Dragon Slayer
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I don't have $5000 to spare at the moment......
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Im sure the Storm do?
Harold Holt’s grandson will cheer for Cronulla in Sunday’s NRL grand final
IAIN PAYTEN, The Daily Telegraph
September 28, 2016 9:31am
ROBERT Holt isn’t convinced a Cronulla premiership will see his grandfather jump onto the porch and declare: “I’m home!”
But he’s going to cheer for the Sharks on Sunday anyway. Just in case.
“You never know,” Holt said. “He would love to prove Jack Gibson wrong.”
Robert Holt is the grandson of former Prime Minister Harold Holt, who went missing in rough seas off Portsea in 1967 while occupying Australia’s highest office.
It is the nation’s most enduring mystery but for the last two decades Harold Holt has become a cult figure for Cronulla Sharks fans as well.
The Sharks entered the competition in the same year Holt went missing but in 50 seasons have yet to win a premiership, despite four Grand Final appearances.
Can the Sharks win their maiden title.
After Gibson’s unsuccessful stint as coach at the club between 1985-87, the super coach said: “Waiting for Cronulla to win a Grand Final is like leaving a porch light on for Harold Holt.”
It’s an iconic one-liner but with the Sharks having qualified for the Grand Final again this year, Gibson’s jibe has taken on a life of its own.
“Harold Holt” trends on Twitter after Sharks’ wins, huge posters of the former PM are waved in crowds and fans have taken to turning up at games dressed as wetsuit-wearing Harold Holts. One guy even wore a porch light on his head last weekend.
The Daily Telegraph tracked down his Sydney-based grandson, Robert, to get his thoughts on Cronulla’s success this year and the future of the famous porch light.
But 44-year-old management consultant admitted he had never heard of Gibson’s quote until he listened to a phone message on Monday.
Holt has become an inconic figure for Sharks fans.
“Harold was a Victoria and I am from Victoria, too. I am embarrassed to say I had to ask a guy who sits next to me: “What’s this about?”,” Holt said.
“He explained the story to me, so this is actually the first time I had heard of it. I watch State of Origin and follow league a little bit but my history isn’t great I am afraid.
“I know of Cronulla obviously, and being a St Kilda supporter in the AFL, I can definitely understand and appreciate the suffering of their fans. We have had a very long wait as well.”
Jack Gibson coined the phrase during his stint as Sharks coach.
The Gibson “porch light” quote was first put in print on the second page of his 1988 book “Played Strong, Done Fine”, the year after the premiership-winning coach had finished a three-year stint at Cronulla.
Gibson didn’t take the Sharks to the finals but his work bore fruit in 1988, when the club finished minor premiers. Again, however they fell short of a Grand Final when beaten by Balmain in the semi-finals.
In an clip with Mike Gibson now on YouTube, Gibson joked of his Holt one-liner: “I am sorry it turned out true, this season. But I had to sign a lot of books and I said: ‘hey listen, I have found Harold.”
Gibson, who died in 2008, lived in Cronulla for most of his life and respected author Ian Heads, who wrote five books with Gibson including “Played Strong, Done Fine”, said the supercoach always had a soft spot for the Sharks.
“That line was just a wry bit of humour from Jack,” Heads said.
“He was very much part of the furniture down there. He was one of many people who’d have loved to see them do well.”
Robert Holt is now one of them, too.
The 44-year-old initially thought his state allegiance would see him cheer for Melbourne in the Grand Final on Sunday but now he is across the club history — and Jack Gibson’s quote — Holt is backing the Sharks.
He reckons his grandfather would be too, and he penned a humorous list of reasons why.
“Now I have heard the quote, I think I will have to take my state allegiance off and go for the Sharks. I will always back the underdogs,” he said.
“But to be fair, poor old Harry would be 108 years old so it’d be a bit of a shock if he popped up in a Chinese restaurant after the game.”
