The new $32.5 million Centre of Excellence at 4 Pines Park has today been officially opened as the Penn Centre of Excellence.
The Penn Centre of Excellence is named after the Penn Family who have been the owners of the Sea Eagles since 2006.
Manly CEO Tony Mestrov said the new Penn Centre of Excellence was a great recognition to the Penn Family for their contribution to the Sea Eagles.
“Not many people know this but the NSW Government funded the Centre of Excellence, but it was the Penn Family who underwrote the project,’’ Mestrov said.
“This means that if there was an overspend on construction and completion, the Penn Family would have worn the cost.
“Without this significant commitment, our magnificent Centre of Excellence facility that the players and coaching staff now enjoy, would simply not have gone ahead.”
The Penn Centre of Excellence provides an integrated world-class high-performance training, administration and community facility for the identification, development and fostering of rugby league talent on the Northern Beaches.
Ken Arthurson, affectionately known as ‘The Godfather of Manly’, said it was a great honour for the Penn Family to have the Centre of Excellence named after them.
“I remember when I first sat down with Scott Penn to discuss the privatisation of the Sea Eagles back in 2003 when the Club was on its knees after the Super League war,’’ Arthurson said.
“It was a dark time for not only the Manly Club but also for the game of rugby league as a whole.
“We have certainly come a long way since those discussions and the Penn Family have achieved many of the goals we set at the time, including winning two premierships and making four grand finals. We also won a World Club Challenge title in 2009.
“I have always admired the professionalism of the Penn Family and the way they have had the best interests of the Sea Eagles at heart.
“Quite frankly, it is very fair to say that without the wonderful contributions of the Penn Family, both on and off the field, I wouldn’t know where this great Club of ours would be today.”
