News: Bold, bellicose and bruising - Rex Mossop

[ManlyBacker]

The death on Friday, at 83, of Rex Peers ''The Moose'' Mossop, marked the final crash tackle in the story of one of the great characters of the twin centuries of the two rugby codes in Australia.


Read the full article

 

[Phantar]

Nice article by Ian Heads, but we were never the 'Manly Seagulls'.

 

[Rex]

The Moose was a larger than life character who certainly played a huge part in the growth of the game. Hard to think of others with greater influence.

And then there's the quote from Gallop in the article:

The NRL chief executive, David Gallop, described him as a giant character in the game.

''Rex's sense of showmanship is something that will always be remembered and his contribution to bringing rugby league to television audiences can never be understated. Rugby league remains the ultimate television sport and the character of broadcasters like Rex as they opened the game to new audiences was a big part of that success.''

I'm dumbfounded with this on two counts. Gallop saying something positive about someone associated with Manly, and Gallop saying something that wouldn't be out of place coming out of the mouth of a statesman.

 

[wombatgc]

Rex and Gallop are so far removed from each other. One is a legend, the other is a cock.

 

[Phantar]

To be fair though Rex, Gallop would have grown up watching the other Rex commentating on the game he (Gallop) loves, like most of us here. So he probably felt genuinely saddened by the big fella's passing.
Heck, even that tool 'North Sydney Bear of Cammeray' had some genuinely nice words to say about your namesake in the Tele yesterday. Without a single mention of 'woManly Scum!' Lol.

 

[Jethro]

Nice article by Ian Heads, but we were never the 'Manly Seagulls'.

No, not officially but we were referred as them by some sections of the media. I also remember when I was a kid back in about 1968, a neighbour that lived across the road from us had a sticker on their car with "Manly-Warringah Sea Gulls" and I thought then that that was strange as I always thought that they had been call Sea Eagles.

 

[Mybludog]

Club made the anouncment in early 1948 that our Emblem would be the Sea Eagle.
Until that time we didn't have one.

Jethro's right, because we were getting beaten quite a bit in the early days some sections of the media refered to us as the "Sea Gulls"

I suppose it's no different to us now refering to the Eels as the "slimmies"

 

[Mals]

Club made the anouncment in early 1948 that our Emblem would be the Sea Eagle.
Until that time we didn't have one.

Jethro's right, because we were getting beaten quite a bit in the early days some sections of the media refered to us as the "Sea Gulls"

I have also heard that the "Sea Gulls" nickname was media driven due to Manly getting a working over in the early years & it was never a mascot endorsed by Manly rugby league club. Someone like Tom Keneally would know for sure. Despite the early years being often light on wins we have never "won" a wooden spoon in our 60+ years so that it something to be proud of!