Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
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| Club Information | |||
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| Full name | Manly-Warringah District Rugby League Football Club | ||
| Nickname(s) | Sea Eagles | ||
| Founded | 1947 | ||
| Current Details | |||
| Ground(s) | Brookvale Oval (23,000) | ||
| CEO(s) |  Grant Mayer |
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| Coach(s) | Des Hasler |
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| Competition | National Rugby League | ||
| 2008 | Premiers | ||
 Home colours |
 Away colours |
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| Records | |||
| Premierships | 7 (1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1987, 1996, 2008) | ||
| Runners-up | 10 (1951, 1957, 1959, 1968, 1970, 1982, 1983, 1995, 1997, 2007) | ||
| Minor premiership | 9 (1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1983, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1997) | ||
The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. They play in the National Rugby League, the premier rugby league competition in Australasia. The club first appeared in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League season and currently plays home matches out of its home ground Brookvale Oval whilst being based out of the New South Wales Academy of Sport in Narrabeen.
Since winning their first premiership in 1972, the club has won a total of seven First Grade titles along with a number of other competitions. Manly won their most recent premiership on 5th October, 2008, handing the Melbourne Storm a record defeat[1] in the Grand Final, winning 40-0.
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A public meeting on 20 November 1946 saw the formation of the Manly-Warringah District Rugby League Football Club, to play in the New South Wales Rugby League senior competition. Also voted for, was the adoption of maroon and white colours and the establishment of Brookvale Oval as the home ground.
The Manly-Warringah Junior Rugby Football League (MWJRFL) was founded in February 1932 with six clubs established for the local competition. This allowed for the Manly-Warringah club to enter a team into the President’s Cup, which was a district competition run by the NSWRL for club juniors. After winning the President’s Cup in 1946, the MWJRFL successfully applied for entry into the senior competition.
Manly-Warringah played their first official game in the NSWRFL senior competition on 12 April 1947 against Western Suburbs club, at Brookvale Oval. Their first win was against Parramatta and the club finished their first season in second last place.
Their first Grand Final appearance was in the 1951 season, which they lost to South Sydney. Manly-Warringah played in five Grand Finals before winning their first in 1972. In 2007, Manly played in their 15th grand final against Melbourne after defeating North Queensland at the Sydney Football Stadium 28 - 6. Manly were defeated 34 - 8 by the Storm on September the 30th at Telstra Stadium.
In a repeat of the 2007 grand final, Manly again played Melbourne in the 2008 decider. The story was very different for the Sea Eagles this time around as they decimated the Storm 40-0 to win their seventh premiership in front of 80,388 at ANZ Stadium. Manly Prop Brent Kite was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal after a powerhouse display which included a class try in the 58th minute. This is the largest winning margin in a grand final in NRL history.
After the Super League War of the mid 1990’s, Manly-Warringah agreed to a joint venture with the North Sydney Bears for the 2000 season, as the Northern Eagles. The joint venture collapsed in 2001 and Manly-Warringah retained the Northern Eagles licence until returning to the competition as Manly-Warringah for the 2003 season.
A meeting of the Football Club in 3 June 2004 saw the club members vote for the privatisation of the Football Club.
Cliff Lyons holds the record for most first-grade games for Manly-Warringah with 309 matches; however Steve Menzies has played 349 first-grade games in a career with both Manly-Warringah and the Northern Eagles. The record for most points scored is held by Graham Eadie with 1917 points and Matthew Ridge has the highest total in one season, scoring 257 in 1995. Steve Menzies holds the top try scoring record with 180, 29 of which were for the Northern Eagles.He is also the highest scoring forward in the history of the game.
The Sea Eagles have never won the wooden spoon in their 62-year existence, the longest drought of any existing club. However the Balmain Tigers (now merged into the Wests Tigers) had a longer wooden spoon drought, from 1911 to 1974 (63 years).
Upon entering the NSWRL, the Manly club took on the colours of maroon and white. These were adopted from the colours of the President's Cup side which had utilised the colours of the local Freshwater Surf Lifesaving Club, which was previously established in the area in 1908.
The club's first jersey was maroon with a large white 'V' on the front. Manly teams were one of the first to feature an emblem, with an 'MW' appearing in the early 1950s. Far from the flashy logos worn today, the Manly‘Sea Eagle’which appeared in the mid 1950s was often confused for a seagull by many, including the media.
Various changes to the jersey were introduced at irregular intervals. The classic 'V' design was radically changed during the years of Pepsi sponsorship during the 90s. In addition, the club has broken up the maroon jersey with hoops, bars, large eagles, player numbers, stripes, double stripes, top and bottoms, collars, no collars, reversed colours and even the use of blue.
During the 2007 pre-season, the club even introduced a limited number of 65 playing and memorabilia green and white jerseys, for a trial match against the Melbourne Storm.
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When Manly-Warringah were accepted into the competition, the local Manly Council denied the club permission to use Manly Oval as a home ground. The council at the time was very pro-rugby union and attempted to stop the rival code spread to the area. Because of this, the club decided instead to acquire Brookvale Showground in order to host matches, which was supported by Warringah Council.
The ground was mostly renovated between 1965 and 1980, including the construction of two grandstands along both the southern end (Southern Stand) and western side (Jane Try Stand) of the ground. In the early 1990s, these two grandstands were connected by the Ken Arthurson Stand. The ground has also retained grassy hill areas along the eastern and northern edges. On 01 September 2008, the Southern Stand was renamed the Fulton-Menzies Stand.
Today the ground has a capacity of about 23,000. In 2006, the ground saw its largest average attendance over an entire season, with an average of 15,484 patrons watching each of the club's 11 matches played there. The record crowd at the ground is 27,655, set in the final round of the 1986 season. Since the club started playing in 1947, over five and a half million spectators have visited the ground.
In recent years, Manly have received criticism over the state of facilities at Brookvale Oval. In 2007, Manly stepped up their campaign for government funding to improve the stadium, culminating in a "Save Brookvale Oval" Rally on 21 November. As of September 2008, $4,000,000 of Warringah Council funding and a $6,000,000 NSW State Government grant has been secured by the club to allow for the initial redevelopment of the Jane Try Stand (with an additional level) and improvements to the Southern Stand and other amenities. A further $10,000,000 is being sought from the Federal Government for the development of an eastern stand, with the intention of maintaining a 10-metre deep grassed area in front of it.
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This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) |
The Manly Sea Eagles have developed some rivalries since 1947. Some of them include:
- North Sydney - The first, and most obvious, was the local derbies between North Sydney. As well as taking many of Norths' playing stock, due to the residential rule imposed at the time, Manly had bought further stars from the North Sydney club - including Ken Irvine, Cliff Lyons and Martin Bella. Even the fact that North Sydney are no longer competing in the top league has fueled this rivalry, with many Bears supporters believing that Manly systematically pushed the North Sydney element out of the Northern Eagles joint venture.
- Parramatta Eels - Another rivalry was with fellow debutants from 1947, Parramatta. Not much was made of their clashes until the mid 70's, and in particular the 1976 Grand Final in which Manly denied the Parramatta club a maiden premiership. Further clashes through to the mid 80's cemented a fierce rivalry between many of the clubs supporters. This rivalry has continued through the 2000s, with many notable matches between these clubs, arguably the most notable being the 36-34 win to Manly, at Brookvale, on 18th May 2003, which was the first ever golden point match, Ben Walker, the Manly 5/8th scoring the winning penalty goal, the 23-22 Manly win on the 30th April 2006 at the SCG, after being down 16-0 near the end of the first half, the match being held as part of a 30th anniversary event of the famous 1976 Grand Final[1], and the 20-16 win to Manly, at Parramatta Stadium, on the 18th April 2008 where Manly won after having 4 players forced off through injury throughout the match, and Heath L'Estrange scoring the match-winning (and his first) try for Manly in the 75th minute[2]
- South Sydney Rabbitohs - There was a small rivalry between these two clubs from 1947 to 1971, as along with the St. George Dragons, they were the powerhouses of the time and they played each other in the 1951, 1968 and 1970 Grand Finals. From 1972, the rivalry became bigger, as due to the abolishment of the rule where players could not freely negotiate with other clubs, the Sea Eagles signed many of South Sydney's stars, including Ray Branighan and John O'Neill, and more recently Terry Hill and Mark Carroll.
- Western Suburbs Magpies - Also during this time, the clashes between Western Suburbs Magpies and Manly were billed as a battle between the "Silvertails" and the "Fibros". This distinction between perceived classes of people fuelled many tough matches between the clubs, particularly after Manly would secure top players from the Magpies such as John Dorahy, Les Boyd, David Gillespie. The Silvertails and Fibros monikers first appeared in stories written by reporter Chris Masters, in the late 70's. It should be noted that Chris was the brother of the then Wests coach, Roy Masters.
- Newcastle Knights - Since the mid-90's, Manly has also built a rivalry with the Newcastle Knights club. In many ways this mirrors the Manly/Wests clashes where class distinction is used to fuel the perceived underdogs, in this case the working class city of Newcastle. In 1997, both Manly and Newcastle fought out the decider, with Newcastle winning 22-16. Recently, in the 2007 August 10th match to commemorate the 1997 grand final Manly took revenge, thumping the knights 50-16. Other notable recent matches were the 13-12 win to Newcastle in golden point, in Rd. 2 2008 and the fiery 16-10 win to Manly, at Newcastle, on August 11 2006, when Andrew Johns was charged after an outburst at the match officials[2].
- Melbourne Storm - Manly have recently built up an on-field rivalry with the Melbourne Storm club. The resurgent Manly team found their path to a premiership headed by one of the most dominant teams assembled in the NRL. Over the 2007-2008 season, both teams were the clear top-two clubs of the premiership with Melbourne taking the honours in 2007, before Manly clearly reversed the result to take the 2008 honours.
- Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks - Manly played the Sharks in two grand finals during the 1970s. The Sea Eagles took both titles, 10-7 in 1973 and 16-0 in the 1978 replay. This was after the 78 grand final ended in an 11-all draw. These two grand finals are renowned for being the most brutal in history. Today, the rivalry remains strong between the Sharks and the Sea Eagles, the battle of the Northern and Southern Beaches. Another interesting note is their record at each other's home grounds. Cronulla has only won five times at Brookvale in four decades, while Manly went twenty one years without a victory at the Sharks home ground, before finally breaking the drought with a 29-22 win in Rd, 19 2007[3] and continuing their good form by smashing them 34-6, at Cronulla, in Rd. 18 2008[4], which cemented Manly as a top side.
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For more details on this topic, see List of Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles records.
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For more details on this topic, see Manly Sea Eagles 2008.
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For more details on this topic, see List of Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles players.
In 1990, the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club recognised their players, past and present, with a team announced to reflect the best squad up to that point. That team is listed below.
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In 2006, a Dream Team of former Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles players was selected by a panel of selectors which featured former Manly-Warringah administrator Ken Arthurson, respected rugby league writer Ian Heads, the club Chairman Kerry Sibraa and journalist Phil Rothfield.
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- 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978, 1987, 1996, 2008
- New South Wales Rugby League, Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League runners-up: 10
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- 1951, 1957, 1959, 1968, 1970, 1982-83, 1995, 1997, 2007
- New South Wales Rugby League, Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League minor premierships: 9
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- 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1983, 1987, 1995, 1996, 1997
- New South Wales Rugby League Club Championships: 4
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- 1972, 1983, 1987, 1988
- Pre-Season Cup titles: 1
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- 1980
- KB Cup: 2
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- 1982, 1983
- Sevens: 3
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- 1990, 1994, 1995
- First Division, Premier League[4]: 5
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- 1954, 1960, 1969, 1973, 1988
- Jersey Flegg: 4
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- 1961, 1974, 1987, 1988
- Presidents Cup: 2
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- 1946, 1970
- Third Grade: 1
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- 1952
- [5] Rugby League History; Sean Fagan
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald 'Manly Hand Storm record thumping'
- ^ David Middleton: 2006 Official Rugby League Annual, page 92
- ^ Up until 1994, the top division of the premiership in New South Wales was the New South Wales Rugby League premiership; since then, it has been the Australian Rugby League (1995–1997) and the National Rugby League premierships.
- ^ Up until 2002, the second division of rugby league in New South Wales was Reserve Grade/Presidents Cup/First Division Premiers; since then, it has been the NSWRL Premier League.
- Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, 1999; Alan Whiticker and Glen Hudson
- ABC of Rugby League, 1995; Malcolm Andrews
- [6] Rugby League Tables and Statistics; Paul Jeffs
- Heritage Report on Brookvale Oval, Mayne-Wilson & Associates; August 2005
- Official Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Website
- Daily Telegraph - Manly-Warringha Sea Eagles 2007 season feature
- The Manly Wave: Unofficial Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Supporters Website
- The Silvertails: Unofficial Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Supporters Website
- Manly Eaglerockers: Unofficial Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Supporters Website
- MWSE Player Nude On Live TV
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