Love it!
And of course the latitude for all the talk,and fun,and laughter,is because no one did get hurt,not even,it seems,the shark. It is the potentiallethality of whatmighthave happened,that gives the story such oomph.
And as it happens,here in Sydney,historically we know better than just about any city in the world the terror of what sharks can do to the human body for we,dear friends,have hosted the biggest tabloid shark story in the history of the world. Do I care that it has only the most tenuous link to sport,the link I have carefully placed above? I do not. It is a killer tale,too good not to tell or,in this case,retell,many times over.
See,back in 1935,when Coogee was sort of Workers World by the Water,a local fisherman by the name of Bert Hobson - a likely sort of lad – caught a HUGE tiger shark,which he then towed to shore to give to his bruvver Charlie's Coogee Aquarium. His idea was they that could charge the punters a shilling or so to see it. And it worked! Come Anzac Day,just a week later,the joint was full of Diggers and their families.