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Tarnished Silvertails
Brad Walter | March 9, 2009
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/new...1236447048237.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Without a ball being kicked in season 2009, Manly are already reeling from some self-inflicted high hits, writes Brad Walter.
Just five months ago, Manly were living the dream. After surviving the failed merger with North Sydney and near extinction, the once-despised Sea Eagles had been cheered by most of Sydney after beating Melbourne 40-0 in the biggest grand final win in history.
Off the field, the club had just secured a new major sponsor after Quantum Eco Hot Water agreed to pay $1 million a season to have their names on the front of the Sea Eagles' jersey, and six Manly players were chosen in Australia's World Cup squad.
But amid the euphoria, things were beginning to fall apart as the club's owners, Max Delmege and Scott Penn, bickered, and the behaviour of the players raised concerns about the culture at Manly.
Now the future of the club is again being called into question after a season launch at a Manly pub last Friday afternoon that was meant as a public relations exercise to demonstrate that Delmege and Penn were attempting to work together went horribly wrong when Test back-rower Anthony Watmough got into an altercation with a sponsor, and star fullback Brett Stewart was accused of sexual assault.
The boardroom war
Delmege estimates that over the course of the past eight years he has sunk up to $15m into keeping the Sea Eagles afloat but after CEO Grant Mayer replaced his company on the front of the Manly jersey with a new major sponsor he seems to be reluctant to keep paying.
As a result, Penn has become frustrated and the pair became embroiled in a public slanging match that threatened to overshadow Manly's successful World Club Challenge campaign.
Despite owning a margin-ally bigger shareholding than Delmege, Penn does not have control of the board, and Mayer, coach Des Hasler and media manager Peter Peters have become caught up in the politics.
All three may now be lost to the club, with Mayer having already offered his resignation after directors rejected a proposal to extend his contract for a further three years and offered Hasler just a 12-month extension, while Delmege wants Peters sacked for publicly criticising him.
The leagues club
Manly turned to privatisation because their leagues club was struggling to provide an annual grant to the football club, and things haven't gone any better since the increase in poker machine taxes and the ban on smoking. With debts of $10m, it has even been suggested that Manly Leagues Club is bordering on insolvency after the sale of the building and land it sits on collapsed when Delmege and Penn failed to proceed with a $15m deal that they had paid a non-refundable $750,000 deposit on.
Potential new buyers are now being sought but no matter what happens it seems unlikely the leagues club will ever be able to financially support the football club again, which was why Delmege first became involved.
The culture
After winning last year's grand final, Sea Eagles players partied hard at a penthouse in Manly organised by club officials so they could let their hair down in private. Yet some of the players couldn't help themselves, with Watmough exposing his buttocks at television cameras, and another player, who is no longer with the club, exposing himself to the Herald.
The club was aware of both of these incidents and NRL chief executive David Gallop spoke to officials about the players' behaviour. Given the latest problems, it appears to have made little difference. For years Manly have thrived on being the club everyone else hated, and it has become a self-perpetuating cycle whereby arrogance is confused with club pride.
There have been few off-field incidents at the Sea Eagles that have become public but the attitude at Manly appears to be more concerned with keeping their players out of the headlines than curbing their behaviour.
The incident
It probably seemed like a good idea at the time but having a season launch at lunchtime on a Friday and then telling your players they were not required for training until Monday (as it was the last free weekend in their calendar hopefully until October) was always fraught with danger. Throw in the fact that unlike last year's lunch at the Opera House, last Friday's shindig was held in a Manly pub and the potential for trouble was even higher.
Some of the players began drinking just after they arrived at 12.30pm, and when the function finished three hours later they stayed. By 5pm Watmough was involved in a pushing match with a club sponsor, while Stewart was reportedly refused service at a number of other bars in Manly. At 8pm, he headed home but never quite got there after being accused of the sexual assault of a 17-year-old.
Brad Walter | March 9, 2009
http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/new...1236447048237.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1
Without a ball being kicked in season 2009, Manly are already reeling from some self-inflicted high hits, writes Brad Walter.
Just five months ago, Manly were living the dream. After surviving the failed merger with North Sydney and near extinction, the once-despised Sea Eagles had been cheered by most of Sydney after beating Melbourne 40-0 in the biggest grand final win in history.
Off the field, the club had just secured a new major sponsor after Quantum Eco Hot Water agreed to pay $1 million a season to have their names on the front of the Sea Eagles' jersey, and six Manly players were chosen in Australia's World Cup squad.
But amid the euphoria, things were beginning to fall apart as the club's owners, Max Delmege and Scott Penn, bickered, and the behaviour of the players raised concerns about the culture at Manly.
Now the future of the club is again being called into question after a season launch at a Manly pub last Friday afternoon that was meant as a public relations exercise to demonstrate that Delmege and Penn were attempting to work together went horribly wrong when Test back-rower Anthony Watmough got into an altercation with a sponsor, and star fullback Brett Stewart was accused of sexual assault.
The boardroom war
Delmege estimates that over the course of the past eight years he has sunk up to $15m into keeping the Sea Eagles afloat but after CEO Grant Mayer replaced his company on the front of the Manly jersey with a new major sponsor he seems to be reluctant to keep paying.
As a result, Penn has become frustrated and the pair became embroiled in a public slanging match that threatened to overshadow Manly's successful World Club Challenge campaign.
Despite owning a margin-ally bigger shareholding than Delmege, Penn does not have control of the board, and Mayer, coach Des Hasler and media manager Peter Peters have become caught up in the politics.
All three may now be lost to the club, with Mayer having already offered his resignation after directors rejected a proposal to extend his contract for a further three years and offered Hasler just a 12-month extension, while Delmege wants Peters sacked for publicly criticising him.
The leagues club
Manly turned to privatisation because their leagues club was struggling to provide an annual grant to the football club, and things haven't gone any better since the increase in poker machine taxes and the ban on smoking. With debts of $10m, it has even been suggested that Manly Leagues Club is bordering on insolvency after the sale of the building and land it sits on collapsed when Delmege and Penn failed to proceed with a $15m deal that they had paid a non-refundable $750,000 deposit on.
Potential new buyers are now being sought but no matter what happens it seems unlikely the leagues club will ever be able to financially support the football club again, which was why Delmege first became involved.
The culture
After winning last year's grand final, Sea Eagles players partied hard at a penthouse in Manly organised by club officials so they could let their hair down in private. Yet some of the players couldn't help themselves, with Watmough exposing his buttocks at television cameras, and another player, who is no longer with the club, exposing himself to the Herald.
The club was aware of both of these incidents and NRL chief executive David Gallop spoke to officials about the players' behaviour. Given the latest problems, it appears to have made little difference. For years Manly have thrived on being the club everyone else hated, and it has become a self-perpetuating cycle whereby arrogance is confused with club pride.
There have been few off-field incidents at the Sea Eagles that have become public but the attitude at Manly appears to be more concerned with keeping their players out of the headlines than curbing their behaviour.
The incident
It probably seemed like a good idea at the time but having a season launch at lunchtime on a Friday and then telling your players they were not required for training until Monday (as it was the last free weekend in their calendar hopefully until October) was always fraught with danger. Throw in the fact that unlike last year's lunch at the Opera House, last Friday's shindig was held in a Manly pub and the potential for trouble was even higher.
Some of the players began drinking just after they arrived at 12.30pm, and when the function finished three hours later they stayed. By 5pm Watmough was involved in a pushing match with a club sponsor, while Stewart was reportedly refused service at a number of other bars in Manly. At 8pm, he headed home but never quite got there after being accused of the sexual assault of a 17-year-old.
