Most clubs have a bad season, but North Sydney has had a bad century. Eventually, the jest became real, according to an old phrase.
The foundation club last won a premiership in the top division 101 years ago, meaning that Bears fans are now in their second century of waiting to win a championship. This may seem like the most depressing thing you will read today, but keep in mind that the last 24 seasons of that waiting have taken place outside of the top division, meaning that the wait could last forever.
This isn’t a story about a future that goes beyond what occurs on Sunday at Parramatta Stadium; the Norths have never given up trying to return to the top grade, and perhaps they will someday.
The Bears are in a true grand final, one that will go down to the wire this coming Saturday as they play Souths in the NSW Cup final and win a North Sydney premiership—the team’s first in any grade in thirty years.
A cynic may sneer that it’s reserve grade and claim that it can’t really matter, but Sunday and Norths aren’t for them. Cynics never last in red and black because they can’t treasure a diamond cut from desperate and unyielding hope, and they would have given it all up long ago.
Cynics would never get that letting go is not something you can choose to do. It’s something you have to do. This is not a decision that needs to be made. Even if the music has stopped, you still have to dance with the person who introduced you.
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