On Wednesday, Greg Kendall will stand at the end of the aisle in the Graceland Chapel on Las Vegas Boulevard waiting to marry the second love of his life.
Adorned in a Sharks suit jacket over a Cronulla polo shirt, Kendall’s wedding is an ancillary benefit of his trip to Las Vegas, the main focus of which is to watch his first love – the Cronulla Sharks – play Penrith on March 2 (AEDT).
If the Sharks win, Kendall says it will be the highlight of his trip, even more so than his marriage to partner Janine Bradley.
“I always say when it comes to my life, Janine’s a close second,” he said.
Kendall and Bradley flew to the US on Friday morning on a pilgrimage soon to be made by thousands of NRL fans across the Pacific Ocean ahead of the season opener in Vegas.
Lifelong Sharks superfan (verified by his two Cronulla emblem tattoos and the extensive paraphernalia collection housed in his “Sharks cave”), Kendall, 51, booked tickets the day they became available.
His future wife is a converted Broncos fan and the pair had originally planned to get married at Shark Park (and got the green light from Cronulla chief executive Dino Mezzatesta to do so), but settled on an elopement in Vegas.
Cronulla fans Greg Kendall and Janine Bradley are on their way to Las Vegas to get hitched and watch the Sharks play. Credit: Dan Peled
Though he won’t pack all 50 of his Sharks jerseys (which he says are the only clothes he wears outside of work), and though he doesn’t have a Sharks suitcase (though he says it’s intentionally blue), he will pack his Sharks suit to get married in.
“We’re going there just to see them [the Sharks]; that’s like heaven to me,” he said.
Also making the journey is Panthers fan Felicity Beggs, whose packing list is equally extensive.
“I’ve got my pink jersey, I’ve got my white jersey, I’ve got two of last year’s grand final T-shirts, I’ve got my Panthers jacket, I’ve got a beanie in case it’s cold, I’ve got my cap when it’s sunny; we’ve actually got Panthers gloves that you can still use your phone with gloves on so they’re great,” she said.
Felicity Beggs and Debbie Mullins are among the many Panthers fans heading to Vegas.
Beggs (52) and her wife, Debbie Mullins (63), are making a longer break out of their first time in Las Vegas. They’re going to see the band Chicago play at the Venetian Theatre, the Awakening show at the Sphere and they’re planning a trip to the Mob Museum. They’ll also take a flight to the Grand Canyon and hop on the zip line on Fremont Street.
Rob Stanley-Jones is the licensee of the Caringbah Hotel and is planning to livestream the action from the Sharks supporters bay at Allegiant Stadium to his southern Sydney pub.
Rob Stanley-Jones sits in his and late mate Phill Cannan’s favourite seat at the Caringbah Hotel. Credit: Rhett Wyman
Stanley-Jones is travelling to Vegas in honour of his late friend Phill Cannan, who he says was a “massive Sharks fan” and had bought tickets to go himself. In his friend’s honour, Stanley-Jones, 53, wants to convey the atmosphere from the game back to the pub that his friend loved, and even briefly lived in.
“He rang me up, and he was living in Townsville, and he said, ‘Can I come and live in your pub until I die’, and that was his way, his humorous way, of telling me he had terminal pancreatic cancer and that he’d been given six months to live,” Stanley-Jones said.
Cannan did live in the pub, he met Sharks player Nicho Hynes there, and last week his funeral was held there, too.
“We were acquaintances and then we became friends, and in the last couple of months I became like his carer,” Stanley-Jones said.
Cannan, who had his car wrapped with Sharks stickers, had bought tickets to watch his team play in Las Vegas and now Stanley-Jones is going for him and, “in honour of Phill”, he will livestream the action back to their other friends and locals on the pub’s TVs.
