Australia
National Rugby League (NRL) is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL competition (sometimes referred to as the Telstra Premiership for sponsorship purposes) is contested by 16 teams, 15 based in Australia and one based in New Zealand, and is the Southern Hemisphere's elite rugby league championship.
Sea Eagles vs Rabbitohs
Match scheduled:
Date: 19-06-2010
Time: 09:30 until 11:30
Round #15 - NRL Telstra Premiership 2010
Watch live rugby TV
n a repeat of the 2007 grand final, Manly again played Melbourne in the 2008 decider. The story was very different for the Sea Eagles this time around as they decimated the Storm 40–0 to win their seventh premiership in front of 80,388 at ANZ Stadium. Manly Prop Brent Kite was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal after a powerhouse display which included a class try in the 58th minute. This is the largest winning margin in a grand final in NRL history.
The 2009 season boded poorly as a result of two incidents on the day of Manly's season launch. Second-rower Anthony Watmough was assaulted by a sponsor after allegedly making innapropiriate comments to his daughter [2]. Brett Stewart later that night, allegedly sexually assaulted a 17-year old girl outside his apartment block, an incident which led to the dammning Four Corners investigation, "Code of Silence". Stewart's case is currently before the courts.
Manly paid a $100,000 fine for failing to adequately punish Stewart for his offence. Stewart faced a brief trial at the time, and a further, more comprehensive trial began in March 2010. As a result, Manly lost their first four games of the season before a 23–10 win against the Tigers. The Sea Eagles managed to recover and snared fifth place at the end of the season and lost the first qualifying final to eventual premiers Melbourne 40–12. This premiership was also stripped from the Storm.
In 2010, Manly have started the season with a team of many new faces, including young play-maker Kieren Foran. After narrowly losing their first two games of the season, Manly won their third, following three matches against Newcaslte,the Warriors and the Sharks and look to be beginning to mount a charge for the premiership. Manly players have not been involved in any further violations in 2010, and have embarked on an active program of community engagement, which includes activities such as reading at schools and raising money for charities.
[edit] Emblem and colours
 1950–1969 | Manly imagesCAXFJL72.jpg 1980–1997 |
Upon entering the NSWRL, the Manly club took on the colours of maroon and white. These were adopted from the colours of the President's Cup side who wore the colours of the local Freshwater Surf Lifesaving Club, which was previously established in the area in 1908.
The club's first jersey was maroon with a large white 'V' on the front. Manly teams were one of the first to feature an emblem, with an 'MW' appearing in the early 1950s. Far from the flashy logos worn today, the Manly‘Sea Eagle’which appeared in the mid 1950s was often confused for a seagull by many, including the media.
Various changes to the jersey were introduced at irregular intervals. The classic 'V' design was radically changed during the years of Pepsi sponsorship during the 90s. In addition, the club has broken up the maroon jersey with hoops, bars, large eagles, player numbers, stripes, double stripes, top and bottoms, collars, no collars, reversed colours and even the use of blue.
Manly would change their Sea Eagle logo in 1998 following the introduction of the new competition. A new stylised sea eagle appeared under the 'Sea Eagles' banner, much more fierce and aggressive than its predecessor. It featured predominatley maroon, white, yellow and blue to symbolise the connection the club had with its major sponsor at the time Pepsi. This logo would not last however when the ill fated merger with North Sydney Bears in 2000 saw them take on the Northern Eagles moniker instead.
Upon their return in 2003, Manly opted to revert back to the previous logo but tweaked the logo slightly to focus on the sea eagle itself and include Warringah in the clubs name again. They also returned to their original colours of maroon and white, a symbol of their roots steming back from 1947. This logo has been in use since then.
A commerative logo was used throughout the 2006 season to mark the 60th anniversary of their inclusion in the competition.
During the 2007 pre-season, the club introduced a limited number of 65 playing and memorabilia green and white jerseys, for a trial match against the Melbourne Storm.
[edit] Stadium
 | This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2008) |
When Manly were accepted into the competition, the local Manly Council denied the club permission to use Manly Oval as a home ground. The council at the time was very pro-rugby union and attempted to stop the rival code spread to the area. Because of this, the club decided instead to acquire Brookvale Showground in order to host matches, which was supported by Warringah Council.
The ground was mostly renovated between 1965 and 1980, including the construction of two grandstands along both the southern end (Southern Stand) and western side (Jane Try Stand) of the ground. In the early 1990s, these two grandstands were connected by the Ken Arthurson Stand. The ground has also retained grassy hill areas along the eastern and northern edges. On 1 September 2008, the Southern Stand was renamed the Fulton-Menzies Stand.
Today the ground has a capacity of about 23,000. In 2006, the ground saw its largest average attendance over an entire season, with an average of 15,484 patrons watching each of the club's 11 matches played there. The record crowd at the ground is 27,655, set in the final round of the 1986 season. Since the club started playing in 1947, over five and a half million spectators have visited the ground.
In recent years, Manly have received criticism over the state of facilities at Brookvale Oval. In 2007, Manly stepped up their campaign for government funding to improve the stadium, culminating in a "Save Brookvale Oval" Rally on 21 November. As of September 2008, $4,000,000 of Warringah Council funding and a $6,000,000 NSW State Government grant has been secured by the club to allow for the initial redevelopment of the Jane Try Stand (with an additional level) and improvements to the Southern Stand and other amenities. A further $10,000,000 is being sought from the Federal Government for the development of an eastern stand, with the intention of maintaining a 10-metre deep grassed area in front of it.
[edit] Rivalries
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