Souths and Parra in an $8m battle for supremacy
DEAN RITCHIE
PARRAMATTA and South Sydney will contest the NRL’s game-of-theyear on Thursday night before engaging in an $8 million fight for Sydney supremacy off the field.
While the Eels and Rabbitohs meet in a Bankwest Stadium blockbuster, both clubs are also locked in membership melee pitting Sydney’s east against west.
Parramatta and Souths have vowed to become the first club this year to smash through the 30,000 membership barrier — and both won’t accept running second.
“We are looking to break the 30,000-member barrier next week and know Parramatta is trying to knock us off the perch of being the number one membership club in Sydney,” said Rabbitohs CEO Blake Solly. Each club stands to pocket around $4m for attracting 30,000 members, both clubs clearly ahead of all Sydney rivals in the chase for membership numbers. It’s the Blue and Gold army against The Pride of the League. On field, Souths have won four successive games while Parramatta has claimed victory in four of its past five matches. But a ferocious battle looms off field with Souths currently sitting at 29,839 members for this season, including 3000 new members. It will be the first time Souths has hit 30,000 since 2016. Parramatta’s membership tally is 28,715.
“We are always really confident in the loyalty of our members, their passion for the club and their desire for us to always stay number one,” Solly said. “It’s going to be a great battle on the field at Bankwest Stadium and it will also be a great battle off the field to show whose members are the proudest.
“We have always believed our members are the most loyal and passionate in the game. Their support in what has been an extraordinarily difficult period has been amazing.
“We have had a remarkable response in a shortened season with potential for games not to be played, and no crowds yet people have kept coming and buying their memberships in numbers.” Pulling a combined total of 58,554 members is a stunning effort given the damage COVID-19 has had on the overall competition and number of games. “We certainly want to be the number one club in the NRL and it’s great for rugby league that Souths and ourselves have such a member-centric culture,” said Parramatta chief executive Jim Sarantinos.
“Our blue and gold army have been fantastic throughout 2020. We have broken our membership record each year for the past seven and we want this growth to expand even further.
“The loyalty and passion of our fan base through the COVID period was tremendous.
“We saw our overall numbers expand and thousands of our members pledge to ensure we came through this time stronger than ever.”
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