When rivals unite

Picturesque North Sydney Oval saw one of it’s biggest crowd gatherings this year for the historic League and Union, Red & Black Double Header, that saw the Bears take on the Magpies in League and Norths face West Harbour in the Union.

With a plan that was hatched more than 12 months ago Northern Suburbs’ Grant Richardson was keen to highlight the advantage of pooling resources.

“When I talked to Flo [Greg Florimo] about the cost of venue hire we found we were both paying the same ground fee and if we can hold double headers like this we can make a substantial saving, stay tuned for more double headers”.

Bears General Manager Greg Florimo also sees good sense in a united front with the Rugby codes on the North Shore of Sydney, Australia.

“Coming together on game day is just the tip of the iceberg. The more we have held discussions the more areas we have discovered that could benefit from combining resources – gym facilities, training grounds and of course publicity which has worked well for us this time around.

In a time when this part of Australia is open to poaching from all codes, it makes sense for us to ban together and protect our market share of the hearts and minds of parents and kids on the North Shore”.

In the footy played on the day it was mixed results, with the Northern Suburbs Rugby claiming an unexpected win over top rivals West Harbour 37-24 and the inform Wests Magpies defeating an out of sorts North Sydney Bears.

George Ndaira, Luke Grant and Greg Nichols were the Bears standouts with Greg Nichols and Nigel Vagana both scoring twin tries and George Ndaira providing the balance of the points with a try and 3 goals.

WESTERN SUBURBS 38 (Stuart Flanagan 3, Rocky Trimarchi, Ryan O'Hara, Corey Vlaciky, Luke Young tries, Nick Taylor 4. goals) defeated NORTH SYDNEY 26 (Greg Nichols 2, Nigel Vagana 2, George Ndaira, George Ndaira 3 goals). Half time 22-10 North Sydney.