The Central Coast Bears are a proposed rugby league club on the Central Coast of Australia. There is a movement for a return to first-grade Rugby League for the once proud club, with the North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

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...

 moving to Gosford (on the Central Coast, New South Wales) and becoming the Central Coast Bears. The Bears bid committee is currently in the process of lobbying the NRL for inclusion as the next expansion team. They are headed up by Perry Lopez and Greg Florimo

Greg Florimo

Greg Florimo is a retired Australian Rugby League player and administrator known for his lifelong association with the North Sydney Bears both as a player and a manager....

 and has the corporate backing of a number of local Central Coast and some North Shore businesses. The proposed team would play 11 games in Gosford and 1 game at North Sydney Oval

North Sydney Oval

-Development:* The first cricket pitch was laid on 6 December 1867, making it one of the oldest cricket grounds in Australia.* The first structure built, in 1879, was a simple pavilion overlooking the cricket ground...

 against Manly in the annual Heritage Round. Prominent rugby league personalities who have publicly backed the club include Phil Gould, Andrew Johns and Peter Sterling while support has also come from as high up as Federal Shadow Treasurer and North Sydney MP Joe Hockey.

It has been speculated that the revived foundation club, the North Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, would form part of the Central Coast Bears consortium with several private investors. These are the two other Sydney Rugby League clubs which shared common geographic borders with the Bears, across The Spit and across Sydney Harbour respectively, for much of their existence. These are the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Sydney Roosters, respectively.

The Central Coast Bears have initiated programs with local juniors and schools playing rugby league in the region and have been a big hit with the kids. Both major political parties support the Central Coast Bears bid, with Labour supporting the bid by granting $100,000 for the Bears to build their business case bid document, and Liberal party supporting the bid by promising to acquire land at Mt. Penang, Central Coast, NSW to build a state of the art, Sports Center of Excellence should the Liberals win the up coming election.

With weekly membership drives and ongoing community involvement, the Central Coast Bears are targeting entry into the NRL by 2015.

Catchment

The Central Coast Bears catchment spans all the way from Mosman in Sydneys Lower North Shore to Lake Munmorah at the peak of the Central Coast. Within this catchment there are over 1,000,000 people, totalling approximately 4.57% of Australia's total population.

Junior Participation

The Central Coast Bears have 23 junior clubs in their catchment area. Within these 23 clubs there are over 7,000 players currently participating the Rugby League at various levels. There have been many famous NRL players that started out playing at a junior level within this catchment. Some notable names include Matt Orford

Matt Orford

Matthew Orford is an Australian professional rugby league player, last playing for the Canberra Raiders in the National Rugby League competition...

, Akuila Uate

Akuila Uate

Akuila Uate ' is a professional rugby league footballer for the Newcastle Knights of the National Rugby League...

, Chris Heighington

Chris Heighington

Chris Heighington is an Australian born England international rugby league footballer for the Wests Tigers of the National Rugby League . A Country NSW representative lock forward, he has also been selected to represent England at international level...

, Mitchell Pearce

Mitchell Pearce

Mitchell Pearce is an Australian rugby league footballer currently playing for the Sydney Roosters in the National Rugby League...

 and Kieran Foran

Kieran Foran

Kieran Foran is a New Zealand rugby league player who has represented his country. He currently plays for the Manly Sea Eagles in the National Rugby League. He plays as a five-eighth or half-back though he can also play centre...

.

Corporate Partnerships

The Central Coast Bears have over 95 Foundation Sponsors and members valued at $5,500 each partnership. These sponsors are from both the Northern Sydney catchment as well as the Central Coast.

Major bid partner, Fortunity currently house the Central Coast Bears in their office space in Erina.

Bluetongue Stadium have also supported the Central Coast Bears through a $2,000,000 ownership share invested in 2011.

Membership

The Central Coast Bears started a membership structure in 2009, setting themselves a target of 5,000 members by March 2011. This goal was reach three months early in December 2010 and as of November 2011 the Central Coast Bears have over 7,600 Financial members.