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Perth Bears
Australian rugby league football club From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Perth Bears is a professional rugby league football club to be based in Perth, Western Australia that is expected to enter the expanded National Rugby League (NRL) in February 2027.
The club has links to the North Sydney Bears, a foundation club that exited the NRL in 1999 when it merged with the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles to form the Northern Eagles.
The original Western Bears bid was rejected by the NRL in October 2024. However, in April 2025, after initially putting negotiations on hold, the NRL entered negotiations with the Government of Western Australia, and on 8 May 2025, an agreement was reached to admit the Bears into the competition in 2027 as the Perth Bears.[2]
The team's colours are the traditional red and black of North Sydney, with white.[3]
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History
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There had been no elite rugby league team in Perth since the Western Reds folded in 1997,[4] leaving Perth as the largest Australian city without a team in the NRL competition. Advocates for a Perth-based team had argued it was necessary for the NRL to consider itself a truly national competition.
The Reds name was revived in 2006 as the WA Reds, competing in the third-tier Bundaberg Red Cup (now Ron Massey Cup) with the intention of eventually fielding an NRL side. The team was rebranded as the West Coast Pirates in 2012[5] due to the Reds brand being associated with failure[6] and competed in the S.G. Ball Cup until the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from being able to compete from 2020 onwards.[7]
After the end of the Northern Eagles joint venture in 2002, the Bears initially attempted to return to the NRL on the New South Wales Central Coast,[8] but later the bid was expanded to include other regional centres.[9] Other Bears bids included a takeover of the Gold Coast Titans[10] and a Pasifika bid.[11]
Western Australia had indicated they were always prepared to go it alone and resurrect the previous Reds moniker in an effort to get a team back in the top-flight competition.[12] This was conditional if they were unable to finalise a partnership with North Sydney, as they wanted to ensure the team was under the control and ownership of Western Australia,[12] since they wanted the team to be a true Western Australian one.[12]
Western Australia were also interested in aligning with the Newtown Jets, however the NRL made it clear that their preference was to resurrect North Sydney instead of the Jets.[12]
In August 2024, the North Sydney Bears and a Western Australian consortium headed by Cash Converters founders the Cumins family, signed off on an agreement to lodge an application for the Western Bears to enter a team in the 2027 NRL season.[13][14]
In October 2024, the Australian Rugby League Commission rejected the Western Bears consortium proposal, stating the $20 million bid fell short of its expectations.[15][16]
In November 2024, the NRL announced it could soon officially announce the Western Bears as the competition's 18th team following urgent talks between ARLC chairman Peter V'landys and the Western Australian Government. Despite the NRL having rejected a Perth-based consortium's proposal the previous month for falling short of the financial requirements, the NRL held constructive talks with the West Australian Government about an expansion team in Perth.[17]
Having previously announced Papua New Guinea as its eighteenth team, in April 2025, the NRL had originally put negotiations on hold, deciding to postpone the introduction of a 19th team.[18]
However, on 24 April 2025, the NRL agreed to a $50 million deal with the Western Australian Government, thereby securing the 2027 return of the Bears.[19]
Under the terms of the final agreement with the ARLC, the WA government has committed to spending a total of $85.6 million, including $35 million on grassroots rugby league over the next seven years, with the remaining $50 million consisting of $25 million on content over the next five years, $5.6 million to help with the costs of the new team, and $20 million to be committed to a Centre of Excellence.
The WA government will not pay a licence fee, with a promise being made that there will be a likely upgrade of their home ground, the HBF Park.[19]
The NRL rebranded the Western Bears ahead of the new franchise's entry in 2027: it is understood the NRL preferred the name Perth Bears, in order to give the 18th team a bona fide geographical link to the region in which they will be based.[20][21]
It was announced on 6 June 2025, that rugby league immortal and icon Mal Meninga would become the inaugural coach of the Perth Bears come their debut in 2027.[22] Meninga has agreed to take the reins for at least the 2027 and 2028 seasons, but with the more immediate focus of building the club, and the roster, from the ground up.
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Logo and colours
The team's primary colours will be the traditional red and black of North Sydney, with white being the club's secondary colour since the 1992 NSWRL season.
The Bears logo is expected to be redesigned for the new team.[23] This would 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 Bears.[24]
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Stadium
The majority of Bears home games are to be played at HBF Park. The proposal is for the stadium to be used not only for league purposes as a home base, but shared with soccer's Perth Glory and rugby union's Western Force.
With the support of the Government of Western Australia, being firm backers of the Bears, a grant of $300 million was pledged to upgrade the venue even further if a licence was granted to a Perth team.[25]
The club may also play one NRL home game each year at either North Sydney Oval, Central Coast Stadium or the Sydney Football Stadium in recognition of the club's Sydney supporter base. The match is proposed to be against arch-rivals the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.[26] Further, one pre-season game is proposed to be played at North Sydney Oval each year.[26]
Fan support
The Bears and Western Australia are widely supported for re-admission into the NRL by players and fans alike.[27] Although the first bid was rejected, Perth-born players in particular remain supportive of Western Australia competing in the NRL once again.[28]
The WA Government have strongly and financially backed this team and could have had the potential to have a support base of over 200,000 fans both in Western Australia and across the North Shore of Sydney and surrounds.[29]
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NSW Cup
The North Sydney Bears will remain in the NSW Cup and shall act as a feeder team to the Bears.[30][24]
See also
References
External links
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