Steve Sharp (born 11 September 1957) is an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

football administrator and former professional player, who was previously chairman of the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and thei ...

club, with whom he played and won three premierships in the 1980s.

Playing career

Sharp started playing in Sydney's

New South Wales Rugby Football League Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

for the

club during the

1979 NSWRFL season The 1979 NSWRFL season was the 72nd season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve New South Wales Rugby Football League clubs competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the ...

. He was selected as one of Parramatta's reserves in the

1981 NSWRFL season The 1981 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 74th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve clubs, including six of 1908's foundation teams and another six from around Sydne ...

's grand final, in which they defeated Newtown to claim their maiden premiership. Sharp was selected to play for the Eels at second-row forward in the

1982 NSWRFL season The 1982 NSWRFL season was the 75th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and saw the New South Wales Rugby Football League’s first expansion since 1967 with the introduction of the first two clubs from outside the Sydney ar ...

's grand final victory over the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rug ...

. At the end of the

1983 NSWRFL season The 1983 NSWRFL season was the 76th season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Fourteen teams competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous year's grand fina ...

Parramatta again faced Manly in the grand final and again Sharp played at second-row forward in the Eels victory, making it three consecutive premierships for the club. He was selected to play for the Eels as a reserve in the

1984 NSWRL season The 1984 New South Wales Rugby League season was the 77th season of competition between the top professional rugby league football clubs within New South Wales. With the departure from the first grade competition of Sydney foundation club the New ...

's grand final which was lost to the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facili ...

. When the newly-build

Parramatta Stadium Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure ...

hosted its first match in 1986, Sharp scored the first try there. The

1990 NSWRL season The 1990 New South Wales Rugby League season was the eighty-third season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and Winfield Cup during the premiership season, which culminated in a ...

was his last in first grade.

Post playing

In May 2013 Sharp was elected Chairman of the

board, replacing Roy Spagnolo. In 2016, Parramatta were involved in a salary cap scandal where it was revealed that secret payments to players had been made and that the club had been over the cap since 2013. Sharp along with what the media dubbed "The gang of five" were deregistered by The NRL in the fallout of the scandal. In August 2016, Sharp spoke to the media saying "I'm totally disappointed in the NRL's decision in finding me guilty of being part of a system that defrauded the salary cap, That never happened, but I have to live by the decisions of the NRL,I'm not saying it didn't occur I'm saying that I didn't have the knowledge at the time that this stuff was happening,I don't apologise for something I wasn't aware of, I've lost the love of the game over the last 18 months, I still love Parramatta and I care about the club but I've lost the love of the game, and going back to my earliest memory, I've always had it. That's sad".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Steve 1957 births Living people Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league second-rows Sportsmen from New South Wales