‘I love the Sharks’: From boyhood fan to Cronulla’s billionaire backer

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Mike Dorrell has a vivid memory of his first visit to Endeavour Field, as Cronulla’s home ground was known in the 1980s before a handful and more re-brandings.

The Sharks were playing the Illawarra Steelers and an eight-year-old Dorrell was there with his father Brian, a science teacher who had taught at Port Hacking High School, and his brother Simon.

Mike Dorrell flew into Sydney this week and will be at Saturday night’s game.Sam Mooy“I remember distinctly Steve Rogers doing a chip and chase and scoring, right in front of where I was sitting,” he said.

Decades later, the New York-based billionaire has become the club’s billionaire benefactor, having committed $1 million a year to the NRL club over five years.

The co-founder of infrastructure investment giant Stonepeak, the former Macquarie banker will be at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night as Cronulla take on North Queensland in an elimination final.

He is Australia’s ninth-wealthiest person with $13.82 billion to his name, according to the AFR Rich List, but as Craig Fitzgibbon’s team looks to book a spot in the second week of the playoffs, he’ll be just another Sharks tragic hoping they can return to the Sutherland Shire with a win.

In an interview with this masthead, Dorrell said he had donated to Cronulla because of his respect for chairman Steve Mace, chief executive Dino Mezzatesta and coach Fitzgibbon, and got a kick out of being involved with a club which two of his brothers also support.

“It’s like anything when you grow up with … it’s just so deep in your DNA,” he said. “I love the Sharks. There’s not that much I want for life, but [I thought] if I could put a bit of money into the Sharks, just given my love of the game and my love of that team, I’m excited to do it. I think it’s given me and my brothers a pretty big thrill because we’re such Sharks fans.”

Dorrell in work mode, on stage at the AFR Business Summit breakfast in March.Sahlan HayesThe 53-year-old has forged a strong relationship with Mace and Mezzatesta since meeting them in New York two years ago during the NRL’s first season-opening foray to the United States.

Dorrell has also struck up a bond with Fitzgibbon, who once played against his brother Simon, a former lower-grader at Penrith.

He keeps a healthy distance but enjoys engaging with the club.

“My whole idea is, ‘I’ll support you financially, but it’s all yours … do it how you want to do it’,” he said.

“If I want to have a conversation, they’re nice enough to correspond with me. I’ve spent a bit of time with Fitzy. We’ve done the Bronte to Bondi walk a couple of times together and I’m always curious to see his view of the team and the players and whatnot. I like being around the club.”

Dorrell is mega-wealthy even in comparison to the richest people in rugby league. That includes South Sydney part-owner Mike Cannon-Brookes, whose personal fortune dropped to $6.71 billion after separating from his wife Annie, as well as fellow Rabbitohs owner James Packer ($5.25 billion), Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis ($3.96 billion) and Lachlan Murdoch ($3.52 billion), the chair of Brisbane Broncos owners News Corp.

Two years ago, Dorrell reportedly splashed out $225 million for a mansion and private island near US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

He has been a visitor there and The Washington Post revealed last month he had donated $US1 million ($1.38 million) to Trump’s inauguration fund after the 2024 presidential election.

While he has very deep pockets and moves in high circles, Dorrell rose from modest origins and rugby league was a fixture in his upbringing.

Born in Caringbah, he grew up in Griffith and then Richmond, in western Sydney, and consequently went to see the Panthers play far more often than the Sharks, who his father supported. He adopted them as a child after about six months as a fan of the North Sydney Bears, a short-lived devotion instigated when his mother took him and Simon to a Fosseys department store to each pick a team jersey they liked from the discount bin.

The Bears, as perennial battlers in the late 1970s, did not bring a lot of joy in that time.

“We all played league growing up, but my three younger brothers were particularly good, so they all went through the Penrith junior ranks and Simon ended up playing reserve grade for Penrith and ended up being a professional [player] over in France,” he said.

Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon has taken the team to the preliminary finals the past two years.Getty Images“My dad played for Wests juniors and mum’s dad played rugby league, so it’s pretty ingrained in the family.”

Dorrell, a fullback in his day, still passes a football like someone who spent his youth with one in his hands, which was clear when he helpfully brought one along for the Herald’s photo shoot in Sydney’s CBD this week.

He followed Cronulla religiously during the 1980s and 1990s, fondly recalling their minor premiership of 1988 and the exploits of Gavin Miller, Andrew Ettingshausen, Mark McGaw, David Peachey and others over the years.

He was in the crowd for the 1995 elimination semi-final when the Sharks led Newcastle at the old Sydney Football Stadium but were knocked out by a Matthew Johns field goal. “My three buddies who I sat next to were on the front cover of Rugby League Week that week, looking dejected after the Sharks lost,” he said.

Dorrell lost touch with the club a little after moving to the US in 2001, first with Macquarie before establishing Stonepeak in 2007.

But the connection was rekindled when his two Cronulla-mad brothers also relocated there and the Sharks won their maiden title against Melbourne Storm in 2016.

Andrew Fifita crosses the line for the match-winning try in the 2016 grand final.Matt KingDorrell woke before dawn in the US to watch the grand final, which Cronulla clinched in dramatic circumstances when Andrew Fifita crashed through four defenders to score and a frantic last play from Melbourne was defused on the final siren.

“We were killing it, but we weren’t putting that many points on the board and then Melbourne ended up scoring and getting ahead of us and I was beyond furious and upset that I’d gotten up to watch this,” he said.

“Then Fifita scored that unbelievable try. Honestly, I kid you not, I was on an emotional high for six or 12 months after that.”

While Cronulla’s triumph ended a half-century premiership hoodoo, they have remained one of the most financially challenged teams in the competition.

Ocean Protect Stadium, with a capacity of 15,000, is the smallest in the NRL, prompting league officials to shift their home semi-final against the Cowboys to Moore Park.

The facilities there are also severely outdated, while the redevelopment of the adjacent leagues club has faced years-long delays.

In Cronulla’s favour is that they own the stadium and adjacent leagues club land. However, while they once counted a sitting prime minister, Scott Morrison, as their No.1 ticket holder, they have been unable to secure government funding for an upgrade to the venue or for a training centre of excellence as other clubs have.

“I think that they’ve done, frankly, a really nice job at navigating the circumstances they’re in,” Dorrell said.

“It’s tough when you don’t have a proper leagues club, obviously, so I think Dino’s done a really nice job, without a whole lot of money, of putting that club on a good financial footing while keeping the team operating really well.

“I have spent enough time around the organisation that I know the culture there is top-notch. I’m a big observer of culture of organisations and I’ve gone and visited the club and met the various folks around Dino that help him manage the club.”

As for the football side itself, he said: “I don’t know all the footy players real well, but I’ve spent some time around them and I feel a lot of love amongst the team there, which I admire a lot.

“I feel like it’s a close-knit team and I think Fitzy is a really good coach for that. He doesn’t get real emotional. I’ve seen him react to some losses [calmly] where I would struggle to restrain my emotions a little bit. He doesn’t lash out.”

Nicho Hynes in action for Cronulla in the lead-up to the finals.Getty ImagesUsually even-tempered, Fitzgibbon did lose his cool last month, punching a computer monitor in the coach’s box during a defeat to Parramatta.

The rare outburst brought a smile to Dorrell’s face.

“I love to see it,” he said. “I think it was great. He doesn’t criticise people. I think he’s got very good emotional maturity, and obviously, he was a great footballer himself.”

Dorrell’s financial standing might beg the question about whether he would consider purchasing a share in the club if the opportunity arose.

Last month, Swedish private equity firm EQT bought a majority stake in Melbourne that was said to value the Storm at $200 million.

The Sharks are a members-owned club and not for sale, and Dorrell’s organisation invests in assets like data centres, oil pipelines and ports, rather than sports teams.

He has bantered with Cannon-Brookes about Souths and the Sharks but has no intention of becoming an owner.

He does, however, plan to keep backing his boyhood team.

“I think rugby league is such a precious property for the community and I know how important it was to me growing up,” he said.

“As long as I’m doing well in business, I’ll help the club out.”