The Parramatta Panthers? How close bitter NRL rivals came to merging [Fox Sports]

[roofromoz]

What could have been...

The Parramatta Panthers? How close bitter NRL rivals came to merging

The Parramatta Panthers? Bombshell document reveals bitter NRL rivals almost merged

www.foxsports.com.au

A secret document has revealed that the Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels came close to merging ahead of the 2000 season.

The confidential proposal, obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald and revealed on Friday, was submitted by the clubs on July 31 1999 to then NRL chairman Malcolm Noad.

Under the proposal, the clubs sought $8 million from the NRL to help fund the joint venture, as it did for Wests-Balmain at the same time.

The proposal was signed by former Eels chief Denis Fitzgerald.

A signature from his Penrith counterpart was all that was needed to seal the deal, although it never arrived, the publication reports.

The proposal came at a time where Sydney clubs felt pressured to merge due to fears over a slimmed down national competition.

Apart from Wests and Balmain, St George merged with Illawarra, while the Eels also considered joining forces with the Tigers before it was taken off the table.

That prompted Fitzgerald to turn to the Panthers, asking to join forces further west.

“This is a submission by Penrith District Rugby League Football Club Limited (ACN 068 820 511) and Parramatta District Rugby League Club Limited (ACN 000 254 980) requesting the NRL’s approval for a Joint Venture of our 2 clubs for participation in the NRL competition from 2000,” reads the proposal, according to SMH.

“This submission seeks funding from NRL for the Joint Venture entity equal to the funding provided by NRL to the Wests/Balmain Joint Venture (of $8 million in total) …

“NRL approval of the Joint Venture would entitle the Joint Venture Entity to a 6 year club agreement for the participation in the NRL competition for the years 2000-2005 … Please ensure that this submission is treated as strictly confidential.”

The publication reports that the Penrith Board came close to agreeing but, ultimately, voted it down 5-4.

“It was certainly worth discussing with the dollars involved,” Fitzgerald told the Herald. “It got knocked on the head. The Penrith thing, my recollection is it didn’t get all that far.

“It would have been hugely strong, with the junior leagues and Panthers in those days doing really well with their licensed club.”

He added that the proposed club likely would have been called the Parramatta Panthers, with the Eels logo scrapped.

Meanwhile, former Panthers director Greg Evans said the board was right to shoot down the proposal.

“It seemed like a ridiculous scenario that the two largest junior leagues would wed together. There were a lot more sensible mergers outside of Penrith and Parramatta,” he told the Herald.

 

[ACTPanthers]

I'd rather a thousand paper cuts to my bell end, then have it doused in vinegar, if given a choice between that or support a merger with those merkins.

 

[Black Magik]

I'd rather a thousand paper cuts to my bell end, then have it doused in vinegar, if given a choice between that or support a merger with those merkins.

So there was a chance you liked the idea!!

 

[franklin2323]

There has always been rumours about this. Actually was true

 

[Westernised Panther]

I heard this from the man himself - Denis Fitzgerald.

I think it was around 2004-2005 when we were having a chat and I asked him back then about the rumour that Penrith & Parra were supposed to merge after the Super League saga and he indeed confirmed back then that it was true.

In fact, he went further to say that the name “Penrith-Parramatta Panthers” was being touted but he said that the Penrith board reconsidered and, ultimately, rejected the move.

 

[The_Frog]

This was pretty common knowledge back in the early days of the NRL. Roger Cowan was keen as mustard because it would save Panthers several million a year.

 

[darkbloom]

The document in this article has been in the public arena for many years. - it is not newly released. The facts around this event are interesting and should be looked at very carefully for there are plenty of lessons therein. The_Frog - remember that myth is more powerful than the lie.

 

[The_Frog]

The document in this article has been in the public arena for many years. - it is not newly released. The facts around this event are interesting and should be looked at very carefully for there are plenty of lessons therein. The_Frog - remember that myth is more powerful than the lie.

Are you saying Roger wasn't all for the merger?

 

[GongPanther]

If anything in regards to mergers, and I say this with the upmost respect is, that the clubs that WILL merge in time are the Wests Tigers with either the Dogs, or the Eels.

The "get out of frying pan" clause can be adopted to any of these clubs Tigers, Dogs or Sharkies, with a relocation offer from the NRL to go to either WA (biggest market) or Sth Aussie.

But hey, who gives a fook!

 

[Smug Panther]

It's one that makes sense objectively but so does Easts/Souths. It's just not how sport works

 

[darkbloom]

Are you saying Roger wasn't all for the merger?

I'm saying that such a statement feeds a myth that he hated football and wanted to be rid of it. Cowan's position could be likened to a man diving into an icy cold pool to save a drowning boy - and then have people saying he was keen as mustard to swim in icy waters. He saw Panthers position as tenuous and would prefer to have some presence at the top level than die with nothing. Perhaps you should read the book Panthers Passion and Politics by Jennie Bentley - if you can get hold of it, it is enlightening.

 

[BxTom]

I'm saying that such a statement feeds a myth that he hated football and wanted to be rid of it. Cowan's position could be likened to a man diving into an icy cold pool to save a drowning boy - and then have people saying he was keen as mustard to swim in icy waters. He saw Panthers position as tenuous and would prefer to have some presence at the top level than die with nothing. Perhaps you should read the book Panthers Passion and Politics by Jennie Bentley - if you can get hold of it, it is enlightening.

Lol, I just went looking for a copy and came across this - the ultimate sign of being 'a true fan'

Design Your Own Coffin | Personalised Custom Coffins

Expression Coffins creates personalised, image-covered coffins. Choose from a range of existing designs or supply your own photographs.

expressioncoffins.com.au

 

[darkbloom]

Lol, I just went looking for a copy and came across this - the ultimate sign of being 'a true fan'

Design Your Own Coffin | Personalised Custom Coffins

Expression Coffins creates personalised, image-covered coffins. Choose from a range of existing designs or supply your own photographs.

expressioncoffins.com.au

Itis very hard to get but I do know someone who is likely to have some copies on sale soon - if and when that happens I'll let you know.

 

[Pomoz]

I'd rather a thousand paper cuts to my bell end, then have it doused in vinegar, if given a choice between that or support a merger with those merkins.

Well thanks for that mental image ACT........

 

[murraymob]

This was pretty common knowledge back in the early days of the NRL. Roger Cowan was keen as mustard because it would save Panthers several million a year.

True roger wanted out of league .he felt it was wasted money the club could put back into the club.Sad thing about that was the club charter is built of being a funding force for league.Super league originally wanted the merge but could not get parra

 

[darkbloom]

True roger wanted out of league .he felt it was wasted money the club could put back into the club.Sad thing about that was the club charter is built of being a funding force for league.Super league originally wanted the merge but could not get parra

Lol - that is so absurd. Even the last sentence is clearly contradicted by Prozsenko's story in the SMH - Denis Fitzgerald had signed the supposed merger document - Penrith hadn't signed it. Super League did not try to get Parramatta - Parramatt in fact proposed the merger to Super League. As for Cowan not wanting rugby league as part of the Panthers portfolio - that is pure myth. You should get your facts straight before commenting.

 

[The_Frog]

I'm saying that such a statement feeds a myth that he hated football and wanted to be rid of it.

I'm positive that wasn't the case. Cowan claimed his position of pro-merger was because he believed Penrith had no hope of inclusion in the forthcoming 14 team comp under the criteria (which he believed with some justification had been framed with predetermined outcomes in mind) and it was better to have half a team than no team. To this end he hired a photographer to photograph other teams crowds, which became back page news.

The faction opposing him, led by Ron Mulock, claimed that he was more interested in saving money to plow back into the club (which in time became accepted as fact). It was quite dirty, in true Panther tradition. In the end the Mulock faction prevailed, the merger was scuttled and Penrith scraped into the 14 at the expense of North Sydney, who didn't have a home ground as Gosford wasn't ready. It seems truly ludicrous in 2021 that Penrith vs Norths or even Central Coast Bears for the last spot was ever a subject of debate, not to mention kicking out Souths with the supporter base they commanded. I have little doubt we'd have been back sooner rather than later anyway, just as the Rabbitohs were.

It might never be known what Cowan's motivation really was, but he didn't have the numbers anyway.

 

[darkbloom]

I'm positive that wasn't the case. Cowan claimed his position of pro-merger was because he believed Penrith had no hope of inclusion in the forthcoming 14 team comp under the criteria (which he believed with some justification had been framed with predetermined outcomes in mind) and it was better to have half a team than no team. To this end he hired a photographer to photograph other teams crowds, which became back page news.

The faction opposing him, led by Ron Mulock, claimed that he was more interested in saving money to plow back into the club (which in time became accepted as fact). It was quite dirty, in true Panther tradition. In the end the Mulock faction prevailed, the merger was scuttled and Penrith scraped into the 14 at the expense of North Sydney, who didn't have a home ground as Gosford wasn't ready. It seems truly ludicrous in 2021 that Penrith vs Norths or even Central Coast Bears for the last spot was ever a subject of debate, not to mention kicking out Souths with the supporter base they commanded. I have little doubt we'd have been back sooner rather than later anyway, just as the Rabbitohs were.

It might never be known what Cowan's motivation really was, but he didn't have the numbers anyway.

What you have written is close to the mark but your conclusion is wrong.

Cowan's thinking was that it was better to have 50% of an elite club than 100% of nothing. Mulock's belief that Cowan wanted rid of football beggars belief - he created the myth that prevails and it is completely wrong. One single piece of evidence: why would Cowan bother gathering evidence to refute the basis of the criteria (eg photographing crowds and counting them can't have been cheap). If he wanted rid of the club would not he have just allowed that process to find its natural end.

The vote he lost was about signing a non-binding agreement that once the criteria process was complete Parramatta and Penrith would be given the opportunity and support to negotiate a merger between the two clubs. It was a safeguard for some Panthers presence in the main game if things. There was never a vote on whether to merge - another myth created by Mulock and his colleagues.

Mulock et al spread the myth that he wanted rid of football because they had other designs and motivations they have never made clear - and will never make clear.

Noone has ever presented any credible evidence that Cowan wanted rid of the Panthers football operation - everything that points that way has been framed and created by the team ostensibly led by Ron Mulock. It has its only basis on their words, yet there is plenty of evidence of the opposite being true.

Tell this on that single miinor point - does it ring true that someone wanting to unload the football part of the operation go to the expense and trouble of using a photographer and a team of people to count the heads as a way of auditing and documentnig the cheating of those competing for places in the competition And this is just one small example of the effort directed towars Panthers survival.

 

[The_Frog]

Cowan's thinking was that it was better to have 50% of an elite club than 100% of nothing.

Roger hasn't been with us for a few years now but to know this for sure you must have been very close to him.

 

[darkbloom]

Roger hasn't been with us for a few years now but to know this for sure you must have been very close to him.

I know him enough to know that his memory has been exceptionally unfarily tarnished and I believe that if you ask 99% of those he worked with over the 40 plus years he worked there - and even the years prior to that when he played with the team and worked voluntarily - you would get the same picture as I have. He loved the game, the team and worked tirelessly in its behalf to try and gain the greatest success possible for it.

Let me know though, does the issue aboput the photgraphy raise doubts in your mind about him wanting out of football?

What about this: One of the reasons for the club (licensed club) amalgamation program - there were a number of powerful reasons for it, but one of them - was the belief that future RL grants might be based on pay-TV subscriptions and audiences. The belief was that having a presence in a wider geographical footprint would eventually generate much wider support for the Panthers - and therefore make us a more valuable product for the League and give us a more secure future. The licensed club amalgamation delivered that wider geographical presence. Given the SL war itself was about TV rights - that seems not a bad assessment to me - and the response not one from someone who wanted anything less thatn a strong Panthers presence.