The club's statement on Brookvale Oval

[smirny]

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles wish to respond to recent media reports published in relation to Brookvale Oval and containing comments made by or on behalf of Warringah Council.

Contrary to the suggestion by Mayor Michael Regan, the Sea Eagles have never contemplated moving the team from the spiritual home of Brookvale Oval.

The Sea Eagles will soon launch the 2016 Membership campaign that includes 10 games at Brookvale Oval. The Sea Eagles are keen to remain at Brookvale Oval but cannot do so upon terms which are unfinancial and jeopardise the future of the Sea Eagles. At present, the terms offered by Warringah Council results in the Sea Eagles incurring a financial loss for the vast majority of home fixtures played at Brookvale Oval due to the exorbitant ground hire fee, the severe limitations of reserved and undercover seating areas and restricted corporate hospitality capability.

The Club is in dispute with Warringah Council regarding:

· The terms upon which the Club was licensed to use Brookvale Oval in the 2015 season (the terms of which, contrary to the comments of the Mayor, were not agreed by the Club for the 2015 season);

· The closure of Brookvale Oval for a significant period in early 2015 due to the ground surface not meeting the standards of the NRL necessitating the relocation of lower-grade fixtures and the general standard of the ground surface; and

· The terms upon which the Club may licence Brookvale Oval in the future.

These matters have been in dispute since as early as December 2014. Without success, the Club has sought to resolve these issues in the course of 2015 and recently participated in mediation in accordance with the Council’s own dispute resolution processes.

Relevant to the issues in dispute, the Club notes:

· The occupation fee charged to the Club of $45,000 per home fixture is inexplicably excessive when compared to other organisations to use Brookvale Oval including a professional national rugby union franchise which is charged only $750 to host a fixture at Brookvale Oval;

· When compared to the hiring terms for other suburban grounds used by other NRL teams?), the Brookvale Oval facilities are inferior:

o Brookvale Oval has the smallest number of reserved and undercover seats and most limited corporate hospitality capacity of any full time venue in the NRL;

o Brookvale Oval is the only NRL full time playing surface which is available to the public;

o The playing surface is not maintained according to specific NRL standards as it is also used for rugby union, soccer and other casual activities;

o Warringah Council is charging the highest fee of any NRL Club using a suburban ground;

o The media and broadcasting facilities and the change rooms are the most out of date of any full time venue used in the NRL.

· The Sea Eagles were embarrassed and publicly criticised in Round 3 of the 2015 season when the ground was deemed unsuitable for NRL matches. The NRL & the Sea Eagles were forced to contract independent turf specialists to remedy the problem at the Sea Eagles’ expense;

· Warringah Council claim that it is subsidising the Sea Eagles’ use of Brookvale Oval but the Sea Eagles subsidise 75% of the Council’s annual operating costs of a public park, most of which relate to continued use by the public and other hirers;

· The Sea Eagles investment in local community support exceeds $250,000 annually through over 700 hours of direct community programmes run through organisations including Royal Far West, the Northern Beaches Public School system and Bowel Cancer Australia, which dwarfs the local community support of rival professional football codes in the area;

· Brookvale Oval was gifted to Warringah Council by Jane Try and her family on condition that the ground be used for promoting sport and recreation in the area.

The Sea Eagles are disappointed that Warringah Council has refused to meet for the purpose of resolving the issues in dispute, despite repeated requests over the course of the 2015 season. The Sea Eagles are of the view that the Club is being used as a scapegoat for the Council’s irresponsibility in relation to the management of a public park. The Council’s position is forcing the Sea Eagles out of Brookvale Oval. In the circumstances, the Sea Eagles have not ruled out endorsing other candidates when the next council elections are held or putting up its own candidate.



http://www.seaeagles.com.au/news/2015/09/22/statement_on_brookva.html

They offer some very good points.

 

[ManlyArmy]

I wonder how Warringah Council will be able to explain to their ratepayers about how they screwed up and now their ratepayers will have to pay double if Manly move.

 

[Shoe1]

I'm fully with the sea eagles board on this one. The council is in the wrong.

 

[simon64]

How the hell can the Rugby team pay $750 while Manly pay $45000 ?

And the ground was gifted to them ?

Time for a new Mayor methinks. Mayor Toovey. Has a nice ring to it.

 

[SeaEagle9413]

How the hell can the Rugby team pay $750 while Manly pay $45000 ?

And the ground was gifted to them ?

Time for a new Mayor methinks. Mayor Toovey. Has a nice ring to it.

Or Tony Abbott. Seeing that he is a Manly fan and big on politics!

 

[cherry_poppins]

Penns,i hate you but the enemy of my enemy is my enemy too,but this is common ground

**** them like you ****ed Geoff

 

[Rex]

The previous article on comments by the Manly mayor is revealing:

http://www.seaeagles.com.au/news/2015/09/22/manly_mayor_comes_ou.html

Is the FC position of 10 games at Brookie - no matter what - forcing us into an extremely weak negotiating position? i.e. Warringah Council charge Manly highway robbery rates because we are a captive client? It's a difficult position for the FC to consider.

 

[The Wheel]

So where is the football club on this? The silence is golden at the moment

 

[Loobs]

*does a spit take* were the Penn's.... right???? Egads man!!!

 

[HappilyManly]

So where is the football club on this? The silence is golden at the moment

What has the FC got to do with this?

The constitution of the Franchise stipulates the 10 games and not the FC dictating it.

The other Shareholders bought into the Franchise knowing what these stipulations were. It was their commercial decision to do so

As mere shareholders of the Franchise, the FC are not the ones negotiating fees for rental

Thr FC Board is up for re-election in December, so sign up and vote
Only a 75% FC Member vote can change any and all aspects of the Franchise constitution - the FC Board can not

 

[sheridanstand78]

Manly got severely short changed this year. The ground was not up to scratch and the club were lucky that first team fixtures were not taken to a different venue.

The council need Manly and I am glad the club are digging in their heels, the only way to stop this is at the next council vote the current lot out and get in some people who truly represent the views of the Manly Warringah district!

 

[Loobs]

Pretty much everything they said in the club statement is right. If you want to run an NRL team out of Brookvale, it's not up to snuff.

 

[Ralphie]

Where's Lovefooty and another rant on how this is one big conspiracy from Penn to abandon Brookie. Me thinks if that was the end game they wouldn't be fighting like they are and considering running candidates for Council.

But hey, maybe we can ignore this because it doesn't neatly fit with the agenda.

 

[Loobs]

Ah **** don't tell me the tin hats are getting put away???

That statement kind of dropped a huge turd on the theory that the Penn's were looking to get a full slate of games in Gosford next year to take advantage of the mythical BIG CENTRAL COAST DOLLARS that don't actually exist...

 

[simon64]

Ah **** don't tell me the tin hats are getting put away???

That statement kind of dropped a huge turd on the theory that the Penn's were looking to get a full slate of games in Gosford next year to take advantage of the mythical BIG CENTRAL COAST DOLLARS that don't actually exist...

That's right.

More likely that there would be a dollar in the residential development they've got their eye on.

But who gives a ***t in the end. The ground needs modification. I don't care how it happens as long as it does and I get to continue watching Manly play out of Brookvale. Everything else is just white noise to me.

 

[Jase Seaeagle]

We should be paying nothing on Game Days to the Council. FFS It is a Public Ground. I bet the Ratepayers are saying well what are you doing with the $45 K Per gameday.

Its a Disgrace

 

[Fluffy]

So where is the football club on this? The silence is golden at the moment

Probably trying to work out how we can make a loss on 45K.

Somehow the club is burning money such that 2000 tickets @$25 (= 50K to cover the hiring fee) is not enough.

So the club must be pissing money down the drain somewhere.

There are many more untruths in the article eg Leichardt has worse facilities than Brookie. I have never walked into the toilets at brookie to find them knee deep in water/urine/*other stuff at Brookie but have seen this 3 times at Leichardt.

We have 100's if not 1000's of unused seats many of which are undercover at most games as plenty prefer the hill so that point is moot anyway.

I have walked through the most up to date change room facilities at Homebush and apart from being bigger there isn't a huge amount of difference in the quality. The only real restriction is being able to warm up indoors.

 

[Terry Zarsoff]

Senior local government politicians in neighbouring LGAs, Manly (Jean Hay) and Pittwater (Harvey Rose), being vocal supporters of the Sea Eagles (Hay is of course Arthurson's sister) staying at an upgraded Brookvale, at the same time as they oppose their councils amalgamating with Warringah - where the mayor isn't so keen on the home team.

Irony in action.

 

[HappilyManly]

Where's Lovefooty and another rant on how this is one big conspiracy from Penn to abandon Brookie. Me thinks if that was the end game they wouldn't be fighting like they are and considering running candidates for Council.

But hey, maybe we can ignore this because it doesn't neatly fit with the agenda.

Running for Council does not change the existing NSW planning codes that are standing in the way of the 30 story pie-in-the-sky Penn plans.

I don't see a fight for anything but the bottom line - refusing to pay for a contracted amount is hardly a fight for Brookie Building on land you don't own -> $$$$

Lawyers will get richer, is about the only certainty in this matter

 

[Mals]

Probably trying to work out how we can make a loss on 45K.

Somehow the club is burning money such that 2000 tickets @$25 (= 50K to cover the hiring fee) is not enough.

So the club must be pissing money down the drain somewhere.

There are many more untruths in the article eg Leichardt has worse facilities than Brookie. I have never walked into the toilets at brookie to find them knee deep in water/urine/*other stuff at Brookie but have seen this 3 times at Leichardt.

We have 100's if not 1000's of unused seats many of which are undercover at most games as plenty prefer the hill so that point is moot anyway.

I have walked through the most up to date change room facilities at Homebush and apart from being bigger there isn't a huge amount of difference in the quality. The only real restriction is being able to warm up indoors.

You are cherry picking here as well Fluffy. The reason why so many seats in the stands are empty is that they are expensive to sit in! If they were as cheap as sitting on the hill they would be full most rounds. Also you get season ticket holders not turning up to games who have reserved seats so even though the seat may be empty for a particular game it has been paid for. I also assume the Warringah council ground hiring fee doesn't include other expenses the club incurs such as ticketing & ground staff, security staff, entertainment etc.