Is Penrith a Sydney club

[Diesel]

Or a regional city club like Newcastle?


I was listening to the latest episode of the Rugby League Digest https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-rugby-league-digest/id1207627414?i=1000467139128 where they made a few references to Penrith being outside of Sydney which made sense.

I haven’t been to Penrith for 20 years but I do remember it being a long train ride to Central Station.

Travelling time from Penrith to Sydney is about the same as Brisbane to Gold Coast and Melbourne to Geelong and neither of these areas are considered as part of the capital city.

I always thought of it as a Sydney club but now I’m not so sure it is.

 

[Last Week]

Na

 

[franklin2323]

The club has embraced being regional and is flying as a result

 

[Mr Angry]

Yes

https://www.greater.sydney/metropolis-of-three-cities/about-plan

If you wish to get really technical.

South Sydney is the only club in Sydney.

Easts are in Waverley.

 

[wittyfan]

Yes

 

[roofromoz]

I would say yes. They were admitted in 1967 as a district, same as Cronulla in what was then the Sydney competition.

 

[adamkungl]

Yes they are a Sydney club.
But I think they have strategic importance representing the Blue Mountains and Central West too.

 

[betcats]

Technically yes, it is a part of Sydney but a lot of country areas west pf Penrith see us as their club. A good part of our juniors are now coming from western nsw and we are maintaining a western nsw academy, we are going to have multiple regular first graders from areas like Dubbo, Parkes etc this season almost as many as there are from Penrith district. You could argue in regards to the NRL we are more of a reginal club.

 

[franklin2323]

Technically yes, it is a part of Sydney but a lot of country areas west pf Penrith see us as their club. A good part of our juniors are now coming from western nsw and we are maintaining a western nsw academy, we are going to have multiple regular first graders from areas like Dubbo, Parkes etc this season almost as many as there are from Penrith district. You could argue in regards to the NRL we are more of a reginal club.

Not even that. Katoomba has always been part of the junior catchment. Wollongong is closer to Sydney then Katoomba is

 

[TheFrog]

It's a Sydney club when it suits the NRL but not when it doesn't.

 

[TheFrog]

I would say yes. They were admitted in 1967 as a district, same as Cronulla in what was then the Sydney competition.

So when did it cease to be the "Sydney competition". When Canberra/Illawarra joined? Or Brisbane? The Broncos in the early days were considered a NSW club, playing in the NSWRL comp.

Much of the difficulty Penrith had in firstly getting admitted to the NSWRL competition and then assembling a competitive team stemmed from the club's location. There was no M4 in those days, it was quite an arduous trip.

 

[soc123_au]

Yes it is. The welcome to Sydney sign at the bottom of Lapstone Hill would be about 2 kms west of Panthers as the crow flies.

It is a good thing we are increasing our footprint further west though. I would even be happy if we gave up another game each year to take to a regional centre. The one in Bathurst & possibly Parkes. I think the western academy is located in Parkes.

 

[mongoose]

Penrith? nah that's in Queensland

 

[Perth Red]

Greater Western Sydney perhaps?

 

[flippikat]

So when did it cease to be the "Sydney competition". When Canberra/Illawarra joined? Or Brisbane? The Broncos in the early days were considered a NSW club, playing in the NSWRL comp.

Yeah, the three eras are basically
Sydney comp 1908-1981 (Sydney teams only, apart from Newcastle for a season at the start)
NSW competition 1982-1994 (Adding teams based in CRL areas & a couple of Qld teams, but still under the jurisdiction of NSWRL)
Australian competition 1995 onwards (ARL/Superleague/NRL)

 

[kdalymc]

GWS Panthers

 

[some11]

Western Sydney International will change things up a bit for Penrith, 10 years from now mind you.

 

[kdalymc]

Penrith to Sydney is about the same as Brisbane to Gold Coast

I thought this was a good point, but Sydney is about 285 times bigger than brisbane.
Everyone says Penrith is in Sydney, but yeah it's f**ken no where near the cbd....

 

[franklin2323]

I thought this was a good point, but Sydney is about 285 times bigger than brisbane.
Everyone says Penrith is in Sydney, but yeah it's f**ken no where near the cbd....

Wollongong is 87km to the CBD.
Katoomba (in the Penrith junior league still) 105km

 

[betcats]

Campbelltown is just as far away from the cbd as Penrith. It’s all western Sydney it’s just a far out place.