Meet Our
Manly Marlins Rugby Club Board
Cameron Douglas
President
Cameron joined the Manly club straight from school after moving down from country NSW. He played and captained the first grade team at Manly, captained the Australian U21 team and represented the NSW Waratahs. After finishing playing Cameron served on the board for several years before starting a family and dedicating his time to junior rugby in the Manly district, serving as a board member and president of both a Manly junior club and of the Manly Junior Rugby Union. Cameron has worked as an insurance broker and risk advisor for nearly 30 years both in business for himself and now with the largest risk advisory firm in the world, Marsh. Cameron has 2 sons that are keen rugby players and who are dedicated Marlins fans.
Matthew Curll
President
I have been involved in Manly Rugby for four decades, having played from fifth to first grade with the Manly Marlins between 1993 to 1998 (winning the Shute Shield Premier title in 1997), serving on the board previously during some of the Begg years, and also serving as a Trustee of the Manly Rugby Foundation. Since November 2023 I am now proudly serving as its Club President.
In addition to this, I am an accomplished insurance lawyer and leader who has been advising both Australian and English insurers in the General Insurance sector for 30 years. As the national practice leader of Hall & Wilcox’s national insurance division, I am a member of the firm’s executive leadership group and board of partners. I manage a large national team over eight offices, and am focussed on ensuring our people, our clients and our community all thrive.
Most importantly I am passionate about Manly Rugby, the Manly Community and I look forward to bringing together all the skills I have to help Make Manly Rugby Great Again in this post covid era, to see our young players develop into better rugby players, better people and for them, our members, our juniors, our sponsors and the community at large to have great experiences and lifelong memories from their visits down to the village green at Manly. I also want us to win a Shute Shield again. It is time.
Tim Herbert
Vice President
Tim first joined Manly in 1990 when “he wandered in off the street” as an English backpacker. He played for the club for 4 years before returning to the UK until finally emigrating to Australia permanently in 2000. Tim and his wife Emma are well known to the Manly rugby community and have 3 sons who have all played for Manly rugby whether it be as a club junior or for the Marlins themselves. Tim has worked in the IT and BPO sectors since his return to Sydney 20+ years ago and had been involved with the Manly Marlins Colts program for over 5 years firstly as a coach and then as the Director of Colts.
Tim has now moved into the role of Director of Rugby for both Grade and Colts.
Andrew Gourley
Treasurer
Andrew is a Chartered Accountant who started his career with PWC before moving to Chubb Insurance holding several executive level roles including CFO. His involvement with Manly rugby started in 2002 with his son first running on for the Harbord Harlequins and continued with various roles including team manager, committee member, treasurer and today as the club’s auditor and life member. Andrew also had a long association with Manly Junior Rugby managing rep teams for many years before taking on responsibility for managing Manly Colts. After a short break, Andrew joined the Marlins Board as Treasurer in 2019.
John Gorton
Secretary
John has been a loyal and passionate supporter of the Manly Marlins since 2002, when he and his Australian wife emigrated from the UK and set up home on the Northern Beaches. Having enjoyed and been devoted to playing rugby throughout school, university and at lower league clubs until his late 30s, John is a huge believer in the values of the game and the camaraderie and friendship it brings to all involved. John has worked for over 30 years in the events and exhibitions industry both in the UK and Australia. After 17 years as a senior director with a leading international exhibition company, John joined forces with a former colleague in March 2021 to launch his own Manly-based event consultancy business. At the same time he stepped forward to take on the Secretary role at the Marlins. John is committed to making an active and positive contribution to the club, both in an administrative capacity and by offering strong support to the Board in his areas of expertise of sales, marketing and event management.
Ioanita Gentles
Womens Rugby
Ioanita Gentles is a local family lawyer, across the road from the Oval. An avid rugby fan, and being a local for the past 18 years, she has recently joined the Board to assist with the Manly Mermaids. She would like to contribute her legal skills, where possible, and be a supportive committee member especially to the women in the sport. Ioanita has worked as a lawyer for 30 years and has been the President of the Collaborative Professionals Northern Beaches for the past four years. Ioanita loves the Manly community. She has watched her son for years playing through Harbord Harlequins, a win at Paris 7’s and through St. Augustine’s into Colts.
“It will be a pleasure to assist in the Board”.
Olivia Jackson
Womens Rugby
Liv has been dedicated and heavily involved within the Manly Mermaids since 2021, playing Rugby 7’s as well as representing the ladies as Club Captain. She has enthusiastically joined the Manly Rugby Club Board to help guide the club with the growth and development of the Manly Mermaids, particularly with the introduction to the Jack Scott Cup in 2024. Liv aims to draw her knowledge and experience working in the Sports Media and Advertising industry, as well as her passion for Women’s sport, to further enhance the success and strengths of the Manly Mermaids Rugby Program.
Steve Schofield
Community
Steve joined The Manly Marlins Board in 2022 responsible for the vital role of working with the Rugby Community in Manly. Steve is also a Director with the St Augustine’s College Board and was a Board Director with Foodbank NSW/ACT for the past 10 years. Foodbank is a not-for-profit charity supplying food and other essential items to more than 600 charities in NSW and the ACT.
Peter Gibson
President
Colts and Juniors
Peter has been the President of Manly Junior Rugby Union since 2019 and has come onto the Board to promote the Marlins throughout our extensive junior base to ensure a smooth pathway exists for our juniors through to Colts.
Peter has been involved with coaching at the junior club level and Manly Reps since since 2015 and in 2022 was also part of the Sydney Juniors Representative Coaching Team.
Peter currently runs his own consulting business and commenced many years ago as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG before moving to Macquarie Bank in the Property Investment Banking Team. Peter has also worked in corporate roles including CFO and COO in investment banking, private equity, startup businesses and property.
Chris Hedge
Game Day & Events
Chris has lived on the northern beaches for 37 years and has had a continuous involvement in rugby since 2003 when his son first started playing rugby for one of the local Manly junior clubs, the Harbord Harlequins (where Chris is a Life Member). He has been involved continuously as a parent, as a match official and as an administrator for the Harbord Harlequins club, for Manly JRU and for Sydney North Rugby Referees Inc since 2003. Today, he remains an active referee and referee coach and has a son who plays for the Marlins and a daughter who plays for the Mermaids. Away from rugby, Chris has built a business career that started in chartered accounting and progressed to the financial services industry where he has enjoyed roles in credit, in sales and as a business unit leader over the past 29 years. Chris’ key role on the Board involves helping organise the annual Marlins Golf Day, the annual Sporting Lunch and trying to improve the match day experience for all of our supporters at the Village Green.
Damien Ferguson
Secretary
Damien is the proud CEO of PHM Health, a leading Australian NDIS provider located throughout NSW. As the leader of 300 staff located throughout Australia, with a vision to expand nationally in 12 months and globally in the next 2-3 years, I bring high energy directed by an unwavering commitment to Manly Rugby vision, mission and values.
John Gorton
Events
John has been a loyal and passionate supporter of the Manly Marlins since 2002, when he and his Australian wife emigrated from the UK and set up home on the Northern Beaches. Having enjoyed and been devoted to playing rugby throughout school, university and at lower league clubs until his late 30s, John is a huge believer in the values of the game and the camaraderie and friendship it brings to all involved. John has worked for over 30 years in the events and exhibitions industry both in the UK and Australia. After 17 years as a senior director with a leading international exhibition company, John joined forces with a former colleague in March 2021 to launch his own Manly-based event consultancy business. After being the Secretary in 2022, John has stepped forward to take on the Events role at the Marlins. His area of expertise. John is committed to making an active and positive contribution to the club, both in an administrative capacity and by offering strong support to the Board in the areas of sales, marketing and event management.
Sean O’Halloran
Partnerships
Seán is relatively new to the Marlins but brings a lifetime of passion for the game. His experience includes playing, coaching and the administration of junior and senior clubs in Victoria, Queensland and NSW. He has both played and coached at the representative level.
He has followed the Marlins since he moved to the Manly area eight years ago with his wife Victoria, who is the current President of Manly Life Saving Club. For the past few years he has been volunteer brigade helping with game set-up.
He brings plenty of commercial experience having held senior executive positions in the technology sector for over 20 years and will be driving partnerships and sponsorships as part of the clubs overall strategy.
David Begg
Community
David practised as a lawyer for 25 years in a variety of fields, including commercial and insurance litigation, across large and boutique firms. Following this he founded one of Australia’s most successful public affairs and advocacy businesses, before taking on a senior executive role at Australia’s largest personal injury scheme agent and insurer.
David has previously served the club as Manly Marlins President, and is excited to be back involved with the club.
Lawrence Mills
Partnerships
Lawrence has recently joined Manly in the role of Director, with a remit to help with partnerships. Lawrence has been living and working in Australia since 2010, previously residing in the UK. With a twenty year career in various corporate and executive roles. Lawrence brings a wealth of commercial and negotiation skills to the team. Lawrence’s role on the board consists of maintaining and attracting new commercial partners to ensure the long term financial health of Manly RFC, helping the team to invest in growing our club and supporting our community.