STEELERS 32
TIGERS 6
STEVE MASCORD
ILLAWARRA’S 2.4m superhero mascot, Stanley The Steel Avenger, may be suspended for the rest of the season after taking his crime-fighting duties on to the field at Steelers Stadium yesterday.
In the first on-field incident this year to match the lunacy which has overtaken the game at administrative level, Stanley was sent off and reported by referee Tony Maksoud after becoming involved in a fight with five minutes to go in the Steelers’ comfortable win.
Illawarra fullback Brendan O’Meara and Sydney Tigers forward Mark O’Neill were trading blows on the eastern touchline, and their teammates had joined the melee, when the caped, helmeted Stanley began to drag players apart.
“I looked down and there was Stanley on the deck I couldn’t believe it!” said O’Meara. “He was certainly having a go.”
The ref just said, ‘You, offf, and Stanley was shattered.”
O’Meara and O’Neill ended up in the sin bin, but Stanley’s fate could be worse with referees coordinator Michael Stone to study video of the incident today. The alias of the mascot, a stand-in for regular “Stanley” Trent Bowater, was a closely guarded secret last night.
But witnesses say he was told to “disappear” by club officials after his dismissal. Journalists seeking an audience with him after the game were told, “Stanley is long gone”.
The North Sydney Bear was suspended last year for swearing at a touch judge, while St George once alleged the Penrith Panther had baulked a goal kicker, and threatened to cite him.
“It was nothing too serious he was just pulling players off,” said Maksoud. “But he can’t be allowed to touch players under any circumstances. I’ve put it on report.”
Maksoud confirmed the sending-off meant Stanley was out of the running for the Rothmans Medal, while national selector Keith Holman was present and the 600kg man of steel’s World Cup selection prospects are thought to have taken a sharp nosedive.
After the brief absurdity, the entire match became something of a comic strip. Seconds later, O’Neill burst into the clear, was tackled, then clearly passed the ball to a teammate standing in front of him.
Illawarra winger Rod Wishart intercepted, then knocked on.
“It was a performance which was perhaps of a lesser degree to those we’ve put in recently,” said Steelers coach Alan Fitzgibbon. Second-rower Neil Piccinelli, off to the Hunter Mariners next year, was tireless for the Steelers, while World Cup candidates Paul McGregor and Wishart appear to have timed their peak for the tournament opener against England on October 7.
ILLAWARRA 32 (P McGregor 3. K Beauchamp, B O’Meara, R Wishart tries; R Wishart 4 goais) bt SYDNEY TIGERS 6 (W Patten try; M Withers goal) at Steelers Stadium. Crowd; 8,237. Referee: T Maksoud.
This story appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, August 14 1995
