Parramatta Eels History

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Parramatta officially entered the Sydney premiership in 1947 after eleven years of trying. In 1936, a group of supporters banded together and approached the NSWRL to ask that their district be allowed to contend for the major title. Western Suburbs would have lost a lot of its territory if Parramatta had been given the go-ahead, but surpisingly Wests was one of the few clubs to support the Eels application of entry into the major Sydney premiership. World War II came and went before Parramatta would get the green light to take part in the Sydney premiership. In 1947, Parramatta along with northside club Manly-Warringah were both promoted into the Sydney premiership.Despite having a rich junior nursery, the Eels were the regular whipping boys during the first 15-years in the big time. Parramatta then adopted a policy of buying star players to build around the junior products. Lured to Parramatta included Ron Lynch, Bob Bugden, Brian Hambley, Ron Boden and the prize signings of the Thornett brothers Ken and Dick. The Eels made the semi-finals for the first time in 1962 but the glory was short lived as Parramatta again started to struggle.The appointment of Norm Provan as coach in 1975 was the start of the turning point in Parramatta as he guided the Eels to success in the pre-season competition, the first top grade success for Parramatta and then to the semi-finals. Terry Fearnley took over from Provan the following year where Parramatta made the grand finals in 1976 and then again in 1977. The Eels in 1976 lured Ray Price from rugby union and were inspired by Internationals Ray Higgs and John Peard. With minutes to go, Parramatta went down to Manly 13-10 but should have levelled near full-time when Neville Glover dropped the ball when the line was wide open. The next season, Parramatta drew 9-all with St George in the grand final but had the chance to win when Michael Cronin, lured from Gerrigong to the big time in Sydney missed a sideline conversion. After the grand final was still level at 9-all after extra time, a replayed was played where St George won 22-0. Parramatta went so close on two occasions but just fell short.Jack Gibson was signed as coach in 1981 and his impact on Parramatta was truely remarkable. He worked wonders at Easts and Gibson performed the same feats at Parramatta where he turned a talented bunch of footballers into a powerful premiership force that would win the title in all the three years he was at Parramatta. In 1981, the Eels defeated Newtown 21-11 in the grand final and in the next two years defeated Manly on both occasiosn, 21-8 in 1982 and 18-6 in 1983, all captained by Steve Edge. Parramatta to this day remains the last side to win three successive grand finals. John Monie replaced Gibson as coach but the Eels went down 6-4 to a forward orientated Canterbury in the 1984 grand final but bounced back in 1986 to defeat their 1980's arch-rivals 4-2 in the toughest, most defensive, one of the best ever and only tryless grand final in the premiership history. That grand final signalled the end to Parramatta champions Ray Price and Michael Cronin. Featuing in the great Parramatta eras of the 1980's also included Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny, Steve Ella and Eric Grothe.After the retirements of Cronin and Price, Parramatta hit very hard times on the field for the next ten seasons. Parramatta fell into the trap of living on past glories and dug themselves a hole. The Super League war came and Parramatta was right in the middle of the money madness spending $9million dollars on buying back the premiership with four key players from Canterbury the main signings. Parramatta's multi-million dollar investment came close on two occasions to paying off but both times fell at the final hurdle. In 1998, they led Canterbury, incidently the team they spent millions on weakening 18-2 with ten minutes to go before a Craig Polla-Mounter inspired comeback crushed the Eels 32-20 after extra time to see the Bulldogs make the grand final. In 1999, they took a 16-6 lead against Melbourne into half-time but the Storm, the eventual premiers scored two tries in the second half as the Eels crumbled again. The Eels made a great charge in the 2000 Finals but once again fell one game short with the Broncos hanging on for a sweet victory.Parramatta completely dominated the 2001 season except for the only game that mattered. Parramatta smashed every record in sight and statistically were the best performed team for many seasons but when the crunch came Newcastle dominated the decider to win 24-0.The fallout from the 2001 disaster was gradually felt as the Eels started to decline over the next three seasons where they missed the Finals in 2003 and bombed out after just 40 minutes in 2004. A smart recruitment drive for the 2005 season sees Parramatta as one of the leading teams yet again but the scars of 1998-01 where they were the most dominant side over four seasons and didn?t win one Premiership still hurts.

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