JACOB GRAMS

IT was the Far North’s answer to Norm Provan and Arthur Summons’ post-1963 grand final pose immortalised in the NRL grand final trophy.

The image sticks vividly in the minds of those that were at Smithfield 28 years ago and saw it captured in the next day’s Cairns Post – two Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks players, having a beer after a game at Ivanhoes Rugby League Club, covered head to toe in black mill mud dust.

One must wonder what went through the mind of 1988 Rothmans Medal winner Gavin Miller when his team took a break from their end-ofseason frivolities and agreed to a game on the newly opened fields at Smithfield against a local side featuring Ivanhoes legend John Skardon.

“It was black. We’d just put mill mud on it, but it was really dry. It was just dust central,” said spectator and Former Ivanhoes Great (FIGS) member Alan Benn.

“They were on their end-ofseason trip, which was fine by us, and we had a game to wet the roof.”

Many who came to grief with knee injuries in the years either side of the game considered it the worst field in Cairns, which is a far cry from its stature today as one of the best in the CDRL competition.

Mill mud was the cheapest top-dressing option at the time and the abnormally dry weather in the lead-up only caused the dried mud, now dust, to be thrown in the air when Sharks THE Northern Pride’s legacy of 2014 will live on tomorrow, as three graduates from the system chase a second NRL State Championship title.

Tully playmaker Shaun Nona joins backrower Tyrone McCarthy in lining up for Illawarra, to be coached by one-time Pride boss Jason Demetriou, against Burleigh.

The trio helped the Barlow Park club clinch the national title a week after the Intrust Super Cup one two years ago.

Tomorrow, they go for No.2. and Ivanhoes players clashed.

“When they came off they were covered in it. The crowd was covered in it,” Benn said.

Local great Steve Howlett took 1988 off to pursue work opportunities but remembers images out of the game well.

“There was a photo taken after the game. There was two Cronulla players having a beer ... and they were covered in sooty black dirt,” he said. “People for years would get all these infections out (the mill dust).”

The barman was kind enough to shout the Sharks’ stars after their wallets went missing during the game.

They had in fact ended up at a hospital with CDRL secretary Pat Bailey, then on the Knights committee, who succumbed to a battle with a kidney stone and the wallets she held on to made the trip.