sharkstragic
Jaws
From Daily Telegraph today.
No fear at Shark Park
By James Phelps | May 16, 2008 12:00am
ROUND 5, 1993: A graveyard is born.
Shark Park, a sand drenched field on the edge of a swamp, begins claiming more bodies than the Melbourne underworld.
Former Cronulla player and coach Stuart Raper remembers the moment the sleepy beachside suburb awoke from its 26-year rugby league slumber. The moment Cronulla became the most dreaded away trip in the league.
"I was captain-coach at Eden at the time,'' Raper recalls. "It was a Saturday night and my phone kept on ringing. All my mates rang me, drunk, telling me they played on Saturday night with 15,000 there. They were telling me how good it was and what I had missed out on.
"It went from 6000 to 15,000 overnight. It was their first Saturday night game and the place became a fortress. No one else played at night and no one liked going there on a cold night. They feared it.''
After losing four straight to kick off the 1993 season, then-Cronulla CEO Peter Gow and marketing guru Richard Fisk took a gamble and switched the Sharks' home games to Saturday night.
A bold move which brought the crowds who, during the day, preferred to be at the beach or the junior rugby league. Big aggressive crowds that were feared by every team in the NSWRL.
"The crowds were great,'' said Arthur Beetson who coached the Sharks in 1993. "It almost happened overnight. They drove us to some big wins.''
A legacy which carried on through the Super League and into the new millennium.
But the legacy is dead.
Statistics reveal the Sharks have one of the worst home records in the NRL - they have lost their past 14 from 19. And the crowds are gone, not so much in numbers, but in spirit and decibel.
The Daily Telegraph contacted former and current Sharks players and officials who revealed:
TEAMS no longer fear travelling to Toyota Park, considering it one of the more "friendly" venues to play at.
THE December 2005 Cronulla riots put a dent in crowd figures and parochialism. The average crowd dropped from 16,552 in 2005 to 12,488 in 2006.
SHARKS administrators have failed to move with the times, still working off a marketing plan which was devised in the '90s.
FANS go to Sharks matches for a "night out'' not to watch the football.
Raper says the problem is complicated. "Maybe the Cronulla riots have something to do with it,'' said Raper. "The year after it was a completely different place. It affected the whole community. It became a ghost town.
"But I have kids that go to Shark Park. It is a night out for them. They don't go there to support the team. It is a meeting place for them. They are going there for a night out, the numbers are there but not the support. I have gone to games and you don't hear a noise from the crowd until the 75th minute.
"You look at the Hill and it is just teenagers who couldn't care less about the game. That could be an issue.''
Raper said playing night games at Toyota Park was no longer the advantage it used to be and urged marketers to come up with a new plan. "Cronulla are still trying to live off that Saturday night fear thing,'' Raper said.
"They go through that same Saturday night presentation after the game. It is all very the same and I think there needs to be change. A small change in the culture. I felt it was always the same as what they have done.
"They were unbeatable there but I guess you can't keep it forever. Players are comfortable going there now. They train and prepare for it. No one else played on Saturday nights. But everyone is used to it now. People are used to playing at night so it isn't daunting.''
The man who helped build Shark Park reckons there is a simple solution to the problem. "They just need to win,'' said John Lang, Cronulla coach from 1994 to 2001. "They have to give them something to cheer about. It is that simple.
"They are the best fans I have ever come across in sport. They stick like glue and you have to go very bad for you to bag them. The Sharks fans haven't changed, they just need something to get loud about. When they start winning, the crowds will come."
A former official, who wished to remain anonymous, supported Lang's theory, revealing the "fortress'' was built with extra payments, not Saturday night matches.
"Peter Gow offered them all $1000 a man before that match in 1993,'' said the former official. "He knew a win would get the fans through the gates. Some said it wouldn't motivate them but he offered it to Arthur Beetson and in the driving rain they beat the Tigers.
"That might have been where it started. If they want them to get passionate, then they have to win.''
:birdno
Do you think this sounds true? Lets all get down to shark park this weekend and show em that it still can be a graveyard! Agrree that we need to start winning there to get the ball rolling...
No fear at Shark Park
By James Phelps | May 16, 2008 12:00am
ROUND 5, 1993: A graveyard is born.
Shark Park, a sand drenched field on the edge of a swamp, begins claiming more bodies than the Melbourne underworld.
Former Cronulla player and coach Stuart Raper remembers the moment the sleepy beachside suburb awoke from its 26-year rugby league slumber. The moment Cronulla became the most dreaded away trip in the league.
"I was captain-coach at Eden at the time,'' Raper recalls. "It was a Saturday night and my phone kept on ringing. All my mates rang me, drunk, telling me they played on Saturday night with 15,000 there. They were telling me how good it was and what I had missed out on.
"It went from 6000 to 15,000 overnight. It was their first Saturday night game and the place became a fortress. No one else played at night and no one liked going there on a cold night. They feared it.''
After losing four straight to kick off the 1993 season, then-Cronulla CEO Peter Gow and marketing guru Richard Fisk took a gamble and switched the Sharks' home games to Saturday night.
A bold move which brought the crowds who, during the day, preferred to be at the beach or the junior rugby league. Big aggressive crowds that were feared by every team in the NSWRL.
"The crowds were great,'' said Arthur Beetson who coached the Sharks in 1993. "It almost happened overnight. They drove us to some big wins.''
A legacy which carried on through the Super League and into the new millennium.
But the legacy is dead.
Statistics reveal the Sharks have one of the worst home records in the NRL - they have lost their past 14 from 19. And the crowds are gone, not so much in numbers, but in spirit and decibel.
The Daily Telegraph contacted former and current Sharks players and officials who revealed:
TEAMS no longer fear travelling to Toyota Park, considering it one of the more "friendly" venues to play at.
THE December 2005 Cronulla riots put a dent in crowd figures and parochialism. The average crowd dropped from 16,552 in 2005 to 12,488 in 2006.
SHARKS administrators have failed to move with the times, still working off a marketing plan which was devised in the '90s.
FANS go to Sharks matches for a "night out'' not to watch the football.
Raper says the problem is complicated. "Maybe the Cronulla riots have something to do with it,'' said Raper. "The year after it was a completely different place. It affected the whole community. It became a ghost town.
"But I have kids that go to Shark Park. It is a night out for them. They don't go there to support the team. It is a meeting place for them. They are going there for a night out, the numbers are there but not the support. I have gone to games and you don't hear a noise from the crowd until the 75th minute.
"You look at the Hill and it is just teenagers who couldn't care less about the game. That could be an issue.''
Raper said playing night games at Toyota Park was no longer the advantage it used to be and urged marketers to come up with a new plan. "Cronulla are still trying to live off that Saturday night fear thing,'' Raper said.
"They go through that same Saturday night presentation after the game. It is all very the same and I think there needs to be change. A small change in the culture. I felt it was always the same as what they have done.
"They were unbeatable there but I guess you can't keep it forever. Players are comfortable going there now. They train and prepare for it. No one else played on Saturday nights. But everyone is used to it now. People are used to playing at night so it isn't daunting.''
The man who helped build Shark Park reckons there is a simple solution to the problem. "They just need to win,'' said John Lang, Cronulla coach from 1994 to 2001. "They have to give them something to cheer about. It is that simple.
"They are the best fans I have ever come across in sport. They stick like glue and you have to go very bad for you to bag them. The Sharks fans haven't changed, they just need something to get loud about. When they start winning, the crowds will come."
A former official, who wished to remain anonymous, supported Lang's theory, revealing the "fortress'' was built with extra payments, not Saturday night matches.
"Peter Gow offered them all $1000 a man before that match in 1993,'' said the former official. "He knew a win would get the fans through the gates. Some said it wouldn't motivate them but he offered it to Arthur Beetson and in the driving rain they beat the Tigers.
"That might have been where it started. If they want them to get passionate, then they have to win.''
:birdno
Do you think this sounds true? Lets all get down to shark park this weekend and show em that it still can be a graveyard! Agrree that we need to start winning there to get the ball rolling...
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