Courtesy of one of our generous benefactors, The Cumberland Throw is proud to present to you an array of newspaper scans from the 1970s. The articles range from the clerical overtures of the Parramatta Leagues Club’s expenditure on football operations in 1971 (Spoilers – it was $82,558, which in turn works out to $865,234.36 in 2016 according to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s inflation calculator) to the prideful tones conveyed in the coverage of the 10 (8 players, 2 managers) Kangaroos the Eels produced in their first 25 years since the club’s inception.
As a bicentennial baby, all of these events predate my time following the Blue & Gold so it is fascinating to be able to look back at what is probably a criminally underappreciated decade for our club. I know there are more than a few fans (and contributors – looking at you Mr Sixtiesboy!) that could be possibly be classified as statesmen in their support of the Eels so this is a post for the well-tenured fans to share and celebrate the triumph and tragedies of the formative decade that preceded our famous golden age in 1980s.
Superb read 40/20. Thank you for this.
I will take more time later to read and peruse them. I could not help but notice that ‘Spencer O’Neill’ is strikingly like John Quayle in looks. It is the second row of articles, and the heading is about District Colours of blue and gold. I miss seeing those old blue and gold bars and white collars on the jersey.
Names that I’ve almost forgotten feature here. Interesting to compare some weights of forwards mentioned here. Front rowers Ernst and Williamson are mentioned as 14 stone and 15 stone respectively. That’s around 89kg and 96 kg. Imagine props that size trying to compete in the middle in today’s game!