This has not been one of the better weeks for Eels supporters.
In the grand scheme of the club and its history, there have been tougher times, way tougher. That’s not to downplay the current concerns of fans, because there are valid criticisms about roster management and team performance.
To be succinct, right now we don’t need or deserve issues sinking to greater depths before matters are addressed.
Emotions are running high, and that goes with the territory of being passionate about the Parramatta Eels.
But the current issues that must be addressed aren’t the focus of this post.
Yesterday, the club celebrated the 77th anniversary of its first game, staged on April 12, 1947 against Newtown.
In recognition of this date, the Eels media produced a short video which you can view here.
Whenever I watch historical footage of Parra, I can’t help but become emotional. Tears well up in my eyes and my throat tightens, making it difficult to speak.
Why? It’s not a case of nostalgia. It’s not upsetting, nor is it joyful. Maybe it’s simply a reminder of how significant the Blue and Gold has been in my life.
Strange eh?
It’s just footy, and sometimes I think, or even wish, that I could just walk away from it. And it obviously it doesn’t take precedence over the people I love. But the fact remains that Parra is a part of my identity, and always has been.
I can even recall the first time that I became that emotional. It was at a match at Cumberland Oval back in 1974. The crowd wasn’t big, and I had secured a seat in the old grandstand.
That day they faced the might of the Roosters team. Earlier in the day Rex Mossop had joked around with Ferris Ashton on Controversy Corner about how embarrassing it would be should Easts lose to Parra.
When the Eels went to the sheds at half time they were leading 13-5. I was only 13 years old but it almost felt like I couldn’t breathe. Unfortunately the Eels were run down and lost a nail biter, 20 to 18.
Back in those wooden spoon days, I still couldn’t keep away from Cumberland. Even if I didn’t have the pocket money to get into the match, I’d wait till half time when the gates would be opened and you could walk in for free.
Whether it was watching bottom of the table teams at a run down Cumberland Oval, or being at the big dance at the SCG or Accor Stadium, it didn’t matter. I had to be there.
The first grand final team in 1976
So as the club celebrates 77 years of existence, it reminds me that as someone born in 1961, the Eels have always been in my life.
I was probably hooked from the time my late father, Leo, took me to my first game. so young that the memories are no longer there. It was entrenched when I’d ride along in his truck during school holidays and the likes of Bob O’Reilly and Barry Rushworth were working out of the same depot.
I’ve come to the realisation that no matter how tough times get during a season, I’ll always be there. Even if The Cumberland Throw disappeared, I’d still be in the stands.
Perhaps that’s how the Arthur family feels. I’ve written about how how on that first match day in 1947, Brad’s father Ted was just an infant, taken to the game by Brad’s grandparents and great grandparents. Parra is definitely in their blood.
Today is the latest match day. It’s also the biggest day on the calendar for the Blue and Gold Alliance as they stage their annual reunion.
Ray Price, Barry Rushworth and Billy Richards at last year’s reunion
What shines through at every BGA event that I’ve attended is the love of the club and the brotherhood of the players. It reminds me that despite what some supporters might think, playing for Parra was special for these blokes.
A significant part of the BGA celebrations will be the lap of honour held before the kick off of the Eels clash with the Cowboys.
I’ll be standing and applauding those former players of different eras and the chances are that I’ll again have the salt water welling in my old eyes. Because no matter the success of those players or the teams they played in, they shed blood in the jersey, the colours that I love.
There will be highs and possible lows today, but I won’t be alone in that ride. Because Blue and Gold is in the blood of countless thousands of supporters.
Eels forever!
Sixties
PS – See you in the Bistro at Parra Leagues after the game for our live Instant Reaction Podcast celebrating an Eels win!
So many of us can relate to how you feel. From as long as I can remember I was there at the game travelling around Sydney watching Parra games. Parra is a big part of my life and so many of my friends and family share that. Parra fans feel the losses and the wins. We are Blue when we lose and Gold when we win. Who thought a team could have such an influence on our lives.
How true. Non sports people scratch their heads, they can’t understand how a sport and a football team can mean so much to person.
Joseph, it can be difficult for partners and even some mates to understand too 😁
Lol Sixties, my wife was a Parra fan before I met her, I got lucky there. Not all my friends are Parra supporters but they are all League supporters. I don’t know how to mix with the other kind.
Well sorted Joseph!!!
So true Eddy, and that “Blue when we lose and Gold when we win” – couldn’t put it better. I’ll steal that one!
It took me a few games to get Ray Higgs, but when i did, he was worth the price of admission alone, not to mention Cronin and Price. Is Higgs sitting on a cushion in that photo??
I was really disappointed when Higgs went to Manly. Ripped up the Scanlans footy card I had of him and through it in the old besser block incinerator we had out the back. He was awesome to watch though when I was a kid.
Higgs left because he fell out with Terry Fearnly. It started at half time in the St George grand final when Higgs wanted to sort out Rod Reddy who referee Gary Cook had given a free pass to belt anything in a blue and gold jumper. Fearnly said no. They never smoked the peace pipe.( Cook worked for St G’s sponsors, Penfolds, how does that work???) Higgs didn’t work out at Manly, he never got on with the Manly inner circle, Randall, Krilich, Eadie and co. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone fold blokes in half more than Higgs.
BDon, it was heartbreaking for supporters when Higgs left, because we also knew about the reason for the fall out. If that refereeing performance was delivered today, it would be all over the media. There would be no way of defending it. In fact, even with bunker errors, it couldn’t happen today. For the any younger readers, it’s impossible to describe just how outrageous it was to watch a player have no consequence for the carnage he was creating.
Namrebo, he really don’t want to be at Manly. Don’t think his heart was in that move.
Yep. Remember my dad explaining to me all that BDon said above. Still made me cranky and was difficult to understand as an eight year old.
He wasn’t a big bloke, that’s for certain.
I was there 60’s, you have not exaggerated it at all. The memory of that alone would prevent me from ever not being a Parra supporter.
I share your passion and your pain!
I love your attachment to the club, my life has been in farming and be eighty this year and I became a a parra supporter since the late sixties when my young nieces were Manly supporters and they asked me who was my team , I knew parra were not doing well so I said parramatta and that’s how the journey began. Prior to that St George because being from near Nowra Tony Branson was a local , hers hoping Parra can turn their luck around Sixties it will make the day complete for the old players day , Cheers .
Colin, thanks for your reply and what an interesting way for you to start your journey. I’ll be thinking as much about the old boys today as the game unfolds – hoping the team can rise for them as much as for the supporters and themselves
I love that team photo, just take the damn shot, who cares about the person walking down the stairs who’s legs will be forever frozen in time with the team photo.
Great article and a great insight to what it is to be a true supporter. Many of us feel the same, it’s more than just a club and a game.
I could never not be an Eels supporter, like you, I don’t have the choice, It would be a relief to just not care at times, switch off, find something else to occupy my time during winter but that would be like trying to change my blood type, the club is part of me, it’s ingrained and will be till death do us part, win lose or draw.
I’m made up or three parts, loved ones, career and the Eels, there is nothing else in my life I care about, sad I know.
I went to school with a guy who was a St George supporter, he wore Dragons gear on sports days and everyone knew him as a Dragons supporter. One day he announced that he’s a Bulldogs supporter because the Dragons were doing it tough. 38 years down the track, I still see this guy around, and I still harbor a dislike for this man, I can only see him as the guy who betrayed his team.
Great anecdote Joseph. Though we welcome new fans, or even converted ones, we do have a respect for other fans that stick solid like us. Thanks for adding your story too.
Converted fans should be required to complete a thorough conversion process, like George Constanza did when he wanted to join the Latvian Orthodox faith.
🤣🤣🤣
Great read Sixties.
A really timely reminder how much Parra means to so many people.
Thanks
Cheers Pete. We all have our own stories. Our own reason for attachment. And after yesterdays unexpected win with the club under pressure, another tale in the history of the club.
I went to school with Garry Cook, George Cook’s son (RIP Garry). and George was my ‘confirmation sponsor way way back in the day. I knew George really well, he lived a few streets up from me when I was growing up in South Granville. (another handy piece of information was my next door neighbour was Keven Geyer (Mark and Matty’s dad) and Keven was one of my best mates. The whole Geyer family were ‘rusted on Parra fans’ at the time – as we all were.
George Cook is in history as the first try scorer for the Parramatta District Rugby League Club.
I often spoke with Kelly Johnson, (George’s grand-daughter) who absolutely loved her pop, and the Eels. Sadly Kelly passed away not long ago after a battle with cancer leaving behind her partner Ben and a young daughter Hannah. RIP Kelly.
Kelly loved the Eels, and following the Club – and her family ties to its being, were of great comfort to her.
Supporting the Eels is much more than caring about the number of premierships. To me, it has always been a great comfort, and provided me with a sport and a Club I can hang my hat on. Ever since the arrivalk of Ronny Boden and Paul Pyers in 1959, followed by Ron Lynch and Brian Hambly in the early sixties and “the coming of the Lord” (aka the Mayor) Ken Thornett, – I was hooked. and proud of the doors it has opened for me in my journey through life…
A sad but heartfelt read, everyone’s journey starts from a different place and for different reasons, somehow we all end up at the same place.
Joseph, Parra Pete is a legend in his own right.
lol…Thanks sixties. I really enjoy the effort the people at TCT put in to bring the latest news to all parochial ‘fans’.
I remember someone saying to me when I was a teenager (long time ago)..Whats got two heads, four arms, four legs, one blue eye, one gold eye”?
I said “Don’t know”…The answer was “You and your old man”…The difference between my dad and I was he used to clap if teams scored a good try against us..,I didn’t, I used to get down in the ‘dumps’..lol….RIP Dad.
Parra Pete, you were one of the first people that came to mind as I thought of those who have the Blue and Gold in their veins and in their heart. I’m honoured that you read TCT and have shared your own stories here. Thank you again for another anecdote about the history and background to people of the game.
Thanks Sixties,
Well said and so true. My wife doesn’t understand the passion when my son and I are blowing up at refs and the like when watching a game on tv here in Brisbane. You either get it or you don’t.
My dad likes the fact that he was born in the same year Parra started and it seems to give him an extra affinity with the Eels, even if he was a lukewarm bunnies support until I became interested in footy.
My conversion to the Eels was much simpler than most here. As a nearly eight year old in 1976 I was shopping with my parents in Parramatta. All the car’s driving around had blue and gold ribbons flying off the antennas. I asked my dad why and he told me there was a rugby league GF on that weekend. I asked what colours the other team were and he told me maroon and white. Straight away I said I hope the blue and gold team wins. Lucky for me otherwise I would have been Manly 😤.
After that the first game dad took me to was the 1977 drawn GF. Then we hardly missed a game between 1978 – 1982 before moving to the Gold Coast. Seen very few live games since then but always on tv or the radio, yelling screaming and carrying on. My son never had the option of anyone else (although, unfortunately he goes for the Maroons in origin) and yells and carries on more than me.
Only found out a few years ago that my wife’s paternal grandfather was a mad Parra man as well but couldn’t listen/watch games because the stress would give him angina!
Anyway, enough banging on, thanks for sharing memories of how your Eels support started, and to the others who have done the same. It is what makes us true supporters.
Cheers Namrebo. I also wanted to share about the BGA and how deep the bonds of the past players are to the club. I will never forget seeing the older players breaking into the team song at the Christmas gathering of the BGA at the pub. It was done for one of their team mates who was doing it tough with dementia. He immediately became animated and joined in. It was emotional to witness and was evidence about what being part of a Parra team meant to these blokes.
A great post. Thanks Sixties.
I’m pretty sure it was ‘77 and growing up on the mighty Clarence River I was starting to get into footy and decided I had to pick a team and there was this certain goal kicking centre with the same family name as mine. So I decided to follow that team and thus I became an Eels supporter.
And when I met my wife’s family I found they had a connection to the club with a family member heavily involved in the club sometime in the 1950s.
I hope that there will be more great history for the club and that some of the players currently at the club will be part of it.
Shaun, it’s interesting for me to read the different ways that supporters came to love the Eels, especially those who aren’t or weren’t locals. Thank you for sharing your story.
No matter how we arrived we are all members of the one, true faith.
MonoEelistic?
It’s a history
Not a history filled with success but it’s our history.
I wonder if we were a successful club would we be as popular?
I grew up in the area and travel up and down from the coast most weeks to watch the boys my son never had a choice the blue and is in our blood
Supporting the Eels is as much about enduring the tough times and having hope. They say it’s the hope that kills you. As far as supporters are concerned, it’s the hope that drives you on. There’s maybe also psychological conditioning at play here. Intermittent reward to condition the response/behaviour. We get that intermittent reward in its truest form.
I was born to the B&G. Couldn’t support any other team if I tried. Don’t really have second team. I still have my little bit of charred Cumberland Oval grandstand my late grandmother saved for me.
Hope you have it framed or somewhere special Brett.
Mr Sixties, memory lane rushes through many emotions. It’s interesting there still around supporters from the Fifties. My earliest memory is fifty eight and young lad. My adoptive father had badge number 69 being an original member.
Jack Argent use to pay me 5 shillings to collect the corner post after every home game.
Not many might recall Parra was one the rare teams to beat an international team. Can you recall? They beat South Africa when touring Australia for the first time. I remember their goal kicker end up playing for North Sydney.
Who can ever forget Grumpy Hambly, Thirsty Lynch and that intercept king Ken Foord. There are so many memories that at the time filled us with hope. We went to every match every weekend rain or shine. The worst was travelling to Brookvale – Rex Mossop was so imposing as a player he scared me. Henson Park, the Sports Ground, Pratten Park – Noel Kelly and company. Leichhardt Oval and golden boot Keith Barnes.
Win or lose Mr Sixties the Eels become a part of your DNA which takes through the tough times. The SCG and the invincibles Saint George – Gasnier, Smith,Provan, Poppa Clay – Parra always seem to run into teams that produce a dynasty. There are so many memories that reading this article brings them back.
We have our great memories from the Eighties when Parra were kings. Will those times return – we can only hope better days are ahead. Rugby League is the best spectator game we have although some officials are beginning to ruin it. I was there that day Keith Page robbed Parra against East and started a riot. But, Greg Hartley was the worst.
Nice write up Mr Sixties, taking me back to those days just made me realize how old I am. Thanks!!!
What a lifetime of memories Zero. Well aware of the match against South Africa. I might have seen the program from that day via a collector friend. There was also the game against Western Australia. The program that day had the title “Hands Across A Continent”.
Thanks for sharing your story mate, especially the corner post job!
Admission was free – I was at school and couldn’t get there but, my mate did and he was as pleased as punch.
lol…Thanks sixties. I really enjoy the effort the people at TCT put in to bring the latest news to all parochial ‘fans’.
I remember someone saying to me when I was a teenager (long time ago)..Whats got two heads, four arms, four legs, one blue eye, one gold eye”?
I said “Don’t know”…The answer was “You and your old man”…The difference between my dad and I was he used to clap if teams scored a good try against us..,I didn’t, I used to get down in the ‘dumps’..lol….RIP Dad.
How good that you could share that love of the Eels with your dad. He sounds like he was a true gentleman