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AN Aussie parallel to our clubs and supporters journey


OzGers

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As we all know, these past few years have been absolute hell for both the club and we, the long suffering fans. Looking back, it is still hard to comprehend all the turmoil we endured at the hands of evil businessmen, incompetent administrators and often poisonous opposition fans/bloggers and keyboard warriors.

Now that we have emerged, stronger than ever, I wanted to also share the plight of my local Rugby League team, the Parramatta Eels to highlight that greed knows no bounds.

Parramatta are a Sydney based rugby league club and one of, if one the biggest supported clubs in Australia. Unfortunately, success has been rare in the last decade, until the beginning of this season, when we signed some international recruits. The season started and the club were absolutely flying, and for the first time in years, fans started to believe that we could finally be champions. Then things turned to shit:

- A few games into the season, media reports emerged that the governing body were investigating the club for "rorting" the salary cap

- The governing body then came out and announced it was indeed investigating team for "backhanders" that weren't declared properly

- The investigation took months, and everyday, the media had inside sources leaking and muckraking at every chance, dragging the club, players and fans through the mud

- Investigation was finalised and club was fined $1 mill, docked all points won up until that stage (effectively ruling them out of finals) forced to shed players, and pulled licence of entire board, pending further review

- Parra where then forced to offload two of their most exciting prospects, akin to Rangers having to lose McKay and Holt

- Whilst the club was being dragged over coals for payment issues, all was not well in the playing group

- Our biggest recruit in 10 years, think Joey Barton esqe, an international player and supposed "leader" was found to have a gambling problem

- This led to said player taking 3 weeks away from game

- Player came back, and got injured for rest of season

- He has now reneged on his 5 year contract, citing personal issues and has now effectively left the sport (until he signs for another club next season no doubt)

- Whilst this was happening, the sports best winger, a Fijian who Parramatta had scouted and nutured to become a superstar, decided that he wanted to chase $$ and leave for French rugby

- The club was having none of this, and played hardball, leading to the player heading back to Fiji for two weeks.

- When he returned, he committed to the club, but two weeks later, got injured for the season

- Then our halfback, another young superstar, got embroiled in a drug and sex scandal. He has now been banned by governing body for remainder of season

 

Now you think it couldn't have gotten worse. Until today. We had our own version of the Naisy et al TUPE fiasco. Our prodigal son, Jarryd Hayne, a player that was a Parramatta legend, had been allowed to leave the club two seasons ago to take up the opportunity of a lifetime to play in NRL for 49ers. Throughout the last two seasons, this guy has told media and fans, he signed a "lifetime" deal with Parramatta and if he ever came back to League, he would only ever play for Parramatta, the club he captained and brought him through since he was 16.

Hayne recently quit NFL and it was destined that he would return to his beloved club and give the club and fans something to look forward to.

Today, Hayne signed for a rival team.

So there you have it, as you can see, there is a club on the other side of the world whose supporters are going through the same pain we all felt during these last few years.

Being a supporter of both clubs, my only comfort is that like Rangers, I am sure Parramatta will come out of this bigger and stronger than ever before.

 

Feel free to move into another forum.

 

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33 minutes ago, MelbourneBlue said:

Always look forward to your posts, Oz as we're in the same time zone. But can't honestly give a F about Rugby.  :-)

 

You may be thinking about ozblue, he's a bit more prolific on here! But your right, the day is grim on here without all the transfer speculation and timposters!

fyi, it's not rugby, it's league ??, I fecking hate rugby

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45 minutes ago, OzGers said:

You may be thinking about ozblue, he's a bit more prolific on here! But your right, the day is grim on here without all the transfer speculation and timposters!

fyi, it's not rugby, it's league ??, I fecking hate rugby

Did I hear my name mentioned? :huh:

I didn't know you were an Eels fan, mate!  :thumbup: I can see the similarities between the Eels and the 'Gers, but to be fair we (Parra) have been an absolute bomb scare for fucking years both in the boardroom and on the park; In fact, we haven't looked fucking dangerous for the past 30 years since the days of Cronin, Price, Stirlo, Grothe, Kenny et al.

Even the Rugby League crowds have been a shambles on most occasions at Pirtek Stadium for a long time with Western Sydney Wanderers outdoing them for attendances.

As for the Hayne Train, he should be fucking well ashamed of himself, for you are correct about him and Naismith being tarred with the same brush.

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2 hours ago, OzGers said:

As we all know, these past few years have been absolute hell for both the club and we, the long suffering fans. Looking back, it is still hard to comprehend all the turmoil we endured at the hands of evil businessmen, incompetent administrators and often poisonous opposition fans/bloggers and keyboard warriors.

Now that we have emerged, stronger than ever, I wanted to also share the plight of my local Rugby League team, the Parramatta Eels to highlight that greed knows no bounds.

Parramatta are a Sydney based rugby league club and one of, if one the biggest supported clubs in Australia. Unfortunately, success has been rare in the last decade, until the beginning of this season, when we signed some international recruits. The season started and the club were absolutely flying, and for the first time in years, fans started to believe that we could finally be champions. Then things turned to shit:

- A few games into the season, media reports emerged that the governing body were investigating the club for "rorting" the salary cap

- The governing body then came out and announced it was indeed investigating team for "backhanders" that weren't declared properly

- The investigation took months, and everyday, the media had inside sources leaking and muckraking at every chance, dragging the club, players and fans through the mud

- Investigation was finalised and club was fined $1 mill, docked all points won up until that stage (effectively ruling them out of finals) forced to shed players, and pulled licence of entire board, pending further review

- Parra where then forced to offload two of their most exciting prospects, akin to Rangers having to lose McKay and Holt

- Whilst the club was being dragged over coals for payment issues, all was not well in the playing group

- Our biggest recruit in 10 years, think Joey Barton esqe, an international player and supposed "leader" was found to have a gambling problem

- This led to said player taking 3 weeks away from game

- Player came back, and got injured for rest of season

- He has now reneged on his 5 year contract, citing personal issues and has now effectively left the sport (until he signs for another club next season no doubt)

- Whilst this was happening, the sports best winger, a Fijian who Parramatta had scouted and nutured to become a superstar, decided that he wanted to chase $$ and leave for French rugby

- The club was having none of this, and played hardball, leading to the player heading back to Fiji for two weeks.

- When he returned, he committed to the club, but two weeks later, got injured for the season

- Then our halfback, another young superstar, got embroiled in a drug and sex scandal. He has now been banned by governing body for remainder of season

 

Now you think it couldn't have gotten worse. Until today. We had our own version of the Naisy et al TUPE fiasco. Our prodigal son, Jarryd Hayne, a player that was a Parramatta legend, had been allowed to leave the club two seasons ago to take up the opportunity of a lifetime to play in NRL for 49ers. Throughout the last two seasons, this guy has told media and fans, he signed a "lifetime" deal with Parramatta and if he ever came back to League, he would only ever play for Parramatta, the club he captained and brought him through since he was 16.

Hayne recently quit NFL and it was destined that he would return to his beloved club and give the club and fans something to look forward to.

Today, Hayne signed for a rival team.

So there you have it, as you can see, there is a club on the other side of the world whose supporters are going through the same pain we all felt during these last few years.

Being a supporter of both clubs, my only comfort is that like Rangers, I am sure Parramatta will come out of this bigger and stronger than ever before.

 

Feel free to move into another forum.

 

But can the fans sing any songs they want?

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I for one think it's sad to hear that any club (with one or two particular exceptions), in any sport, are going through a crisis. Especially when it's down to an incompetent board or vindictive authorities. 

European football has plenty of examples: Fiorentina, Parma, Leeds United, St Eteinne etc. Closer to home we had Omagh Town and Newry Town go completely outta business, and out of existence. A few years ago my own hometown club, Coleraine, very nearly went under as well. Maybe I'm "old fashioned" but imho money has ruined football and a few other sports too.

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2 minutes ago, tyabb bear said:

Not the same mate we were not guilty of anything but Parramatta were guilty as sin. And got off lightly, look at Storm? Hammered just because they are from Victoria.

Storms rotting was on another level. As for the same, it's exactly the same, parra and gers were torn apart by an incompetent,potentially criminal board.

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1 hour ago, Ozblue said:

Did I hear my name mentioned? :huh:

I didn't know you were an Eels fan, mate!  :thumbup: I can see the similarities between the Eels and the 'Gers, but to be fair we (Parra) have been an absolute bomb scare for fucking years both in the boardroom and on the park; In fact, we haven't looked fucking dangerous for the past 30 years since the days of Cronin, Price, Stirlo, Grothe, Kenny et al.

Even the Rugby League crowds have been a shambles on most occasions at Pirtek Stadium for a long time with Western Sydney Wanderers outdoing them for attendances.

As for the Hayne Train, he should be fucking well ashamed of himself, for you are correct about him and Naismith being tarred with the same brush.

Mate, huge eels fans. What's more disappointing is am from Campbelltown and always seen Hayne as a home town hero. To see him turn his back on the team for money is a kick in the guts. Thankfully, things can't get any worse, can they? ?

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50 minutes ago, Sam English Loyal said:

I for one think it's sad to hear that any club (with one or two particular exceptions), in any sport, are going through a crisis. Especially when it's down to an incompetent board or vindictive authorities. 

European football has plenty of examples: Fiorentina, Parma, Leeds United, St Eteinne etc. Closer to home we had Omagh Town and Newry Town go completely outta business, and out of existence. A few years ago my own hometown club, Coleraine, very nearly went under as well. Maybe I'm "old fashioned" but imho money has ruined football and a few other sports too.

Agree, money is the common denominator. Obviously success is integral for the players, but success, and the financial reward that comes with it is what drives the boards/owners etc and if not run well, clubs can go to the wall so easily. Sad indeed, but as with Rangers, I see light at end of tunnel 

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1 hour ago, OzGers said:

Mate, huge eels fans. What's more disappointing is am from Campbelltown and always seen Hayne as a home town hero. To see him turn his back on the team for money is a kick in the guts. Thankfully, things can't get any worse, can they? ?

I had a funny feeling Hayne would go to the highest bidder no matter what he promised in 2014; I guess when you are 28 yrs old and are offered $1.2 million a year you grab it. It's a long way from Minto to the Gold Coast and it will be interesting to see the reception he gets when he returns to Pirtek Stadium.

I think if things get any worse in the boardroom fans will be having a protest at Rugby League headquarters in Phillips Street pronto.

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1 hour ago, OzGers said:

Storms rotting was on another level. As for the same, it's exactly the same, parra and gers were torn apart by an incompetent,potentially criminal board.

Each to their own opinion mate, as for your punishment I would made you take Hain back lol ( excuse the spelling)

 

1 hour ago, OzGers said:

Storms rotting was on another level. As for the same, it's exactly the same, parra and gers were torn apart by an incompetent,potentially criminal board.

 

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18 hours ago, tyabb bear said:

Each to their own opinion mate, as for your punishment I would made you take Hain back lol ( excuse the spelling)

 

 

??? I meant the team mate! Parramatta itself is a shit hole! 

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17 hours ago, offminorthreat said:

Parramatta Staunch?!? Last time I was there it was all Indians, Chinese and catholics. 

Ma

 

17 hours ago, offminorthreat said:

Parramatta Staunch?!? Last time I was there it was all Indians, Chinese and catholics. 

Only been to Parramatta once.......enough said lol

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I dont think there really is any comparison between the Gers and the Eels to be fair. The Eels have been rubbish since the 80's and have been a shambles in the boardroom for many years now with so much in-house fighting and backstabbing and mismanagement of the playing side of things. The Melbourne Storm on the other hand (also no comparison to the Gers) had to go through a lot more shit than the Eels. The Eels got caught salary cap cheating by bringing in better players that they simply couldn't afford to get quick glory. Melbourne on the other hand got salary cap cheating but for different reasons. Melbourne got success with a team of players they had nurtured themselves and only then when clubs mostly from Sydney with more money etc started sniffing around to snatch all their own grown talent thats when Melbourne board decided to sneekily start paying them over the salary cap to just keep them at the club. Also Melbourne had to play the whole entire season with no points and got a bigger fine. Rangers situation is a lot lot worse than both put together though in my opinion. 

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