The Eels Centre Of Excellence - Parramatta Jail

[Tony Bongo]

My point is, just because you share a ground with another club is no reason to f**king merge with them.

Sydney clubs already share a local junior pool. Is it such a big deal if we also share a stadium?

I admit I much prefer Parra Stadium. Sadly some of my life's best moments happened in North Parramatta.

Yeah I know what your point was.
It's interesting that the two Sydney AFL teams don't share a ground - I wonder why that is?
I like that we have our own home ground. That's what makes it home. We may as well abolish the concept of home and away games if we are going to play a quarter of our opposition on the same ground.
BTW the EPL don't share their home grounds and I prefer their model. In the EPL their home grounds are historically and culturally significant and IMO that significance helps preserve their clubs viability. The longer we remain at Parramatta Stadium the greater the historical significance becomes and personally the more secure I believe our club remains because we also keep our heritage in tact.
I want Parramatta Stadium to remain our home. More than that I want our home ground to become a fortress similar to an Anfield, Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford - steeped in history and culturally significant to not only our club but our code.

 

[Parra]

If the club doesn't have a home ground it becomes a franchise. Just more fodder for TV.

The Eels have to play out of Parramatta. No-one wants to support the Homebush Eels.

 

[Eels Dude]

Yeah I know what your point was.
It's interesting that the two Sydney AFL teams don't share a ground - I wonder why that is?
I like that we have our own home ground. That's what makes it home. We may as well abolish the concept of home and away games if we are going to play a quarter of our opposition on the same ground.
BTW the EPL don't share their home grounds and I prefer their model. In the EPL their home grounds are historically and culturally significant and IMO that significance helps preserve their clubs viability. The longer we remain at Parramatta Stadium the greater the historical significance becomes and personally the more secure I believe our club remains because we also keep our heritage in tact.
I want Parramatta Stadium to remain our home. More than that I want our home ground to become a fortress similar to an Anfield, Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford - steeped in history and culturally significant to not only our club but our code.

Don't the EPL stadiums all hold 30 thousand plus. I'd like us to keep playing out of Parramatta to, but let's face it, playing out of a stadium which has a capacity of only 19,500 is holding our club back.

 

[Tony Bongo]

Don't the EPL stadiums all hold 30 thousand plus. I'd like us to keep playing out of Parramatta to, but let's face it, playing out of a stadium which has a capacity of only 19,500 is holding our club back.

Now that the Wanderers share OUR home ground in our off season we have the best opportunity ever to press the State Government for an upgrade. The current government would be well aware that they have just won over a historically Labour stronghold and they will be very keen to keep it when the next elections come around.
In any case how many full houses did we have at Parra Stadium last year? I don't think it's where we play that is holding us back but languishing at the bottom of the table and winning the wooden spoon might be.

 

[bartman]

and does being "From" somewhere mean we have to play in the Suburb?

In the modern game where more and more players often have nothing to do with their club's home area (no junior league nor current residence), then to me (as an individual fan), I would say yes we should play in the club's home region at least.

Others may disgaree, and as my post implies, it's all valid. But I personally don't count Homebush as in the same region of Sydney as Parramatta, and would feel my support starts to lose its meaning if all there is left of our club's identity is two colours, a mascot and a historical place name.

 

[Tony Bongo]

I am an ANZ Stadium member, and funnily enough, so are the people who sit in front of me at Parramatta Stadium, and those who sit behind me at Parramatta stadium. . .

But it doesn't cost Mega bucks to be a member these days. Especially when compaired to a Season ticket at Parramatta Stadium.



Thanks mate.



Yes yes RAS membership is given reciprocal rights, and you can get into the Easter Show every day for free I think with that.
I normally get the seats I want, Just to the side of the Platinum Members bay, the reason I get my seats week in, week out is that it is a 10 metre walk from the doors to the next aisle where my seats are, and most people don't bother.

As for the Planes, you only have to wear a hard hat when you are in Level 6 Upper which aren’t members seats. As for not being able to tell the game, it is the same view the TV Cameras have or close enough to it, trust me I can see everything just fine, you might need to get your eyes checked. ;-)

I am sure you are not the only one who will personally benefit from the move to ANZ Mark. I am sure there are many others who like yourself are ANZ members or who live closer to ANZ than Parra Stadium etc. It's actually a lot closer to the airport and where I stay when I'm in Sydney for me personally TBH and may even mean I can fly down on occasions and make the return flight the same day which I can't from Parramatta.
I still think that if this club has any respect for our Season Ticket Holders, members and fans, it will take their opinions on board by consulting us in some way shape or form.
It's not difficult at all to send out an email with a link to a poll asking our members our view on the decision at hand. Whether they care enough to or think our opinion means anything is another story.

 

[Maroubra Eel]

Season tickets will be as cheap as chips if we move to ANZ. It'll be great.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Yeah I know what your point was.
It's interesting that the two Sydney AFL teams don't share a ground - I wonder why that is?
I like that we have our own home ground. That's what makes it home. We may as well abolish the concept of home and away games if we are going to play a quarter of our opposition on the same ground.
BTW the EPL don't share their home grounds and I prefer their model. In the EPL their home grounds are historically and culturally significant and IMO that significance helps preserve their clubs viability. The longer we remain at Parramatta Stadium the greater the historical significance becomes and personally the more secure I believe our club remains because we also keep our heritage in tact.
I want Parramatta Stadium to remain our home. More than that I want our home ground to become a fortress similar to an Anfield, Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford - steeped in history and culturally significant to not only our club but our code.

ANZ Stadium is an official ground for both the Swans and the Giants.

 

[bartman]

Only three AFL teams don't share a ground. And that's only because there are no other teams nearby.

And the home suburbs of most of those AFL teams are within walking distance of each other - that's how different the set up down in Melbourne is.

Plus Sydney doesn't have grounds within walking distance of its two major city circle stations - build a stadium in Darling Harbour and Belmore Park and you might have a real comparison. And you might also have a valid comparison if you were only looking at the spread of Sydney's 1908 competition clubs (Balmain, Glebe, University, Souths, Easts, etc) all suddenly deciding to play out of SFS. But it's 2012 and Sydney's spread of teams covers much more territory than the Melbourne clubs all now playing out of centrally located MCG or Docklands.

 

[Noise]

Are ANZ season tickets really only $150 a year? That is f**ken cheap. I pay more than that to sit on the north terrace at Parra stadium.

 

[bartman]

We will never sell out Parramatta Stadium regularly because people know it is limited in number and don't risk just turning up on the Day / night, At ANZ they know they can turn up and get a seat.

Well, people are talking about not having a 30,000 stadium holding us back... even though we can't regularly fill our 20,000 stadium? If this is the case, we should just focus on selling out our 20,000 stadium through increasing our membership numbers to 20,000. That way we will have regular sellouts (and a better case for moving stadiums or getting improvements to facilities) and people turning up on the day/night for a ticket isn't even a factor.

Why aren't we as a club actively focussed on building and sustaining our membership like that (over a period of years), instead of passively pandering to casual fans who might decide to walk up and buy a ticket on the night (if the weather's good, if we're winning, and apparently only if the game is at ANZ)? Rewarding and breeding loyal members and making membership more attractive (since it is can be a more reliable stream of finance for the club).

 

[Tony Bongo]

ANZ Stadium is an official ground for both the Swans and the Giants.

LOL they only played the season opener against the Swans there as a home game which made sense. That's a third as many home games as we played there this year- but nice try Pou.

 

[Noise]

Dam, I think you can get an adult ANZ fan pass for $95 (its cheaper if you buy 2 or 3) that allows you to go and watch every regular season league game at ANZ.

That shits over what we pay as a STH at Parra. We are dead set getting ripped off. I was neither here nor there about moving before but now i hope we do move to ANZ

 

[Eels Dude]

Now that the Wanderers share OUR home ground in our off season we have the best opportunity ever to press the State Government for an upgrade. The current government would be well aware that they have just won over a historically Labour stronghold and they will be very keen to keep it when the next elections come around.

I agree with that, but is it up to the club or The Stadium Trust/Venues NSW to do that. They don't really seem to care about the Eels that much and that they're not that important even though we've been their only regular tenants for around 10 years now. So if the Stadium Trust would do some lobbying then that'd be great, but I just don't see the likelihood of that happening given with every upgrade they do it DECREASES the capacity.

In any case how many full houses did we have at Parra Stadium last year? I don't think it's where we play that is holding us back but languishing at the bottom of the table and winning the wooden spoon might be.

Obviously poor form plays a part, but limited seating, areas with a poor view, the annoyance of queues blocking the walk ways, poor food, stuff which was already summarised quite well by someone earlier in this thread (or maybe another thread) will limit the casual attendees who have a bad game experience to not bother turning up the next time.

I'd like us to keep playing at Parramatta but improvements need to be made in a number of areas. Otherwise ANZ is inevitable. A move to ANZ could result in the club attracting 5000 new members or so within a couple of years because it offers so much more flexibility and packages. It's worked for the Dogs and Souths.

 

[Maroubra Eel]

Dam, I think you can get an adult ANZ fan pass for $95 (its cheaper if you buy 2 or 3) that allows you to go and watch every regular season league game at ANZ.

That shits over what we pay as a STH at Parra. We are dead set getting ripped off. I was neither here nor there about moving before but now i hope we do move to ANZ

How much are Rabbitohs season tickets? I think they are cheaper because the club gets a great deal from ANZ.
I think they've got roughly 22,000 members.

 

[Eels Dude]

Well, people are talking about not having a 30,000 stadium holding us back... even though we can't regularly fill our 20,000 stadium? If this is the case, we should just focus on selling out our 20,000 stadium through increasing our membership numbers to 20,000. That way we will have regular sellouts (and a better case for moving stadiums or getting improvements to facilities) and people turning up on the day/night for a ticket isn't even a factor.

Why aren't we as a club actively focussed on building and sustaining our membership like that (over a period of years), instead of passively pandering to casual fans who might decide to walk up and buy a ticket on the night (if the weather's good, if we're winning, and apparently only if the game is at ANZ)? Rewarding and breeding loyal members and making membership more attractive (since it is can be a more reliable stream of finance for the club).

I have non ticketed membership, mainly because I can't attend all home games and also vary where I sit depending on whom I'm attending the game with. Even if I pre-buy tickets a week in advance the best seats I can get on the eastern and western terraces are around the 10 metre line or the goal-line.

You see heaps of empty seats in the middle bays and a crowd of 14,000 listed as season ticket holders haven't turned up, and there's nothing wrong with that because they've paid for their season ticket and it's their right. But on the other side of the coin if the best tickets you can get in a week in advance are on the try-line and the crowd is only 14,000 then it's going to affect casual attendees to the game.

I'm not a fan of ANZ for viewing footy, but I think our crowds would improve if we moved there, as would our memberships and season ticket holders.

 

[Suitman]

I'm not a fan of ANZ for viewing footy, but I think our crowds would improve if we moved there, as would our memberships and season ticket holders.

Just as Rabbitohs and Bulldogs average attendances have, since they moved there.
I'm happy to lose the Bart and BAE and Bongo season ticket holder types if it means we'll gain ten more for every one we lose.
Adios whingers.
What's good for the club as a whole financially, is good for all of us.

Suity

 

[bartman]

As my earlier post said, supportes are ultimately transient, and so long as the club can replace the ones it loses through any reasons, then the club will remain healthy. So we agree. But you might even have to finally step up into ticketed membership Suity, if I drop out post-Homebush? ;-)

And I'm sure you'll find some more things (or more accurately some more people....) to whinge about after that Suity - you'd seem to be lost on here without having your constant whinge about others ;-).

 

[Tony Bongo]

I have non ticketed membership, mainly because I can't attend all home games and also vary where I sit depending on whom I'm attending the game with. Even if I pre-buy tickets a week in advance the best seats I can get on the eastern and western terraces are around the 10 metre line or the goal-line.

You see heaps of empty seats in the middle bays and a crowd of 14,000 listed as season ticket holders haven't turned up, and there's nothing wrong with that because they've paid for their season ticket and it's their right. But on the other side of the coin if the best tickets you can get in a week in advance are on the try-line and the crowd is only 14,000 then it's going to affect casual attendees to the game.

I'm not a fan of ANZ for viewing footy, but I think our crowds would improve if we moved there, as would our memberships and season ticket holders.

I'm not a fan of ANZ for viewing footy either but when I go to a game that's what I'm paying for - to enjoy watching live footy and the atmosphere.
Crowds and membership numbers might also increase if we merged, but the means doesn't always justify the end. I couldn't care less if we get a few thousand more people turning up at a stadium that still has tens of thousands of empty seats each week. For generations Parramatta has been our home and if we move that part of our identity and history is lost forever and it can't be replaced!

 

[born an eel]

Just as Rabbitohs and Bulldogs average attendances have, since they moved there.
I'm happy to lose the Bart and BAE and Bongo season ticket holder types if it means we'll gain ten more for every one we lose.
Adios whingers.
What's good for the club as a whole financially, is good for all of us.

Suity

sounds familiar, still waiting for all those sponsors who were lining up waiting for DF to go, that would make us self sufficient without the support of the leagues club.