Brookvale Oval Investigation - Warringah Council - NSW Government

Appendix 3: Council, Stakeholders & Local Sporting Bodies
Consultation
Warringah Council
• Warringah Council have some 120 sporting reserves at 54 locations
• The Council owns and is responsible for the maintenance of Brookvale Oval throughout the year
• Brookvale Oval is the only regional Category A rated sportsfield
• Management/use of the oval reverts back to Council outside of the Manly Sea Eagles licensing terms
(i.e. from the start of October to the end of January)
• There is some potential to run one off events in between each of the twelve home game periods during
the Sea Eagles licensing period
• The NRL draw is published prior to the season so the weeks that the Sea Eagles are playing at home is
known at the start of the season but not the actual day of the week
• Only 5 weeks notice is given by the NRL as to whether home games will be played on a Friday night,
Saturday, Sunday or Monday night
• There are problems with scheduling one off events during the Sea Eagles licensing period due to this
uncertainty
• As a home game may be scheduled on a Friday night, Saturday, Sunday or Monday night there is no
consistent day in the week which is potentially free for regular casual bookings when the 2 day bump
in/out is taken into account
• Brookvale Oval has been used for various one off events (casual bookings) in the past including school
athletic carnivals, Walk for Life, concerts, Wallabies & Waratahs’ training sessions etc
• The main issue for one off events is the fee structure (i.e. it is cost prohibitive for many community
groups)
• There is no summer tenant use for organised sport (i.e. start of October to end of January)
• Perception that Brookvale Park is a rugby league venue rather than a community facility
• Oval renovations are currently undertaken between October and December
Manly Sea Eagles
• The Club administration and training is based at the New South Wales Academy of Sport at Narrabeen
(a 10 year lease was signed with the NSW government in 2004 for use of this venue)
• The Sea Eagles have 4 teams – NRL, U20, U18 & U16
• The Sea Eagles play all home games at Brookvale Oval
• The U20, U18 & U16 train only at Narrabeen while the NRL team train at Brookvale Oval the day before
a home game and when the field at Narrabeen (situated next to a lake) has flooded during winter
• The Sea Eagles have a 5 year licence (interim) with Warringah Council which runs from the start of
February to the end of September (i.e. NRL season)
• During the licence period they have exclusive use of Brookvale Oval for their 12 home games as well
as a couple of training days at the start of the season
• There is a 2 day bump in/out either side of game day (i.e. exclusive use of oval for 5 days)
• There is a minimum of 2 games (sometimes 3) played on match day
• Pre-season training runs from November to February and involves up to two sessions each day from
Monday to Friday of 1.5 to 2.0 hours with 30 to 35 players; training during the season involves 3
sessions of 1.5 hours per week
• They are generally happy with the playing surface at Brookvale Oval but commented that it is very soft
and they get “heavy legs”; drainage of the field is not too bad although the end goal area can get boggy
• The Sea Eagles long term plan is to continue training at Narrabeen (i.e. they aim to renew current
contract when it is up) and to continue to use Brookvale Oval for all home games and as a back up
training venue in wet weather when they cannot train at Narrabeen
• Ideally they would like no other sports played / usage on Brookvale Oval during the season so that it is
kept in pristine condition for matches; however they would accept low impact use (eg. school use) but
would like prior notification of this or any other use during the season
Brookvale Oval Investigation Final Report (February 2010) Page 24