The future of Australian National Rugby League club Cronulla Sharks is under threat amid a damaging combination of crippling debts, sponsor pullouts and player conduct issues, reports said yesterday.
It looks increasingly grim for the embattled Sharks, who formed in 1967 but are now fighting for their existence after mounting problems on the back of A$12 million (US$9.2 million) in debt and an exodus of fans.
In a demoralizing week for the Sharks, based on Sydney’s southern outskirts, the club lost the support of it’s A$700,000-a-year main sponsor, LG Electronics, ending a nine-year association and five other minor sponsors.
There were also revelations of a A$20,000-dollar termination settlement with a female employee, who received a black eye from an “accidental” punch by club chief executive Tony Zappia last year.
Zappia previously said the incident happened when he was shadow boxing.
The club’s reputation has been savaged after a TV program this month exposed a culture of gang sex involving a 2002 trip to New Zealand.
The revelations led to former Shark player turned commentator Matthew Johns being suspended from his media and coaching commitments.
Former international Reni Maitua was stood down by the Sharks on Wednesday after testing positive for an anabolic agent.
The club is wallowing at the bottom of the NRL premiership standings after losing its last eight games.
The Cronulla club also sacked back Greg Bird earlier this year in relation to an assault conviction involving his girlfriend.
NRL chief executive David Gallop said he could not guarantee the Cronulla club’s future.
“They’ve got some big issues ahead of them. We need to get in and talk to them about the strategies to solve their problems,” Gallop told reporters on Thursday. “I’ve said for some time we don’t have a blank check for any club, but certainly we will do what we can to look at their financial situation to see if there is any way through it.”
“Part of our broadcast deal is that we provide eight games a week, and that will be something we take into account as we go forward looking at their financial position,” he said. “I cannot guarantee anything at this point.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite