Sportal taking the piss

[Loobs]

Where is my credit for making this story up!

Brookvale exit: Would the Sea Eagles consider moving here?
September 23, 2015 7:55pm

By Adam Lucius

Could this one day be the home of the Manly Sea Eagles?

Locked in a fierce battle with Warringah Council over rentals fees at Brookvale Oval – and with the old ground unlikely to receive the money or development permission needed for an upgrade – the club's answer to their problems could lie just 10km north.

That's where Pittwater Rugby Park – or Rat Park as it is known to locals – is situated.

The ground, which is home to the Warringah Rats rugby club, would need a massive injection of funds to get it up to NRL standard but the basic infrastructure is in place and the area features plenty of parking and open space for development.

And the Sea Eagles are on good terms with Pittwater Council - in stark contrast to the toxic relationship with neighbouring Warringah.

Rat Park hosted an NRL trial in February between Manly and Cronulla which attracted a good crowd and gave the Sea Eagles a small but rare match day profit of $25,000.

Financially, the trial out-stripped the majority of Manly's home games at Brookvale this year.

A move to Pittwater Rugby Park has been suggested by a number of Manly fans but never been discussed officially.

But Sea Eagles chairman Scott Penn told Sportal: "Obviously Brookvale Oval is our focus for now but I wouldn't totally rule it (Rat Park) out.

"Our trial there was a tremendous success and we were delighted with how accommodating they were.

"It was a very pleasant change to be wanted."

The Warringah Rats would welcome a ground sharing arrangement if it meant a huge facelift for their home base.

"I think that it would be great for both clubs - supporters, sponsors, and players.

But it will require a significant amount of capital investment to get the venue viable and suitable for the NRL," Warringah coach Greg Marr said.

Pittwater Council's Reserves manager Les Munn agreed.

He said of Rat Park: "There's lots of open space and lots of parking and it's on a main bus route.

"We've got a good relationship with Manly - they played a trial match here and come up and train occasionally - but we've never considered they'd come up here for a competition game.

"A helluva lot of work would have to be done to bring it up to what the NRL want.

"You've got to be able to seat 25,000 under cover and a huge amount of money would have to be put into it, but at this stage it's never been discussed or mentioned as a possible alternate venue."

 

[Loobs]

Scott Penn told Sportal: "Obviously Brookvale Oval is our focus for now but I wouldn't totally rule it (Rat Park) out.

"Our trial there was a tremendous success and we were delighted with how accommodating they were.

"It was a very pleasant change to be wanted."

Put a pen through Gosford. I think this is in play. Shift the funds from Brookie to Ratty, you've got a welcoming council, better location - this is the ace up their sleeve in putting Warringah to the sword...

 

[sheridanstand78]

This story is fantasy! Rat park is a bad option!

 

[Fluffy]

Worse location, further away same bus route, Substantially more money required to get it up to speed and the NRL would get out scheduled by the the Rugby in the same way AFL do so games would get moved away anyway.

 

[Loobs]

More money? Sorry but the only way to fix Brookie is to completely knock it down. You can't really reno that back into shape.

Also how is the location worse? There is a lot more road room and general space in that area. Brookie as a suburb is way too cramped nowadays. It's been built up beyond any logic.

 

[Jerry1]

Pens playing politics.. Leak here, statement there.. They have an agenda & they are busily going about there business of destabilizing the enemy. Just like they did with tooves. A planned campaign of misinformation & propaganda.
To be honest & fair to the Penns the council here are a bunch of lefty loonies who also have an agenda. They don't want us at brookie. They'd be happier with the occasional ultimate frisbie game or under nines kite flying comp.

 

[Loobs]

The caveat on Brookie was lodged when the suburb was completely different. It now is a cluster**** of over developed units and out dated industrial. If Warringnah want their park fine but I have no problem with them redeveloping Rat Park and creating a true sporting centre for the beaches. This also has nothing to do with me being a Narrabeen resident 😉

 

[Simonmyers11]

The caveat on Brookie was lodged when the suburb was completely different. It was a cluster**** of over developed units and out dated industrial. If Warringnah want their park fine but I have no problem with them redeveloping Rat Park and creating a true sporting centre for the beaches. This also has nothing to do with me being a Narrabeen resident 😉

Agree. Brookvale oval is in a bad location for a stadium. No parking, crazy traffic if you dont get there an 1 hr and a half before the game. And your right, need to knock down current brookie stadium if a new build is to happen. Plus warringah council are too hard to work with - charge too much and are against any new developement,

We are just being left further behind. I would welcome a new purpose built stadium. Wouldn't have dramas with scheduling. most rugby is played sat afternoon. We play all our games at night, with the occasional Sunday afternoon game.

Time for change

 

[Dan]

Would probably take less money to get Rat Park up to standards than it would to get Brookvale up to standards, then being at the end of Mona Vale road also adds value.

To be honest I have had so many battles with Warringah Council, anything that takes decisions out of their hands makes my life more peaceful. I have dealt with difficult people in my life, but I have also dealt with Warringah council on so many levels, that was as fun as being attacked by the dog that bit me

 

[Brookvale2015]

Please no!

 

[Loobs]

I wonder if state and federal govt would come in more easily with dollars if they did a green build...

 

[mosto]

Not being a resident of the northern beaches, I don't have any of the local loyalties many of the beaches fans do. To go to a game I need to travel 5 hours, so whether that's to Brookvale, Pittwater, Gosford or Allianz doesn't matter a rats arse (see what I did there 😉) to me. However, I would dearly love for the team to play out of the northern beaches somewhere. My first preference, as is everyone's I think, would be a re-developed Brookie Oval, but this has been in pipeline for so long with no movement, I can't see it happening. As others have suggested, the oval has been built into a corner to the point that there's no room for the development required. Therefore, providing the funds can be secured for a re-development of Pittwater Rugby Park, that would be my next option.

One immediate benefit I can see is the opportunity to sell naming rights of the new ground with no real opposition. I remember it was once mooted that the naming rights of Brookie be sold to raise cash, but was strongly opposed by many fans, including myself. However, selling the naming rights of what will essentially be a new stadium shouldn't cause any problems. In Rugby circles it is known as Rat Park anyway, and I imagine would continue to be.

If neither of these options are viable then I'd go Gosford, as I don't like the idea of sharing a ground like we would at Allianz. I just don't think we could make a shared ground 'ours'.

I'll always support the team, no matter where they play, but hopefully that's somewhere between The Spit Bridge and Moonee Moonee Bridge.

 

[Loobs]

My only "caveat" to a redeveloped Rat Park would be to switch it from running north/south to east/west so teams can either be defending the little Narra or wetlands ends...

So you can redevelop Brookie or build a new stadium where there is space for the ground that the Penn's have proposed for Brookie, space for an external training ground, still have space for parkland, room for parking that can be used for a park and ride all year round benefitting a wide range of Pittwater residents that don't live on the L90 route, substantial grounds so it isn't encroaching on residents, easily accessible, still on the beaches.... Hmmm....

 

[skull61]

They would want to come up with something pretty good for the playing surface at rat park. After 3 colts games and 4 grade games of rugby every second week the grass would be dead and we would be playing on the khalari desert. If you think Brookie surface is bad now you ain't seen nothing yet.

 

[Fluffy]

More money? Sorry but the only way to fix Brookie is to completely knock it down. You can't really reno that back into shape.

Also how is the location worse? There is a lot more road room and general space in that area. Brookie as a suburb is way too cramped nowadays. It's been built up beyond any logic.

1st point is incorrect. Add another Ken Arthurson stand and put a southern stand type thing behind the hill and you double your corporate and undercover seating as well as improving other facilities all for about 30M. This is all that is needed to start with. As it is mainly about corporates.

If following that we can post crowd averages of 20K then a 50M knockdown rebuild of Jane Try stand to double in size could be looked into.

The location is limited in facitlites outside of parking. Got bugger all to do before/after the game in the area, it is adds a large chunk of time to the PT journey for those coming across so even less will travel by PT.

 

[Chip and Chase]

Well we are the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles not the Manly Brookvale Sea Eagles, so it makes perfect sense

 

[Loobs]

They would want to come up with something pretty good for the playing surface at rat park. After 3 colts games and 4 grade games of rugby every second week the grass would be dead and we would be playing on the khalari desert. If you think Brookie surface is bad now you ain't seen nothing yet.

Having a training field outside like at Penrith for the colts etc.

 

[Budgie]

Whatever makes the Penns the most money is what they'll be angling for.
Oh, and pay your rent from this year. By all means attempt to renegotiate but you had a contract with the ratepayers so do the ethical and, dare I say, legal thing and honour it.

 

[Rex]

People don't want to have to fight to get to the game. Parking at Brookie can be a nightmare. And Pittwater Rd, Brookvale for traffic? One of the worst strips in Sydney. People will put up with sitting longer in the comfort of their car if there are no hassles. Including a close and easy park. Rat Park has three major exit routes (Mona Vale Rd, Pittwater Rd & Wakehurst Parkway) to dissipate traffic. Public transport is less handy, but buses do run along Pittwater Rd there.

If Brookie becomes untenable, then there's a lot of benefits in moving to Rat Park. It has the space to plan for the future into the 21st century. And it is in the Northern Beaches. Restrict the ground usage to the big boys and play the colts, etc on a ground next to it. If the Govt gets on board to develop it, then I'd easily prefer Rat Park over Gosford, SFS, Homebush, etc.

 

[Loobs]

1st point is incorrect. Add another Ken Arthurson stand and put a southern stand type thing behind the hill and you double your corporate and undercover seating as well as improving other facilities all for about 30M. This is all that is needed to start with. As it is mainly about corporates.

If following that we can post crowd averages of 20K then a 50M knockdown rebuild of Jane Try stand to double in size could be looked into.

The location is limited in facitlites outside of parking. Got bugger all to do before/after the game in the area, it is adds a large chunk of time to the PT journey for those coming across so even less will travel by PT.

You can't have those existing stands with brand new stands. It would look terrible, even if you reno'ed them. This is literally putting lipstick on a pig. It's our pig and we love her but come on...