When you’ve spent ten years talking about your desire to bring NRL football back to North Sydney and the Central Coast, it becomes a bit awkward when you then decide that you want to control an NRL club on the Gold Coast.
That is the scenario in play today as the North Sydney Bears, or what is left of them, look to push forward with their bizarre bid that would see the Titans re-badged in a Bears logo and the North Sydney Bears colour, and playing most of its games on the Gold Coast while playing a few games on the Central Coast and possibly at North Sydney Oval!
Now let me be the first to say that it is great to finally clubs in Sydney who have felt some divine right to hold a place in the national competition finally be looking to run a club elsewhere. Sure its not ideal, but it is a good step in the right direction especially when you consider that there is no way we can add another club from Sydney to the NRL at this stage. We need less clubs in Sydney, not more.
The concern I have is the presumption from the North Sydney Bears that people on the Gold Coast would be thrilled at the prospect of seeing their much maligned club draped in the colours and logo of an old, dead Sydney club.
After everything the Titans have gone through I can understand why there would be a train of thought that you need to change something about the Titans. It is a double edged sword though. The Titans have been established for a number of seasons now. Plenty of people have attended their games, brought their jerseys and wear their team colours. Titans supporters have been through a lot, and the ones that have stuck by the club through it all shouldn’t be forgotten. They are the established fan base. Sure it is a small base to build from, but those people are already there.
How do you think current Titans fans would feel about their clubs history being tossed aside as they are told to adopt the history of an old Sydney club that was the butt of jokes when it was still alive because of its inability to win a premiership after the 1920’s?
This is a Gold Coast club. It isn’t Sydney!
I personally don’t believe the Bears bid for the Titans has any legs. I think it is another quick, easy story the media know they can run with because of a reliable rent-a-quote crowd attached to the Bears.
If we are going to have a team on the Gold Coast, we need to do it right. The club needs to find an owner that values stability. One that isn’t looking to come in and make quick fixes. One that i there for the long haul and that see’s the Gold Coast as something more than a revenue stream or something it can leverage loans off of.
The Titans need someone that is willing to invest money in junior Rugby League and the Titans player development pathways. One that cares about the team enough to actually attend games.
The Titans need an owner that see’s the club as more than an opportunity to resurrect a dead club from a bygone era from a state it doesn’t event call home.
