Arabic version: روسترز يتذكرون لقاءهم بالحاخام إيلي شلانغر

According to ABC News, Sydney Roosters players met Rabbi Eli Schlanger and other Eastern Suburbs Jewish community leaders at Chabad of Bondi on December 9, 2025, five days before the Bondi Beach mass shooting. Schlanger was one of 15 people killed in the attack.

The off-season visit included Hugo Savala, Cody Ramsay and Billy Smith, as well as Roosters chief executive Joe Kelly. Players ate kosher food, learned about Jewish customs at the synagogue and walked along the beachfront and Bondi Pavilion with community representatives.

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, Schlanger’s father-in-law, said the players were curious and interested in the meanings and symbolism explained during their visit. Alex Ryvchin, co-chief executive of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said the group left a positive impression and had shown awareness of antisemitic incidents affecting the local community.

Kelly said the attack had a strong effect on the players who had met Schlanger, as well as the wider club. The Roosters later gathered at Bondi Beach to pay their respects, held an open training session on the sand in January and observed a minute’s silence before their first home game of the season.

The club also invited Summer, sister of the youngest victim Matilda, to toss the coin and deliver the ball before its first home game of the new year. Rabbi Ulman said the response from the Roosters, particularly those who had met Schlanger days earlier, showed they were deeply affected by the loss.