Yesterday's Heroes

Sharks' Heroes

My first hero, Captain Cronulla, Steve Rogers

And no I don't mean this
Captain Steve Rogers, either;-)

On my three-week road-trip From Brisbane to Tasmania and back, I stopped in Cronulla for two nights and to catch the Sharks vs Cowboys game with my youngest son, who drove across from his home in Canberra.

I wrote a post about going to Canberra to visit my son and catch the Cronulla Sharks take on the Canberra Raiders earlier this year in this post in the red link below -
Canberra Connections

Sharks vs Cowboys, 2016.
Best seats in the house, I reckon;-)

Sharks 13 defeated Cowboys 10,
at Shark Park, 2016

I almost didn't make it to the game, nearly getting slammed into the back of a bus in a road accident that stopped traffic for almost an hour outside Gosford, as the road was cleared of the wreaks and bodies of the people who weren't so lucky as I was that day.  

The car crash outside Gosford

A crow was there waiting for me at Cronulla

My first stop after moving on from the crash on the highway at Gosford and driving under the Sydney Harbour through the tunnel was the Cronulla-Sutherland football club, where I was met by a crow, who was probably hinting to me to make the most of my time on earth while I can, as the void I came from is ready to take me back again soon;-)  

Elle Macpherson,
Andrew (ET) Ettingshausen
and Mark McGaw

The last time I set foot in the Cronulla clubhouse was around 1990 when Brewers beer was the team's major sponsor and Elle Macpherson owned the #1 life member badge, having leapfrogged my badge number by bidding for the #1 badge successfully in an auction.  

My oldest son, who was born in 1991,
with Andrew ET Ettingshausen

Andrew is 50 years old,
a year younger than me.
Time flies ... like a crow;-)

I'm still wearing those '95 socks to Shark games

... or just an old fool?-)

Andrew (ET) Ettingshausen was the team hero for the Sharks in the 1990s and one of mine, too, alongside Gavin Miller, who I thought was the unsung hero in the same ET era of club history.

Gavin Miller, another Shark's hero of mine

To walk through the doors of a club I hadn't set foot in for over 25 years was like attending a family reunion and wondering where all those years had gone.

My first Cronulla hero, Steve Rogers

To see the Steve Rogers photo hanging on the wall really brought home the march of time, as Steve was my pick in 1985 to receive a personal letter off as a reward for joining a club that was in dire straights financially at the time.

I was looking for a scrap piece of paper one day
 and wrote on my letter by accident:-(

I still have the letter from Steve, even though I accidentally wrote on it once thinking it was a piece of scrap paper.

Oddly enough, St,George was the last NRL club he would play for ... barring the 9 mins he played on return to the Sharks before getting his jaw broken "accidently" by Mark Bugden.

Click on image to make bigger to read

Rogers led Cronulla to the grand final as captain, in 1978, once more against the Sea Eagles. 

The match was a tie, and Cronulla lost a replay in the following week. 
Tragically Steve died in 2006 from an overdose.
"Steve Rogers died after swallowing a combination of prescription drugs and alcohol on 3 January 2006. In April 2006, the NSW state coroner ruled that the death was accidental, and that Rogers had not intended to commit suicide."
It was a sobering thought that Steve died aged 51 ... the same age I am now.

Gavin Miller's photo on the club wall

I couldn't get John Paul Young's song 'Yesterday's Hero' out of my head while walking through the club and wondering what half of these players were doing now. 

Molly and his doppelgänger with
the the 'Molly' soundtrack

Mind you it was playing quite a bit on my iPod on the drive down, as I have the 'Molly' soundtrack songs loaded as part of the 162 songs on random shuffle.

John Paul Young was part of the 'APIA
Good Times Tour at the Hobart casino

John Paul Young on stage at Wrest Point Casino
June 18th, 2016

And the weird thing is John Paul Young was going to be playing at the casino I was staying in at Hobart on the Saturday night, which I didn't know about until I got down there and bought tickets at the last minute on the Friday before his show.

Seat F8?
Fate?-)

Drawings on the wall in the Shark's pool room. Pool Sharks?-)

The Shark's trophy cabinet isn't empty,
it's just missing the big one

As I write this post the Sharks have won 15 games in a row and sit on top of the NRL table, so if we are ever going to win the premiership, this is our best chance yet. 
But no longtime Sharky supporter is game enough to count the chickens before the trophy is handed over on grand final day, as the 1994 team's run ended in bitter disappointment and is still in the back of the mind of longtime supporters such as myself.

Whether we win the trophy, or not this year, it has still been one of the best seasons the club has seen and the 2016 team will enter the record books for the 15 (hopefully more) straight wins chalked up this season. 

A letter to Shark life members from Elle Macpherson's
dad about a 'Super League'

My vote (reluctantly) was to join the 'Super League'

The club has come a long way since the old 'Super League' days and hasn't looked this peachey for a long while;-)

Another hero of mine, David Peachey

Independent Sharks don’t owe NRL – Peter Gow
"Former Cronulla Sharks boss Peter Gow, nominated for life membership at this week’s annual general meeting, has revealed his behind-the-scenes battle to save the club through the Super League-ARL rugby league war."

"At the height of Super League, the Sharks bought the song rights to play David Bowie’s hit: “We Can Be Heroes’’.
Gow adds: “I would love that song to be played again, because it was very appropriate for the Sharks. 
“We haven’t won a premiership yet, but I reckon we should get a cup for just surviving.”"

1991, the year my first child was born and Big Artie
was to take over as coach for '92 & '93

I think I've spotted my name on the 2016 member's jersey.;-)

Year of the Shark?

Where did those teen years go ... not to mention that body?-)

I became a life member of the football club 3 years before I got married, 1988 and my divorce was finalized in 2016, so let's hope one more curse is lifted this year from my shoulders and that the Sharks finally bring that trophy they've been circling all these years home to the clubhouse;-)

Andrew (ET) Ettingshausen's Australian
jersey hanging in the club

The good old days of cigarette sponsorship;-)