Shute Shield: Bumper crowd expected for Warringah v Manly clash
With not much to shout about on the Australian rugby landscape, the Warringah v Manly Shute Shield showdown has come along at just the right time.
Saturday’s huge Shute Shield showdown between arch rivals Warringah and Manly at Rat Park is the game Australian rugby has been crying out for.
In the wake of the ordinary Super Rugby campaign and the ongoing Israel Folau dramas, “the battle of the beaches” has regenerated the passion of long-suffering supporters.
A crowd of around 10,000 is expected and the Rats have brought in 600 cases of beer and expect to sell 500 pies, 300 sausage rolls and 1000 buckets of chips.
The first round clash at Manly Oval set a ground record of 10,000 and so far this season 18 NRL games in Sydney and Wollongong have attracted fewer than that number of fans.
Three of those NRL games involved the Sea Eagles at Brookvale Oval.
Sydney Rugby Union president David Begg described the derby as a game of passion.
“Everyone on the peninsula is looking forward to it,” Begg said. “Because the peninsula is quite insular that leads the two clubs to have this very strange kind of sibling relationship.
“As I always say about the game it doesn’t matter where they are the ladder, ultimately anyone can win.”
Begg said the game demonstrated that the Shute Shield is on the up.
“The brands that are the clubs have a strong affinity in everyone’s local community,” he said.
“The problem with other brands or franchises is that people have tried to create them and there is an artificiality to that.
“There is no artificiality to Manly v Warringah, you support one tribe or the other.”
It’s a high stakes game on Saturday as Manly need a win in their race to secure a top six spot and a loss by Warringah could potentially see them drop from first to fourth.
Rats coach and former Wallaby Mark Gerrard said the game shows the competitiveness and quality of Sydney club rugby.
“And as much as we want to look after the top echelon of Australian rugby we need to take care of the grassroots, the only way to build a house is from the ground up,” he said
Gerrard said this derby elevates a regular Shute Shield game to another level.
“Taking nothing away from the other clubs, but to put plainly Manly and Warringah do it better than anyone else,” he said.
This game has extra significance for Marlins backrower Harry Bergelin who will captain the team for just the second time.
His late dad and club rugby legend Bernie was skipper of the Manly side played the Rats in the first derby at Manly Oval on April 27, 1971.
“I am very proud to be following in my dad’s footsteps,” Bergelin said. “I didn’t realise until this week that he had played in that first game.”
Manly won that first game 21-17 in front of a crowd of 3154 and their team included Tony “Slaggy” Miller, who was then in his 40s.
The Warringah side had 18-year-old backrower Rod Macqueen, who went on to become a Wallabies World Cup winning coach
Bergelin has loved the Warringah games from the days he watched them as a Manly ball boy.
“Even if it wasn’t the best game of footy there was always a stink - someone slept with someone’s girlfriend or sister, there was always drama,” Bergelin said.
“There’s always a bit of an edge and that’s what happens when everyone goes out together and knows each other from the community.”
In other team news, Wallaby Jack Maddocks has returned from South Africa to play for Easts against Randwick at Woollahra and Karmichael Hunt has been picked at No. 12 for Gordon against Norths at North Sydney Oval.
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