Bears Perth is a social club for gay men that has been around since 1993. According to Grindr, a ‘bear’ in gay culture refers to a man with plenty of body hair and a bigger physique.

This is not to be confused with the Perth Bears, the resurrected NRL club, which played first grade as the North Sydney Bears from 1908 until 1999.

Adding even further confusion, the Bears Perth clubhouse is located right next to one of the city’s major sporting grounds at HBF Park.

The hilarious brand confusion has led the Bears Perth to release a statement on Facebook, following an unprecedented surge in membership requests.

“Rugby fans take note. We are NOT associated with the newly announced NRL club called ‘Perth Bears.’ Please do not sign up for membership if you are here to join the rugby club.”

Kingsley Dawes, the President of Bears Perth, certainly sees the humour in the situation.

“They say there’s no such thing as bad PR,” he shared with Qnews. “Don’t get me wrong, I would love it if a whole bunch of burly rugby fans showed up to one of our events. But it may not be what they are expecting.”