Freshly appointed Perth Bears chief executive Tony Rea has a history of ensuring rugby league gets cut-through in places it shouldn’t.
Take, for instance, his time as CEO at the London Broncos. Working under majority owner and Virgin boss Richard Branson in the late 1990s and early noughties, no publicity stunt was too brazen.
Like being the only sporting team in the United Kingdom to play on the day of Princess Diana’s death. Or arranging for players to pose nude in glossy magazines. Or getting some of them – including young forward Anthony Seibold – to become drummers for the opening act of the Brit Awards in 2000, where they shared the same stage as Robbie Williams, the Spice Girls and Tom Jones.
“Every day was like that. From my point of view, it created a great feel and great vibe,” Rea said in his first interview since being appointed as the successor to Anthony De Ceglie.
“The Branson stuff was great, very different, which was great moulding for me. As a chief exec, I spent about 20 per cent of my time at Virgin opening-of-envelope-type stuff and participating in everything across a very diverse business.
“It was a different journey. You do anything you can to get a bit of profile and add a bit of value to it … Life is about stories, isn’t it? You want to create as many as you can.
“We asked the players to do that, and they were so excited to go to the Brit Awards. I remember the marketing team saying, ‘We can’t ask a team to do that’. But we thought, ‘Of course, why wouldn’t you want to do something different as a player?’ They’re still talking about it until this day.”
Rea is bringing that can-do spirit to the Bears. After a varied career in both league and union – he has played, captained and coached at the top level before embarking on an administrative career – the 60-year-old is tasked with ensuring the Bears find a foothold in AFL-obsessed Western Australia.
If it means again doing things a bit differently to gain publicity, then so be it.
“You’ve got to be relevant to the people to attract them,” Rea said.
“The players enjoy doing those things, going to different events. People talk about culture, environments and communities – that’s part of being in the community.
“You’re a bit stiff if you just think you’re going to run out, play good every time, and they’re just going to watch you. They also want to see you go to the race days, support the charity events, go out and see the kids. You’ve got to mean it.
“We don’t ask blokes to do things that they don’t want to do, we just explain why it’s a good thing to do and important to other people in the group.”
Rea comes to the Bears during what he describes as the “building” phase of the business. There have been some missteps along the way – De Ceglie and football general manager David Sharpe didn’t last until their first kick-off, while former Titans recruiting target Ezra Howe didn’t even make it to Perth – but the Bears are now an official NRL entity as of November 1.
Rea has landed just before the first lot of player arrivals for pre-season training, bringing with him a storied Bears background. The former hooker made 120 first-grade appearances for the North Sydney iteration of the Bears, captaining the club and pushing Mario Fenech to prop to accommodate him in the No.9 jersey.
“I remember Mario coming up to me at Tunks Park after training in front of [coach] Steve Martin,” Rea recalled. “He said, ‘He’s our captain’ It’s always stayed that way and I’m happy with that.’”
Not long afterwards, the pair went so hard at each other at a Saturday training drill that Rea thought, “This is on here!”
However, it was just his and Fenech’s way of respecting each other and the club they bled for.
“It’s been a long time for that badge to be out of the comp, so it’s great for all the people who have been so supportive,” Rea said of long-suffering Norths fans.
“I also get the great sense that the Bear print is in WA, that it’s there long term. If I had been coming to some other NRL stronghold club, or even in the north of England, I probably wouldn’t have the same view and same fight as coming into a new region.”
He has only just got his feet under the desk, but the former Brumbies coach is ready to bring his various experiences in sport and business to the game’s newest entrant.
“The good word to use is experience,” he said.
“I’ve experienced what they’re doing, I know what they’re trying to achieve, it’s not a theory. I’ve set up academies, I’ve worked on game-day and entertainment for a sport in a new region, I’ve worked with entertainment groups …
“In all my roles I see myself as a builder and I feel this organisation is primed and ready for the build bit. We’ve done all the explorations and the politics, we’ve done all of that. Now it’s time to get going, it’s ready.”
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