Brisbane Bears

In 1986, the VFL Commission announced plans to set up privately owned clubs based in Perth and Brisbane, motivated by the need to sell multimillion-dollar licences to save a number of Victorian clubs which were struggling financially. A consortium headed by former actor Paul Cronin and bankrolled by entrepreneur Christopher Skase was awarded the Brisbane licence. Not long afterwards, the club was officially announced as the Brisbane Bears, signing recently retired Hawthorn player Peter Knights as coach, and unveiling a playing strip consisting of a gold with a maroon yoke and a triangular "BB" logo intended to represent a stylised map of the club's home state, Queensland, with the outline of a koala head appearing inside of the larger B. The bear appeared roaring on many of the marketing and promotional materials for the club, including the club's official VFL logo .

The new club was given very little time in which to set itself up, with few players and no suitable home ground. Brisbane's main outdoor venue, Brisbane Cricket Ground, was encircled by a dog racing track at the time. The only other stadiums that were reasonably large enough to accommodate the Bears were rectangular fields better suited to rugby league, rugby union and soccer than for an Australian rules team. Rugby League and Rugby Union and Soccer had long been established as the main football codes in Brisbane. Without an acceptable facility in Brisbane itself, the Bears-based themselves at Carrara Oval on the Gold Coast where temporary stands, club rooms and facilities were erected around the ground. Since 2011, it has been the permanent home of the AFL’s second Queensland based club, the Gold Coast Suns.

Upon its admission, the Bears did not have a large reserve of local players from which to compile a VFL-standard playing list. To assist with its inaugural playing list, the VFL arranged for every other club to provide at least two players; understandably, other clubs were averse to providing top-line players and few of the players provided were of a high quality. The Bears pursued a number of stars aggressively and did manage a few key signings, including Collingwood's captain Mark Williams, and 1985 Brownlow Medallist Brad Hardie. A significant proportion of the player list was recruited from the South Australian National Football League and West Australian Football League. Mark Mickan, a 6'5" (196 cm) ruckman recruited from West Adelaide, was appointed captain of the Bears in its inaugural season.

The Bears won their first game in the VFL against North Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground 19.23 (137) to 15.14 (104) in front of 14,096 fans, and also won its second game, but ultimately fell towards the bottom of the ladder. The club avoided the wooden spoon by beating Richmond in the final round, and finished with six wins. The club attracted 98,616 fans to the eleven matches at Carrara Oval, an average of 8,965 per game, which was the lowest in the competition behind Fitzroy's 11,498. By contrast, the other new 1987 team the West Coast Eagles, with Australian rules football long established as the major football code in Perth, attracted 291,317 to their home games at Subiaco Oval and the WACA at an average of 26,483 per game.[2]

The club again recruited aggressively, landing Sydney Swans glamour spearhead Warwick Capper. In 1988 and 1989 the club suffered some severe defeats, finishing 13th and 10th respectively. Knights was sacked with eight rounds to play in the 1989 season. The club psychologist, Paul Feltham, took charge of the team for the remainder of the year.

By this stage, the club was also under severe financial pressure. Attendances had been very poor due to poor performances and the long distance between Gold Coast and Brisbane. The collapse of Skase's business empire and his sudden departure for Spain in late 1989 almost resulted in the death of the Bears. Over the ensuing preseason the players threatened strike action, but Cronin resigned, the club was taken over by the AFL, re-sold to Gold Coast businessman Reuben Pelerman, and the crisis was averted. The AFL spent significant amounts of money to help the Bears survive over the coming years, and the club was provided with priority draft picks and special recruiting zones to give it access to some of the nation's best talent, which over the next few years allowed the club to recruit future stars such as Michael Voss, Jason Akermanis, Clark Keating, Steven Lawrence and Darryl White.

Four-time QAFL premiership coach Norm Dare took over as coach in 1990, but the club won the wooden spoon. He was replaced in 1991 by former Carlton premiership coach Robert Walls, who immediately set about rebuilding the playing list; having inherited the oldest list in the league, by the end of the season he had the youngest. He insisted that the Bears not bend to the will of powerful Victorian clubs in recruitment matters, which was seen most notably in the case of the young Nathan Buckley – Buckley, who in 1992 won the SANFL's Magarey Medal and was a premiership winner with Port Adelaide, winning the Jack Oatey Medal for being Best on Ground in the SANFL Grand Final, was a zone recruit signed to the club on a one-year contract in 1993, which stipulated that he would be released to the club of his choice if he so desired at the completion of the contract; he was cleared to Collingwood as he had requested, in exchange for premiership centre-half forward Craig Starcevich, goalsneak Troy Lehmann and an early draft pick which the Bears used to recruit future star Chris Scott.

Off-field, Pelerman was losing millions of dollars annually on the club, and he agreed to release the Bears from private ownership and revert to a traditional club structure in which the club's members were able to elect the board. In 1992, the club changed its guernsey to a predominantly maroon strip with a gold V and white trim. More significantly, in 1993 the club moved permanently to the Gabba; with the club now playing in its home city, membership and attendances instantly tripled. The dog racing track around the ground was removed, the surface was upgraded and the stands gradually replaced over the next few years with a view to converting the tired old ground to a state-of-the-art sporting facility.

In 1994, the Bears changed the club logo and the club song, and also began to show signs of a competitive side and were contenders for a finals berth before falling away in the last five games of the season. Then, in 1995, the club reached the finals after an extraordinary late-season recovery. After Round 15, the Bears were third-last on the ladder with four wins, and Robert Walls had announced his resignation as coach halfway through the season, but committed himself to seeing out the year. In Round 16, the Bears trailed Hawthorn by 45 points at three-quarter time, but mounted an astounding final-quarter comeback to win the match by 7 points; it was the largest final quarter comeback in league history. Brisbane then won five of its six remaining matches in the home-and-away season, including against Richmond and Essendon who were both in the top four, to just reach the finals for the first time, albeit with a win-loss record of only 10–12. The team was eliminated, but not disgraced, after losing its first ever final to eventual premiers Carlton by 13 points.

Under the coaching of former Richmond premiership player John Northey, Brisbane had an excellent 1996 season, finishing third behind Sydney and North Melbourne. They made a good account of themselves in the finals, with two wins at the Gabba and a loss in the Preliminary Final to eventual premiers North Melbourne. Michael Voss also became the only Brisbane Bears player to win the Brownlow Medal, sharing the honour with Essendon's James Hird.

However, the club was still struggling off-field. One of the Bears' biggest problems was its lack of support (both on and off the field) in Melbourne, the location of most of its away matches. In mid-1996, the struggling Fitzroy Lions collapsed due to financial pressures and was seeking to merge its assets with another club. When a merger with North Melbourne to form the North Fitzroy Kangaroos failed to win the support of the other AFL clubs, a deal for a merger was reached between Fitzroy and the Bears. The new team was to be known as the Brisbane Lions, based at the Gabba, with a new song, emblem and jumper all based on Fitzroy's. As such, the history of the Brisbane Bears as an individual entity ended after the 1996 season, with ten seasons of competition and the third-place finish in 1996 as its best performance.

The Bears' last match as a separate entity was a preliminary final on Saturday 21 September 1996 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against North Melbourne, coincidentally the same location and opponent as their first match in 1987. Brisbane lost by 38 points to North who went on to win the 1996 premiership. With that loss, the Bears era ended after a short and mostly troubled existence, and the Brisbane Lions began.

Although koalas are marsupials and not bears, the Bears' mascot was a koala. Their logo and uniform also originally featured a koala.

• Maroon   and Gold   (1987–1988)
• Cerise   and Gold   (1989–1991)
• Maroon  , Gold   and White   (1992–1996)

The Brisbane Football Club had two club songs in its existence.

The original theme song was an original tune.
The team would sing the first verse in the change room after each win.

(First Verse)
What do we sing when we run out to play?
Dare to beat the Bear
What do we sing when we're on our way?
Dare to beat the Bear
We're hot! (We're hot!)
We're mean! (We're mean!)
We're strong! (We're strong!)
We're a team! (We're a team!)
We're the very best team you've ever seen
We're the Brisbane Bears

The song was played in full over the stadium’s speakers after each win.

(First verse)
What do we sing when we run out to play?
Dare to beat the Bear
What do we sing when we're on our way?
Dare to beat the Bear
We're hot! (We're hot!)
We're mean! (We're mean!)
We're strong! (We're strong!)
We're a team! (We're a team!)
We're the very best team you've ever seen
We're the Brisbane Bears

(Second verse)
What do we know before every game?
We're going out to win
How do we know that we'll read the play?
We won't let 'em in
We're hot! (We're hot!)
We're mean! (We're mean!)
We're strong! (We're strong!)
We're a team! (We're a team!)
We're the very best team you've ever seen
We're the Brisbane Bears

(First bridge)
Our home is mighty Brisbane and we're playing for our state
The Bear will growl across the land
Our victories will be great (great)

(Third verse)
What do we shout when we sense their fear?
Beware the mighty Bear!
What are the words that we love to hear?
Beware the mighty Bear!
We're tough! (We're tough!)
We're keen! (We're keen!)
We're good! (We're good!)
We're a team! (We're a team!)
We're the very best team you've ever seen
We're the Brisbane Bears

(Second bridge)
Our home is here in Queensland and there is not a shade of doubt
Right around Australia, we're gonna knock 'em out!

(Third verse – repeated)
What do we shout when we sense their fear?
Dare to beat the Bear!
What are the words that we love to hear?
Dare to beat the Bear!
We're tough! (We're tough!)
We're keen! (We're keen!)
We're good! (We're good!)
We're a team! (We're a team!)
We're the very best team you've ever seen
We're the Brisbane Bears

(Home run)
We're tough! (We're tough!)
We're keen! (We're keen!)
We're good! (We're good!)
We're a team! (We're a team!)
We're the very best team you've ever seen
We're the Brisbane Bears
We're the very best team you've ever seen
We're the Brisbane Bears

Beware the mighty Bears!

The new theme song was played to the music of The Battle Hymn of the Republic.
This version of the song has been lost, with neither the AFL nor the Brisbane Lions retaining a recording of it.
The team would sing the first verse and the chorus in the change room after each win.

(First verse)
If you are a Queenslander, then sing along with me
We are the Bears on the road to victory
All for one and one for all
We'll answer to the call
We're the greatest team of all

(Chorus)
Brisbane Bears will live forever
We will always stick together
The 'Gabba is the place where people always come to see
The greatest team of all

The song was played in full over the stadium’s speakers after each win.

(First Verse)
If you are a Queenslander, then sing along with me
We are the Bears on the road to victory
All for one and one for all
We'll answer to the call
We're the greatest team of all

(Second verse)
We're the fearless Brisbane Bears
From the mighty northern state
Our pride and guts and character are gonna make us great
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth will know their fate
When the Bears run out and roar

(Chorus)
Brisbane Bears will live forever
We will always stick together
The 'Gabba is the place where people always come to see
The greatest team of all

(Third verse)
The whistle blows, the ball is bounced
The crowd all give a yell
And we will do our very best until the final bell
And when the game is over, we'll be closer to the flag
We're the greatest team of all

(Chorus)
Brisbane Bears will live forever
We will always stick together
The 'Gabba is the place where people always come to see
The greatest team of all

(Home run)
The 'Gabba is the place where people always come to see
The greatest team of all

• Under 19s – None
• Reserves – 1991
• Seniors – None

• 1990
• 1991

• Darryl White – Goal of the Year (1992)
• Nathan Buckley – AFL Rising Star (1993)
• Chris Scott – AFL Rising Star (1994)
• Michael Voss – Brownlow Medal (1996), All-Australian (1996)
• Craig Lambert – All-Australian (1996)

• Total Matches Played: 222 (72 wins, 2 draws, 148 losses)
• Highest Score: 33.21 (219) vs Sydney, Round 8, 1993
• Lowest Score: 2.5 (17) vs Hawthorn, Round 12, 1988
• Greatest Winning Margin: 162 points vs Sydney, Round 8, 1993
• Greatest losing margin: 164 points vs Geelong, Round 7, 1992
• Longest Winning Streak: 7 (Round 15 to Round 21, 1996)
• Longest Losing Streak: 12 (Round 20 1990 to Round 10, 1991)
• Most Goals in a Season: 60 by Roger Merrett in 1993 (18 games)
• Most Goals for the Club: 285 by Roger Merrett (1988–96 – 164 games)
• Most Games for the Club: 164 by Roger Merrett (1988–96)
• Most Years as Coach: 5 by Robert Walls (1991–95)
• Most Years as Captain: 7 by Roger Merrett (1990–96)
• Highest Ladder Position at end of season: Third in 1996
• Record Attendance: 66,719 vs North Melbourne, Preliminary Final 1996
• Record Attendance at Brisbane Cricket Ground: 21,964 vs Essendon, Qualifying Final 1996
• Record Attendance at Carrara Oval: 18,198 vs Geelong, Round 15, 1989
• Brownlow Medalists: Michael Voss in 1996
• All-Australians Michael Voss and Craig Lambert in 1996