Dean Ritchie pens an open letter to Peter Beattie outlining why Cronulla has such a long, funny and rich history
HOW could you forget about them Peter Beattie? How could the Sharkies, the boys in the black, white and blue, slip from your mind?
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DEAR Peter,
It didn’t take long — the sharks are already circling you. And they’re man-eaters.
What a horrid start to your time as rugby league boss. Fancy not knowing who the Cronulla Sharks are? Are you serious?
It was an embarrassing gaffe which has immediately eroded the public’s confidence in your ability to govern our great game.
But we all make mistakes, Peter, and we shouldn’t nail you to the cross just yet.
You obviously have your heart in rugby league and are also juggling the heavy burden of running this year’s Commonwealth Games.
We in rugby league are a forgiving bunch. Even if you are a Queenslander.
But let me give you a quick guided tour about what Cronulla has achieved since their entry into the NSWRL competition back in 1967.
Endeavour Field, Ronson Field, Caltex Field, Toyota Stadium, Remondis Stadium and Southern Cross Group Stadium. It’s still just Shark Park to us.
Home to the team who was part of the bloodbath grand final against Manly in 1973.
And again in 1978 with their heroic grand final replay defeat, again to bloody Manly.
This is the club who won their first piece of silverware, the 1979 Amco Cup against Combined Brisbane.
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But that’s just the start, their history books are full of:
* Gavin Miller winning successive Dally M Awards in 1988 and 1989, even with his famously squashed nose.
* Barry Russell claiming the 1988 Rothmans Medal.
* Flamboyant medical entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten offering the buy the club for then wife, Leanne, in 1986.
* Pommy greats Tommy Bishop and Cliff Watson.
* Then chairman Peter Gow cutting up the Dragons jumper of a Saints fan at the King Wan Chinese restaurant inside Cronulla Leagues in 1999.
* The brilliance of Steve Rogers and Andrew Ettingshausen.
* Todd Carney being punted by the club for the infamous bubbler.
* The club being coached by legends Arthur Beetson, John Raper and Jack Gibson.
* Twice overcoming crippling financial problems and the 2013 supplements scandal.
* A huffing and puffing Hammer Head mascot getting changed from his outfit in the same room as the after-match media conference.
* The pain most teams felt playing Cronulla on a Saturday night at Shark Park through the 1990s.
* The Captain’s Disco inside Cronulla Leagues during the 1980s.
* The toughness of forwards Greg Pierce, Paul Gallen, Steve Kneen and the Sorensen brothers, Kurt and Dane.
* The club’s long-serving media manager, Rob Willis, having to quit the professional golf circuit because he had the yips.
* Reaching the 1997 Super League grand final.
* Famously ending their 50-year drought with victory in the 2016 grand final.
* Fanatical fan Buzz Rothfield getting a Sharks tattoo on his ankle after the win.
* And that annoying, yet infectious, piano sing-a-long of Up, Up Cronulla after each home ground win.
They aren’t the Seagulls or Hawks, Peter.
They are the Sharks — a NRL club with a proud, long and rich history.
Hope this helps.
See you at Sharks Park for the derby on Thursday night, old mate.
Cheers,
Bulldog