The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league team.

Lot 47A became known in the early 1900s as "Farrell's Paddock", and it was the location of a public gathering in April 1910 to celebrate the extension of the tram line from Manly to the village of Brookvale.

On 25 April 1951, a new attendance record at Brookvale was set at 9,447, with spectators overflowing onto the field for a match between Manly and South Sydney.

The growth in popularity of the Rugby League competition led to the re-forming of the oval into a rectangular field in 1970–71, with major earthworks undertaken to form spectator ‘hills’ on the eastern and southern sides of it.

Following this came the construction of simple but large concrete grandstands on the western and southern boundaries of the field, and finally the Ken Arthurson Pavilion that linked the two.

The construction of these facilities necessitated the removal of the original grandstand and the various exhibition halls and show pavilion, and with that, the termination of their use by community organisations and their hiring out for social functions'.

Thus when the Manly Sea Eagles were granted first grade status in 1947, the team's first match in the big league was a home game at Brookvale Oval against Western Suburbs on 12 April.

Manly, captained by Max Whitehead and featuring others such as Johnny Bliss and Mackie Campbell (the grandfather of Manly's all-time leading try scorer Steve Menzies), played well against their more fancied opponents in that historic first match at Brookvale scoring three tries to one but narrowly losing the match 15–13 courtesy of a string of scrum penalties from referee Aub Oxford that allowed Wests fullback Bill Keato to kick six goals.

[4] The ground was the setting for the NRL match between the Sea Eagles and Melbourne Storm which informally became known as the "Battle of Brookvale" after two players got sent off following an all-in brawl which occurred in the first half.

Originally just referred to as the Southern Stand, it was renamed after two Sea Eagles club legends, Bob "Bozo" Fulton and Steve "Beaver" Menzies.

[10] In August 2019 Lottoland group exercised its option to extend the sponsorship contract, worth $500,000 for another year to the end of the 2020 season.

[11] The final game to be played under the name "Lottoland" was in Round 9, 2021 of the NRL between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and New Zealand Warriors.

In February 2019 it was announced Brookvale Oval would receive a $36.1 million facelift including a 3000-seat grandstand and centre of excellence after securing a NSW government grant.

[15] The single record attendance for any event at Brookvale was set during a regular season clash between the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and Parramatta Eels on 31 August 1986 which drew 27,655 fans.

In 2013, the ground was marred by claims of racism and aggressive behaviour by fans, including recent taunting and racist slurs towards the wife and young daughter of Kiwis and Bulldogs forward Frank Pritchard.

The Jane Try stand houses those season-ticket holders of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and is located on the western side of the ground.

Ground improvements over the off-season following the 2011 premiership win, included extending of the Jane Try Stand to run the full length of the western touchline and the inclusion of corporate facilities.

[18] In 2014, the North Harbour Rays announced Brookvale Oval as their home ground for the inaugural National Rugby Championship season.

[19] The NSW Waratahs played their 2019 season opener Super Rugby game against New Zealand's Hurricanes on 16 February 2019[20] and attracted a sellout 17,111 crowd.

[23] In June 2014, A-League club Central Coast Mariners announced its intention to play at least one home game per season at Brookvale Oval.