Bears Angry At Courting Of Rabbitohs
AAP  - 30/11/2004

Greg Florimo has labelled South Sydney's mooted shift to North Sydney Oval as another "kick in the guts" for his former NRL club the Bears.

Florimo is angry North Sydney Council made life difficult for the Bears when they were battling to stay in the NRL as a stand-alone club but is now courting the Rabbitohs to play their home games across the harbour from 2006.

The debt-ridden Bears were forced into a doomed merger with Manly at the end of 1999 and relocated to the NSW Central Coast following several disputes with the council about the cost of playing at North Sydney Oval.

"I think it's an absolute joke," said Bears general manager Greg Florimo.

"I want to know who's to answer. Somebody's made some decisions along the line there which obviously weren't for the benefit of the game.

"I'm just very, very angry at the moment. It's an indictment on the league, the fact they were prepared to let rugby league on the North Shore go.

"It wasn't such a big issue once upon a time but now they're opening their arms to it."

The Bears currently play matches at Gosford and also North Sydney Oval, sharing the ground with Northern Suburbs rugby club and Cricket NSW.

Souths chief executive Shane Richardson said without the financial backing of a leagues club, the Rabbitohs would go broke if they continued to be based at Aussie Stadium once their contract with the SCG Trust expired at the end of 2005.

"The deal we'd get at North Sydney Oval is about $800,000 a year better off for us," Richardson added.

But Florimo and his fellow Bears officials are fuming at the council's change in attitude.

"Everywhere we go we just get kicked in the guts and this is just another one," said the former Test five-eighth.

NRL chief executive David Gallop told AAP it was "early days" but he welcomed any proposal which improved the financial position of the 15 clubs.

"If Souths do go down that track they've acknowledged there'd need to be some improvements to the venue," Gallop said.

"We'd need to look at a range of things, including meeting the broadcasters' requirements."

Following the collapse of the Northern Eagles joint venture, the Bears hoped to regain admission to the NRL as part of a John Singleton-funded team based on the Central Coast.

But those plans were scuttled in mid-August when the NRL partnership deferred its decision on a 16th team for a further 12 months.

Florimo is pessimistic about the Bears' chances of being granted a licence from 2007.

"That seems to be getting more and more doubtful every day," he said.

"I don't know what the league is thinking by not having a team on the Central Coast.

"They tell me that they're going to revisit it next year but I'm just sick of waiting."
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