The Fans

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Ryan

Journey Man
Need a rant.

Throughout the past 18 months, one entity I think the game, the club, and the players have forgotten here is the goodwill - the fans. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and when I read a direct quote from Daly Cherry-Evans today, it really struck home.

When asked about the fans, Daly claimed, and in his words, "they are not of a concern to me". Well thank you Daly, you've certainly put things into perspective for me.

This week, Tom Symonds claimed, when talking about Foz leaving, "the club, and his team mates know what he means to our success, and that's all that matters". I questioned Tom on that front, and asked, "what about the fans, Tom?", and all I heard in reply was crickets.

Jamie Buhrer was quite vocal this week as well, sticking up for his mate. Well kudos for that. He mentioned how he felt, he mentioned how the club felt. He mentioned how DCE felt. Not once did he consider how the fans felt.

Justin Horo this week hit instagram, after DCE released this statement “I play this game for obviously my family, I play it for myself and more importantly I play it for my teammates and my coach and unless any of those groups of individuals want me gone, I won’t be going anywhere,” he said.". Horo claimed he wanted to get back in the team for DCE. He wanted to get back into the team for himself. Not once did he mention the fans, or club success.

Kieran Foran has oft been quoted as claiming that there are days he wakes and feels he doesn't want to be here. He talks about "his brothers", and he talks about how poor of a coach Toovey is compared to Brad Arthur. He talks about the medical and professional staff as key motivations. Never a mention of the fans.

Joe Kelly through this whole process has been thoroughly non-existent to fans and paying members. I wrote Joe a massive e-mail, and it was cut off at the pass, and a membership manager replied to me (albeit a fantastic reply - see below) - my issue with this, is while Tom's E-mail is great on the surface, his club, his players, his coaching staff act completely different.

The club presently I feel (and the players) have a massive divide and disconnect with the paying members and fans. They are doing nothing to settle the uneasy feeling. Someone wrote earlier on these boards, "when does a club, stop becoming a club" - well that has a lot of merit. My answer, is when you don't feel like your part of the community. Frankly, the attitudes of the Horo, Symonds, Buhrer, Foran, DCE, Watmough, Hasler, Arthur and others, go a long way to destroying that culture.

On the FLIPSIDE, as I can't just be one sided, there ARE some glowing lights for Manly. Enter Matt Ballin. Wow, what an inspiration. Talking about what the fans mean to him. Talking about how he loves the place. “I think I owe that to the club and the fans who have supported me and to myself and my reputation.". Thank you Matt. THIS, my friends, is the reason I return as a member. THIS, is the reason I support my club.

Sadly, this kind of attitude is dying fast in the game, as the players these days seem pompous, self righteous, "fans are not of a concern to me" types of arse-holes, who care nothing for anything but themselves.

I hate the AFL with a passion. But the NRL could do a lot worse than learn from their community awareness, and fan buy in schemes, even at grass roots levels. They just do it all so much better.

Rant /


Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your email.

We value and appreciate all our members/supporters feedback, as without your input to the club it would not be what it is today.

The recruitment and retention plan for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles has, and continues to be, one of the best in the NRL. The NRL’s salary cap was put in place to even the playing field, yet we continue to be successful year upon year.

It’s because of this success that it’s only natural that other NRL Clubs would wish to target some of our very best players and why behind the scenes the club is working on the retention of our very best players.

In the same respect, it’s that same success and winning culture behind why so many players also want to join our great club.

So while different players, staff, management and coaches will naturally come and go over the years, the one thing that will always remain a necessary constant is you – the loyal member/fan. Without your support through membership, tickets, merchandise and events we would fail to exist.

We currently have a new management team in place who is striving to continue the clubs success and further grow our Membership base and game day attendances.

We have the most loyal and passionate supporter base in the NRL and we sincerely hope that you remain a part of the Manly family for many more years to come.

Kind regards,

Tom Jamsek – Membership, Ticketing & Match Operations Manager
Kaspersky Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
 
You are using the wrong terminology Ryan we are NOT fans.

We are customers!!

We are there to provide ancillary revenue for the clubs and the NRL to help support the major earner, TV revenue.

When you understand that you can grasp the concept that we are, in the scheme of things , relatively unimportant .
 
Thanks Ryan this is what I have been thinking the whole time. How did we get to this place where these type of attitudes are spruiked in the media as if it is OK that they don't give a stuff about the fans and the district, community etc. It is a very strange culture where there seems to be some sort of pride associated with their comments that they are they are only in it for themselves and their mates.
 
Need a rant.

Throughout the past 18 months, one entity I think the game, the club, and the players have forgotten here is the goodwill - the fans. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and when I read a direct quote from Daly Cherry-Evans today, it really struck home.

When asked about the fans, Daly claimed, and in his words, "they are not of a concern to me". Well thank you Daly, you've certainly put things into perspective for me.

This week, Tom Symonds claimed, when talking about Foz leaving, "the club, and his team mates know what he means to our success, and that's all that matters". I questioned Tom on that front, and asked, "what about the fans, Tom?", and all I heard in reply was crickets.

Jamie Buhrer was quite vocal this week as well, sticking up for his mate. Well kudos for that. He mentioned how he felt, he mentioned how the club felt. He mentioned how DCE felt. Not once did he consider how the fans felt.

Justin Horo this week hit instagram, after DCE released this statement “I play this game for obviously my family, I play it for myself and more importantly I play it for my teammates and my coach and unless any of those groups of individuals want me gone, I won’t be going anywhere,” he said.". Horo claimed he wanted to get back in the team for DCE. He wanted to get back into the team for himself. Not once did he mention the fans, or club success.

Kieran Foran has oft been quoted as claiming that there are days he wakes and feels he doesn't want to be here. He talks about "his brothers", and he talks about how poor of a coach Toovey is compared to Brad Arthur. He talks about the medical and professional staff as key motivations. Never a mention of the fans.

Joe Kelly through this whole process has been thoroughly non-existent to fans and paying members. I wrote Joe a massive e-mail, and it was cut off at the pass, and a membership manager replied to me (albeit a fantastic reply - see below) - my issue with this, is while Tom's E-mail is great on the surface, his club, his players, his coaching staff act completely different.

The club presently I feel (and the players) have a massive divide and disconnect with the paying members and fans. They are doing nothing to settle the uneasy feeling. Someone wrote earlier on these boards, "when does a club, stop becoming a club" - well that has a lot of merit. My answer, is when you don't feel like your part of the community. Frankly, the attitudes of the Horo, Symonds, Buhrer, Foran, DCE, Watmough, Hasler, Arthur and others, go a long way to destroying that culture.

On the FLIPSIDE, as I can't just be one sided, there ARE some glowing lights for Manly. Enter Matt Ballin. Wow, what an inspiration. Talking about what the fans mean to him. Talking about how he loves the place. “I think I owe that to the club and the fans who have supported me and to myself and my reputation.". Thank you Matt. THIS, my friends, is the reason I return as a member. THIS, is the reason I support my club.

Sadly, this kind of attitude is dying fast in the game, as the players these days seem pompous, self righteous, "fans are not of a concern to me" types of arse-holes, who care nothing for anything but themselves.

I hate the AFL with a passion. But the NRL could do a lot worse than learn from their community awareness, and fan buy in schemes, even at grass roots levels. They just do it all so much better.

Rant /


Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your email.

We value and appreciate all our members/supporters feedback, as without your input to the club it would not be what it is today.

The recruitment and retention plan for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles has, and continues to be, one of the best in the NRL. The NRL’s salary cap was put in place to even the playing field, yet we continue to be successful year upon year.

It’s because of this success that it’s only natural that other NRL Clubs would wish to target some of our very best players and why behind the scenes the club is working on the retention of our very best players.

In the same respect, it’s that same success and winning culture behind why so many players also want to join our great club.

So while different players, staff, management and coaches will naturally come and go over the years, the one thing that will always remain a necessary constant is you – the loyal member/fan. Without your support through membership, tickets, merchandise and events we would fail to exist.

We currently have a new management team in place who is striving to continue the clubs success and further grow our Membership base and game day attendances.

We have the most loyal and passionate supporter base in the NRL and we sincerely hope that you remain a part of the Manly family for many more years to come.

Kind regards,

Tom Jamsek – Membership, Ticketing & Match Operations Manager
Kaspersky Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
Nail Hammer head :thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Great post Ryan and completely agree, us the fans have been forgotten about for far to long. We the fans but the tickets to games, food at games , jerseys, memberships, hats , mugs, read about them, write about then and in turn sponsors want to be part of it!
There big fat pay cheques are because of us!!
 
How about this gem from Darcy Lussick sticking up for cherry on insta.

@loohmath next time you have to pay a bill ask them if they will accept loyalty instead of your credit card details and see what they say

Someone needs to remind young Darcy that poorer people parted with their money through loyalty so that players afford anything at all. Loyalty my friend is a two way street.
 
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How about this gem from Darcy Lussick sticking up for cherry on insta.

@loohmath next time you have to pay a bill ask them if they will accept loyalty instead of your credit card details and see what they say

Someone needs to remind young Darcy that poorer people parted with their money through loyalty so that they could afford anything at all. Loyalty my friend is a two way street.

1 ****wit we don't want back with that attitude
 
Need a rant.

Throughout the past 18 months, one entity I think the game, the club, and the players have forgotten here is the goodwill - the fans. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and when I read a direct quote from Daly Cherry-Evans today, it really struck home.

When asked about the fans, Daly claimed, and in his words, "they are not of a concern to me". Well thank you Daly, you've certainly put things into perspective for me.

This week, Tom Symonds claimed, when talking about Foz leaving, "the club, and his team mates know what he means to our success, and that's all that matters". I questioned Tom on that front, and asked, "what about the fans, Tom?", and all I heard in reply was crickets.

Jamie Buhrer was quite vocal this week as well, sticking up for his mate. Well kudos for that. He mentioned how he felt, he mentioned how the club felt. He mentioned how DCE felt. Not once did he consider how the fans felt.

Justin Horo this week hit instagram, after DCE released this statement “I play this game for obviously my family, I play it for myself and more importantly I play it for my teammates and my coach and unless any of those groups of individuals want me gone, I won’t be going anywhere,” he said.". Horo claimed he wanted to get back in the team for DCE. He wanted to get back into the team for himself. Not once did he mention the fans, or club success.

Kieran Foran has oft been quoted as claiming that there are days he wakes and feels he doesn't want to be here. He talks about "his brothers", and he talks about how poor of a coach Toovey is compared to Brad Arthur. He talks about the medical and professional staff as key motivations. Never a mention of the fans.

Joe Kelly through this whole process has been thoroughly non-existent to fans and paying members. I wrote Joe a massive e-mail, and it was cut off at the pass, and a membership manager replied to me (albeit a fantastic reply - see below) - my issue with this, is while Tom's E-mail is great on the surface, his club, his players, his coaching staff act completely different.

The club presently I feel (and the players) have a massive divide and disconnect with the paying members and fans. They are doing nothing to settle the uneasy feeling. Someone wrote earlier on these boards, "when does a club, stop becoming a club" - well that has a lot of merit. My answer, is when you don't feel like your part of the community. Frankly, the attitudes of the Horo, Symonds, Buhrer, Foran, DCE, Watmough, Hasler, Arthur and others, go a long way to destroying that culture.

On the FLIPSIDE, as I can't just be one sided, there ARE some glowing lights for Manly. Enter Matt Ballin. Wow, what an inspiration. Talking about what the fans mean to him. Talking about how he loves the place. “I think I owe that to the club and the fans who have supported me and to myself and my reputation.". Thank you Matt. THIS, my friends, is the reason I return as a member. THIS, is the reason I support my club.

Sadly, this kind of attitude is dying fast in the game, as the players these days seem pompous, self righteous, "fans are not of a concern to me" types of arse-holes, who care nothing for anything but themselves.

I hate the AFL with a passion. But the NRL could do a lot worse than learn from their community awareness, and fan buy in schemes, even at grass roots levels. They just do it all so much better.

Rant /


Hi Ryan,

Thank you for your email.

We value and appreciate all our members/supporters feedback, as without your input to the club it would not be what it is today.

The recruitment and retention plan for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles has, and continues to be, one of the best in the NRL. The NRL’s salary cap was put in place to even the playing field, yet we continue to be successful year upon year.

It’s because of this success that it’s only natural that other NRL Clubs would wish to target some of our very best players and why behind the scenes the club is working on the retention of our very best players.

In the same respect, it’s that same success and winning culture behind why so many players also want to join our great club.

So while different players, staff, management and coaches will naturally come and go over the years, the one thing that will always remain a necessary constant is you – the loyal member/fan. Without your support through membership, tickets, merchandise and events we would fail to exist.

We currently have a new management team in place who is striving to continue the clubs success and further grow our Membership base and game day attendances.

We have the most loyal and passionate supporter base in the NRL and we sincerely hope that you remain a part of the Manly family for many more years to come.

Kind regards,

Tom Jamsek – Membership, Ticketing & Match Operations Manager
Kaspersky Manly Warringah Sea Eagles


Ryan, I wrote an email to the club as well expressing my concerns. My email was of a different topic to yours but the reply I got from the club was word for word exactly the same as the one that you got. Now that really says what they think of us .... I don't think they even read our emails they just get some junior guy to send a standard bla, bla, bla copy and paste email reply to any fans concerns. Do they really believe the **** about 'the recruitment and retention plan for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles has, and continues to be, one of the best in the NRL."
 
The saddest part of this guys, is I know we are playing Melbourne tonight, at home, at Brooky. We still have legends like Ballin, Stewart, Matai & others in the team. Jeez, I have a season ticket sitting here right behind me next to my Eagles jersey. I should be absolutely pumping.

But as much as it kills me, and I don't want it to be so, I'm thinking, "meh, why bother watch a group of blokes I mean nothing to, in a club that cares little for my support, run around in a dysfunctional way, losing yet ANOTHER game off the back of a multi million dollar half that can't win games for our team.

It actually almost makes me cry as pathetic as that sounds. That's how much this bloody team means to me. It was my biggest hobby, my biggest passion (outside my family), and these players have driven apathy (not caring) into me with their behavior, culture and attitude.

Please someone, bring back the passion for me !!!! Gah. I wrote a thesis to David Smith about the long serving player allowance. I organised that petition we got with 10k signatures that was delivered to Morris Iemma by Gallop, Mayer and that cock sucker that stole DCE from us from the NRL Annersley. I delivered Nab to Pat Wilson to attempt to become Manly's major sponsor, only he ****ed it, and NAB went with South's that year. I'm a returning season ticket holder. Now, with DCE, Foran and others, I'm just not caring anymore. Heeeeeellllllpppp !
 
The saddest part of this guys, is I know we are playing Melbourne tonight, at home, at Brooky. We still have legends like Ballin, Stewart, Matai & others in the team. Jeez, I have a season ticket sitting here right behind me next to my Eagles jersey. I should be absolutely pumping.

But as much as it kills me, and I don't want it to be so, I'm thinking, "meh, why bother watch a group of blokes I mean nothing to, in a club that cares little for my support, run around in a dysfunctional way, losing yet ANOTHER game off the back of a multi million dollar half that can't win games for our team.

It actually almost makes me cry as pathetic as that sounds. That's how much this bloody team means to me. It was my biggest hobby, my biggest passion (outside my family), and these players have driven apathy (not caring) into me with their behavior, culture and attitude.

Please someone, bring back the passion for me !!!! Gah. I wrote a thesis to David Smith about the long serving player allowance. I organised that petition we got with 10k signatures that was delivered to Morris Iemma by Gallop, Mayer and that cock sucker that stole DCE from us from the NRL Annersley. I delivered Nab to Pat Wilson to attempt to become Manly's major sponsor, only he ****ed it, and NAB went with South's that year. I'm a returning season ticket holder. Now, with DCE, Foran and others, I'm just not caring anymore. Heeeeeellllllpppp !

Similar story ...... my family and I are feeling the same ... we have our season tickets but none of us really want to go tonight.
 
It is not the individual players you name, Ryan, who have created this situation, rather it is the NRL's failure to reward player loyalty.
The players are doing the best they can for themselves, namely playing as well as they can which helps their careers, and at the same time provides us the fans with the one thing we want - a winning team.

That's what you want, isn't it?

If you felt we would challenge for a grand final spot in each of the next 4 years as we have in the last 4 years would you care that we change a few players each year?

You only care because you think the players leaving now are irreplaceable.
Maybe they are - in the short term.

But how loyal does that make you to the Hassons, Saos, the Blairs, the Littlejohns, all the low profile types who come and go year in year out?

My guess is you don't give two hoots for them.
And you wonder why players don't cite loyalty to fans as their prime motivation for performing?
 
I'm not surprised Horo doesn't like the fans, we all realise he's a dud.

Lussick's quote is hardly surprising, he's been leading the running for the biggest mental midget in the game for quite a while.

I watched last week's game, and it was the first time I can remember when I wasn't getting upset. I can see myself within a couple of years having a passing interest in Manly, just checking scores to see if I got the tip right like I do with pretty much every other game of the round.

It's funny that one of Manly's key goals in their recent "10 year plan" was better engagement with the local community. It seems they're already failing dismally on that front.
 
It is not the individual players you name, Ryan, who have created this situation, rather it is the NRL's failure to reward player loyalty.
The players are doing the best they can for themselves, namely playing as well as they can which helps their careers, and at the same time provides us the fans with the one thing we want - a winning team.

That's what you want, isn't it?

If you felt we would challenge for a grand final spot in each of the next 4 years as we have in the last 4 years would you care that we change a few players each year?

You only care because you think the players leaving now are irreplaceable.
Maybe they are - in the short term.

But how loyal does that make you to the Hassons, Saos, the Blairs, the Littlejohns, all the low profile types who come and go year in year out?

My guess is you don't give two hoots for them.
And you wonder why players don't cite loyalty to fans as their prime motivation for performing?

That's so wrong, that it isn't funny. I was most passionate about this team, in a time where Manly had guys like Luke Dorn, Jye Mullayne, Gary Winter & others playing for us, because boy, at the time, they bled the colours.

That was a time when I met ManlyBacker, Wheel, Matabele, Dan, Pepsi, Clontaago, and many others that I made and built lifetime friendships with. It was a community.

You'd never hear players bagging the coach (even WHEN results didn't go our way). Players, little known players at that, would play on with broken bones due to passion (remember who I'm talking about? Give you a hint - backrwower / blonde / wore headgear).

So your guess is completely wrong and off the mark. I care about a team that plays for their coach (DCE and Foran certainly don't do that, and they have left partially on that premise), their teams, and their fans.

****, I remember going back to the club after the game, and Nick Bradley-Koala ;) honestly spent the rest of the night on the piss, talking water skiing with me. Every player I spoke to just adored the place.

I'm not sure if you were fan in those times, but boy, were they fun times. I recorded EVERY game on DVD back then, and watched the wins / losses / draws three times that week to break it all down. Now, just look at this website for a score update. LOL. If we win, I MIGHT watch it on replay, otherwise, I just stick to Star Wars The Old Republic.

Today's team in comparison is chalk and cheese. Probably 10 times the talent, probably 10 times the disconnect with the fans. Back then, we were a club. A true club. Today, we are a money hungry, fan disconnected, self inflated ego group (talking about a lot of the players), that don't care one **** about us, the fans.

You honestly look at me and think I'm like what you suggested in your reply. Honestly mate, after all these years, that's pretty disappointing, and disheartening. Please mate, give me SOME credit. I hated losing Burns. I hated losing Alberts. I hated losing Vaeliki. Why? They were part of MY TEAM. But it's not about that mate - it's about the way these current crop of players treat us fans (apart from a minority), and the club itself.

Wombat just alluded to the fact we are receiving a pre-filled email. I was excited at receiving that. FMD, what little attention to care passion that is !
 
Thanks for posting that Ryan. Not saying I agree with all of it but it's good that people take the time to write to the club and not just post about things here (apologies to dan)

Are you sure your angst isn't because of your beard. You should shave your beard off. You may feel better without your beard!

Maybe.
 
Thanks for posting that Ryan. Not saying I agree with all of it but it's good that people take the time to write to the club and not just post about things here (apologies to dan)

Are you sure your angst isn't because of your beard. You should shave your beard off. You may feel better without your beard!

Maybe.

No way. The Beard stays. Mainly because these days, I have more chins than a Chinese phone book. Plus the missus likes the beard when I....ummm....nevermind ;)
 
Ryan, I wrote an email to the club as well expressing my concerns. My email was of a different topic to yours but the reply I got from the club was word for word exactly the same as the one that you got. Now that really says what they think of us .... I don't think they even read our emails they just get some junior guy to send a standard bla, bla, bla copy and paste email reply to any fans concerns. Do they really believe the **** about 'the recruitment and retention plan for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles has, and continues to be, one of the best in the NRL."


I thought it looked a bit generic when I read it in Ryan's post. Not surprised.
 

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