Remembering the most violent rugby league grand final of all time between Manly and Cronulla

It’s the grand final which belonged at “Jurassic Park” — not the SCG. Former Manly and Cronulla players re-live the brutal 1973 bloodbath on its 50th anniversary. Watch the extraordinary footage.

This Sunday, when Cronulla and Manly meet at PointsBet Stadium, memories will be revived on the 50th anniversary for a game which changed rugby league forever.

“There was punching, kicking, eye gouging, elbows and knees — you could hear the bones breaking.”

Those were the frightening words from a Sea Eagles star used to describe the most violent grand final in rugby league history — the 1973 carnage between the Sea Eagles and Sharks.

“Bloodbath is an apt way to describe it,” said Manly fullback Graham Eadie while Cronulla’s English enforcer Cliff Watson once said: “We just belted the crap out of each other.”

Asked what he recalled about the game, Cronulla captain-coach Tommy Bishop simply said: “Violence.”

Veteran journalist Ray Chesterton added: “This game should have been scheduled for Jurassic Park — not the SCG. It was primitive.”

Forewarning what lay ahead, a combative Cronulla prop, English-born enforcer Cliff Watson, ran onto the SCG and leaned against the goalpost at the Members’ end, waiting ominously for Manly to enter the field.

Manly claimed Bishop and Cronulla — who fielded an inferior team — ignited the biff. Bishop, tongue-in-cheek, responded: “It all came from Manly.”

This was a game known for its brutality and thuggery. In the opening 20 minutes, players ran from one brawl to another.

Even referee Keith Page was dragged into the drama, threatening to fight a player behind the grandstand after full time.

Bishop, when talking about the hip injury which forced Manly’s Malcolm Reilly from the field, once famously said: “He’s a great player but he’s broken more jaws than Sonny Liston.”

Amid the blows and blood, one player — Manly Immortal Bob Fulton — decided to play football, scoring two tries in his side’s famous 10-7 win before 52,044 fans. Sadly, 11 players from the game have since died.

SEPTEMBER 15, 1973 : Players during Manly v Cronulla grand final at SCG in Sydney, 15/09/73. Pic News Ltd. Historical Rugby League A/CT

ZORBA’S REGRET

Peter Peters, the legendary Sydney broadcaster, was a Manly second-rower among the destruction that day.

“I did some things in that game that I’m ashamed of,” said Peters.

“You could hear the bones breaking. There were punches, kicks, eye gouges, elbows, knees. I did everything that everyone else was doing.

“This wasn’t a football game. Play in that first half virtually didn’t exist. When we ran out I looked at Cliff Watson and he was leaning up against the goalpost. He looked like a pirate, he had a problem with one side of his face.

“Watson looked like he was ready to create mayhem, and he did. I will never forget it. He and ‘Lurch’ (Manly prop John O’Neill) went at it like there was no tomorrow.

“When ‘Lurch’ took the ball up, he would scream at the Cronulla forward pack: ‘I’m coming at you - stop me if you can’. He was inspiring. I think he got penalised five or six times in the first half.

“Mal Reilly was injured and limped off the field for a painkilling injection. He came back on and said: ‘I’m only here for 10 minutes, I’ll take out as many as I can’.

“I remember tensions were running high. I called referee Keith Page a cheat and I regret that to this day because I don’t believe he was. He didn’t penalise me. He said: ‘I’ll see you after the game behind the grandstand’. That shocked me.

“Cronulla employed tactics they thought could beat us and they very nearly did if it wasn’t for one of the greatest players of all time - Bob Fulton — scoring two sensational tries. This was a war settled by a freak (Fulton). It’s now 50 years later. It’s a long time ago.”

Cronulla Sharks legend Tommy Bishop remembers the clash.

TOMMY TELLS

Bishop now resides in a Gold Coast nursing home.

“We were the underdogs and knew we had to upset Manly to have any chance but they were too good for us. We knew we had to do something. That’s how it was back (then),” Bishop said.

“I vividly remember Cliff Watson leaning up against the goalpost (pre-game).

“They had all the stars and we had to get amongst them, give them some stick and try and upset guys like Fulton, Terry Randall and Malcolm, especially. We had a few stars – (Steve) Rogers and (Greg) Pierce. If ‘Bozo’ (Fulton) hadn’t been there we would have won.”

Told he was the rascal that may have prompted some of the biff, a cheeky Bishop said: “I wasn’t a rascal – I was more than that. I played my best that day but it wasn’t good enough, anyhow. It wasn’t much of a day.”

WOMBAT’S MEMORIES

“We belted the shit out of each other,” Eadie said. “I copped a couple. Cliffy Watson didn’t mind throwing a few.

“The game was hard and violent. John O’Neill didn’t mind having a go. Tommy Bishop started most of it. He knew the only way they were going to beat us was by putting us off our game.

“But Tommy is still a lovely bloke.”

ARKO’S ADMISSION

Then Sea Eagles secretary Ken Arthurson said Cronulla “did whatever they had to do to win it.”

“It was on for young and old out there. They put on the blue deliberately and I don’t blame them. We were silly enough to fall into it,” Arthurson conceded.

“They had no chance of beating us by playing footy so why not do what they could to upset us? There was nothing wrong with that. It was a good tactical move on their behalf.

“It turned into an enormous brawl. ‘Lurch’ never hid when it came time to do his share (of fighting), that’s for sure. They put it on ‘Lurch’ knowing he would reciprocate, which he did. And, of course, when he did, all the others followed.

“We were the best side in the competition and it would have been a travesty if we didn’t win the grand final. The (second half) try by ‘Bozo’ was the highlight of the whole game. He got the ball off Eadie. It was a great try.”

Former Manly stars Peter Peters and Terry Randall played in the brutal contest.

STUNNED SCRIBE

Chesterton was covering the game from the first floor of the old Members’ Stand alongside legendary journalists Bill Mordey, Ernie Christensen and Alan Clarkson.

“It was like two sporting dinosaurs from a time when premeditated violence was the mainstay of the game,” Chesterton said.

“It was endless blues, bashing and get-squares as the stand-over men on both sides instigated backstreet brawls that would have had regular hoodlums running for cover.

“It went on from the opening whistle until full time with referee Keith Page either unable to stop it or not wanting to commit the rarest of refereeing decisions and send someone off in a grand final.

“Cronulla’s England Test prop Cliff Watson called it a softening up period that lasted the whole game rather than the usual 10 minutes. Running skirmishes, guerilla tactics and taking no prisoners were the battle orders.

“The mayhem was not subtle. Cronulla’s Ron Turner launched himself full bloodedly at Malcolm Reilly and put him out of the game with a pelvic injury.

“Malcolm had no complaints. It was part of rugby league in those days. He knew Turner was squaring up for Reilly hitting him in the previous year’s World Cup and causing damage that needed 27 stitches.

“The dross and primeval savagery of the day was cut through only by Bobby Fulton’s two gold-encrusted cameos of unparalleled brilliance to score tries that won the game.”

Cronulla and Manly players come together during the 1973 grand final.

RAY’S WORDS

Cronulla winger Ray Corcoran recalls one defining moment.

“I remember someone had a go at (Sharks forward) Ken Maddison. It floored him. It might have been John O’Neill,” Corcoran said.

“But he got up and that was it — it was ‘all in’ after that. ‘Maddo’ was a tough boy. They gave him a good whack but he kept going. It was a tough game but we played tough.

“It was a grand final so you’re going to come out and play hard. There was nothing in the game. Cliffy wasn’t the dirty player everyone goes on about – he was just a tough, hard man.

“I was a winger but I would stand out the side and watch them get stuck into each other. I’ll be honest with you, today’s players might be a lot bigger and fitter but I don’t think they’re tougher.”