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Dear Mr Grant,
I am writing to you to seek a formal determination from the Australian Rugby League Commission ("Commission") regarding the official playing records recognised by the game of Rugby League in Australia (the "Game") for players who played for both the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the Northern Eagles.
The Manly-Warringah Rugby League Football Club Ltd ("Football Club") and the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Ltd ("Sea Eagles") have long adopted the position that the playing records of any player who played for the Northern Eagles AND who played for the Sea Eagles either immediately prior (1999) or immediately after (2002) (or both) shall reflect the games played during the Northern Eagles years (2000 & 2001) as games played for the Sea Eagles.
On this basis, we recognise Steve Menzies as a1 club player, having played all his 349 First Grade games for the Manly Sea Eagles. Similarly, the record for the most number of first grade tries by a Sea Eagles player is 180 tries scored by Steve Menzies between 1993 and 2008.
To this day, one of the most celebrated things in our great Game is the 1 club player and with his incredible record of 349 games, Steve Menzies should be held up by the Game as one of the greatest examples of this most revered trait. All the more so in light of the acknowledged fact that Steve Menzies turned his back on a number of significantly higher contract offers throughout his NRL career to remain loyal to the Sea Eagles. Instead, through no fault of his own, he does not receive the recognition from the Game that he deserves as a 1 club player.
It disappoints and saddens us greatly whenever we see Steve Menzies' impeccable record being sullied by his omission from any stats regarding 1 club players or when he does not rightly appear at the top of the list for the most tries scored by a player for a single club. We are similarly disappointed by any suggestion that our current Co-Captain, Jason King, who made his debut in 2001 for the Northern Eagles, is anything other than a 1 club player.
We appreciate this is a unique situation and somewhat of a grey area and we accept that the Northern Eagles years cannot simply be erased from the history of the Game. However, it is our view that for the limited purpose of Players' official playing records, it is open for the Game to acknowledge that for seasons 2000 and 2001, the Sea Eagles did participate in the NRL competition, albeit not in their own right, but in conjunction with the North Sydney Bears.
We believe this approach provides a reasonable and logical basis upon which the playing records for 2000 and 2001 of the players who had a nexus with the Sea Eagles either immediately prior (1999) or immediately after (2002) can be combined with their playing records for the Sea Eagles in other years allowing players such as Steve Menzies and Jason King to be rightly regarded as a 1 club player.
Ultimately, it is our firm view, and one that we believe that the Commission should endorse, that the records of the Players should not be adversely impacted by the decision of the Sea Eagles to participate in 2000 and 2001 in conjunction with the Bears, particularly in light of the fact this situation only existed for a very short period of 2 seasons before the Sea Eagles resumed participating in the competition in their own right as they had previously done since 1947.
Please find enclosed a copy of the 2011 Annual Report of the Manly-Warringah Rugby League Football Club Limited which sets outs our Club Records on pages 12 to 16. The bottom of page 15 sets out the basis on which we have allocated player numbers to all Manly First Grade players since 1947. We draw particular attention to the approach we have adopted for 2000 and 2001 and note that under this approach, we do not deem a Northern Eagles player such as Mark O'Meley as ever being a Manly player as he did not have a nexus with Manly in 1999 or 2002. Similarly, Ben Walker and Matt Orford are not considered to have been Manly players until they re-joined the Club in 2003 and 2006 respectively as they did not immediately continue with Manly in 2002 after playing with the Northern Eagles in 2001.
In addition to the matter raised above, we also wish to highlight another issue with the Game's official records in relation to the Northern Eagles.
Official stats published and endorsed by the NRL have long held the view that the Northern Eagles club existed for 3 seasons (2000, 2001 and 2002). We do not accept that this is correct insofar as it relates to season 2002.
The entity that entered a team in the NRL competition in 2000 and 2001 as the "Northern Eagles" was the Manly-Norths Rugby League Club Pty Ltd (ABN: 44 090 093 833).
The entity that entered a team in the NRL competition in 2002 was the Manly-Warringah District Rugby League Football Club Limited (ABN: 34 003 348 436). This is the same entity that entered teams as the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles from 1947 to 1999 and from 2003 until the present (now renamed Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Limited ABN: 34 003 348 436).
The only difference between 2002 and all those other years is that in 2002, the NRL insisted that the team be entered in the competition with the trading name "Northern Eagles", not "Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles". This trading name, however, does not alter the fact that it was the same Club in 2002 as it was in 1947-1999 and 2003-2012 that entered the team and was solely responsible for all the income and expenditure in relation to the participation of the team in the competition.
The Manly-Norths Rugby League Club Pty Ltd (ABN: 44 090 093 833) was placed into liquidation in November 2001 and did not trade at any stage in 2002. We note that Canterbury Bankstown entered a team under the trading name "Sydney Bulldogs" in 1995 and the Balmain Club used the trading name "Sydney Tigers" in 1995 and 1996, yet there is no suggestion that these different trading names constituted new Clubs for either Canterbury or Balmain. Similarly, the Eastern Suburbs Club have used a number of different trading names over the years, including "Eastern Suburbs Roosters", "Sydney City Roosters" and the current "Sydney Roosters" but clearly it is, and always has been, the one single club that has existed since 1908. Put simply, the Manly Club, playing as the "Northern Eagles" in 2002 was no different to these examples of other clubs using different trading names at different times in their history.
Irrespective of whether the Commission supports our view on the playing records for 2000 and 2001, we feel there is absolutely no basis for the playing records of our players for season 2002 to be attributed to any club but the Sea Eagles.
This is of particular importance for the playing record of another of our current, longstanding, 200 plus game, 1 club players, Anthony Watmough. Anthony debuted for our Club in 2002. He has therefore only ever played first grade for teams entered in the NRL competition by the entity now known as Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles Limited (ABN: 34 003 348 436). Yet on the NRL website, his "Career Stats" reflect 8 more games played than his "Club Stats" because his games in 2002 are wrongly attributed to the Northern Eagles, not the Sea Eagles.
The above 2 issues have long been a bone of contention for our Club and our Members and fans. We appreciate the Manly Sea Eagles and Northern Eagles situation is quite unique, even vis a vis the other joint ventures in our Game as they still continue to operate whereas the Sea Eagles returned in their own right after only 2 seasons of the Northern Eagles joint venture.
We accept that it is a grey area and that not everyone will necessarily agree with our view hence why we believe the Commission needs to make a formal determination on these matters. It should be remembered that the Game appears to have no difficulty in taking an inclusive and broad view of the playing records of players who played in the Super League competition in 1997 (eg Darren Lockyer), notwithstanding that those matches were in an entirely separate competition to the premiership that has existed since 1908.
We submit that the Commission and the Game should follow that precedent and take a similar broad view in relation to the playing records of players who played for both the Manly Sea Eagles and the Northern Eagles so that just as Darren Lockyer's magnificent record is not unnecessarily punctuated by an asterisk regarding Super League, nor should Steve Menzies' or Jason King's record as a loyal 1 club player with Manly be compromised by the Northern Eagles situation which was not in any way something of their making.
In view of the above, we therefore seek a formal determination from the Commission that:
1. As a basic matter of fact, the Northern Eagles Club only existed for 2 seasons, being 2000 and 2001 and that it was the Sea Eagles club that entered the team known as the "Northern Eagles" in season 2002 and all official records for that season shall reflect that fact.
2. The Commission and the Game adopts the position that the playing records of any player who played for the Northern Eagles AND who played for the Sea Eagles either immediately prior (1999) or immediately after (2002) (or both) shall reflect the games played during the Northern Eagles years (2000 & 2001) as games played for the Sea Eagles and that all stats from those games shall be attributed to the player's playing record with the Sea Eagles.
and that henceforth, all official records and stats of the Game produced, published or endorsed by the Commission or the NRL shall only be in accordance with the Commission's determination and that any statistician or historian wishing to be acknowledged or endorsed by the Commission or the NRL as such shall be obliged to adopt the Commission's determination with respect to these matters.
I look forward to the Commission's urgent and favourable consideration of these matters.
Yours sincerely,
Philip Dean
Company Secretary
Manly-Warringah Rugby League Football Club Limited