Brisbane Bears: The baffling beginnings of footy's toughest build | AFL Team Builders

It was late 1986 when the VFL decided to launch a privately-owned expansion club in Queensland - things surely would have been easier if they tried to set up a club on Mars instead. Bankrolled by controversial entrepreneur (and later fugitive) Christopher Skase, the Bears had five months to build a club in an environment that was anything but stable.
In the second episode of AFL Team Builders, inaugural coach Peter Knights, General Manager of Footy Shane O'Sullivan, board member Peter Williams and player Bernie Harris take you inside the ups and downs of the creation of the first V/AFL team in Queensland.
Hosted by Niall Seewang
Produced by Phoenix Trinidad
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EPISODES:
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Brisbane Bears: LIVE
West Coast Eagles: July 16
Adelaide Crows: July 23
Fremantle Dockers: July 30
Port Adelaide Power: August 06
Gold Coast Suns: August 13
GWS Giants: August 20
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[@tombrunsdon2169]

I had the absolute privilege of working with Peter Knights, he is the nicest most humble man I’ve ever met. Amazing story and amazing work Zero Hangar 👏

[@seanchristie7150]

Fantastic piece of AFL history. A lot of research and some awesome insights into the very beginnings of a national game. Crazy that Brisbane and West Coast both won their first games

[@TBoneTony]

Was a fan of Brisbane Bears as my 2nd fav team, 1st fav team is Geelong and have always followed the Cats, but was always interested in Brisbane Bears wanting to see them succeed in whatever way they could despite their struggles. The 1995 year is one of the most amazing final few Home and Away seasons and to see the Bears get into the finals was perhaps one of the most memorable moments as a kid watching on TV a side growing from almost nowhere a few years before when they were a laughing stock in a Sunshine State. Now I only hope to see Gold Coast get the success that Brisbane Bears/Lions had to earn in the near future.

[@mikeythehat6693]

I remember the early days of The Bears, it was a blessing and a curse. Being an Adelaide boy growing up I loved the "Footy" and followed the Glenelg Tigers all my childhood years. Port Adelaide being the perpetual enemy. My parents moved us to Brisbane in 1980 when I was 15 yrs. old. First thing I did on the weekend was watch t.v. to see how the local Brisbane league worked and what the teams were. I don't need to tell you just how disappointed I was to find that there was ZERO Aussie Rules played here and if you wanted to watch a VFL game you had to wait until about 1:00 in the morning on a Sunday night (Monday morning) and they might have a replay of one game from that weekend. Aussie Rules was (although not unheard of) frowned upon by the general public and referred to as that stupid game from down south. It was a nightmare, just talking about Aussie Rules in those days in Brisbane marked you as an outsider. Then the Swans moved to Sydney (the other NRL State) and I saw a glimmer of light. Finally when I read (in a newspaper story buried in the middle pages of the paper) that the VFL / AFL were considering a Brisbane team, it was like Christmas all over again. No need to tell you the team I've been barracking for ever since, and there were some dark days boy, some terribly dark days.........

[@Rassskle]

How did you miss The Match Of The Day on channel 7 every Sat' afternoon, starting at 2 pm ? Although originally banned from Brisbane TV by XXXX and the other big tv advertisers, it was never ignored by the majority of the qld public.... just hated and feared by League , politicions and those with lots of money invested in League. When 7 first showed the VFL match of the Day on Sat aftrrnoons it quickly became the highest rating tv show in Qld......so it was banned. It was finally allowed back in the early 1980's or sooner with different sponsors and advertisers allowing Channel 7 to call the bluff of the other big Qld companies , like XXXX ( 4 EX Beer ). As far back as 1969 games on the Gold Coast ( a minor league ) could have a bigger crowd than the Rugby League game at Lang Park . From the 1960's through to the 1980's it was common for Aussie Rules in the Brisbane League to pull bigger crowds than the Sydney League games. Admittedly, the big crowds on the Gold Coast were mostly free admittance, but the finals at the Southport Show Grounds ( The Magpies home ground ) were not free and always packed.

[@RTransportGuy]

@@Rassskle Oddly enough XXXX is now one of the Brisbane Lions shorts sponsors for almost a decade now.

[@Rassskle]

​@@RTransportGuy Took them a while, but by the mid 1980's all the big Qld advertisers realised that MORE Queenslanders watched Aussie Rules than League.......VFL / AFL was where the profit was.

[@BDub2024]

Knightsy was a superstar as a player. Frankly when you think about it, he did really well as a coach. They actually were winning games, in a non footy state in party town Gold Coast. All players just met each other bfore the season. They had journeymen but by gee it looks like they were committed.

[@TheCory42]

I met Peter Knights GF eve 2017. A thorough gentleman he was so happy to talk about his time in Queensland.

[@ZeroHangerAFL]

A great man!

[@dickiesdocos]

He's a great man but a terrible coach

[@robcolonnello2945]

Knights -absolute superstar player and bloke👍

[@n1ck1985]

Wow! How they survived sketchy Skase I dont know...

[@BronsonTheCat]

The Carrara Koalas. That is what a few of us called them. Also glad Jason Dunstall said No.

[@ZeroHangerAFL]

Huge sliding doors moment for footy isn't it? Imagine Dunstall not spending his career at Hawthorn...

[@banliveexport325]

The Bears won 21 matches in their first 3 seasons. This was a much better start than both the GWS and Gold Coast Suns. The Bears got a fraction of the help that the GWS and Suns got.

[@ZeroHangerAFL]

Absolutely right! A remarkable story given everything they had to go through.

[@banliveexport325]

@@ZeroHangerAFL What is interesting is the Suns and GWS were praised by the Media in their early years. While the Bears were attacked by the media.

[@MikePfeiffer-m6l]

neil hein took all the money!!!

[@warrenpitt6205]

What about Freo?

[@ZeroHangerAFL]

Coming in a few weeks!

[@dickiesdocos]

They haven't won anything. Until they do, no one cares about them.