How long have YOU been a Manly supporter!

[Normie]

I have followed Manly since 1969 through the good and bad times! I have lots of great memories of watching the footy on the hill at Brooky oval (especially the games with Wests in the 70's-80's that had the biff in all 3 grades), I also had my 1st beer at Brooky oval. Pity I had to move to Canberra in '93

 

[Matabele]

I have followed Manly since 1969 through the good and bad times! I have lots of great memories of watching the footy on the hill at Brooky oval (especially the games with Wests in the 70's-80's that had the biff in all 3 grades), I also had my 1st beer at Brooky oval. Pity I had to move to Canberra in '93  

You didn't happen to go to the Manly vs Canberra game at Bruce in 1994 did you? Raiders had a player sent off in the first half and they still gave us a bit of a hiding. I was there and it was a very dark day - broke up with my girlfriend that weekend too

 

[Normie]

Yep, I was there too! The Raiders had a red hot team those days with Smell Myfinger etc. What I love about Canberra crowds is that they love winners, and the crowds went down quicker than a scooner on a hot day when the Raiders started to lose 8) It will be interesting to see what happens if the Brumbies ever start to choke like the Waratahs.....

 

[Matabele]

Yep, I was there too! The Raiders had a red hot team those days with Smell Myfinger etc. What I love about Canberra crowds is that they love winners, and the crowds went down quicker than a scooner on a hot day when the Raiders started to lose  8)  It will be interesting to see what happens if the Brumbies ever start to choke like the Waratahs.....

I was living in Bruce that year, a few houses down from Meninga. I was on a training run once and one of the chicks in our group ran up to his house at around 7am and hammered on the door. I've never run so bloody fast in my life after that. Geez we were pissed off with her!

 

[PEPSI]

Mata, your not captain cook are you ????

 

[Matabele]

Mata, your not captain cook are you ????

Please explain?

 

[Snoweagle]

My old man first took me to Brookie in 1968 when I was about 10 mths old
Have been a mad supporter since (my wife would say obssesive at times)
Have an eagles tatt (the 80's/90's style) on my right shoulder.
Absolutely love 'em. The more people bag us the greater the support.

 

[Dan]

My old man first took me to Brookie in 1968 when I was about 10 mths old
Have been a mad supporter since (my wife would say obssesive at times)
Have an eagles tatt (the 80's/90's style) on my right shoulder.
Absolutely love 'em. The more people bag us the greater the support.

Now thats hard core!!!!

 

[Matabele]

Love your work snoweagle!!

 

[Snoweagle]

Thanx guy's. Only new to the site. God I miss going to Brookie, The beer
shed (Remember the piss boys who used to walk around the hill & serve
beers). Been down in Jindabyne for 7 1/2 years, grew up in Narrabeen
played for narrabeen sharks, footie's in the blood.
GO YOU MIGHTY EAGLES!!!

 

[Matabele]

Thanx guy's. Only new to the site. God I miss going to Brookie, The beer
shed (Remember the piss boys who used to walk around the hill & serve
beers). Been down in Jindabyne for 7 1/2 years, grew up in Narrabeen
played for narrabeen sharks, footie's in the blood.
GO YOU MIGHTY EAGLES!!!

Well we're planning an AE get together at the first home game next year, especially for us out of towners.

Looks like you're going to get a good dump of snow in the next few days. We'll have our ugg boots on, even in Dubbo

 

[Snoweagle]

Matabele, keep me posted on that one, would be great. I only get to about 1 game a year now, unfortunately but watch all on Fox.

 

[PEPSI]

mata wrote.....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When I immigrated the first Australian beach I went to was Manly. My name means "Manly". It was the northern most club when we settled in Townsville and they played in maroon. I saw my first game of league as a 14 year old in 1985 and I've supported Manly ever since.


......

that just sounds like the story of captain cook,when he first landed in australia he landed manly, the locals where very hospitable so he named the area Manly!!! etc etc something like that anyway,, so sounds similar!

actually when we moved to australia dad moved us from Calcutta India, to fairlight! hows that for culture change! i was 1 year old so hence my maroon and whiite blood!

 

[Dan]

Pepsi your knowledge fo Australian History is terrible. It was actuall Captain Arthur Phillip who named Manly because the native were very "Manly" in that they were muscly, rugged men.

I think you will find that Cook landed elsewhere first on the east coast. sheesh, im not going into a history lesson but man!!!!

 

[Dan]

1770 April 29 - Captain James Cook first sets foot in New South Wales at Botany Bay.

1788 January 26 - Captain Arthur Phillip, commanding the First Fleet, sails into Port Jackson, establishes the first colonial settlement at Sydney Cove.



sheesh first landed in manly my left foot!!!!!!!


This is how it was named, the full story

"The boats, in passing near a point of land in the Harbour, were seen by a number of men, and twenty of them waded into the water unarmed, received what was offered them, and examined the boats with a curiosity that gave me a much higher opinion of them than I had formed from the behaviour of those seen in Captain Cook’s voyage, and the confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place".


Its amazing what you can dig up on the internet

 

[nodd]

being brissie born and bred i never watched(no tv in our family till 82) or heard a game of sydney footy till 78. the first game i listened to was eagles v easts and we won so have supported them ever since. till 78 it was all the mighty tigers in the brissie comp, from about the age of 4 i remember going down to langlands with nan, watching her blue with the valleys ladies, dessie morris, johnny lang, roddy backer, stacey,currie. geez thoise were the days. still a tiger man in brissie but manly always when it comes to ARL/NRL.

 

[Guest]

Ive been a manly supporter for 39 yrs and going strong.

 

[byso]

Ive been a manly supporter for 39 yrs and going strong.

Ahhh the Arko, Mossop & some of the Bozzo years....That's what I missed out on!

 

[Guest]

yeah mate they were great years

 

[Bradza]

I grew up in Forestville and now live in Curl Curl (Adams St end of Bennett St would you believe Zaphod).

When I was about 5 (1974) I asked my Dad "who do we support?". He replied that you've got to go for your local team so Manly it was. The funny thing is that Dad has never been passionate about footy or Manly. His family were all Norths supporters so I thank him to this day for the early tip.

I was at another kids birthday party on grand final day in 1976. All the kids were running around creating mayhem and I was in the lounge room with one other "grown up" watching the game! I can still see Neville Glover stuffing up that try that would have sunk us. If you can get hold of a copy of the game I recommend it. It was a great game of footy and Parra's attack was brilliant. Some how we still won and not just because our buddy Hollywood was the ref.

I remember taking the trannie radio to my Nan & Pops in 1978 and listening to the drawn Final or Semi Final against Wests. I wish I could have seen that final series live or on telly (ours was busted). I remember the GF replay being played over the school PA system.

In 1982 I got caught up in all the local euphoria during grand final week. I had all the scrap book and autograph book thing going. How shattering was that unexpected defeat. Manly just didn't lose grand finals!!

We had a maths teacher who followed Parra. I told him to "wait until next year and we'll get ya!". Unbelievable. Watching those two grand finals was like watching the '95 GF, you kept waiting the entire match for the Eagles to actually start playing.

As my family wasn't into the footy that much I only saw one game live at Brookie before I was 20. Now, at 35 I would be up to about 150. As fate would have it I married a Manly supporter who was just as into them as I was.

Her old man (rest his soul) saw four of the losing Manly GFs live before finally celebrating the win in '72. The wife's whole family was Manly mad and also grew up and still live in the area next to Harbord Stadium.

Was lucky enough to be at the '96 GF - what a feeling. Remember "Eagle Rock" being played in the rain during the pre game entertainment. What an omen.

Was unlucky enough to be at the '97 GF. The ultimate lesson of the highs and lows of passionately following a sporting team.

We stuck solid during the NE years because we couldn't help ourselves. I believe that we will all be rewarded for our patience in the next few years and it'll be much sweeter for the journey. It hurts me when I hear about younger Manly supporters who haven't experienced the good times or think that the capacity of Brookie is about 18,000!!

Thinking about the possibility of a home semi at Brookie with 24,000 fans packed in gives me shivers up the spine (yes folks, the last 24k crowd was only 10 years ago with pretty much the same ground configuration, no KA stand of course). That is the vision that has kept me going these last couple of years. I'll settle for a Friday night match first just to signal that we are back!

It's true that we have been spoilt over the years. This makes defeat that much harder to take but it is also the key reason that we are once again rising. It's taken five years but the puppet master (Arko) has orchestarted the second coming. Remember the days when you didn't have to abuse the ref because we could counter any rough decisions and get up anyway? Remember the days when feral Souths supporters would screech at you and you could just laugh in their face with contempt?

Can you imagine being a Sharks, Saints or Parra fan? I'm proud and relieved to be an Eagles man.

Sorry for crapping on but other people's stories inspired me to share!