My old man was posted to the Lancer barracks in parra (across from the train station) in the early/mid 90’s. He was fulltime but a lot of his work was on the weekends with the reservists, this meant if the Eels were at home on a sunday I would get a ride up from Holsworthy with him, $20 would get me a hill ticket and a few chiko rolls and cokes as a 14-15 year old, it was enough coin to get me through 3 grades footy......
I have many great memories of going to the old parra stadium being a neutral fan, I was born and bred in Tvl so moving down to sydney was an eye opener and a very big change for me, but the access to top level footy was amazing. Seeing Sterlo and Kenny in their twilight is something I am so grateful for, I was fortunate enough to see Lockyer make his debut there in 1995. He f**king tore it up pretty much from the moment he touched the field.
Anyone remember the metal shop in parra ‘The Hammerhouse’?? Between that and Peter Wynns, I could have pretty much spent my entire pocket money at both joints on a weekly basis.
Good times.