Parramatta Rugby Club, one of the oldest and toughest clubs in the Sydney Premier Rugby competition, steps up its campaign to lift the club back to its glory days with a “Back to Parra Day” this Saturday at the Woolpack Hotel.
The club plays Randwick at Granville Park, its grand final nemesis in the 70s and 80s. So the day will begin at midday at the Woolpack, move to the ground for the first grade match, and then return for screenings of some of their grand final triumphs.
“Yes, there will be replays in the club of the grand final wins, a BBQ and drinks till late at the Woolpack and we expect Ray Price and some of our past greats to be there,” explained Peter Thompson, Vice President of Parramatta Rugby.
“The theme of the day is around two value sets: Fighting Back and Parramatta Proud. Fighting Back is a planned journey that will take the club through difficult times and reposition its place in Sydney rugby. Parramatta Proud is a way of life for us all.“
Apart from a remarkable history in Sydney Rugby going back to 1879, the Two Blues have produced eighteen Wallabies over the years, starting with the great Bill Cerrutti back in 1936 through to the club’s most recent, Tatafu Polota-Nau.
Their other Wallabies are Bob Brown 1975, Phil Clements 1982, Patrick Cooper 1965, John Griffiths 1982, Peter Kay 1988, Ken Kearney 1947-48, Martin Knight 1978-79, Andrew Leeds 1986-88, Michael Martin 1980-82, Adrian McDonald 1983,Tony Melrose 1978-79, Rod Phelps 1961, Don Price 1978, Ray Price 1974-75, Eric Tweedale 1946-49, Lance Walker 1981 and Stan Wickham back in 1901-06.
Former Wallaby Rod Phelps took over as captain-coach in 1971 and for three years he improved Parramatta’s standing in the rugby fraternity.
Grand final appearances in 1974 and 1975 showed that the club was well on its way to becoming a force to be reckoned with.
To date, Parramatta has played in eight First Grade grand finals.
Parramatta officials and players are doing a terrific job in the face of tougher times and lack of funding, with players agreeing to return to the amateur days of playing for the passion of the game.
Harry Wombat
Guest
From nothing the coaches at Two Blues are producing magic. So long as the lights stay on at Granville we have a great set of juniors coming through (I guess we'll loose many to other clubs) who have the passion and respect to make Two Blues great once more. Just help us keep the lights on.
rat rat rat
Guest
I played against Parramatta in 2nd (and 10 minutes in 1st) grade a couple of weeks ago. The passion is still there, but they are obviously poorly coached, as they were SO unfit, it looked to us as though they hardly trained. The headhighs and late shots were more common than stringing two passes together. The players arent to be blamed, they are showing up each week, but they have no financial support and the better players have left. Once they get coaches who show up each night to training and bring back some discipline, I'm sure they can recapture previous glory, but it is a few years off. how they will recruit players at this point is beyond me.
westy
Guest
And remember they did it at a time when the Parramatta Eels were a paramount force in rugby league in the early late 70's and early eighties. They were great days indeed. You must understand the west was never a basket case. It continues to produce very good players they just play for other clubs. The key is to get them to play for the Two Blues or the Emus. The difference was in the quality of the coaching it is the critical factor out here. It was never pretty rugby but they played a combative style that was difficult to overcome. It was a rock upon which we could have built much today. Sadly professionalism took another decade or so.
RickG
Guest
I was only a kid in the mid-eighties and didn't follow rugby til much later - it must have been an interesting time when the two blues from the working-class heartland were dominating the traditional rugby regions of the eastern suburbs and north shore :) I know some of them moved on to league pretty quickly (Price, Melrose, etc) but plenty didn't - they were clearly playing for the love of it, much like the guys today. There's been plenty of discussion in here about the state of the game in the west, and how much/little help they're getting. here's hoping they do manage to prosper again soon. I'm a woodies fan but I'd love to see Parra and even Penrith being able to challenge for the top of the ladder.
Midfielder
Guest
John Hope the day goes well for the two blues
OldManEmu
Guest
Magnificent article - go the Two Bles. Hated every single trip I ever had to Granville Park, Death Valley or Shitsville as we uppity young knobs at Sydney Uni called it. I hope the day goes as well as this proud club deserves.
LeftArmSpinner
Roar Guru
Fantastic article. Lets all hope that it works. I strongly suspect that it will. As a Randwick Colt in the late 70's, we travelled to Parramatta for a game. Had to get a bus, it was considered so far away from Coogee!!! We run the ball 'Wicks got bashed up in the first 10 minutes, then our breakaway got rucked with those (now banned) nylon adidas studs, left a centimetre wide gash right across his forehead. Blood everywhere.............we were cooked from then on. I will never forget it. Parramatta won easily. We were very glad to be back on the bus and heading east again. Long may the Two Blues continue to hand out that treatment.