More than one thousand members, fans and keepers of fun were outraged to learn that Northern Beaches Council banned Manly Touch Association from playing music briefly between their games. After some serious backlash, the rule has since now been overturned.
Leaders from the sporting summer competition organised a meeting with Council a few weeks ago and successfully negotiated to have the permissions to play the music reinstalled.
“We met with Council last week, and it was really positive meeting. They were really, really encouraging in regards to supporting us having music here. So we’ve got the approval to continue for the final few rounds with music this year,” Manly Touch President Kate Perrett told Manly Observer last week.
Before the temporary ban, Manly Touch played music in between games at Nolan Reserve for five years for their Junior Summer Competition. It plays for about two-minute intervals between 4 pm and 6 pm, Thursdays and Fridays from September to December.
The club’s managers say the ‘pump-up’ activity has been complaint-free during that time up until last month when a work-from-home employee complained to Council about the loud music.
Council responded by citing permission is needed to play the music during hire periods to limit the impact on surrounding residents with approval usually only given on one-off special events.
A wrath of community backlash followed as over 1200 people signed a petition demanding the music ban be lifted.
“Get with it NBC haven’t you read the memo from Chris Minns? It’s time to let people enjoy themselves,” one commenter wrote.
“Seriously young kids having fun, being active, and we succumb some people who have a problem with music, an absolute joke. Let the kids enjoy themselves it is not late at night,” another added.
Independent Councillor from Narrabeen Ward Vincent De Luca also showed support for the cause.
Manly Observer took to Nolan Reserve on Friday to see how players reacted to the news. There are only a few games left of the season, but considering they are finals games, music is appreciated now more than ever.
Reactions were easier described rather than quoted, perhaps the best example being two opposing teams who had just battled it out in a semi-final, displaying happy screams and interpretive dance moves on hearing the return of the music – making it hard to decipher the winner of the match.
Although the lifted ban was an exciting win for the competition, Manly Touch Association are aware it may be short-lived as the permissions only extends to the end of the 2024 season; they will need to reapply in 2025.
In the meantime, members are grateful for the support their local community showed.
“We’re really excited about it. I think the support we had from the online petition, plus lots of comments through Facebook and Instagram, plus the support of people like Vincent De Luca just showed us how much the music meant to people,” Kate said.
