The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on Sydney's Lower North Shore, and have played at North Sydney Oval since 1910. There is currently a bid supporting a resurrection of the club in the NRL as the Central Coast Bears, based in Gosford, New South Wales.
The club was established in 1908, making it one of the original founding members of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, and one of Australia's first rugby league football clubs. North Sydney continued competing with some success in the first half of the 20th century in the NSWRL, and through the ARL and NRL premierships until they merged with Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles to form the Northern Eagles for the 2000 season. The merged club lasted only until 2002 when it split again, with the Bears returning, but this time in the NSWRL competition the second-tier rugby league competition, where they continue to play today. North Sydney are currently in partnerships with the Rabbitohs, taking the place of Souths reserve grade. Up until the end of season 2009, Souths were coached by the Bears' record-breaking top points scorer, Jason Taylor.
Read more about North Sydney Bears: History, Team of The Century, Former Players of Note, Coaches, Australian Internationals, Supporters
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“Only let the North exert as much moral influence over the South, as the South has exerted demoralizing influence over the North, and slavery would die amid the flame of Christian remonstrance, and faithful rebuke, and holy indignation.”
—Angelina Grimké (1805–1879)
“Tiger look at this, Reg.”
—Afferback Lauder. Let Stalk Strine, Ure Smith, Sydney (1965)
“Where has it all gone? I remember that twenty years ago there were geese and cranes and ducks and grouse here, clouds of them!... And there are far fewer animals. Wolf and fox are rare, brother, not to mention bears or mink. There used even to be moose!”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)