Cronulla knee-boarder Graeme Cole began surfing in the early 1970s. He was and still is a regular at the Alley and Elouera. After graduating with honours from Sydney University in 1981 he began his career in journalism on The Pictorial News. It was here that he covered local surfing and worked alongside photographers John Veage and Paul Sargeant.

Radio 2UE’s Director of Sport John Brennan asked Cole to cover the 1983 Straight Talk Tyres Surfing Open and for the next seven years was the voice of pro-surfing for 2UE News and Peter Bosley’s Sports Today show. From Cronulla to Bells and from Newcastle to Pipe, Cole filed stories on the burgeoning ASP circuit. His knowledge of surfing moved him to The Australian after he was asked to pen an historical feature piece on Australia’s surfing links with Hawaii. Between covering NSW Parliament and the industrial round, he filed pro-surfing stories for the national broadsheet and broke the story on Tom Carroll’s boycott of South Africa. He wrote on a range of issues for Tracks, wrote freelance articles for a variety of magazines and other surfing publications believing the surfing community had much to say about the environment and other issues.

“Dog Marsh’s mum was a bit of a fan,” Cole said. “She would phone 2UE for updates when he was competing in Hawaii. Whenever I could, I would lead with a local – Dog, Greeny, Occy.

“Former ASP Director and ‘Shoes stalwart Graham Cassidy was ‘the man’ in the 1980s. And world surfing should be indebted to his contribution to the development of the sport. Sid had the silken tongue, good organisational skills and could balance the competing needs of corporates and the surfing community. The night surfing events in ’84 and ’86 put Cronulla on the international map.”

Today, Cole works in media, public affairs and government relations in the community services sector and guest lectures at universities.