Bears Perth was established in 1997 for men and was not in anyway associated with Perth’s new NRL team, the notice read, and asked people not to sign up if they wanted to join the new rugby club. Bears Perth president Kingsley Dawes told Sydney radio station 2GB they were being inundated with new membership applications from people who lived interstate. Adding to the confusion the Bears Perth clubhouse is located next to one of the city’s major sporting grounds at HBF Park. Mr Dawes said it was a bit weird to receive membership requests from people outside of WA and they phoned about 20 membership hopefuls from out of state to tell them they were not the rugby league club. “We hardly ever get stuff from out of state, so we got all these memberships and we had to call them up and say, ‘You do realise we are not the rugby club,” Mr Dawes said. “So if you wanted to, you could go and watch the Perth Bears and then you could drop into the Bears Perth on the way home?” 2GB presenter Ben Fordham asked. “Yep, and we’d be happy to have visitors, we welcome everybody,” Mr Dawes replied. Originally published as A Perth social club for gay men has been mistaken for the NRL’s new Perth Bears team