| North Sydney Bears
|
| Original Colours
|
| Black and White
|
| First Grade Premierships
|
| 2 (1921,1922)
|
| Most First Grade Games
|
| Greg Florimo, 285 games (1986-98)
|
| Most First Grade Points
|
| Jason Taylor, 1274 - 32 tries,563 Goals,20 Field Goals
|
| Most First Grade Tries
|
| Ken Irvine
|
| Most Tries in a Match
|
| Cec Blinkhorn, 5 (vs Annadale,1920
|
| Biggest Win
|
| 62-0 (vs North Queensland, 1998)
|
| Biggest Loss
|
| 59-3(vs Glebe, 1915)
|
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Northsydneybears.jpg
The North Sydney Bears were the oldest team to affiliate in the National Rugby League (NRL) in 1908, the main competition in Australia for rugby league football. They are seen as an enigma in rugby league history unlike its other foundation clubs, that each rose to the top at different times in the 20th century, the North Sydney club never enjoyed such heady days. The Bears are based at North Sydney Leagues Club in the Sydney suburb of Cammeray and the home ground is North Sydney Oval, and have team colours of red and black.
North Sydney was formed as a foundation club of the newly arrived rugby league game in 1908 and were known as the Shoremen. Like the other Sydney district clubs, Norths were largely born from players and officials from the local rugby union club. The North Shore of Sydney is seen to be more of an upper-class than the remainder and the dominating code was the amateur rugby union in which with the foundation of the club saw a struggle for rights over North Sydney oval with the local union club. The early days of the club were shaky as many good players such as Denis "Dinny Lutge, Jimmy Devereaux and Sid Deane were lost to English clubs ant the 1909 season ended up at second last.
They were nearly dropped from the competition during WW1 because of dwindling spectator numbers. Towards the end of the war, Norths had started a steady incline in their playing quality and numbers of spectators had increased and won 2 premierships in 1921-1922. Unfortunately, these would be their last premierships and their last grand final appearance was in 1943 when they were flogged by Newtown 34-7. This disappointing state of play continued well through the rest of the century despite a brief revival in the mid to late 1990s until it finally ended when the club was in debt to the tune of $4 million, sparking a joint venture with Manly to form the Northern Eagles.
This sparked a massive outcry from Bears fans against this merger with their strongest and most bitter rivals. After some deliberation, and the signing of most of the Bears younger brigade, the name 'Northern Eagles' was born. The joint venture club played out of North Power Stadium at Gosford, and Brookvale Oval, but constant feuding between Manly and Norths, and poor on-field performances quickly led to the collapse of the Northern Eagles in 2002, after only 3 years.
Bears' fans worst fears were realised when they were betrayed and out-manouevered by the influential Manly club, leaving them out of the competition while Manly were allowed to take the Northern Eagles licence and resume playing in the NRL as a single entity.
North Sydney currently play in the second-tier Premier League competition. Hope continues for the Bears though, with an ongoing campaign for the introduction of a Central Coast Bears team playing again out of Gosford (on the Central Coast, New South Wales). Such a team would be likely to be successful given the region is a rugby league heartland.
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