Preparations are well under way for next year’s 50th anniversary of the Sharks’ entry into the competition.
“It will be a year of celebration,” chief executive Lyall Gorman said.
“We are looking at a whole range of initiatives, including major functions and home games dedicated to celebrating the past.
“During the 50 years, many people have worked tremendously hard and put their heart and soul into the club.
“We stand in the shadows of our pioneers.”
Mr Gorman said a lot of memorabilia would be produced, and the board was looking at how the club’s history and memorable moments could be preserved.
”The world is now very digitally focused,” he said.
“Whether we do something around that is still being discussed.”
Gary Lester, author of the The Sharks: Colour Me Black White and Blue, said the Sharks board recently looked at updating and reprinting the book, but had decided against it.
“I have had a lot of requests from Sharks supporters, but it is not going to happen,” he said.
The 328-page book, which was first published in 2001, is already something of a collector’s item.
Mr Lester, who played in Cronulla’s first President’s Cup team in 1964 and covered rugby league for The Sun, said only 2000 copies, plus a limited edition of 250 leather bound, autographed copies were printed.
The book, described as “an honest account of the club’s triumphs, struggles and dramas,” includes details most supporters would not know or would have forgotten, accompanied by hundreds of photos.
“Most remarkable about the Sharks is that they do have a strong rugby league tradition,” Lester wrote.
“Rugby League has been around in the district for almost as long as the game.”
Lester wrote:“The Sharks have never been afraid to be innovative and controversial.
“They were the club to show the League in 1971 that the six tackle rule was a better option to the panic-induced four tackle rule.
“They embraced Superb League, a decision that virtually saved the club from the receivers; they battled for survival on other desperate occasions.
“Through all this, they provided the game with some of the greats...Steve Rogers, Andrew Ettingshausen, Greg Pierce, Gavin Miller, Tommy Bishop, Cliff Watson among them…and grand finals in 1973 and 1978 (as well as a replay): they were minor premiers in 1988, and as recently as 1999.”
