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Councillor takes eye off the ball
05 Mar 10 @ 04:18pm by PETER PETERS
http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/councillor-takes-eye-off-the-ball/
OUTSPOKEN Warringah Councillor Vincent De Luca has the timing of a bull in a ballet.
De Luca has had a public outburst this week and centred his vitriolic criticism at the behavour of the Sea Eagles squad and its fans - on top of a claim that the northern beaches iconic sporting team doesnt contribute enough to the community.
This is the same Vincent De Luca who on March 25, 2008 appeared on a list of Mayoral candidates on the Sea Eagles official website. All the candidates pledged support of the Brookvale Oval development.
By appearing on the list it could be inferred to Sea Eagles fans (and ratepayers) that De Luca was supporting the club. The club was swamped with calls from candidates wanting to fly on the wings of the Sea Eagles.
Now to the De Luca claims:
(1) Behaviour of the Sea Eagles squad:
Da Luca points to accusations made at last years season launch - the facts are Brett Stewart continues his fight in the courts to clear his name while Anthony Watmough was cleared of claims over an incident with a sponsor.
The Manly players live, work and play within the district and are generally praised by the majority for their easy going, welcoming demeanour. Up until 12 months ago the Sea Eagles were considered the benchmark off the field in the NRL.
(2) Behaviour of fans in and around Brookvale Oval:
In the 2009 season there were 11 games at Brookvale Oval with 165,000 fans attending.
For most games 13 police and 50 security guards are in attendance.
Security may prevent entry or dismiss intoxicated fans from the ground with an average of 10-15 per game (crowd average 13,700 in 2009). The Sea Eagles telephone hotline for complaints attracted six calls with five complaining about cars parked illegally across driveways.
Complaints made directly to the council were mostly about noise coming out of the ground.
Brookvale Oval, while rundown and in a dilapidated state, is considered as being family-friendly and relatively incident-free.
It should be noted that Manly have used the ground since its inception in 1947 and that people moving into the area are aware that there will be 10-12 major events at the ground each year. Move close to an airport and one gets the noise which comes from aeroplanes. Live near the districts only sporting ground which can accommodate 10,000 people and expect a few hours of mainly peninsula-based residents enjoying their sporting day or night out supporting their team. It is insulting to suggest the behavour of the majority of Manly supporters are anything but well behaved.
(3) Claims that the Sea Eagles dont contribute to the local community:
This is totally uninformed and borders on being outrageous.
Ask the mums and dads of the children at Frenchs Forest Arranounbai School for special needs who have a new bus to take the children to and from school and for excursions. The Sea Eagles players, sponsors and the Macquarie Bank raised $140,000 for the bus. So far this year the Sea Eagles players have spent 146 hours in the community - mostly in the northern beaches. However, it should be noted that the club donated $10,000 and several players helped rebuild a community shelter at Coonamble after the area was severely affected by flooding.
Last week prop Brent Kite headed up a player group who drove to Taree to help raise money for Camp Quality kids in need.
More than 30 players visited 12 local schools and eight Central Coast schools as part of the NRL Community Carnival.
The Sea Eagles will pay half the cost of a new educational and recreation room at the Far West Home at Manly visited by 4500 country children last year.
Players attended North Palm Beach Surf Club recently to cook a barbecue for youngsters from Arnhem Land.
Only on Friday at Harbord Diggers Club the Sea Eagles unveiled their Community Program for 2010. It includes supporting a host of local charities.
From next week 14 schools in the district will be visited by one player every week for an entire term as part of the clubs reading program which has been piloted for two years and enormously advantageous for primary schools.
I challenge De Luca to produce figures from any other sporting club on the northern beaches which does half of what the Sea Eagles do.
As for Brookvale Oval, it is in a disgusting state for both supporters, media and sponsors. If I were De Luca I would be concentrating more on providing some genuine access and entry points for people in wheelchairs who want to attend matches. They have to contend with watching the game from no undercover area.
It should also be noted that the State Government grant for an upgrade of the facilities came after years of lobbying from Manly patron Kerry Sibraa and that the Council allocation came from the then administrator Dick Persson. The $1 million for lighting came from the Federal Government.
For years the council has neglected the ground to such an extent that it now borders on being archaic. Councillors have a duty to provide sporting grounds for our youth. The grounds in Warringah are a disgrace despite recent good rain. De Luca constantly points to the fact the Sea Eagles are privately owned. Yes we are and if we werent we would be dead.
The generosity of the Delmege and Penn families has been a blessing for the Sea Eagles and its hundreds of thousands of supporters ... and for the many local businesses who provide jobs in the clubs, restaurants, hotels and motels that benefit from Manly playing at its historic home ground.
But the perception is that they make money out of the Sea Eagles. They dont and probably never will.
05 Mar 10 @ 04:18pm by PETER PETERS
http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/councillor-takes-eye-off-the-ball/
OUTSPOKEN Warringah Councillor Vincent De Luca has the timing of a bull in a ballet.
De Luca has had a public outburst this week and centred his vitriolic criticism at the behavour of the Sea Eagles squad and its fans - on top of a claim that the northern beaches iconic sporting team doesnt contribute enough to the community.
This is the same Vincent De Luca who on March 25, 2008 appeared on a list of Mayoral candidates on the Sea Eagles official website. All the candidates pledged support of the Brookvale Oval development.
By appearing on the list it could be inferred to Sea Eagles fans (and ratepayers) that De Luca was supporting the club. The club was swamped with calls from candidates wanting to fly on the wings of the Sea Eagles.
Now to the De Luca claims:
(1) Behaviour of the Sea Eagles squad:
Da Luca points to accusations made at last years season launch - the facts are Brett Stewart continues his fight in the courts to clear his name while Anthony Watmough was cleared of claims over an incident with a sponsor.
The Manly players live, work and play within the district and are generally praised by the majority for their easy going, welcoming demeanour. Up until 12 months ago the Sea Eagles were considered the benchmark off the field in the NRL.
(2) Behaviour of fans in and around Brookvale Oval:
In the 2009 season there were 11 games at Brookvale Oval with 165,000 fans attending.
For most games 13 police and 50 security guards are in attendance.
Security may prevent entry or dismiss intoxicated fans from the ground with an average of 10-15 per game (crowd average 13,700 in 2009). The Sea Eagles telephone hotline for complaints attracted six calls with five complaining about cars parked illegally across driveways.
Complaints made directly to the council were mostly about noise coming out of the ground.
Brookvale Oval, while rundown and in a dilapidated state, is considered as being family-friendly and relatively incident-free.
It should be noted that Manly have used the ground since its inception in 1947 and that people moving into the area are aware that there will be 10-12 major events at the ground each year. Move close to an airport and one gets the noise which comes from aeroplanes. Live near the districts only sporting ground which can accommodate 10,000 people and expect a few hours of mainly peninsula-based residents enjoying their sporting day or night out supporting their team. It is insulting to suggest the behavour of the majority of Manly supporters are anything but well behaved.
(3) Claims that the Sea Eagles dont contribute to the local community:
This is totally uninformed and borders on being outrageous.
Ask the mums and dads of the children at Frenchs Forest Arranounbai School for special needs who have a new bus to take the children to and from school and for excursions. The Sea Eagles players, sponsors and the Macquarie Bank raised $140,000 for the bus. So far this year the Sea Eagles players have spent 146 hours in the community - mostly in the northern beaches. However, it should be noted that the club donated $10,000 and several players helped rebuild a community shelter at Coonamble after the area was severely affected by flooding.
Last week prop Brent Kite headed up a player group who drove to Taree to help raise money for Camp Quality kids in need.
More than 30 players visited 12 local schools and eight Central Coast schools as part of the NRL Community Carnival.
The Sea Eagles will pay half the cost of a new educational and recreation room at the Far West Home at Manly visited by 4500 country children last year.
Players attended North Palm Beach Surf Club recently to cook a barbecue for youngsters from Arnhem Land.
Only on Friday at Harbord Diggers Club the Sea Eagles unveiled their Community Program for 2010. It includes supporting a host of local charities.
From next week 14 schools in the district will be visited by one player every week for an entire term as part of the clubs reading program which has been piloted for two years and enormously advantageous for primary schools.
I challenge De Luca to produce figures from any other sporting club on the northern beaches which does half of what the Sea Eagles do.
As for Brookvale Oval, it is in a disgusting state for both supporters, media and sponsors. If I were De Luca I would be concentrating more on providing some genuine access and entry points for people in wheelchairs who want to attend matches. They have to contend with watching the game from no undercover area.
It should also be noted that the State Government grant for an upgrade of the facilities came after years of lobbying from Manly patron Kerry Sibraa and that the Council allocation came from the then administrator Dick Persson. The $1 million for lighting came from the Federal Government.
For years the council has neglected the ground to such an extent that it now borders on being archaic. Councillors have a duty to provide sporting grounds for our youth. The grounds in Warringah are a disgrace despite recent good rain. De Luca constantly points to the fact the Sea Eagles are privately owned. Yes we are and if we werent we would be dead.
The generosity of the Delmege and Penn families has been a blessing for the Sea Eagles and its hundreds of thousands of supporters ... and for the many local businesses who provide jobs in the clubs, restaurants, hotels and motels that benefit from Manly playing at its historic home ground.
But the perception is that they make money out of the Sea Eagles. They dont and probably never will.
