Manly United Football Club is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...

area of Sydney. The club competes in the

National Premier Leagues NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier L ...

and their home ground is

Cromer Park Cromer Park is a community football (soccer) ground located in the Northern Beaches (Sydney), Northern Beaches suburb of Cromer, New South Wales, Cromer in Sydney. It is home to Manly United FC and Manly Warringah Football Association. History ...

, in the suburb of

Dee Why Dee Why is a coastal suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local government area of Northern Beaches ...

, approximately 15 minutes away from Manly. Its main grandstand is named after former Socceroo captain

Lucas Neill Lucas Edward Neill (born 9 March 1978) is an Australian former Association football, soccer player. Neill played as a Defender (association football), defender, often playing as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre back as well ...

, who played for the club as a junior before playing overseas at Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United. Manly United Football Club Ltd. was officially formed in 2004 by the Manly Warringah Soccer Association. However, there have been many representative teams competing for the association prior to this date. Notably, the previous club was called Manly Warringah Dolphins, that formed from the merger of Manly-North Shore United and Warringah Freshwater at the close of the 1991 NSW Division 1 season for the start of the upcoming 1992 NSW Super League season.

History

Neerlandia / Manly Warringah

A Dutch club called Neerlandia competed in the 1959 Sydney Federation Division Two, won the premiership and gained entry into the Sydney Federation Division One for 1960. The club changed its name to Manly Warringah from 1960. The side had spent 14 seasons throughout the New South Wales top flight in 1960, 1968, and from 1976 to 1987 before being relegated to Division Two. With the club struggling, it merged with North Shore United in 1991. North Shore United itself was a merger of two clubs Ku-Ring-Gai and North Sydney-Artarmon (for the 1989 season). The Manly-North Shore United merger dissolved after the 1991 NSW Division One season, with Manly merging with Warringah Freshwater. North Shore United would continue to send representative teams to tournaments as Ku-Ring-Gai Districts.

Warringah Freshwater

Warringah Narrabeen (and from 1986 Warringah Freshwater) was a club that had competed throughout the early 1980s in NSW Division Two, even winning the title in 1983. With promotion in 1984 to NSW Division One, the club maintained mid-lower half of the table across their eight-year sojourn in the top flight. Their highest place finish was 5th, achieved in 1991 before merging with Manly for the newly revamped "NSW Super League" in 1992.

Manly Warringah Dolphins

The merger of Manly-North Shore United and Warringah Freshwater created the Manly Warringah Dolphins at the close of the 1991 NSW Division 1 season for the start of the upcoming NSW Super League season. The club had gained promotion into the

NSW Premier League The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Lea ...

for the start of the 2004–05 season. At the time, the club was operating solely as a representative branch for the Manly Warringah Soccer Association (MWSA). However, it was a requirement from

Soccer NSW Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of New South Wales, with the exception of the northern regions of NSW (the governing body for which is Northern New South Wales Football). Football NSW is a member of the nat ...

that all Federation Clubs be a separate incorporated body and so Manly United Football Club Ltd. was formed.

Manly United (2004–present)

Manly United have competed in the NSW Tier 1 since 2004–05 when they were elevated to the

after winning the Super League Division. Manly United is considered an important side in the NSWPL, as it is based on a geographical area, rather than founded by a single ethnic group like some other ex-NSL clubs. The original Logo of the renamed Manly United Football Club in 2004 was a collective of an Osprey sea bird, a Football & a Dolphin joined as one, these three icons represent the local MWFA Association (Osprey), a Football & Manly Warringah Dolphins (Dolphin). The Club again changed its logo in 2016 to reflect the evolution of Manly United Football Club and its ownership and association with Manly Warringah Football Association. The club is closely associated with the Manly Warringah Football Association (MWFA), the largest community Football Association in Australia with more than 20,000 players.

Divisional History

*2004–2012:

(NSW Tier 1) *2013–present:

(NSW Tier 1)

Manly Warringah Dolphins

*1992–1996:

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

(NSW Tier 1) *1997–1999: Division One (NSW Tier 2) *2000: Super League (NSW Tier 1) *2001–2004: Winter Super League (NSW Tier 2)

Lucas Neill Scholarship and Medal

Between 2006 and 2012 ex-Manly junior

helped provide opportunities for up and coming footballers from his junior club. Each year the scholarship was awarded to a different young player from Manly to trial in Europe. Due to a number of factors including difficulty getting clubs in Europe to provide the opportunity for the players, the scheme was discontinued as Lucas and his advisors looked for a different way to reward the junior players from his junior club. In 2014 the scholarship was re-branded the Lucas Neill Medal and was extended to include ALL junior members of the club, it was determined that there should be two medals awarded each year, in recognition of the advancements in ladies football. The medal is made from Sterling silver and is laser engraved on the front with a photograph of Lucas when he first became captain of Australia in 2007.

Current Men's squad

Men's Seasons

Men's Honours

:Men's Club Champions (1): 2016 *

Grand Finals :Champions (1): 2017 :Runners Up (1): 2022 *

Waratah Cup The Waratah Cup is a knockout cup competition in New South Wales, run by the governing body of football in NSW, Football NSW. Teams competing in the Waratah Cup come from the National Premier Leagues NSW, NSW League One, NSW League Two, and n ...

: :Champions (1):

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

:Runners-up (4): 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016

Manly Warringah Dolphins (1992–2004)

:Premiers (1): 1995 :Runners-Up (1): 1992 *

Grand Finals :Champions (1): 1995, :Runners-Up (0): *

National Premier Leagues NSW 2 The Football NSW League is an Australian soccer league based in 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 b ...

:Premiers (1): 2004 :Runners-Up (1): 2002 *

Grand Finals :Champions (1): 2001 :Runners-Up (2): 1994, 2004

References

External links

* {{NSWPL National Premier Leagues NSW National Premier Leagues clubs Manly, New South Wales Association football clubs established in 2004 2004 establishments in Australia Northern Beaches