When Parramatta won their first premiership, beating Newtown 20-11 in the 1981 grand final at the SCG, their fans celebrated with signature poise and grace … by tearing and burning down their own grandstand.
Cumberland Oval was due to be demolished to make way for Parramatta Stadium so, after the breakthrough victory, the inmates took control of the asylum.
Fence palings were ripped off, showerheads taken as souvenirs and drunk men climbed the old scoreboard to steal the old clock. Someone went mad with a tomato sauce bottle as elderly fans sat in the stands in tears.
Then they set Cumberland Oval alight. Good times, classic hits, WSFM.
Church Street was lined with heaving crowds as the Eels’ team bus snaked its way to the leagues club where, soon enough, coach Jack Gibson would take the stage and utter the most famous line in the club’s history: “Ding dong, the witch is dead”.
It wasn’t Big Jack’s style to drop the mic and walk off stage, but he may as well have because Parramatta’s victory drew a line in the sand after years of fighting the NSWRL, fighting with referees, and mostly being told premierships just weren’t in the woodwork of the place after losing two grand finals in the 1970s.
Burn, baby, burn … a fan stands in front of the smouldering remains of the Cumberland Oval grandstand in 1981.Credit:Fairfax Media
The streets of Parramatta are alive again following the Eels’ dramatic preliminary final win over North Queensland. This time the jubilant scenes represent the death of a different kind of witch.
In 2009, the AFL impudently parachuted the Greater Western Sydney Giants into rugby league heartland.
The fledgling club came armed with a legendary coach and mouthpiece in Kevin Sheedy, a range of salary cap and draft concessions and a war chest that allowed them to throw the bank at NRL superstar Israel Folau.
The Panthers have been reaping the rewards from the 2010 appointment of Phil Gould as general manager of football.
At the time, the NRL didn’t think much of it. Very little, if any, support was given to Parramatta, Penrith, Wests Tigers and the Bulldogs to combat the incoming raid on the hearts and minds, and credit card details, of flighty fans.
Then ARL chief executive Geoff Carr saw the move for what it has turned out to be: a money bonfire for the AFL.
“It is a huge risk for the AFL and a lot of people say it will be their Vietnam,” Carr said. “If they want to fight out there, that is their call.”
As it stands, with Parramatta and Penrith squaring off in Sunday’s NRL grand final, rugby league has won the war. At the very least, it’s winning the battle no matter how many metrics the AFL and Giants want to ram down our throats.
Penrith got its shit together the moment Phil Gould became general manager of football in 2010. He cleaned up the salary cap, cleared out the roster, and appointed coaches and officials who could turn things around.
Mostly, he tapped the oil wells of junior talent in the region. Poaching Matt Cameron from Parramatta and appointing him as head of performance in 2012 was critical.
The result: three consecutive grand finals and a chance to join the Roosters as the only team in the NRL-era to win back-to-back premierships.
If they get it done, it will be the first time in history a club has won the NRL, NSW Cup, Jersey Flegg and SG Ball titles in the same year.
Seating in the grandstand of Cumberland Oval was torn from mountings and piled high before being set a light.Credit:Fairfax Media
Parramatta have taken a little longer to get the party started but it has started nonetheless. Re-open the Roxy now.
In hindsight, the salary cap scandal of 2016 was the best thing for them because it forced the NSW government to take the unprecedented step of sacking the leagues club board that had ruled the football club for decades.
In doing so, it ended the factionalism that continually tore the Eels apart — much like it does at the Bulldogs when elections roll around.
After claiming the wooden spoon in 2018, the Eels’ performance on the field is starting to match the stability in the front office.
After the Eels ran over the top of the Cowboys, the streets around Parramatta exploded in celebration. There’s no better sound in sport than car horns blasting at all hours when your side is in the Big One.
Eels players celebrate during their preliminary final victory.Credit:Getty
On Saturday, lines snaked outside Peter Wynn’s Score and Rebel outlets as fans clawed for whatever Parramatta merchandise they could get their hands on.
Like Samantha Fox, the Commodore 64 and Care Bears, the Eels, with their four premierships in six years, were definitive products of the 1980s.
The kids of the ’80s grew up, had their own children and there has been fear, within the Eels at least, that the club needed sustained success in recent years to retain the support of the next generation after years of trauma.
For all the criticism of coach Brad Arthur, he deserves praise for restoring the faith of the Parra faithful.
This will be the first grand final in history between the Eels and Panthers, and the first between two western Sydney teams since Parramatta beat Canterbury in 1986.
Ray Price, John Monie and Peter Sterling celebrate at Parramatta Leagues Club after the Eels’ 1986 grand final victory.Credit:Fairfax Media
The AFL is prepared to play the long game in the west, and a superior TV deal with a gap of $200 million a year from 2025 between the codes allows it to do so.
But it will need deep pockets.
The AFL has already dropped $200 million on the Giants, who abandoned their training base at Blacktown and relocated to Sydney Olympic Park.
When GWS reached the grand final in 2019, the proverbial sleeping giant looked like he was waking. After finishing third last, and having sacked their coach, the Giants have rarely seemed so irrelevant.
Typical of rugby league, it won the war despite itself.
For years, Gould pleaded with the NRL to take the AFL incursion seriously.
He once presented to the ARL Commission at Penrith Stadium and was provided with a lot of promises but not much else.
While doing the Penrith job, he often conceded the Eels were the powerhouse rugby league needed to fire. He got his wish.
Who knows how Eels fans will celebrate should they cause an upset on Sunday. The streets will be alive all week. Wynn, who played in three of the Eels’ premierships, could retire on jumper sales alone.
It seems unlikely the happy mob will burn down the recently completed $300 million Commbank Stadium — but they might want to place some security guards out the front, just in case.
