The Manly Sea Eagles fan watching on from heaven
Dean Ritchie, The Daily Telegraph
Seat 1N sits there empty every home game.
In the back row of Brookvale Oval’s Jane Try Stand, long-time Manly fans Babs and Ron Kable have season tickets.
Babs, 86, has been going to Brookie since the club’s first-ever game way back in 1947. She was 14-year-old.
She, Ron and daughter Jenny didn’t miss a minute of play over the years watching Fulton, Menzies, Lyons, Toovey, Eadie, Reilly, Randall, Cherry-Evans and the Trbojevic brothers.
But the tight northern beaches family was left shattered last September when Jenny, 64, passed away through cancer.
Babs Kable and her son Bob at Brookvale Oval.
Babs and Ron know Jenny would still be watching every game from above so they decided to renew her season-ticket seat — located in Bay F — this season.
Jenny, says Babs, is still there with them at their beloved Brookvale.
“Keeping the seat for Jenny was just something we wanted to do for the family,” Babs said. “We feel if we have her seat, she is still there cheering.
“We just wanted to make sure she was still here with us. She would still be yelling for Manly. We are keeping the seat warm for her.
“We have had our reserved seating at Brookvale for around 30 years. Manly is in our blood.”
Babs’ eyes still well with tears when talking about her much-loved daughter.
“It was awful, heartbreaking to see her go from the beautiful girl that she was to just wasting away,” Babs said.
“You’re there telling your daughter that it’s OK to die, it’s all right to go. It broke my heart, every day at the hospital.
“We were not only mother and daughter but we were best friends. She took me to grand finals, State of Origin matches, we did so much together. It’s sad.”
Babs and son Bob cheered long and loud when Manly came from behind to topple Canberra last Sunday at Brookvale. Ron was unwell and couldn’t attend.
You could almost hear Jenny cheering Manly’s comeback from heaven.
“Jenny loved her Sea Eagles so she is always here with us,” said Bob, who has two brothers, Gregg and Phillip.
Babs said explained why she fell in love with the Sea Eagles.
“We moved to Manly from Balmain when I was only six weeks old so I consider myself a local,” she said.
“My Dad (Bill Coleman) was an ex-Tiger would you believe, he played in the 1926 Presidents Cup Balmain team, I still have his medal.
“He was passionate about his football. He still loved the Tigers but we started following the local juniors (before Manly entered the NSWRL competition) as we grew older so we were Manly orientated.
“We love coming to watch the footy although nobody likes to sit near me, even when I’m home watching it and telling the players what to do.”
Babs will be back at Brookie cheering for Manly in a big match against the Canterbury Bulldogs.
And so will Jenny.
Dean Ritchie, The Daily Telegraph
Seat 1N sits there empty every home game.
In the back row of Brookvale Oval’s Jane Try Stand, long-time Manly fans Babs and Ron Kable have season tickets.
Babs, 86, has been going to Brookie since the club’s first-ever game way back in 1947. She was 14-year-old.
She, Ron and daughter Jenny didn’t miss a minute of play over the years watching Fulton, Menzies, Lyons, Toovey, Eadie, Reilly, Randall, Cherry-Evans and the Trbojevic brothers.
But the tight northern beaches family was left shattered last September when Jenny, 64, passed away through cancer.
Babs Kable and her son Bob at Brookvale Oval.
Babs and Ron know Jenny would still be watching every game from above so they decided to renew her season-ticket seat — located in Bay F — this season.
Jenny, says Babs, is still there with them at their beloved Brookvale.
“Keeping the seat for Jenny was just something we wanted to do for the family,” Babs said. “We feel if we have her seat, she is still there cheering.
“We just wanted to make sure she was still here with us. She would still be yelling for Manly. We are keeping the seat warm for her.
“We have had our reserved seating at Brookvale for around 30 years. Manly is in our blood.”
Babs’ eyes still well with tears when talking about her much-loved daughter.
“It was awful, heartbreaking to see her go from the beautiful girl that she was to just wasting away,” Babs said.
“You’re there telling your daughter that it’s OK to die, it’s all right to go. It broke my heart, every day at the hospital.
“We were not only mother and daughter but we were best friends. She took me to grand finals, State of Origin matches, we did so much together. It’s sad.”
Babs and son Bob cheered long and loud when Manly came from behind to topple Canberra last Sunday at Brookvale. Ron was unwell and couldn’t attend.
You could almost hear Jenny cheering Manly’s comeback from heaven.
“Jenny loved her Sea Eagles so she is always here with us,” said Bob, who has two brothers, Gregg and Phillip.
Babs said explained why she fell in love with the Sea Eagles.
“We moved to Manly from Balmain when I was only six weeks old so I consider myself a local,” she said.
“My Dad (Bill Coleman) was an ex-Tiger would you believe, he played in the 1926 Presidents Cup Balmain team, I still have his medal.
“He was passionate about his football. He still loved the Tigers but we started following the local juniors (before Manly entered the NSWRL competition) as we grew older so we were Manly orientated.
“We love coming to watch the footy although nobody likes to sit near me, even when I’m home watching it and telling the players what to do.”
Babs will be back at Brookie cheering for Manly in a big match against the Canterbury Bulldogs.
And so will Jenny.
