Scott Sattler jersey saga finally over | thetelegraph.com.au
FOR 41 years the jersey has lived a lie.
Not a malicious one. Nor a fib for financial gain. Just another one of those little untruths uttered from time to time because, well, everyone is happier because of it.
But now, sadly, the ruse must end.
Finishing up, because after nine days of exhaustive investigation involving detectives, lawyers, old footballers, South Australian sandwich shop owners, ex-wives and private eyes The Daily Telegraph can reveal the 1970 John Sattler premiership jersey offered for $30,000 on eBay is not his stolen one. Nor is it exactly a fake.
But did Sattler wear it that afternoon he famously led the Bunnies to victory with a broken jaw?
Well, no. And it's all because ... wait for it ... Souths officials made two sets of jerseys for the 1970 team.
Yep, two official sets. Two ridgy didge No. 13s. A practice which, according to esteemed rugby league author Ian Heads, was commonplace because "with ground drainage so poor, muddy players often changed into a clean jersey at the break".
But what about two ripped rabbit emblems ... a signature supposed to be unique?
According to Barbara Sattler, ex-wife of the Rabbitohs great, her husband was extremely superstitious, especially after said emblem was torn in the opening game of the 1970 season.
So when the club talked of making a spare set, she clearly remembers him saying there was no way he'd wear anything else. "So they especially made John's second jersey with another ripped rabbit", she said.
Incredible. Yet when asked if there was a chance her husband had worn both jerseys in the grand final, she said: "No. At half-time, because of all the blood, someone suggested he change into the spare but he never did."
And so, finally, we now have an answer.
An explanation for how one 1970 top could sit in Sattler's cupboard for more than four decades - removed occasionally when young son Scott ran around the house "pretending I was Bobby McCarthy" - while another hung in the home of the Redfern Oval gatekeeper Deiter Weyrauch.
Call it the beginning of our little white lie. Born that afternoon in 1973 when Souths officials, struggling to keep the club afloat, cheekily auctioned off the spare as the one Sattler had worn.
Bought by Weyrauch for $100, it was then sold years later following his death - and via Sports Memorabilia Australia boss Michael Fahey - to the anonymous eBay seller known only as Peter.
Which was all fine until Sattler's original finally came out of the closest, so to speak, in 2000; the Kangaroo great sending it off to Blazed In Glory owner Michael Halpin for framing.
It hasn't been seen since.
Now 68, John Sattler remembers little of this incredible tale.
Nor can he recall signing two letters saying the spare jersey was, in fact, the one he wore on grand final day.
However, the Souths great concedes, having considered the mounting evidence and spoken with his ex-wife, the signatures must be his.
"I've spoken with Barbara, who remembers Michael Fahey phoning," he says. "If she says I signed something, I would never say otherwise.
"It's frustrating. I'm embarrassed and have lost a lot of sleep over this. You'd like to think you could remember this sort of thing."
Privately, family and friends of Sattler insist he would've only signed the letters thinking, with the original tucked away, there was no harm in someone enjoying what they believed was a special piece of Souths history.
"Which was exactly the case for us," Deiter Weyrauch's daughter Andrea says. "John Sattler's a wonderful man and if he doesn't remember signing our letter, we believe him."
Mr Fahey, too, was happy the issue was sorted and his company cleared. "John not remembering our correspondence is unfortunate but I accept it," he says. "That's why I never sought a stat dec; John Sattler's word has always been gospel."
Sattler, who has never gained anything financially from the spare jersey, is keen to meet with the eBay seller who, when contacted by this column, asked to remain anonymous. A legal representative said their client, a Sydney businessman, would not seek compensation from Sattler.
The revelation means the focus of this mystery now shifts to Michael Halpin, who was given the real jumper for framing when owner of the now defunct Blazed In Glory memorabilia company.
He has refused all interviews. So has the private eye he's hired. Stay tuned
