In fairness, Parramatta said pre-game it was okay for us to run on their field but the message changed and we were not told.”
BEAR PARK
How many games a season would Dickson like to be played at North Sydney Oval?
“I am going to be very clear, and I’ve said this from the start: This has to be successful in the local city. There should be ten to 12 games in Perth and a couple at North Sydney,” he said.
“Two at North Sydney Oval would be great, from a nostalgic point of view.
“It’s hard for trial games because of cricket, so we don’t have the luxury of North Sydney Oval in January, February and March.
“I am hoping there will be some government funding for North Sydney Oval as well, to bring it up to speed. It’s still a fantastic rugby league ground.
Like Leichhardt Oval, you can’t get rid of those places.
“Then you have to throw your commercial hat on.
“If you’re playing Manly, you don’t want 15,000 people there, you would probably take it to the Sydney Football Stadium and have 45,000.
“You could always have a members-only day at North Sydney.
“I’m hoping our members will rival the NRL’s top clubs in that first year. Plenty of people have said they’re behind the Bears but now it’s up to them to say become members.”
FIRST BOARD MEETING
The new Perth Bears board will meet for the first time on August 3. Norths will supply two directors – Dickson and television personality James Bracey.
“There’s an agenda going around,” he said.
“We have a new club to build – this isn’t a merger of two teams.
“There will be set-up structure, the coaching staff to fill their complement of players, corporates, membership, releasing of the logo, budgets to approve, where are we going to spend the money and setting up pathways.
“All these things – one thing isn’t more important than the other.
“I genuinely think (we can finish) in the top eight (in 2027). I do.
“This needs to be successful and I say that with some gusto because if we’re not working hard on making sure we’re a serious threat then what are we doing?”
He said the initial goal would be the top eight.
“I know Mal (Meninga, coach) would be going for that, at worst. The normal lead-time would be a two-year run-in but we’ve got less than that so we’re up against it,” he said.
A RAIDING BEAR
Dickson always followed Norths but also supported Canberra during the Raiders’s golden era. Meninga was the player he admired the most.
“I told Mal (Meninga) this the first time I met him. When I was younger I went for the Bears but I loved the ‘Green Machine’. I used to have a photo of Mal on my wall,” he said.
“It was quite funny.
“I loved the Raiders back then but I have always been a Bear, back from the days of Mark Graham, who was one of my idols.
“I was born 700 metres from North Sydney Oval, at the Mater Hospital, have been part of the junior league board, grew up 500 metres from North Sydney Oval, went to school 50 metres across the road from North Sydney Oval and played in the club’s Jersey Flegg under 19s in 1994.”
Originally published as Meet Daniel Dickson the businessman who brought the Bears back from the brink
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