Parramatta Eels

The Parramatta Eels are a team in the National Rugby League (NRL), the premier rugby league football competition in Australia.

Club history

The Cumberland Rugby League Club which was a foundation member of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1908 is often referred to as the original Parramatta team. However, while Cumberland's team was made of many Wests rugby club players (formed from a merger of Parramatta and Wests teams of a district rugby union competition which began in 1900), some of whom may well have come from the Parramatta district, the Cumberland team began with a meeting at Homebush and played all of its games in the inner city.

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During the 1910s rugby league's popularity grew in all the major towns of western Sydney. At this time the Western Suburbs club maintained control of the sport in that area, there were local teams from Burwood to Penrith, including Parramatta, Wentworthville and to the south in Fairfield and Liverpool. With the growth of surrounding townships and suburbs in the Parramatta district a push was made for its own club in the mid-1930s.

Related Topics:
Burwood - Penrith - Parramatta - Wentworthville - Fairfield - Liverpool

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In 1936 a proposal was made by the Parramatta Club to join the NSWRL. While supported by the Western Suburbs Club, other clubs rejected the proposal which resulted in failure to gain admission. Ten years later the Parramatta Club along with Manly made another submission, and in November 1946 the NSWRL granted Parramatta and Manly entry for the following season.

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The Parramatta teams first captain was a former Parramatta Rugby Union player Bob Andrews who had previously been playing League with Wests.

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Parramatta was extremely unsuccessful in its early years. Between 1954 and 1961 the club was wooden-spooner on all but one occasion. During 1959 and 1960 Parramatta was only able to score two wins in each season. In 1962 Parramatta reached the finals series for the first time, an achievement they would repeat on many occasion culminating in a Grand Final appearances in 1976 and 1977 but were unable to post a Grand Final win until 1981 which was the first of a flood of wins during the 1980s. The Parramatta side will arguably be remembered as the last ever ‘golden era' team of Australian rugby league - the introduction of salary caps and ‘talent equalisation' policies meaning sustained success is unlikely to be ever seen again.

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