Manly Rugby Foundation

Success through Development

Manly Rugby Foundation

The Manly Rugby Club has a rich history as one of the oldest and most successful rugby clubs in Australia. Founded in the 1800s and invited to the premier grade in 1906 the club has been a feature of life on Sydney’s northern beaches for over a century and has always fielded competitive sides at every level of grade and colts rugby.

Players, members and supporters of the club have recognised the increasing financial burden associated with running a club as successful and famous as the Manly Rugby Football Club. This group has therefore decided to establish this Foundation to help secure the future success of the club at all levels.

The Foundation intends to establish a fund in excess of $1 million dollars. Long term the capital will be preserved, the income generated by this capital will enable the Foundation to achieve its objectives.

Foundation Objectives

Target the Premiership

To the great credit of players and management, every season the Sydney Premiership will witness competitive Manly sides contesting the finals series at many levels. However, the most coveted First Grade Premiership has only been secured 7 times and only twice in the last 30 years.

A key objective is therefore to secure greater success by winning more Premiership titles for Manly. The Foundation believes that success on the field is vital in attracting players, supporters and sponsors to the club.

Development of Players and Coaches

A core focus of the Foundation will be to ensure that players and coaches reach their maximum potential because of the quality rugby programme available to them at Manly. We must continue to produce Super XV and Wallaby players and coaches.

“Success through development” will ensure that Manly Rugby will always be an attractive club for players and coaches seeking to develop and achieve this potential.

Infrastructure

To secure future sustainable success, the Foundation will work with the Manly Rugby Club to ensure the best quality rugby infrastructure is in place.

The Foundation can ensure that the club has the equipment, the coaching and technical skills, plus the medical support and advise that is needed to achieve and maintain success on the field.

Scholarships

The foundation may also support a scholarship programme to encourage the best young players, both within and outside of the district, to play their rugby at Manly, thus recognising the club as a professional pathway to representative rugby.

Maintain the culture, secure the future

While playing rugby at Manly, team members learn valuable life skills, and develop as individuals throughout their playing careers. Players, management and supporters alike build friendships, enjoy and contribute to the club’s unique seaside camaraderie and have experiences that are cherished for a lifetime.

The Foundation recognises that the best way to maintain this culture is to field competitive sides at all levels of grade and colts rugby. This depth of player strength is critical to the on- going success of the club on the field and in maintaining the clubs culture.

In time, the Foundation will play an increasingly important role in securing the financial and commercial independence of the club.

How the Foundation works

The Foundation is a not for profit company with an executed Grant Agreement with the Australian Sports Foundation, a government body that manages and assists with the funding and development of sport across Australia. As a consequence, all donations to the Foundation are tax deductible to the donor.

The Founding Fathers of the Foundation are Bill Calcraft, Matt Curll, Alan Jones AO, Bob Merrett and Steve Williams. All have a distinguished association with Manly Rugby as player or coach dating back to the late 1970s.

The capital donated will be invested in a portfolio of securities, providing a level of income that will enable the Foundation to make regular distributions to the playing club. Such distributions will be consistent with the Foundations objectives as stated in the Grant Agreement and the constitution of the club.

The capital fund will ultimately be preserved in perpetuity as only the income will be distributed to the playing club. However, in the interests of achieving some of the Foundations immediate objectives, earlier distributions from capital may be possible. Nevertheless the accumulation of capital shall be key to the long term investment strategy of the Foundation.

How the funds will be distributed

The Founding Fathers will consult regularly with the Manly Rugby Club, including the management, the club captain, the coaching staff and leaders of the playing group. Through this process the Foundation can expect to identify the best opportunities for the distribution of funds in a manner that will achieve the objectives of the Foundation.

By way of example, the Foundation envisages that funds could be distributed as follows:

The retention of specialist coaches and advisors, to provide fitness, technical and medical expertise to the playing group and improve the rugby development programme of the club.
The development of a scholarship programme to retain and attract the best young players, within and outside of the district, to play their rugby at Manly.
The purchase of capital items for the club that would otherwise exceed budgetary constraints. This includes specialised training equipment, upgrading of facilities, game and player computer analysis hardware and software.
Funds will NOT be made available to pay players for playing the game.