Eric Olthwaite and the demise of the North Sydney Bears

The North Sydney Bears, a foundation member of the New South Wales Rugby League, was one of the major victims of the so-called Super League ‘war’ of 1995-98. Anticipating Rupert Murdoch's victory, the club had planned to relocate to a new stadium to be built at Gosford, on the New South Wales central coast, 80 kilometres north of Sydney. When that plan went awry, a series of further calamities unfolded. The present article revisits this vale of tears. It begins by examining the factors that prompted the Bears to move from North Sydney Oval. Using the talisman of Eric Olthwaite, a fictional character invented by the British satirist Michael Palin, I argue that among the reasons for the relocation was the negative view of Norths' supporters that was held by its own club officials. After examining the special characteristics of supporters of a chronically underachieving football club, I examine the circumstances which, in 1999, caused the club to be. placed into receivership, excluded from the NRL and forced into a merger with its precocious offspring, Manly-Warringah. Having alienated its fans there would be no opportunity for ‘people power’ to force a South Sydney style rethink of the club's exclusion or amalgamation.