THEY have been one of the most successful footy teams on the northern beaches but the Peninsula Seagulls have had their wings clipped.
The club’s founders, former first grade stars Gary Pethybridge and Steve Gearin, have revealed the Seagulls will not be competing in next year’s Sydney Shield rugby league competition.
“We would have been financially sound but it is resources, pure and simple,” Pethybridge said.
Lack of a suitable field and a proper administration plus the retirements and departures of key players helped bring matters to a head.
Gearin said: “We just don’t have the arsenal at the moment.’’
Peninsula Seagullls’ forward Todd Wilson in action for the the team this season. Picture: John Appleyard
The Seagulls have been a real Cinderella sporting story, starting from nothing but matching it with rivals who had the backing of wealthy licensed clubs in western Sydney.
The club was formed to give peninsula players the opportunity to step up to the next level that they were not getting in the A-grade competition.
And what the Seagulls have achieved on the back of the tireless work by Pethybridge and Gearin far exceeded expectations.
“We have won more Sydney Shield games than any other club in the past three years,” Pethybridge said.
Seagulls forward Josh Hall makes a break against East Campbelltown. Picture: Adam Ward
The team has made the grand final qualifier in each of their three seasons, were minor premiers once and finished second twice.
In two of those years a Seagull was named Sydney Shield player of the year and they also had the competition’s leading pointscorer twice.
The team had another successful campaign this year with former NRL stars Scott Pethybridge and Craig Gower coaching.
“It has superseded anything Steve and I thought could happen,” Pethybridge said.
For Pethybridge and Gearin the exercise has been a labour of love and they are determined the club will return in 2018, bigger and better.
“We’re far from dead and buried,” Pethybridge said. “We know how to run a club. We’re just pausing for 12 months and re-evaluating where we want to go.”