MY FEUD WITH PETER STERLING
It’s impossible to be a sportswriter without upsetting people along the way.
I fell out with Sterlo back in 1983 at a time when I became aware Manly boss Ken Arthurson, armed with the biggest chequebook in the game, was trying to pinch the champion half-back from the Eels.
I spoke to Parramatta CEO Denis Fitzgerald and told him I was going to write the story.
Ready for a tackle? Peter Sterling in 1989.Source:News Corp Australia
He pleaded with me not to because he feared that if it went public, Arthurson would be even more determined to win the battle for his signature.
So we did a deal. Fitzgerald said he was confident Sterling would stay and promised me the story as soon as he signed.
I rang Fitzgerald two or three times a week. It was bordering on harassment.
Eventually he called to say Sterling had signed but said there was a problem.
His manager John White and Sterling wanted to keep the story for the next morning to publish it in the Daily Mirror, where he was being paid as a columnist.
I told Fitzgerald I was going to write it anyway. We had a deal and his obligations to the Mirror were not my problem.
So we broke the story on the back page of the Telegraph and did a double page inside. ‘Sterlo signs life deal after Arko’s secret bid to pinch him.’
At the time I can remember Sterlo was reading the morning sports news on 2WS.
Not to be repeated
He rang me on my home phone number at around 5.30am.
What he delivered said was the best and most furious spray I’ve ever copped from a football player.
It cannot be repeated in this family newspaper.
We didn’t talk for more than a decade. Then we bumped into each other in Country Road at the Erina shopping centre and he challenged me outside for a fight.
Another time he slammed me on the Footy Show and I sued him.
Channel Nine settled out of court. I bought a little boat and called it STERLO.
THE TECHNOLOGY
The first colour sports page.
Footy players used to behave as badly, maybe even worse than Todd Carney, Mitchell Pearce and co. It’s just that there were no camera phones. Journos too were much closer to the players in the old days and we covered up a lot of the off-field dramas. Every week you’d have a beer with the players.
Not anymore. There is little or no trust.
These days you get your news as it happens on smart phones, websites and social media.
Back in 1986 The Daily Telegraph decided to print the first ever colour front page of an ARL grand final.
It had to be done five days in advance. On the Monday before the game I took the Winfield Cup, in the boot of my car, to Steve Mortimer’s house.
We sprayed him with a hose and took a waist high shot or him holding the trophy aloft.
We then went to Ray Price’s home and did the same thing. About 400,000 copies of each were printed. Fortunately neither player was injured or carried off on a stretcher.
Replies
Sterlo didn't give the grub a big enough spray.
Old Beetroot cheeks is a shit journo but an even worse human. He is a parasite making a living off the game of RL by bagging shit out of it. The day he passes out and chokes on his own vomit will be a great day day for humanity.
and we can only hope it happens before the Sharks win a title.
1983 was probably the last time this prick was sober
WARNING!!! BUSTED CAPILLARY ALERT!!!!!!!
OMG would you buy lollies from this man?
Oh Booze head, I didn't think you could stoop any lower in desperation for a story, but you have surprised me yet again.
Obviously under the pump for story.What an absolute grub
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