Parramatta to NOT move Dragons blockbuster to Homebush

[Gaba]

Utter rubbish. If the Parramatta club didn't stand to LOSE money over this then the game would be played at ANZ. At least Osbourne tried. And how can you claim Doust cared about the fans and Osbourne didn't. You seem to think it's ok for Doust to think about only Dragons fans and not Eels fans, but it's not ok for Osbourne to put Parra fans ahead of your mob.

Maybe Doust could chip in 50 grand to the Parramatta trust to lighten the wound on Parra. If he cared about the fans he'd do that and you could all go to the game at ANZ. Sound fair?

how much can the anz hold compare to parramatta stadium , and the game if the weather was kind , would have still covered the lost

osbourne's criticial comments about doust came back to hurt him, and in the article on the first page osbourne said he wanted more fans and basically saying there should be no excuse for clubs not to stop fans from going to the game ,

like i said osbourne comments backfired on him, thats the point im making osbourne jumped the gun and it doesnt look good

 

[Stagger eel]

how much can the anz hold compare to parramatta stadium , and the game if the weather was kind , would have still covered the lost

osbourne's criticial comments about doust came back to hurt him, and in the article on the first page osbourne said he wanted more fans and basically saying there should be no excuse for clubs not to stop fans from going to the game ,

like i said osbourne comments backfired on him

no it didn't..Ossie investigated the opportunity to move it while Doust said f**k you and didn't want a bar of it...

 

[Gaba]

no it didn't..Ossie investigated the opportunity to move it while Doust said f**k you and didn't want a bar of it...

Read the original article

read the first page article

 

[Bluebags1908]

Parramata play 2 home games vs Bullldogs and Souths already. I can't see why they could not have done a swap and moved the Souths game to Parra Stadium to then keep everyone happy.

 

[Eels Dude]

how much can the anz hold compare to parramatta stadium , and the game if the weather was kind , would have still covered the lost

osbourne's criticial comments about doust came back to hurt him, and in the article on the first page osbourne said he wanted more fans and basically saying there should be no excuse for clubs not to stop fans from going to the game ,

like i said osbourne comments backfired on him, thats the point im making osbourne jumped the gun and it doesnt look good

Different circumstances. The NRL offered money to Doust to take the game to ANZ. Meaning they'd be in a POSITIVE before the game was played. Osbourne and Parramatta would have to pay a settlement in order to move the game meaning they'd be in a NEGATIVE before the game was played.

It's not up to just Osbone he never made any promises, good on him for trying though, it's much more than Doust did.

 

[westie]

Parramata play 2 home games vs Bullldogs and Souths already. I can't see why they could not have done a swap and moved the Souths game to Parra Stadium to then keep everyone happy.

Good chance the Souths game will be bigger again.

 

[Brutus]

The game had a blockbuster/event feel about it for about 2 days.

Now it's just another game.

Extremely disappointing and discraceful that they didn't have this game (Parra v Dragons) pencilled in for ANZ to begin with.

Too many small-minded clowns in our game.

 

[fish eel]

no it didn't..Ossie investigated the opportunity to move it while Doust said f**k you and didn't want a bar of it...

I think Ossie did over reach though. He talked up the move big time before it was locked in.

 

[RufusRex]

round 1 blockbuster .. pfffft ... what a joke ... round one mistake fest more likely .

 

[hineyrulz]

The game had a blockbuster/event feel about it for about 2 days.

Now it's just another game.

Extremely disappointing and discraceful that they didn't have this game (Parra v Dragons) pencilled in for ANZ to begin with.

Too many small-minded clowns in our game.

Amen to that, no wonder the Tardballers are moving in on our turf without a care in the world.

 

[Parra Steve]

I'm assuming why they didn't trade the games with digs or souths is that ticketed members can go to whoever away game it is and get free entry

 

[Willow]

Fans locked out after Parramatta backflip

AS many as 30,000 fans will be locked out of the season opener between Parramatta and the Dragons after the Eels decided not to move the game to ANZ Stadium.

“The board has listened to our members and fans and decided to play our first match of the NRL season at Parramatta Stadium,” Eels CEO Paul Osborne said.

“The penalty was too great to move the game, since Parramatta Stadium were going to impose a $100,000 penalty, on top of the hirers’ fee we were already contracted to pay. To move the match would have cost us almost $200,000.

“Clearly the current arrangement with Parramatta Stadium is onerous and it is difficult to make decisions like this that could benefit the club and its fans. “Now we hope the fans support our players and pack out all our games throughout the season and make them sell-outs.”

Typical News Ltd still plucking figures out the air. And "Fans Lock Out..." where have we heard that old crumb before?

Still, it sounds like someone at Parra didn't think it through beforehand.

Evidence enough that moving a game to another venue at short notice is no simple thing. Puts things into perspective for those people last year who were demanding that Saints move games, including a finals match, with less than a week's notice.

 

[Timmah]

As Willow has suggested, if they were fair dinkum they would've scheduled this for ANZ to start with.

As it stands the Eels play two matches at ANZ - against Canterbury and Souths. They should substitute South Sydney for Saints IMO, Parra v Souths doesn't really draw much at ANZ from my experience. Parra v Saints is a far more attractive option - although I'm aware there's the whole members reciprocal rights thing.

 

[Willow]

no it didn't..Ossie investigated the opportunity to move it while Doust said f**k you and didn't want a bar of it...

Well that's not correct.

The reasons given by Osbourne are very similar to the reasons given by Doust.

There are a few other similarities as well...

Namely that these decisions are always made by the respective clubs. No media outlet or opposition fan should have a say in this. It was always Parra's decision, just as last year was always Saints' decision.

Plus the result is the same, both games remain at the advertised venues.

But there are a few fundamental differences:

Firstly, pressure was being placed on Saints to move. No pressure was being placed on Parra to move.

And secondly, Doust had a look at the proposal and announced his decision early on. He knew it would be a wrong move, that most likely would have backfired.

 

[fish eel]

As Willow has suggested, if they were fair dinkum they would've scheduled this for ANZ to start with.

As it stands the Eels play two matches at ANZ - against Canterbury and Souths. They should substitute South Sydney for Saints IMO, Parra v Souths doesn't really draw much at ANZ from my experience. Parra v Saints is a far more attractive option - although I'm aware there's the whole members reciprocal rights thing.

Someone may correct me, but I'm pretty certain that parra souths game is when one N Hindmarsh breaks the record for most games played, making the match very marketable to eels fans.

shame it wont break it before a sold out parramatta stadium........

 

[Timmah]

Perhaps they should sit down and nut out some sort of deal to swap the two?

 

[Willow]

Someone may correct me, but I'm pretty certain that parra souths game is when one N Hindmarsh breaks the record for most games played, making the match very marketable to eels fans.

shame it wont break it before a sold out parramatta stadium........

Maybe they could move it. ;-)

 

[The Tank]

The game had a blockbuster/event feel about it for about 2 days.

Now it's just another game.

Extremely disappointing and discraceful that they didn't have this game (Parra v Dragons) pencilled in for ANZ to begin with.

Too many small-minded clowns in our game.

This post basically sums up my feelings on this issue... particularly the final sentence.

 

[God-King Dean]

This ironing tastes good.

 

[_Johnsy]

I never saw this "backflip" coming. :roll: