Rebecca Wilson says it is time for the Cronulla Sharks to leave the Shire
by: Rebecca Wilson
From: The Daily Telegraph
March 16, 2013 12:00AM
IT IS no coincidence that ASADA officials chose the Cronulla Sharks as their first port of call in their mission to uncover dope cheats in rugby league.
The events that have unfolded in the Sutherland Shire since ASADA swooped late last week underline, in dramatic terms, what happens when a professional sporting organisation lacks any semblance of leadership or governance.
The Cronulla Sharks are a basket case. They have been stony broke for several seasons, without a chief executive for three years and, until this week, had a chairman who liked to tell everyone the club did not need anyone else in charge except him.
When a football landed on Damian Irvine's desk several years ago, he could not believe his luck. Here was a hotel concierge, a fan, who now had the keys to the dressing room of his favourite footy team.
He happily spent many hours doing radio and television interviews, telling all and sundry that it was his view that there was nobody out there who was suitable to be the club's chief executive.
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In the meantime, Rome, or the Sharks, burned. Sponsors fled in their droves, crowd numbers were not increasing and today the club appears to be on its knees.
The footy team held up its end of the bargain, though, under new coach Shane Flanagan. The team started winning and the Shire had a team of which it could be proud. Maybe, just maybe, Flanagan, Paul Gallen and co could lead the Sharks to their first premiership. All of this has gone pear shaped this week. The coach has been dumped, along with other key coaching personnel. The board deemed it necessary to wield the axe.
Irvine quit after telling our own Phil Rothfield that the players had injected horse steroids. What appears to be a complete lack of loyalty to his own club was gobsmacking.
All of this led to an emotional outpouring from the club's fans at their first home game on Sunday night. The Shire loves its footy team but not enough to save it.
Under the guidance of the NRL (who stunningly did not intervene earlier), the Cronulla footy club must be relocated.
While David Gallop continually refuted expansion talk, the Sharks managed to sneak under the radar with static home crowds, little big business backing and moderate television ratings.
There is now a stench about the Sharks that can only be fixed if they pack up the truck and head out of the Shire.
Attracting 15,000 fans to a home game is not justification to remain in Cronulla. There is absolutely no reason why a move needs to alienate the current fan base.
If it is done properly, the Sharks can keep existing fans and head north to create a massive fan base in Australia's fastest growing rugby league region; or head west to Perth to explore a new frontier.
When the South Melbourne Swans relocated to Sydney
30 years ago, the VFL was fanatical in its insistence that the South Melbourne "Bloods" tradition remained. A quick look at the back of any Swans guernsey reveals the proud SMFC logo. While South Melbourne would have withered on the vine if it had stayed put, the transformation to the Sydney Swans built a new AFL market, attracted big business and turned the AFL into a genuinely national competition. It also made a losing team a winning one. The South Melbourne fans stayed.
The Sharks now have no choice but to follow suit. The disarray was laid bare this week in horrendous fashion.
The decision will be heart-wrenching and difficult. Those fans who assemble in the Shire's many famous pubs every weekend and reminisce about grand final losses will be livid at the thought of it.
As tough as it will be, however, it must happen. Let's face it: the Sharks in Cronulla will never be a juggernaut like the Brisbane Broncos or even the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The Sharks have an empty trophy cabinet, a clueless board and no money.
The NRL has installed some of its own stalwarts as a Band-Aid fix. With any luck, former Broncos boss, Bruno Cullen will open the books and go pale when he sees the red ink. If anyone can advise the Sharks on how to start a new club, Cullen is the man.
Something has to give. This week has uncovered the brittle nature of the Sharks' existence in recent years. The one thing they have left is a recognisable brand which might be enough to start afresh and, maybe, just maybe, win their first comp.
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