Well, there you have it folks. The last game of the season at Shark Park for 2010 and the last hurrah for Sharks greats Trent Barrett, Luke Covell and Mat Rogers (even though he played in a Titans jersey he will always be black, white and blue to me).
And well, what a night it was, eh? A fantastic win by the boys over the number two team in the comp that alot of the experts are rating as a real premiership threat. It left me wondering just what could have been if we had played like that earlier in the season. Getting rid of Ricky was definitely the right move for the boys but hey, hindsight is twenty/twenty, right?
I don't know who it was that said it but there is a quote about parenthood that goes something like this, "The lows are incredibly low but the highs are unbelievably high". The same, it must be said, is profoundly true about life as a Sharks fan.
As lows go, it can't get much worse in the world of sport than supporting a team for forty years with nothing to show for it, a team whose very survival seems to be in doubt every ten years or so and a team whose best players are either poached by other clubs, struck down with career ending injuries or caught up in some kind of embarrassing scandal.
On the other hand, the Sharks represent the best of everything there is in sport; the underdog, the battler, the guy who is knocked down but keeps getting back up. In an era where teams are owned by multi-billion dollar companies, millionaire businessmen or even Hollywood movie stars, the Sharks are one of the last of the "local" teams. Owned by their members, one home ground, one community.
I have loved every minute of being in "The Cage" with my fellow brothers and sisters, "The Believers". I love the fact that when we win, we celebrate like it's a final. I loved watching the bewildered looks on the Titans fans faces as they look at us and wonder "What the hell have they got to celebrate? Their season is over!"
What we're celebrating is something supporters of alot of other Clubs will never experience. The joy of watching our local team at a home ground that is actually in our home. A team that we own. A victory in a game that we shouldn't win - but did. A victory that is not won with money but with heart.
Last night I sung "Up, Up Cronulla" more times than I can remember - and enjoyed every one. My son and I got into "Jaws", my black, white and blue Sharks themed Valiant, to the cheers of fellow supporters in the Leagues Club carpark. I turned on the blue under-car neons and took the long way home to Loftus - out to Cronulla and all the way back! All the way home, people cheered and waved, at the lights one bloke even wound down his window to smile, give me the thumbs up and yell, "Up the Sharkies!"
Yeah, supporting the Sharks can be a tough road sometimes but would I support some other team? I think not!:cheers
