Dialogue with Manly Sea Eagles Membership Team

[SeaEagleRock8]

Paid social media attitude influencing campaign? Girls Manly on the Move

 

[weev]

The only thing Penn should be reading is a cheque.

 

[manlywarringah]

Well I’m a Silvertails contributor and a Football Club member (with voting rights) and NO WAY I would agree to 2 games at Brookvale!

I’ve said for a couple of years now that we should play 6 games at Brookie and 6 games away with a possible breakdown of 4 games at the new SFS and 1 at Central Coast and the other either at Brisbane or Perth.

Whoever owns us in the future will need revenue from the bigger stadiums and guaranteed money from interstate games and that will offset the low numbers we often get at Brookie.

Best of both worlds for me as we still get 6 games at Brookie and keep our identity yet have some games in the comfort and size of a new stadium. We could count on another 5,000+ crowd against the likes of Souths, parra etc at the new stadium which means more money into our coffers.

The days of 10or 12 games at Brookie are gone unless we get a Central Coast style stadium built at Brookvale and we all know that isn’t going to happen.

But 2 games at Brookie?....i’ll never vote for it.

 

[Woodsie]

I wonder how many probe wielding aliens like his posts?

... straight to the heart of the matter .... if we can't trust the wisdom of social media .... all is lost ....

 

[Woodsie]

All the Manly fans youve heard must be a total 6k....

The worst regular Sydney home crowd in the league.
The 2nd worst memberships in the league...

Club isn't in a good way and unfortunately that means that Manly is becoming the club who is highlighted for merge or relocation.

There's a reason that Newcastle never got mentioned for merge or relocation when they won 3 spoons... They had (and still have) an average crowd higher than most Sydney teams.

People dont support the club in numbers, why have a club?...

Batty old mate if we Win ... we get 15 to 18,000 at Brookie ..... lose we get 6000 ...... it has ever been thus .....

but never doubt .... we are legion ..... build it and they will come ...

.. we forget there are tens of 1000's of Manly fans that just go on about their business and don't get on social media bitching every day .. (like us) ..

 

[Woodsie]

Unfortunately Woodsie you've just highlighted why the club probably has to relocate.
Having fans that only show up when the team is winning isn't sustainable for Manly. We pay more than any other club in terms of our Brookvale council agreement. We have the lowest of the Sydney clubs for attendance. We have fewer members than 14 of the other clubs in the comp.

Voting with your feet is great up until it highlights that other relocatable areas would provide more members and crowds.... Knights support etc.

Check out the crowd numbers at tomorrow nights game .... the NRL doesn't give a fig about crowd numbers ...... they only care about the TV viewer numbers ....

 

[lurker]

I think they do care, it's the reason for their Parra stadium support and the big stadia BS push from Greensprog.

I'm not so concerned about the NRL... If you are the Penns and it's your business, what would you do? If all your key indicators are the worst in the league... And someone is dangling a profitable carrot in front of you, what would you do?

I think our decade of dominance just masked the lack of club support.

All I'm saying is that I can understand the club taking that road if they need to and being an interstate supporter it wouldn't bother me...obviously a very different perspective from locals who go to games weekly but it's my perspective of the matter anyway.

It’s a chicken or the egg argument. Do we have low support because we’ve been neglected by the nrl for years (****house stadium). Or do we have low support because people don’t follow league.

I think foxtel subscriptions on the beaches and betting revenue would probably paint a very different picture of league support as opposed to how many people show up at a dilapidated home ground. Plenty of NB people travel to swans games. They will travel it just needs to be a decent offering which Brookie is not.

 

[The Who]

I am not on Facebook so I have no idea what goes on there. However I think this focus on 'fixing up' Brookvale Oval is not nearly as important as fixing the club administration and ownership structure. We need to evolve in order to stay relevant and viable in today's NRL environment where single-city clubs thrive and small-minded suburban clubs like us, sadly, wither away. I just can't shake the feeling that we are the Newtown Bluebags/Jets of the 21st Century. Newtown died not just because Henson Oval was regarded as obsolete - even though they still play RL there - it was because there simply are too many Sydney teams in the First Grade competition. Money = success. We don't have a viable Leagues Club pumping money into the club. We don't have owners that are wealthy enough to be unconcerned about financial losses. We don't have enough TPA or sponsorship. We have a contracting fan base. We have a small junior league. We have to important juniors from the western suburbs to be competitive, ergo, their loyalty is not to Manly but to whoever pays them the most to play. We've been taking home games interstate and overseas for years.
Having a shiny new stadium won't guarantee Manly's continuing existence. It is just one factor in what needs to be an all-embracing plan that will ensure we fans have a team to support in the future. The team won't be the small suburban club I've loved for 59 years, but hopefully it will still retain vestiges from our glorious past and maintain at least some of our traditions.
Let's start thinking strategically because we live in an era of massive change. This was rammed home to me a few days ago when Fairfax - my beloved first employer - was swallowed up.

 

[Woodsie]

I think they do care, it's the reason for their Parra stadium support and the big stadia BS push from Greensprog.

I'm not so concerned about the NRL... If you are the Penns and it's your business, what would you do? If all your key indicators are the worst in the league... And someone is dangling a profitable carrot in front of you, what would you do?

I think our decade of dominance just masked the lack of club support.

All I'm saying is that I can understand the club taking that road if they need to and being an interstate supporter it wouldn't bother me...obviously a very different perspective from locals who go to games weekly but it's my perspective of the matter anyway.

The NRL aren't paying for the Parra stadium ...... the Gov'ts are .... and it is about voters in the wests congenital swinging electorate and has nothing to do with Rugby League soccer or any sport in particular .... if the beaches voted in a labor gov't just once .... watch the attitude change .... we would get a stadium with gold fittings and personal arrse wippers ......

All clubs are the same ... check out crowd figures for Easts, Souff's, Wests, Penrith, Parra, Cronulla, St. Geo when they have a bad few years ....

all our woes will look less important or disappear with one simple solution .... win football games ...

 

[manlyfan76]

I think they do care, it's the reason for their Parra stadium support and the big stadia BS push from Greensprog.

I'm not so concerned about the NRL... If you are the Penns and it's your business, what would you do? If all your key indicators are the worst in the league... And someone is dangling a profitable carrot in front of you, what would you do?

I think our decade of dominance just masked the lack of club support.

All I'm saying is that I can understand the club taking that road if they need to and being an interstate supporter it wouldn't bother me...obviously a very different perspective from locals who go to games weekly but it's my perspective of the matter anyway.

Western Sydney wanders will fill the stadium every week through their season.
That's why they built it.

 

[Woodsie]

Boy, I wish I was sumfing important like a contributor ... or administrator, or moderator, or facilitator, or any "or" for that matter ..

... guess I will have to settle for getting my pleasure by calling people numb-nutts ....

 

[Woodsie]

Western Sydney wanders will fill the stadium every week through their season.
That's why they built it.

... but only for their votes ... not because they give a fig about wanderers fans enjoying themselves ....

 

[Woodsie]

The current state of Brookie Oval is the result of one fact and only one fact ....

The Northern beaches electorates have voted overwhelmingly Liberal since Captain Cook .....

the Liberal party doesn't give us anything because they don't have to .... we will keep voting Liberal anyway .. better spend the money on swinging seats elsewhere ...

.... the Labor party don't give us anything ... because they know it would be a waste of time and money better (from their POV) spent elsewhere ... like swinging seats out west ...

 

[manlyfan76]

Boy, I wish I was sumfing important like a contributor ... or administrator, or moderator, or facilitator, or any "or" for that matter ..

... guess I will have to settle for getting my pleasure by calling people numb-nutts ....

OK I confess, I'm not an administrator

 

[lurker]

IMO what we should really be doing is forming a consortium with the Waratahs and Sydney FC (for a few games) to argue for a boutique stadium to service the 3 sports. The northern beaches is a very lucrative area. With good corporate offerings the tahs will take games to brookie because the NB has a large rugby following with lots of $$$$

 

[Supreme Leader]

Hi all but isn't a dialogue a communication between parties. This is Manly, they won't respond? therefore it's not a dialogue. mmmmmmmm

 

[lurker]

I understand the NRL aren't paying for the stadium but the NRL are fully behind the expansion because Parra fans in the inner west have one of the biggest memberships in the NRL. More than double Manlys! And they have one of the worst records in the league.

Of the 20 lowest crowd attendances in 2018, Manly owns 6.

I don't think it's as simple as winning games. Manly has a terrible home stadium. It pays the most expensive rent in the league to use a stadium no one attends. They don't get access to the financial gain which is given to teams that have moved home games to Homebush. Combine that with the low memberships and crowd attendances and Manlys name will always be at the forefront of relocation discussions.

Manly merged once before for this very reason...

Put it this way, if we had 30k members and packed out Brookie every home game regardless of the result, we wouldn't be discussing relocation. We'd be discussing the new stadium upgrade because the numbers simply demand it.

Anyway, I'd be all for it if it means the clubs brand will be more successful.

Hence why i said this is a chicken or the egg argument. You say we need 30k members (i know you're being tongue in cheek) but us getting more members is hampered by the fact that it is just a ****hole to attend. And to be honest people defending brookie doesn't really help our cause. Whether we like it or not the northern beaches is a very different area to twenty years ago. Property is worth a fortune and there are a tonne of people that now live in the area that don't have memories of being on the hill as a kid. The only selling point brookie seems to have is nostalgia. In an area where that nostalgia is diminishing we are attempting to trade on a dying commodity.

The fan engagement and kids activities at afl is exceptional and the nrl doesn't hold a candle to it. People pay for fan experience now whether we like it or not and in that regard the nrl does not offer value for money.

............... and that's ignoring the fact that i feel like the refs decide more results than the teams. **** product on the field and **** off it right now

 

[StuBoot]

Of the 20 lowest crowd attendances in 2018, Manly owns 6.

.

True but the NRL's scheduling must be factored in.

Thursday nights at 7.50 kickoff means you're not home till 10 - not good for families plus v an interstate club
Friday nights at 6.00 - that is a graveyard shift for all clubs plus how many away fans can get there at that time
The Panthers game was off the back of the Roosters horror show plus I argue that Sat arvo at 3.00 is family sport time

Four of those v out of town/interstate clubs

Factor in the above as well as only the main game with no curtain raiser not to mention our Jekyll and Hyde performances.

Parra have 5 of the lowest with two of those v Sydney clubs
The Dogs much hyped back to Belmore day got less than 7k but again v an interstate team
Saints v Parra at the Gong got less than 7k too and Saints were flying then.

Conversely the highest attended games involving both Sydney teams - There were only three (not counting double headers )
Chooks and Dragons - ANZAC day
Dogs and Bunnies - Good Friday and both teams "home" stadium
Tigers and Bunnies - both teams "home" stadium

Broncos fans can pretty much lock in every 2nd Friday night at 7.45pm for the whole season

Personally I prefer being on the hill at Brooky or Leichhardt and getting there early to watch reggies.
If there's nothing on before hand I may as well just watch it at home rather than drive 30-40 mins to Brooky.
We've only had three Sunday games at Brooky this year - all on free to air as well.

Yes, they are playing like busted's but scheduling and pricing are the killer for me not how comfy the seats or how good the wi-fi, a skim latte or variety of vegan pies etc are.

 

[Spartan Eagle]

The current state of Brookie Oval is the result of one fact and only one fact ....

The Northern beaches electorates have voted overwhelmingly Liberal since Captain Cook .....

the Liberal party doesn't give us anything because they don't have to .... we will keep voting Liberal anyway .. better spend the money on swinging seats elsewhere ...

.... the Labor party don't give us anything ... because they know it would be a waste of time and money better (from their POV) spent elsewhere ... like swinging seats out west ...

Are you suggesting we become swingers?

 

[Woodsie]

I understand the NRL aren't paying for the stadium but the NRL are fully behind the expansion because Parra fans in the inner west have one of the biggest memberships in the NRL. More than double Manlys! And they have one of the worst records in the league.

Of the 20 lowest crowd attendances in 2018, Manly owns 6.

I don't think it's as simple as winning games. Manly has a terrible home stadium. It pays the most expensive rent in the league to use a stadium no one attends. They don't get access to the financial gain which is given to teams that have moved home games to Homebush. Combine that with the low memberships and crowd attendances and Manlys name will always be at the forefront of relocation discussions.

Manly merged once before for this very reason...

Put it this way, if we had 30k members and packed out Brookie every home game regardless of the result, we wouldn't be discussing relocation. We'd be discussing the new stadium upgrade because the numbers simply demand it.

Anyway, I'd be all for it if it means the clubs brand will be more successful.

And if you look at crowd figures between 2007 and 2012 we would probably have crowd figures in the top quarter ....

... but when it comes to new stadiums that is irrelevant ..... I don't think you know how governments work ...