Eels’ Homebush gambit positive move for NRL

 
Steve Kaless Roar Guru

By , 26 Feb 2010 Steve Kaless is a Roar Guru

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Bulldogs defence in action during the NRL, Round 6, Parramatta Eels v Bulldogs match at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, Sunday, April 19, 2009. The Bulldogs beat the Eels 48-18. AAP Image/Action Photographics, Grant Trouville

As a rugby league fan who has often been frustrated by the small-minded nature of many of the game’s club bosses and administrators in the past, I had to applaud the stance of Parramatta CEO Paul Osborne this week.

Osborne, spying a monster crowd for his team’s season opener against the well supported Dragons, has made the call to up sticks and shift to Homebush.

Now, as any long time reader would know, I’m no fan of Homebush as a venue. But my dislike stems from watching games with crowds of 15,000 rattling around inside the beast’s belly.

This is different.

Osborne knows he would sell out Parramatta Stadium in the blink of an eye and could get triple that at Homebush.

The former politician witnessed the potential when more than 70,000 Bulldogs and Eels clicked through the turnstiles last year and he is keen to build on that platform.

These sorts of crowds work at Homebush, and the Eels have the right balance between playing the majority of matches at the superb Parramatta Stadium while potentially relocating the blockbusters to the former home of the Olympics.

With the players staying on the straight and narrow this offseason, the code doesn’t want to be faced with some story about school kids missing out on watching their heroes play (with the AFL’s Andrew D lurking in the background, stroking an Auskick footy), even though most of the cheeky rugrats will get in for free with their school passes.

But with the new breed of CEO like Osborne understanding the value of spreading the game rather than protecting their own turf, 2010 looks like it will get off on the right foot.

Speaking of administrators, I was struck this week how times had changed.

I was discussing the game with a few diehard fans this week, who were all bemoaning the length of time it was taking the ARL and QRL to hand over power to the new independent commission.

These guys were, though, the very same chanting “A-A-ARL!” during the Super League war and prattling in the same chairs at the same pub that the game mustn’t be run by businessmen.

Of course, there are some big differences, but it’s still a big jump to go from the game’s ultimate gatekeepers to the ones holding the game back.

At least they were still suspicious of John Ribot’s motives.

Finally, I’ll note with interest the turnout at the Charity Shield on Saturday, as both the Dragons and Rabbitohs seem to have plenty of optimism bouncing around the walls at present.

Rabbitohs fans are notorious for crawling out of the woodwork, so I wonder how many will pin their colours to the mast at the first opportunity of 2010?

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