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Manly Immortal Bobby Fulton has taken time out to explain why selling the naming rights to Brookvale Oval will be financially very beneficial to the Sea Eagles, especially in revamping the tired old facility.
But Lottoland Oval hardly has the same ring to it as Brookvale, Manly’s home ground since they were elevated to NRL status in 1947. That’s 664 first grade games ago.
Lottoland? Rex Mossop must be turning in his grave.
But is it any better than say La La Land, or Disneyland?
You can bet your last dollar the Manly faithful will still reverently refer to their home ground as Brookie, and don’t be surprised if many media outlets will call Manly’s games at Brookvale.
Taking Bozo Fulton’s explanation further, why haven’t two senior Liberal politicians, both locals, in Tony Abbott and Mike Baird used their influence to find the necessaries to upgrade Brookvale?
Sorry, Lottoland.
What’s worse – Lottoland for Manly or 1300Smiles Stadium, named after a dental firm, for the Cowboys in Townsville?
Or spare a thought for Cronulla, winner of just one NRL premiership, but have suffered multiple name changes to their home ground – Caltex, Endeavour, Ronson, Shark Park, and Toyota Park – have I forgotten any?
It’s worse for the coming season with the mouthful of Southern Cross Group Stadium.
For the record there are other sponsored ground names worth mentioning.
Whataburger Field, the home of the Corpus Christi Hooks in Texas, a minor league baseball team.
Sleep Train Arena, a mattress company, the home ground of the Sacramento Kings in the NBA.
Or KFC Yum! Center, the home of the Louisville Cardinals basketball team
I never thought an iconic rugby ground like Ellis Park in Johannesburg would ever fall for the sponsorship naming rights, but it did from 2008 to 2012 as Coca Cola Park to the chagrin of the faithful.
Does that mean the likes of the MCG, SCG, and Twickenham could tread the same path?
As James Bond would say – never say never.
So far Donald Trump hasn’t made a comment about Lottoland which is strange as he’s made plenty of Twitter comments on other topics.
But Nick Xenophon has lashed out, saying it is “outrageous” to describe Brookvale Oval as Lottoland.
What a South Australian Senator would know about rugby league defies description.
“The Manly Sea Eagles and Lottoland are in a race to the bottom. This goes further than other brazen sponsorship deals just to rebadge an entire stadium,” is how the Senator sees it.
None of those words will worry Manly, while its worth repeating the Manly faithful will always call their home ground Brookie.