What do Sharks Immortals Andrew Ettingshausen and Gavin Miller have in common with Australian Crawl's James Reyne, Dragon's Mark Hunter and Dave Faulkner from the Hoodoo Gurus?
Well, in 1986 they all played on the hallowed turf of Ronson Oval, now known as PointsBet Stadium. On January 26 that year, the Cronulla Sharks hosted one of the biggest charity events in the Sutherland Shire: Ronson Rock!
Under the weight of financial constraint, the concept of a charity rock concert was born two years prior during the 1984 season.
That '84 concert, held in March, was titled Endeavour Rock and part of an aggressive sponsorship drive that included providing fans and businesses the opportunity to purchase varying levels of sponsorship and membership (as shown in the below poster published in the Sutherland Shire Leader newspaper).
Endeavour Rock was headlined by some of the country's greatest acts at the time, including The Angels, Divinyls, Machinations and Pseudo Echo.
Former Sharks administrator Peter Gow recalls the concert with great fondness, and while he doesn't agree with the reported profit of $30,000 (believing it to be much higher), he remembers the success and buzz it created around the Shire.
What sticks with Gow most are the antics of comedian Rodney Rude, inappropriately dressed in a nun's outfit arguing with police backstage. Gow pleaded with Rude to change his outfit which he thankfully did prior to his skit.
In the 1984 Cronulla Sutherland Sharks annual report, club secretary Peter Riley wrote: "Under the drive and enthusiasm of Peter Gow and Terry Preece an awakening of the club was commenced, and a sound financial start was implemented. Without doubt, our success story, off field, for 1984 was the rock concert."
Gary Lester years later wrote in his book The Sharks, Colour Me Black, White and Blue: "The Sharks concert followed the successful Western Suburbs gamble the previous year when they raised almost $90,000 from their concert. Cronulla raised in the vicinity of $30,000 – the exact amount clouded by discrepancies in the cost of holding the event. Suffice to say, however, that any profit was more than welcome."
Fast forward two seasons and the club decided to have another crack, however with the renaming of the ground the second iteration was titled Ronson Rock.
That concert was held during this week in 1986 and headlined by Australian Crawl, who at that time were one of the main acts in the nation's music scene. It ended up being the last concert the band played in Sydney as they split later that week after a final show in Melbourne.
Brett Pattinson from the Allniters recalls: "I remember it fondly, it was a great gig, lots of people, lots of fun and lots of love. I fell off the stage and broke my ankle ... I was just having way too much fun.
"When we played Montego Bay the joint erupted ... Everybody sang the whole song and jumped up and down. Montego is just one of those summer songs."
Also on the bill that day were the Cockroaches, who later became global sensations The Wiggles, while long-time Sharks tragic Dave Faulkner performed with his band the Hoodoo Gurus.
Faulkner recalls: "These were all people (other artists) that we knew one way or another; the Allniters and the Cockroaches played the same inner-city haunts that we did back in the day and James Reyne is very friendly with our bass guitarist, Rick Grossman (they go way back).
"We always got on well with the guys from Mentals and Dragon and we also admire both of those bands enormously. Criminally underrated, both of 'em."
The concert ran from midday to 7pm and only cost $10 for entry. The event was heavily policed and alcohol free. The advertisement published in the Pictorial stated: "Security will be tight to encourage younger fans to see their favourite bands in safety."
A number of the Sharks players volunteered their services for the day, seen walking throughout the crowd with large bags collecting donations from the partygoers.
It does beg the question: what could the Sharks charge these days for a concert featuring that line-up? I'm guessing a fair bit more than $10!
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