NRL players Hazem El Masri and Jason Stevens come from different backgrounds and have played their football for different clubs.

But they share a love of the beach at Cronulla.

And the Bulldogs icon and long-time Cronulla Sharks prop are equally dismayed by last weekend's racially motivated violence.

El Masri, the goal-kicking superstar with a Lebanese background, has been coming to Cronulla with his family for 20 years.

"Both ends are in the wrong," he told the Ten network.

"People just shouldn't take actions into their own hands.

"I've got to commend the police for the way they handled everything on Sunday. I guess let the police take their actions and the courthouse do their job here.

"It's a public beach, it's open for everybody, but by the same token you've got to respect others and respect yourself and that's the best way to go about it."

El Masri is optimistic that being Australian means something different to what he saw on Sunday.

"That's the good thing about being an Australian ... when there's tough times everybody gets together. So we need to unite and get together and get to the bottom of our problem, and hopefully we can solve this soon," he said.

Stevens, a Cronulla local who retired at the end of the 2005 NRL season, said the attitudes expressed on Sunday came from a minority.

"It's obviously hard seeing it, being in the place that you live and the place that you love," Stevens said.

"It was tough to watch it but I feel it was blown out of proportion.

"What happened that day, it really wasn't representative (of) how the majority of people feel here."

The Bulldogs host the Sharks in round 11 of the NRL next year.

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