April 9: Fenech tackles league; Chisholm tackles ref

On this day in history, the champ Jeff Fenech sets his sights on a rugby league career, Bunnies forward Wayne Chisholm takes down the ref in a famous SFS moment and May 28 is announced as the return date by Project Apollo.

1989

One of Australia's favourite sporting sons, triple world boxing champ Jeff Fenech, announces his intentions to play rugby league. At 24 years of age he takes his shot but with the Parramatta Eels but after a few runs in reserves in 1990 he gives it away. 

1991

South Sydney forward Wayne Chisholm is suspended for 10 weeks for tackling referee Geoff Weeks in a match at the Sydney Football Stadium. He is found to have “sought to gain an advantage by impeding the progress of the referee”.

1994

A ground record crowd of more than 20,000 watch Andrew Ettingshausen inspire Cronulla’s 26-14 defeat of Manly with a hat-trick of tries at Caltex Field. By the time he hung up the boots in 2000, 'ET' has amassed 165 tries for his beloved Sharks, a whopping 55 ahead of David Peachey (110) who sits second on the Sharks' all-time try list. The Sea Eagles would recover to finish fourth in 1994 while the Sharks eventually wound up seventh. 

1996

Birthday of Knights hooker Jayden Brailey, who made his NRL debut in round one, 2017 as a 20-year-old and played 69 games for the Sharks before joining Newcastle in 2020. He played just two games for his new club in 2020 after suffering an ACL injury before returning in style in 2021 with 23 appearances as the Knights qualified for the finals.

2020

ARLC Commissioner Wayne Pearce announces that the committee charged with preparing the NRL to resume its competition has decided on May 28 for the restart. Pearce says details over the format of the competition have yet to be determined.

This article contains information from the official records of NRL historian David Middleton.