John Sattler Redfern Public Memorial
The South Sydney Rabbitohs community said goodbye to club legend John Sattler today at Redfern Oval.
The top 30 squad were seated on the field in front of the Sattler family. Special guests included Federal Member for Kingsford Smith Matt Thistlethwaite, Blake Solly, Henry Morris, Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo.
Legends
‘Satts’ teammates George Piggins, Ron Coote and Bob McCarthy were there to pay tribute at their old stomping ground. Souths stars David Boyle, Craig Coleman, Darren McCarthy, Bob McMillan and Wayne Stevens were a few players that I spotted among the crowd.
A loud cheer erupted when Rabbitohs 2014 coach Michael Maquire walked in.
Noela Cini, Tony Day and Brigitte Weiss were among ‘The Burrow’ members that I had a chat to. Norm Lipson, Dr Jim and Paul Lahood were at the venue as was Mrs Bec Eakin with her dad Barry Westcott.
Speakers
Ray Martin hosted the event and invited Blake Solly then Andrew Abdo onto the stage. In between these speeches various tributes were shown on the big screen.
Scott Sattler was the final speaker and his emotional words paid a fitting tribute to a father that he adored. At the conclusion Scott invited Ron, George and Bob to spread Johns ashes beneath the goal posts at the northern end of Redfern Oval.
Interviews
I kept our camcorder rolling and recorded group interviews with Bob, Ron & George then moved onto the Sam Burgess and Cameron Murray press conference.
Scott Sattler kindly made himself available for the media to complete to day. I waited until the end to ask Scott about the Souths team song that dad sung so beautifully on his 1170SEN radio program in 2021. Scott’s answer was a good one as it always is, he is an absolute champion just like his dad was. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Special mention to Brontee Fulton and the staff at the Rabbitohs who all worked hard to present such a fitting tribute to John Sattler.
By Steve Mavin for Bunnies TV.
John Sattler Redfern Public Memorial.
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