Mann, Ron
(1947 - )
[Top] With the Bombers, late-1970s [Beneath] On right with father, Dick Groenteman, Prague Bombers, mid-1960s, Prince Alfred Park Rink, Sydney. Courtesy Elliot Mann.
CAREER SUMMARY
Birth
July 17th 1947
Amsterdam Netherlands
Clubs
NIHL Newcastle North Stars, IHNSW Prague Bombers, IHNSW Newcastle Bombers, NSWSL Warringah Bombers, NSWSL Macquarie Bears
Goodall Cups
1970, '80, '81, '85
World Championships
1979 [Ice Hockey]
President NSW association
Foundation player-coach, Newcastle North Stars, 1980
Founder, Macquarie Bears, 1981-2
BORN JUNE 17TH 1947 IN AMSTERDAM NETHERLANDS, the son of Dick Groenteman, he immigrated with his family at the age of 4 to Sydney Australia. His father was a left-hander filling the left defense spot on the state team 14 times, twice as captain; president of the state association; and builder of the ice rinks at Newcastle, Narrabeen, Blacktown and the ice suface in Thebarton in Adelaide, South Australia. His younger brother Elliot played centre for Australia (1989), and his brother David was a defenseman who played for Australia in 1995 and also the Sydney Ice Dogs (2006) in the AIHL.
Like his father before him, he was a captain and coach of the Bombers and also playing coach of the first Newcastle North Stars in 1980-1. A former president of the state association and coach at the new Macquarie rink in Sydney in the early-1980s, he was a nourishing source of encouragement for the sport's pioneering women, players such as Wendy Ovenden. By 1986, he was able to tell The Age Good Weekend in Melbourne the sport is not exclusively male. "We have mixed teams up to the age of 14. After that, the girls have their own teams but they play against the boys' teams." He was the founder of the Macquarie Bears in 1981-2.
Coach of the national Development Council Skills School at Narrabeen, it was a job he said he would have liked to have done full-time. "Over the years, I've built up enough resources to come up with answers for them or suggestions sometimes even solutions." And that tended to continue on back at his Manly flat. "I may come home with a few officials. We often have teams visiting interstate and they have to be organised with managers, coaches, etc. There's a lot involved at times like this, arranging schedules and accommodation for the players. I spend a lot of time on Sundays flitting from one meeting to another."
He was a Goodall Cup champion on numerous occasions representing New South Wales (1970, 1980, 1981, 1985), and he represented Australia at the 1979 World Championships in Barcelona, scoring a goal and an assist. He played veteran hockey since the 1980s, visiting Europe twice a year on buying trips for his clothing import business, including his birthplace in the Netherlands.
Ross Carpenter, 'Mann, Ron (1947 - )', Legends of Australian Ice, Melbourne, Australia, http://icelegendsaustralia.com/legends-2/bio_mann-r.html, accessed online .
1. Ronald Mann ice hockey player by Cindy Daytes, The Age Good Weekend, July 18, 1986 p 94
2. The First Bombers: club captain Dick Groenteman, Ross Carpenter, Jan 2015. Online
vs St George
From Left Vince (G), Wayne Campbell, Paul Kelly, George Charest (back to camera), Ron Mann, Allan Harvey. Prince Alfred Park, Sydney, 1968. Courtesy Wayne Campbell.
Goodall Cup Champions
New South Wales, Sydney, 1970. Courtesy Wayne Campbell.
Captain of Newcastle Bombers
Wharf Road Rink, Newcastle, NSW, 1979.
With the Bombers
With Steve Lindsay, David Robertson, Brian Wilson, Bob Platt and Andy Watts, Narrabeen Ice Skating Centre, Su=ydney, late-1970s. Courtesy Freddie Doyle.
With Newcastle Allstars v Australia
February 2nd 1979. Image courtesy Noel Taylor.
With the National Senior Team
C-Pool Worlds, Barcelona, Spain, March 1979. Image courtesy Paul Rice.
First Northstars
Wharf Road Rink, Newcastle, NSW.
vs Newcastle
First Bomber from left, Wharf Rd Rink, Newcastle, c1981. Courtesy Freddie Doyle.
Bombers Flying High
Article, Manly Daily, 1981. Courtesy Phil Regan.
with the Bombers
1980s. Courtesy Allan Harvey.
The new Narrabeen rink
Waiting for first ice, August 1981. Courtesy Phil Regan.
NIHL Champions
Warringah Bombers, 1981. Blades Newsletter, Vol 1, No 4, 1981.
Goodall Cup Champions
New South Wales, Ice World, Perth, 1985. Courtesy Anthony Moldenhauer
With Netherlands Ice Hockey Team
Kneeling 3rd from left, 1946. Courtesy David Mann.
With TYSC Tilberg Trappers
Kneeling left, Nederlands, 1949-50. Courtesy TYSC Tilburg Trappers History Site.
With Prague Bombers
From left: Groenteman, Huegle and Tuller, late-1950s. Image courtesy David Mann.
First Victory as Prague Bombers
Prince Alfred Park, Sydney, 1959. Courtesy David Mann.
Behind Coach Emil Butchatsky on right
Prague Bombers, 1962. Image courtesy David Mann.
Bombers HQ: Warringah Ice Skating Centre
Narrabeen, Sydney, mid-1980s. Courtesy Dick Mann.
With the Chalwin Trophy
Sydney, c 2016. Courtesy Dick Mann.