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http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...-in-ebay-mystery/story-e6frexnr-1226077366099
For sale: The ad on eBay. Source: The Daily Telegraph
EVERY year, when the final game was done, John Sattler always gave his jersey away.
Walked out of Redfern Oval, or the SCG after those brutal grand finals, and simply handed another hooped treasure to whichever young kid was first to ask for it.
"I thought it was the right thing to do," Sattler recalls now from his Gold Coast home. "Did it every year, too, except for 1970, which is when I suffered the broken jaw and, afterwards, was taken straight to hospital in my playing gear.
"I remember it well because the doctors, they were gunna cut the jersey straight off me until I said no. Who knows why? But as a result it's been the only one I ever kept."
So how, then, does rugby league's most iconic jumper, the only one Satts ever kept, wind up on eBay?
How does this unmistakable No. 13 - all ripped Rabbitohs logo and Sattler claret embedded into its very fibres - get offered up by someone operating under the moniker "Pezlan" for an opening bid of $30,000? Or, if you have the cash and want to stop the auction immediately, $55,000?
"I have no idea," Sattler says. "I've been given the shock of my life hearing this.
"I'm told there's something that accompanies it on eBay saying I've signed two letters of authenticity. Mate, that's lies - I haven't signed anything. I guess it just reconfirms that there are some real ordinary buggers out there."
Patient, too.
See, Sattler's 1970 jersey has been missing - presumed dead - ever since it was stolen from Sydney memorabilia company Blazed In Glory, owned and operated by Michael Halpin, back in 2001. After working with Sattler on some memorabilia pieces, the businessman offered to frame his jersey as a "thank you".
So the Kangaroo great mailed the jersey to son Scott, who was playing at the time with Penrith. Scott Sattler knew Halpin reasonably well, too - having visited his son when he was bedridden for months following an operation - and so personally delivered the jersey to Halpin's west Sydney warehouse.
When the Panthers back-rower went to collect the piece, he was told the frame had broken and the glass panel smashed. It would need to be redone, Halpin said. When Sattler returned a second time, however, he was told the jersey was missing. Stolen.
Ironically, in February last year Michael and Loretta Halpin appeared in the Supreme Court claiming cricket bats autographed by Don Bradman and football jerseys signed by league greats including Peter Sterling and Brad Fittler were among items stolen by burglars who twice broke into their west Sydney home in 2006 and again in 2008.
There was no mention of a robbery in 2001. The Supreme Court heard that when the Halpins, who had insured the memorabilia for $1 million, tried to claim, Lumley General Insurance denied it. The case was eventually settled out of court, with both parties signing confidentiality agreements.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the Halpins.
All the while, Sattler's jersey stayed missing. Until now.
According to a statement accompanying the jersey auction on eBay, it was purchased years ago from an elderly couple who'd won it in a 1973 auction at Souths Leagues Club. The first letter from John confirms this, it claims.
The owner also claims to have obtained a second letter from Sattler "after a newspaper incorrectly reported it stolen". It finishes saying the sale is necessary to inject funds into a business, which may be the only truth existing anywhere on the page.
- EXCLUSIVE by Nick Walshaw
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- June 18, 2011 12:00AM
For sale: The ad on eBay. Source: The Daily Telegraph
EVERY year, when the final game was done, John Sattler always gave his jersey away.
Walked out of Redfern Oval, or the SCG after those brutal grand finals, and simply handed another hooped treasure to whichever young kid was first to ask for it.
"I thought it was the right thing to do," Sattler recalls now from his Gold Coast home. "Did it every year, too, except for 1970, which is when I suffered the broken jaw and, afterwards, was taken straight to hospital in my playing gear.
"I remember it well because the doctors, they were gunna cut the jersey straight off me until I said no. Who knows why? But as a result it's been the only one I ever kept."
So how, then, does rugby league's most iconic jumper, the only one Satts ever kept, wind up on eBay?
How does this unmistakable No. 13 - all ripped Rabbitohs logo and Sattler claret embedded into its very fibres - get offered up by someone operating under the moniker "Pezlan" for an opening bid of $30,000? Or, if you have the cash and want to stop the auction immediately, $55,000?
"I have no idea," Sattler says. "I've been given the shock of my life hearing this.
"I'm told there's something that accompanies it on eBay saying I've signed two letters of authenticity. Mate, that's lies - I haven't signed anything. I guess it just reconfirms that there are some real ordinary buggers out there."
Patient, too.
See, Sattler's 1970 jersey has been missing - presumed dead - ever since it was stolen from Sydney memorabilia company Blazed In Glory, owned and operated by Michael Halpin, back in 2001. After working with Sattler on some memorabilia pieces, the businessman offered to frame his jersey as a "thank you".
So the Kangaroo great mailed the jersey to son Scott, who was playing at the time with Penrith. Scott Sattler knew Halpin reasonably well, too - having visited his son when he was bedridden for months following an operation - and so personally delivered the jersey to Halpin's west Sydney warehouse.
When the Panthers back-rower went to collect the piece, he was told the frame had broken and the glass panel smashed. It would need to be redone, Halpin said. When Sattler returned a second time, however, he was told the jersey was missing. Stolen.
Ironically, in February last year Michael and Loretta Halpin appeared in the Supreme Court claiming cricket bats autographed by Don Bradman and football jerseys signed by league greats including Peter Sterling and Brad Fittler were among items stolen by burglars who twice broke into their west Sydney home in 2006 and again in 2008.
There was no mention of a robbery in 2001. The Supreme Court heard that when the Halpins, who had insured the memorabilia for $1 million, tried to claim, Lumley General Insurance denied it. The case was eventually settled out of court, with both parties signing confidentiality agreements.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the Halpins.
All the while, Sattler's jersey stayed missing. Until now.
According to a statement accompanying the jersey auction on eBay, it was purchased years ago from an elderly couple who'd won it in a 1973 auction at Souths Leagues Club. The first letter from John confirms this, it claims.
The owner also claims to have obtained a second letter from Sattler "after a newspaper incorrectly reported it stolen". It finishes saying the sale is necessary to inject funds into a business, which may be the only truth existing anywhere on the page.
