Brookvale Oval
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Brookvale Oval, currently known as 4 Pines Park for sponsorship reasons, is a
multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...
in the suburb of Brookvale,
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
, Australia. The ground is owned by
Northern Beaches Council The Northern Beaches Council is a local government areas of New South Wales, local government area located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 after the a ...
and is primarily used by the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
, with a capacity of 18,000. By the end of the 2023 season, Brookvale had hosted 720 first grade premiership games.


History

In the late nineteenth century, the suburb of Brookvale was known as Greendale. The name Brookvale was later adopted as that was the name of the home built by the original grantee of the land, William Francis Parker. It was in this area that Dan Farrell built his stone house called "Inverness" which was later to become Manly Leagues Club. The area known as Lot 47 A (Land Titles Office Vol. 1524 Fol. 122) was sold to Jane Malcolm in April 1907. Land title records suggest that between 1907 and 1911, Malcolm carried out a subdivision of Lot 47A into four blocks. From Alfred Road in the west to Pine Avenue in the east, these lots respectively measured 2 acres 2 roods 12 perches, 4 acres 1 rood 4 perches, 2 acres 0 roods 22 perches and 2 acres 0 roods & 2 perches. Lot 47A became known in the early 1900s as "Farrell's Paddock", and it was the location of a public gathering in April 1910 to celebrate the extension of the tram line from Manly to the village of Brookvale. In the following year, the State Government reached agreement with Warringah Shire Council to acquire land for a park near the Shire's Offices. The acquired land plus a smaller parcel of land bought from Miss Jane Malcolm (later known as Jane Try) from Brookvale, was officially opened in 1911 as Brookvale Park. "Presumably inspired by local resident action at that time to secure a public park or village green for the suburb, Jane Malcolm presented to the Minister for Lands the largest of the four lots from Lot 47A (the lot measuring 4 acres 1 rood 4 perches) – under a caveat that it only ever be used for public recreation purposes. Although the ‘dedication’ refers strictly to the first lot of land donated by Jane Try, subsequent acquisitions by Council of the other lots owned by Mr & Mrs Try were described specifically for the purposes of public recreation or for enlarging the Park" The Park was transformed into a showground within the first decade. In 1921, the Brookvale Show was established with the formation of the Warringah Agricultural, Horticultural, Amateur Sports and Athletic Association. Between 1919 and 1928 children from Brookvale School planted trees to commemorate Arbor Day and it was the setting for school sports days and Empire Day picnics. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Brookvale Park was utilised by the Defence Force for training purposes.


Since 1945 onwards

On 25 April 1951, a new attendance record at Brookvale was set at 9,447, with spectators overflowing onto the field for a match between Manly and South Sydney. Over fifty annual shows were held at Brookvale Park before the show was moved to St Ives Showground. Trotting and ring events were features of early shows at Brookvale. The trotting track occupied a substantial area of the Park with lighting of the ring for night entertainment. Substantial improvements were later made to form a sporting oval by the addition of stands. Pavilions were constructed along Alfred Road to house show exhibits. Outside of the annual show period these pavilions were used for local church services and meeting rooms for the local community. They were also used by local bands as a place to practice. 'With the formation of the Manly-Warringah Rugby Club, known as the Sea Eagles, however, the situation changed. The horse events of the Show had to be transferred to an oval in Frenchs Forest because the horses’ hooves did too much damage to the turf of the rugby ground, and the Show itself ended its long association with the Park in 1992. The growth in popularity of the Rugby League competition led to the re-forming of the oval into a rectangular field in 1970–71, with major earthworks undertaken to form spectator ‘hills’ on the eastern and southern sides of it. Following this came the construction of simple but large concrete grandstands on the western and southern boundaries of the field, and finally the Ken Arthurson Pavilion that linked the two. The construction of these facilities necessitated the removal of the original grandstand and the various exhibition halls and show pavilion, and with that, the termination of their use by community organisations and their hiring out for social functions'. While Manly Council favoured rugby union and would not permit league to be played at Manly Oval, Warringah Council was more sympathetic to the rugby league cause and encouraged the playing of rugby league matches at Brookvale Park. Thus when the
Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...
were granted first grade status in
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
, the team's first match in the big league was a home game at Brookvale Oval against Western Suburbs on 12 April. Manly, captained by Max Whitehead and featuring others such as Johnny Bliss and Mackie Campbell (the grandfather of Manly's all-time leading try scorer Steve Menzies), played well against their more fancied opponents in that historic first match at Brookvale scoring three tries to one but narrowly losing the match 15–13 courtesy of a string of scrum penalties from referee Aub Oxford that allowed Wests fullback Bill Keato to kick six goals. The ground was the setting for the NRL match between the Sea Eagles and
Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...
which informally became known as the " Battle of Brookvale" after two players got sent off following an all-in brawl which occurred in the first half. Players and officials from both clubs copped the brunt of the
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
for their roles in the match.Manly Sea Eagles beat Melbourne Storm 18-4 in NRL round 25
''The Daily Telegraph'', 27 August 2011
No less than 12 players and officials from Manly and Melbourne Storm will be scrutinized by the NRL
''Fox Sports Australia'', 29 August 2011
In September 2019, before the finals series, Manly's elimination home final against Cronulla was almost moved after traces of asbestos were reportedly found at the ground. The game went ahead after inspectors gave it the all clear.


Layout and use

Brookvale has three grandstands stretching the western and southern sides of the ground. The Jane Try Stand, running along the western side is the biggest of the three. It is also one of the few grandstands of major Australian stadiums to be named after a woman. The Ken Arthurson stand in the south west corner, was constructed in 1995. It is named after the long serving Manly, NSWRL and ARL administrator who is known as the "Godfather of Manly". The
Lyons Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
- Menzies Stand, formerly known as the Fulton- Menzies Stand, is located at the southern end of the ground is elevated with standing room underneath. Originally just referred to as the Southern Stand, it was renamed after two Sea Eagles club legends, Bob "Bozo" Fulton and Steve "Beaver" Menzies. At the time of the stands renaming, Menzies and Fulton held the club try scoring records with 180 and 129 respectively, though Fulton's record was surpassed by fullback Brett Stewart in
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
, before being renamed in 2022. The Fulton name was transferred to the new Bob Fulton stand, which opened in 2022 with a capacity of 3,000, and is situated at the front of the club's Centre of Excellence. A large hill runs along the eastern side. The ground's capacity is around the 20,000 mark.


Funding

As the major stakeholder and lessee of the park, Manly-Warringah Football Club launched a "Save Brookie" campaign, aimed at government funding for improvement to the facilities including seating, accessibility, improved safety, corporate boxes and construction of another stand, likely behind the Eastern Hill. The Warringah Council (Local Government) initially pledged funding of $4 million dependent on further grants from State and Federal Governments. The NSW State Government provided a further grant of $6 million in June 2008, and the club has restated its aim for a further $6 to $10 million from the Federal Government. On 6 August 2013, the Federal Government announced a grant of $10 million regardless of the outcome of the 2013 Federal Election. This money is part of a planned $30 million upgrade of the oval which will include a new 4,350 seat grandstand complete with corporate facilities on the eastern hill, as well as upgrades to the Fulton-Menzies Stand. Family Hill (northern hill) is expected to remain as it is and the grounds capacity is expected to remain at around 23,000 when the planned re-development is finished. In February 2017 a 3-year $1 million naming rights deal with Lottoland, renamed Brookvale Oval to "Lottoland". In August 2019 Lottoland group exercised its option to extend the sponsorship contract, worth $500,000 for another year to the end of the 2020 season. The final game to be played under the name "Lottoland" was in Round 9, 2021 of the NRL between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and
New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...
. A 4-year deal was signed with 4 Pines Brewing Company to be named "4 Pines Park". In January 2025, before the start of the new season, the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and 4 Pines Brewing Co. announced the renewal of the stadium naming rights partnership, extending the agreement for 4 Pines Park to the end of the 2027 season. 4 Pines has proudly held the naming rights to the Northern Beaches local iconic Brookvale Oval, now known as 4 Pines Park, since 2021.


Construction of Centre of Excellence and grandstand

In February 2019 it was announced Brookvale Oval would receive a $36.1 million facelift including a 3000-seat grandstand and centre of excellence after securing a NSW government grant. The facility, which will be located at the northern end of the oval, began construction in October 2020 and was funded by the NSW Government (contributing $20 million) the Federal Government ($12.5 million), and Manly Sea Eagles ($600 thousand).


Attendance

The single record attendance for any event at Brookvale was set during a regular season clash between the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...
and Parramatta Eels on 31 August 1986 which drew 27,655 fans. Given changes to the configuration of the ground undertaken in the 1990s it is unlikely that this record will ever be broken. The game is officially declared sold out when crowds creep around the 20–22 000 mark, although no official cut-off is continuously used. 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. Since the club started playing in 1947, over seven million spectators have visited the ground. In 2013, the ground was marred by claims of racism and aggressive behaviour by fans, including recent taunting and racist slurs towards the wife and young daughter of Kiwis and Bulldogs forward Frank Pritchard. The largest known attendance per decade at Brookvale Oval are as follows: * 1947–49 – 3,600* – Manly vs Balmain, Round 6,
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
* 1950–59 – 10,908* – Manly vs Western Suburbs, Round 6, 1958 * 1960–69 – 13,644 – Manly vs Newtown, Round 1,
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...
* 1970–79 – 25,876 – Manly vs Balmain, Round 11,
1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...
* 1980–89 – 27,655 – Manly vs
Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...
, Round 26, 1986 * 1990–99 – 26,168 – Manly vs
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
, Round 22,
1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
* 2000–09 – 20,163 – Manly vs
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
, Round 25,
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
* 2010–19 – 20,510 – Manly vs South Sydney, Round 7,
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
* 2020–29 – 17,385 – Manly vs Wests, Round 9 -
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
, Manly vs
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Round 18,
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
- Manly vs
Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...
, Round 8,
2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
''* Attendance records for most games played at Brookvale Oval not known from 1947 to 1956.''


Top 10 Attendances


Configuration for Sea Eagles games

Seating at the ground is in one of three linked grandstands. The Jane Try stand houses those season-ticket holders of the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...
and is located on the western side of the ground. The Jane Try Stand opened in 1971 and was built at a cost of $250,000. The second grandstand addition to Brookvale Oval was the Southern Stand built in 1979, located at the Southern end of the ground. The Southern Stand houses some corporate facilities. This stand was renamed at the end of the 2008 season. It became the Fulton-Menzies Stand after club legends Bob Fulton and Steve Menzies. The third structural addition to the ground is the Ken Arthurson Stand. The stand was officially opened on Sunday 14 June 1995. It was built at a cost of $3.3 million and seats 1,250 people. The stand is named for the greatest administrator in the club's history and contains corporate boxes as well as reserved seating for fans. The Ken Arthurson Stand is located in the south-western corner of the ground between the Jane Try and Fulton-Menzies stands. In its early days it was often referred to as the link stand as it linked the two grandstands at the ground. There is some limited general admission seating around the perimeter concourse of the ground with a depth of between 3 and 5 rows. Other general admission areas include the Eastern Hill, which spans the length of the eastern side of the ground. Ground improvements over the off-season following the 2011 premiership win, included extending of the Jane Try Stand to run the full length of the western touchline and the inclusion of corporate facilities. Delays in the completion of these works forced the Sea Eagles to play away for the first 5 games of the 2012 season.


Other uses


Rugby union

In 2014, the North Harbour Rays announced Brookvale Oval as their home ground for the inaugural National Rugby Championship season. The
NSW Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play ...
played their 2019 season opener
Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...
game against New Zealand's Hurricanes on 16 February 2019 and attracted a sellout 17,111 crowd. The Waratahs played preseason matches at Brookvale Oval against the New Zealand's Highlanders in 2017 and the
Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...
in 2018.


Soccer

In June 2014,
A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...
club Central Coast Mariners announced its intention to play at least one home game per season at Brookvale Oval. The Mariners scheduled the 2014–15 round 16 match against Adelaide United at Brookvale Oval, however it was relocated to the Mariners normal home ground Central Coast Stadium due to the poor condition of the grass at Brookvale Oval.


Playing surface

Brookvale Oval turf cover is predominantly Kikuyu grass. In March 2019 Northern Beaches Council CEO Ray Brownlee said "Council is committed to providing as safe a playing surface as possible at Brookvale Oval and has continued to invest around $160,000 each year in its ongoing maintenance". Council in its draft 2019–20 budget, allocated $1.2 million to upgrade the playing surface at Brookvale Oval. This was originally to commence at the end of 2019 Sea Eagles season, but will now delay this resurfacing project until the end of the 2020 NRL playing season. This will allow sufficient time to consider other key factors such as optimal surface positioning and levels for the Centre of Excellence and Sea Eagles home game scheduling towards the back end of the 2020 season and front end of the 2021 season.


Gallery

Image:Brookvale Oval 2.JPG, Lyons-Menzies Stand Image:Brookvale Oval 3.JPG, Jane Try Stand Image:Brookvale Oval 5.JPG, Family Hill and Scoreboard prior to construction of the Fulton Stand Image:Brookvale Oval Fulton Stand.jpg, The Bob Fulton Stand after the Manly-Warringah vs St George Illawarra match in 2025


References


External links

* {{NRC Grounds Rugby league stadiums in Australia Rugby union stadiums in Australia Sports venues in Sydney Articles containing video clips Manly Warringah Sea Eagles Northern Eagles 1911 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 1911