Eels kept us in dark over plans, venue says
DANIEL RAMUS
February 28, 2010
THE Parramatta Stadium Trust is astonished by reports that it stopped the Parramatta Eels from moving their first-round clash with St George Illawarra to ANZ Stadium and claim it is abiding by an existing five-year agreement.
Reports on Friday suggested that the Parramatta Stadium Trust was responsible for the match remaining at Parramatta Stadium but a signed contractual agreement between the two parties states that the Eels must play 10 home games at the venue each year until the end of the 2012 season.
Trust venue manager and CEO Luke Coleman said Thursday night's club board meeting was attended by board members from both the Parramatta Eels and the trust, along with himself and Eels CEO Paul Osborne.
Coleman says it was agreed between the parties that the Eels make a decision on the venue for the round-one clash and officially notify the trust - something the Eels have failed to do to this point.
''Neither the [Parramatta Stadium] Trust nor myself have been notified by telephone or by any other correspondence that the game is definitely on at Parramatta Stadium, except for what we've seen in news reports and in a press release from the Parramatta Eels,'' Coleman told The Sun-Herald.
''We did alert them to the fact that there is a clause in our contract and they said they were aware of that. And we haven't heard from them, officially or directly, as to the decision to retain the game at Parramatta Stadium except from the news reports we've seen.''
Along with the fact that the Eels must play 10 home games at Parramatta Stadium, Coleman is referring to the clause in the agreement which states that for the first of those 10 games the Eels decide to move away from Parramatta Stadium, it would be forced to pay the trust $100,000.
Coleman said the trust is not preventing the Eels from moving the game to ANZ Stadium and took aim at Eels administrators for not notifying him of their decision.
''We haven't prevented them, in any way, from taking the game away,'' Coleman said.
''I would have thought it would be professional to let us know before even a media release went out that the game is definitely on at Parramatta Stadium.
''We have an agreement over five years, which is mutually agreed, by the Parramatta Eels club and the Parramatta Stadium Trust, and we intend to honour that agreement and we expect the Parramatta Eels to honour that agreement.''
The Eels plan to play two home matches at ANZ Stadium - against Souths in round six and Canterbury in round eight.
