John Watkins
The seed for what has become one of Australia's great Water Polo Clubs was sown by the merger of teams from Gymea Bay and Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club who in 1963 entered a team in Third Division of the Sydney Metropoltan Competition.The St George Leader reported "....that Frank Jordan was to convene a meeting at Cronulla Surf Club for the purpose of starting a water polo club in the area." The intention was to enable local players to become eligible for selection in New South Wales, Australian and Olympic teams.
Frank, who represented Australia in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games, attracted an eclectic group of people to that meeting and the Club was formed in 1964 as the St George and Sutherland Shire Amateur Water Polo Club.One of those people who responed to the Leader's report was Bill Jones who, along with Kevin Jones, Bob Boufler, Gary Chapmen, John Crisp, Bill Eadie, Doug Lyons and Col Williams composed our first ever "First Grade Team".In the Second Grade of the inaugural year was a young Bruce Falson (now one of Australia's most successful Coaches) and in Third Grade the ever young Geoff Sara who represented our Club as a player for 43 consecutive years.
The first Ladies team was entered in the competition in 1968-69 and won the club's first "Title" and their first "1st Grade Premiership that year. The team was coached by Peter Kerr and included; Adrian Turnbull (Captain), Julie Girdler (Vice Captain), Virginia Turnbull (GK), Meredith Lancer, Vicki White, Ruth Hardingham, Marilyn Mitchell, Jenny Dunn, Carolyn Keats and Carole Missingham. This was the start of a small run of 5 premierships in 7 years and preceeded the dominance of Sydney University who then won 13 in a row.
On the 20th of July 1970 the Club charged its name to the Cronulla Sutherland Water Polo Club following an invitation by Cronulla Sutherland Leagues Club to become an affiliate of "The Sharks".As recorded in the Club's Annual Report 1983-84 (20th Anniversary Edition) "Our Senior (Men's) Team had some terrible thrashings in those early years and a 20-0 loss against Universities or Balmain was to be expected. Our strength was in junior players coming through...."Nurturing our juniors; striving to learn, grow and change; sharing a passion for the game and celebrating a sense of community; has formed the platform upon which our success has been built. We must also recognise the important role played by High Schools in these early years and those Coaches and Administrators dedicated to the sport's development and growth.In the 1960's and 1970's all High Schools had competitive programs and Cronulla High School led the way through the early platform established by Doug Lyons. Doug as a 1st Grade player with our Club became a role model. As a Science Teacher at Cronulla High he helped set the standard and promoted the perception that "The game of Water Polo is the best thing since sliced bread!"
Meanwhile, the Sutherland Shire's Junior Water Polo Association became the nursery for future development. At that time the entire Club's training programs and games (including those of the Sutherland Shire Junior Water Polo Association competitions and School programs) were conducted at "Gunna" ( Gunnamatta Bay Baths); affectionately known to our stalwarts as "The Home of Water Polo".
Gunnamatta Bay Baths "Gunna", The "Home of Water Polo"
On the men's side our first premierships were in 1970-71 when Men's 3rd and 4th Grades won. Second Grade opened their account in 1971-72 and 1st Grade in 1975-76 after competing in 3 Grand Finals. That winning 1st Grade Team comprised of Bruce Falson (Coach), Andrew Kerr (Captain), Michael Turner (GK), Randall Goff, Tony Falson, Bob Bryant, Ralph French, Graeme Geldart, Warwick Syhpers.Since then our Club has gone from strength to strength and reflects the passion and commitment of our community to support our players and offer them the best learning and development pathways possible Action during an extra man situation of the game Australia vs Greece in Moscow 1980 Olympic Games. The Australian team winner of the game with 4-2: Michael Turner (Cronulla), David Neesham, Robert Bryant (Cronulla), Peter Montgomery, Julian Muspratt, Andrew Kerr (Cronulla), Anthony Falson (Cronulla), Charles Turner, Martin Callaghan, Randall Goff (Cronulla), Andrew Steward
In the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Australia won Gold in the Inaugural Womans Water Polo Competition. A proud moment for Cronulla's Simone Hankin.
In the Beijing 2008 Olympics Australia won Bronze. Three Sharks namely Alicia McCormack and sisters Mia Santoromito and Jenna Santoromito were a part of ths team. Also Sharks Greg McFadden was the coach
If Olympic representation is the highest pinnacle of athletic aspiration and one of the prime reasons for the Club's establishment, then our Founding Fathers have been successful indeed.
Olympians who have played for Cronulla:
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