History of The Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles - Rivalries

Rivalries

The Manly Sea Eagles have developed some rivalries since 1947. Some of them include:

• North Sydney - The first, and most obvious, was the local derby's between North Sydney. As well as taking many of North's playing stock due to the residential rule imposed at the time, Manly had bought further stars from the North Sydney club including Ken Irvine, Cliff Lyons and Martin Bella. Even the fact that North Sydney are not longer competing in the top league, has fueled this rivalry, with many Bears supporters believing that Manly systematically pushed the North Sydney element out of the Northern Eagles joint-venture.

• Parramatta Eels - Another rivalry was with fellow debutants from 1947, Parramatta. Not much was made of their clashes until the mid 70's, and in particular the 1976 Grand Final in which Manly denied the Parramatta club a maiden premiership. Further clashes through to the mid 80's cemented a fierce rivalry between many of the clubs supporters.

• South Sydney Rabbitohs - There was a small rivalry between these two clubs from 1947 to 1971, as along with the St. George Dragons, they were the powerhouses of the time and they played each other in the 1951, 1968 and 1970 Grand Finals. From 1972, the rivalry became bigger, as due to the abolishment of the rule where players could not freely negotiate with other clubs, the Sea Eagles signed many of South Sydney's stars, including Ray Branighan and John O'Neill, and more recently Terry Hill and Mark Carroll.

• Western Suburbs Magpies - Also during this time, the clashes between Western Suburbs Magpies and Manly were billed as a battle between the "Silvertails" and the "Fibros". This distinction between perceived classes of people fuelled many tough matches between the clubs, particularly after Manly would secure top players from the Magpies such as John Dorahy, Les Boyd, David Gillespie. The Silvertails and Fibros monikers first appeared in stories written by reporter Chris Masters, in the late 70's. It should be noted that Chris was the brother of the then Wests coach, Roy Masters.

• Newcastle Knights - Since the mid-90's, Manly has also built a rivalry with the Newcastle Knights club. In many ways this mirrors the Manly/Wests clashes where class distinction is used to fuel the perceived underdogs, in this case the working class city of Newcastle. In 1997, both Manly and Newcastle fought out the decider, with Newcastle winning 22-16. Recently, in the 2007 August 10 match to commemorate the 1997 grand final Manly took revenge, thumping the knights 50-16.

• Melbourne Storm - Manly have recently built up a rivalry with the Melbourne Storm club. Over the last few years they have had very close games, they have been the top two teams in the premiership, and they have played each other in the 2007 and 2008 NRL Grand Finals.