Supporters gather at the bar in Shire-style support Cronulla fans make their feelings known at Shark Park last night. IF there was anger among Cronulla supporters at the situation their club finds itself in, it was not apparent as the faithful gathered at Sharks Stadium for their opening game of the season yesterday. About 100 diehard fans met outside the stadium entrance at 4.30pm, toting a megaphone, a drum, a bugle and a smattering of flags and marched into the ground together, chanting and singing as they did a lap of the playing field, but it was hardly a protest. "It was just a show of support for the players," organiser George Bellizia said. We're just here to support the 17 players who will be out there today. Elsewhere, some 40 or 50 former players, including one-time first-grade coach Stuart Raper, gathered in the main bar of the leagues club to show their support for their beleaguered club. It was casual, social, somehow very Cronulla. Most do not know what to make of the maelstrom that has enveloped the club since news broke that 14 players were under investigation by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, reportedly for taking banned peptide hormones during the 2011 season. But Raper said all recognised the matter threatens the future of the club. "It's about survival for this club, really, and that's the key thing we're doing here," he said. There's a lot of things flying around, innuendo and rumour, so until the evidence comes out it's hard to make a judgment on what has to happen. However, he said the board's actions in standing down first-grade coach Shane Flanagan and sacking four other members of the football department, including longstanding doctor David Givney, indicated how serious the allegations were. "What they've done in the last week, they've done it with legal advice and that would be the basis for making those decisions," Raper said. I just hope everyone realises that and I just hope the club can get through this. It's always been a club that's been on Struggle Street. I know that from my time playing and coaching, and you see around the club so many good supporters and the Shire still needs a club and I hope they come through it and still be here. Raper said the Sharks had a strong administration in his day but he suspects the more recent financial difficulties at the club had taken a toll on its organisation and ability to attract top administrators. "To get good administrators, you have to have the money to get those people," he said. You've got a duty when you are in an organisation to make sure you're doing the correct things for the welfare of your players, your fans, your sponsors. I'm not privy to what the staff were doing but if they have done the wrong thing they should pay the price. Raper said he expected the Sharks supporters to rally to their cause. "You've seen it with a club like Souths, when a club is down, you get a lot of people coming out of the woodwork," he said. A lot of people love the Sharks and they want a club.