Official Cronulla Sharks Board + Management

dier said:

i'd much rather support a team of 2nd graders, then no team at all. .

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fitz said:

Question:

Who is more important to the Canterbury Bulldogs, Todd Greenburg or Ben Barba?

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samshark said:

Let me guess who you voted for

Coleman
Douglas
Kerr
Tiernan
Holland
Hartley
Irvine
Gorrick
Dunphy

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squiddy said:

To the long term future of the club : Greenberg

To the short term success of the club : Barba without a shodow of a doubt

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A.Snowden said:

So at the time the banks were ready to close us down, who was more important to us? The board or

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Shark said:

It's no myth that DI and CD spent many evenings prior to many pay days ensuring that every employee would get their wages.

Once, it was Christmas Eve.

It was a burden the pair of them carried, silently, for around 18 months.

We didn't hear about it because it would have ended up in the press, jeopardising the very future of the joint.

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A.Snowden said:

None of that seems to matter around here, when a bloke goes on to defend himself against blatant lies said about him, copping an absolute hammering it all gets turned around to a couple of quotes.

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A.Snowden said:

You just hit the nail on the head. It is baffling that people can be so naive, that they can't see it.

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samshark said:

I expect more from the former chairman and board candidate.

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Ex-Sharks boss wants job back at club he helped save

FORMER Cronulla chairman Damian Irvine has endured a "tough and lonely few weeks", but yesterday he broke his silence to urge club members to judge him on his work over his four years rather than the "single loose comment" that led to his resignation last month.

Irvine, who became collateral damage in the ongoing Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority investigation into the Sharks, is running for re-election to the board of the Sharks Leagues Club, which controls the football club.

His decision to stand for election only weeks after standing down prompted criticism from some quarters, but Irvine yesterday said he deserved another chance and would have no trouble working with coach Shane Flanagan and the players. Flanagan and the Cronulla players were said to be furious with comments by Irvine in a Sunday newspaper in which he alleged the players had been injected with horse drugs.

"It's been the most difficult and disappointed few weeks of my life, but also some very good people have shown me amazing support and help and I'll never forget that," Irvine said in an email interview with The Weekend Australian.

"It's been a tough and lonely few weeks and I'm disappointed at myself for letting the guys and club down with a single loose comment. Being voted back would mean the membership recognise and understand that the hard work and contribution I've provided over four long years are what I'm judged on and not those misplaced words."

Irvine insisted Cronulla, a club with longstanding financial difficulties, would have been relocated to Perth had he and the directors not fought so hard to save the club via the development of the site around the home ground.

"It's not a matter of opinion, but fact," Irvine said.

"Craig Douglas and myself sat in way too many meetings, emergency meetings, rewrote too many funding deals, juggled cashflows, negotiated with banks, worked solo without office or PA assistance, argued for and vouched for our club's future with the NRL, government and funders too often and way too many times for it to be in dispute.

"The club from 2009 until the property deal was approved in 2012 was only alive because of the work of that board, which I led. I'll leave the personal input and hours as leader of that board for others to express, but it was clear, more than clear, that the bank was only holding off on foreclosing as long as Craig and I were running the club and our property strategy and overseeing day-to-day operations and finances."

Irvine admitted he had regrets over the interview with The Sunday Telegraph, which led to him standing down, and pointed to the club's strong financial position as evidence of why he should be re-elected. The elections finish tomorrow.

"Under my leadership, the club went from its death-bed financially, with debt of $15 million against assets of $6m and a negative cashflow, to a debt of $3.5m and assets of over $40m at break-even cashflow," he said. "The strongest foundation and platform in the club's history and the envy of most other Sydney clubs in terms of security was created."

As for his relationship with Flanagan and the players, Irvine said: "Our job was to provide Shane and (former football manager) Darren (Mooney) with a financially secure club so players would come, enough money to staff and pay to a level of other NRL clubs, and then allow them autonomy to control, manage, coach and operate the football department as a whole.

"We did that and I'll keep doing it on a new board given the chance."

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Henchmann said:

Vote Irvine - this so called 'unity' group appear untrustworthy, particularly given their association with the dodgy Phil Rothfield

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Shark said:

Voted tonight.

McConnell made a c$&@ of himself.

Gorrick is a bloody nice bloke, very articulate, seems to have his head well and truly around the challenges ahead.

I hope he gets on.

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SHARKSTER said:

The problem is that there are far to many morons as members who read a rothfield article. And take it as gospel.

The guy is playing politics for his mates and that is all this is about.

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Shark said:

And to think he never expected anything from you, except to turn up and support your team.

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Wednesday, 8 July 2009

The Eels and Sharks swim in murky waters

by Alex Mitchell

The Sydney Morning Herald’s Kate McClymont and Jacquelin Magnay are conducting a good old-fashioned investigation into the murky affairs of two of Sydney’s richest registered clubs, the Parramatta Eels and Cronulla Sharks.

Yesterday’s front page carried a photo gallery of the stars of their inquiry, including Roy Spagnolo, embattled chairman of the Eels; Domenic Sergi, brother of Pat Sergi who was named in the Woodward royal commission into drug trafficking; and George Gaitanos, developer and business partner of Spagnolo and Roy Mittiga, who has served time for insurance fraud.

Roy Spagnolo is Domenic Sergi’s brother-in-law. Spagnolo, Pat Sergi and Roy Mittiga have been directors of western Sydney development companies that failed leaving a list of creditors including the Australian Taxation Office.

When he entered parliament in 1995 as Labor MP for Fairfield, Joe Tripodi used these words to generously thank his supporters his inaugural speech: “During my election campaign I made many new friends in the local Italian community who assisted me, namely, Michael Daniele, Sam Romeo, Roy Spagnolo, Tony Mittiga and Pat Sergi. These people are friends I intend to keep for a long time.”

As Minister for Finance, Infrastructure, Regulatory Reform, Ports and Waterways, Tripodi is now one of the most powerful politicians in NSW. But there is no suggestion that he has kept in touch with these individuals or is involved in their current activities.

While Spagnolo is under intense pressure at Parramatta, the Sharks CEO Tony Zappia has been forced to resign and his tenure at the club is being investigated.

This is not the first time that the Sharkies have faced controversy. In 2002, the NSW Licensing Court heard a series of breaches of the Registered Clubs Act which resulted in the president, Peter Gow, being banned from holding office in any club for five years.

The court heard that Gow, father of super model Elle Macpherson, abused his presidential power in dealing with club officials and, between 1995 and 1998, tended to treat the club as if it was his own. He was dumped in 1999 after tearing up a St George fan’s football jumper and punching former Saints star Barry Beath who tried to intervene.

The court heard astonishing allegations about Gow’s conduct. He allegedly drew up a memo asking a manager if the club had enough poker machines to facilitate money laundering.

On another occasion he planned to ask the same manager whether a drop in cash takings had been caused by “big players” and money launderers deserting the club. He never sent the memo.

The court revelations caused a wave of anxiety across the club industry which was anxious to protect its good name. The idea that poker machines could be used to “wash” money from illegal sources was denied by senior officials from clubland and the issue was never properly investigated by the Department of Gaming and Racing, the NSW Police Force or the NSW State Crime Commission.

According to gaming industry insiders, the money laundering scam works like this:

•A member or visitor brings up to $10,000 in cash to the registered club and enters the money into the pokie using $50 note acceptors.
•After playing a few games, he calls on a club steward to withdraw the remaining money and pay it to him on a club cheque, usually just less than $10,000 to avoid the official reporting conditions. He is then entitled to say the money is gambling winnings which, of course, is not subject to tax.


When this process is repeated hundreds of times each week in dozens of major clubs across NSW, the returns in tax-free dollars runs into millions.

There is no suggestion that this practice is occurring at either the Eels or the Sharks, but rumors persist that money laundering is still occurring at other gaming venues on a vast scale. The Labor Government seems too busy trying to outlaw bikie gangs to notice.

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squiddy said:

Hang on hang on let's be fair here

I don't have any agenda and take rothfield with a pinch of salt at the best of times

But what is he doing that is any different to what fitz is doing here ?


They are both running campaigns for their preferred candidates in the media that is readily available to them

In fitzs case it's this forum and for rothfield it happens to be the tele

Calling our members morons is not going to get anyone very far and only adds to the division that this whole situation is leading us into

I don't care who you voted for but lets not revert to childish name calling of candidates or their proponents please

Right now cronulla needs to stick together for our future , division won't help

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