I was having an interesting discussion about the future of the Cronulla Sharks last night with an influential RL individual, who fears the club certainly hasn’t secured its future in Cronulla and maybe not even the Shire.
My colleague noted the lack of industry and/or major benefactor as a big hindrance to the club growing commercially and keeping the relocation wolves at bay over the next 15 years.
His other major concern for the Sharks is the lack of opportunity to spread its geographical base beyond the Sutherland Shire, hemmed in to its existing border by other existing NRL clubs.
My counter to this was that the Sutherland Shire has one of Australia’s largest junior and grassroots sports participation rates. It is has a growing population and is also increasingly becoming one of the most affluent suburbs in Sydney. With all that said, I made my vision clear that the Sharks don’t need to grow their region, they just need to make those existing residents, fervent ambassadors.
The opportunity I see for the Sharks is to become a multi sports club operation and incorporating the elite of all club sports in the Shire under the Cronulla Sharks banner. If the Sharks brand was to align itself with the top basketball, soccer, netball, softball, baseball, cricket and the pathways beneath, the Sharks would secure their future and more importantly, potentially pave the way for a new multi purpose sports stadium/complex at Seymour Shore. I don’t see how Shark Park can remain a part of our long term future.
