Bears Not Sheep
By DAVID ROWLANDS
NORTH SHORE TIMES - 9/4/2004 North Sydney’s Premier League team didn’t go to Brookvale Oval expecting the red carpet to be rolled out last Sunday, but they certainly didn’t expect — or deserve — to be treated like cattle either.

At halftime against the Sea Eagles, the entire team, not to mention the coaching and medical staff, was forced into a room which one player estimated to be no more l5sq m.

It was an uncomfortable and unprofessional situation that clearly didn’t help their effort to turnaround a 10-point deficit. They conceded 20 in the second half without breaching the Eagles’ line.

In fairness to the Manly club, it should be said the facilities at Brookie — which is badly in need of an upgrade - cannot cope with more than one club visiting, as was the case on Sunday, when Norths played the curtain-raisers before the main game between the Sea Eagles and New Zealand Warriors.

Understandably, the Kiwis were afforded use of the visitors’ dress ing room to prepare for their NRL fixture, meaning the Bears had to shelter elsewhere.

It’s just another of the handicaps that the club has to overcome without having a representative at NRL level because Premier League teams would usually share facili ties at away grounds with their top grade outfit.

It’s a pity Manly isn’t scheduled to visit North Sydney Oval this year because the Bears could get revenge by making them change in the phone box outside the ground in Miller St. You know, the one in which Norths’ knockers always used to say they had their sup porters’ meetings.
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