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Manly's players have been employed as ticket sellers this week as the Sea Eagles try to drum up support and money to rebuild their stadium but despite the big expat Kiwi population, sales for the Warriors game on Monday are dismal.
Brookvale Oval needs a A$60 million-plus ($69 million) revamp but neither the federal nor the New South Wales Governments are interested in contributing and the football club, only recently saved from bankruptcy, has no dough.
Six years after the failure of the Northern Eagles merger with North Sydney, the Sea Eagles again face the prospect of moving home games to the Central Coast where the state Government assisted the local council to build Bluetongue Stadium at Gosford.
All gate sales from Monday night's game against the Warriors are to go to a "Save Brookvale Oval" fund. The Manly Warringah League Club, the Manly Rugby League Football Club and its two majority owners Max Delmege and Scott Penn have all tossed in A$10,000 already, the money to be used to lobby politicians at state and federal level.
Thousands attended a rally in November to push the case for funding for a much-needed reconstruction. Brookvale became home of the Eagles in 1947 when the then Manly Council was dominated by rugby supporters and so it denied the league club use of Manly Oval, which remains the area's rugby ground.
The existing stand was built in 1967 and modified in 1980. The NRL rates it the worst of the 19 grounds used in the competition, both in terms of the surface and the facilities.
Offers of a free T-shirt emblazoned "At Brookvale Since 1947 _ Brookie Forever" on the back and "I Helped Save Brookvale Oval" on the front _ which may be worth half the cost of the ticket price, did not spur sales for Monday's game. Some 2000 were available on a first-in, first-served basis but just 200 had sold by Thursday and they were still available yesterday.
Former Manly and Kiwis fullback Darrell Williams, now publican/owner of the iconic Steyne Hotel, was among those pushing sales. "Manly has always held a special place in the hearts of Kiwis, some of our best have played in the maroon and white," Williams said.
The Eagles' poor start to the season must be partly to blame. They were beaten 16-10 at Brookvale in round one by the Cronulla Sharks, a team they haven't lost to at home since 1987. Then they lost away at Newcastle. There were 15,424 at the Sharks game, capacity 23,000. In 2007, an average 15,000 attended home games and that was down 5 per cent on 2006.
Meanwhile, Former Kiwis centre David Vaealiki was yesterday ruled out of the Manly side due to a knee injury.
"It's a bit of swelling in the knee that's affecting my mobility. We'll hopefully get it sorted before next Saturday [the match against South Sydney]," said Vaealiki, who returned to the NRL this year after a stint in England.
Coach Des Hasler now faces a reshuffle of his squad before Monday.
He is already without another Kiwis test centre Steve Matai with shoulder and neck injuries.
The Broncos are chasing Melbourne's coach Craig Bellamy to replace Wayne Bennett. Bennett is talking to the Dragons. Cowboys assistant Ian Millward may take over from Graham Murray at North Queensland. In the wings is former Warriors coach Daniel Anderson who is returning to Australia after this Super League season.
