Eels Blogs

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  slip February 19, 2015 at 5:02pm

  Before my time, I was 2 years old. Some of the older Parra fans could talk about this one. There was a street parade in Parramatta during the week of the GF. And of course its the game known as the dropped ball from Neville Glover.
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  sixtiesboy February 19, 2015 at 7:33pm

  I was there. I was also at the street parade. The players were on the back of trucks going up Church St to Westfield. The crowd was massive. When Ray Higgs truck was blocked by the crowd under the railway bridge, he started the Parra chant. I've never been in such an excited crowd. I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes at the same time.
  Make no mistake, we were robbed over multiple years in the 70s.
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    tele1 > sixtiesboy February 19, 2015 at 9:51pm

    Make no mistake, we were robbed over multiple years in the 70s.

    75.....the Branighan disaster

    76....well nuff said

    77...oh no Crow.......and Pricey wasn't Reddy for that

    78...not once, but twice Mr Hartley.....but hey, who's counting !!!! not you, that's for sure

    ......many a tear was shed by this heartbroken kid from 11-14yrs of age I can tell you

    .....but it is NO WHERE near as painful as the young Parra fans born after 1978 have had to endure

    ...,,we were the LUCKY ones

    Thank you Jack

    ps Terry Fearnley was a fantastic coach....lost in obscurity today....sad
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  The Crow February 19, 2015 at 7:50pm

  What's changed?
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  HKF February 19, 2015 at 7:51pm

  Neville Glover, the original Paul Carige.
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    sixtiesboy > HKF February 19, 2015 at 8:00pm

    Neville was a 20 year old winger who burst onto the scene that year. Yes he dropped the ball, but he was a far more talented player than Carrige and went on to represent Australia in 1978. Crum penalties winning a game was a disgrace. People forget what scrums and the ref's interpretation of scrums was like. They could rule whatever they liked and couldn't ever be proved wrong.
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  Parramatta Tragic February 19, 2015 at 9:03pm

  Had followed them all year and sat in the Sheridan Stand with dad and a few mates for the GF. We lined up overnight outside Philip Street RL headquarters with sleeping bags to get the GF tickets. SB is right, the street parade brought goose bumps and tears at the same time. I was waiting inside Westfield (they had a centre stage) and when the players came in the chant started and again like SB, I have never been in such an excited crowed nor heard more noise. There were reportedly 100,000 people in the streets and it seemed just as many inside Westfield. The chant semed to go on forever. I loved it. After the event it was claimed the players got too upset by the reception but don't they have a street parade every year for the AFL GF? Lets do it again next time! Neville Glover was a matchwinner and won plenty of games to get us into the GF. Can't point the finger at Nev. We wouldn't have been there without him. Grothe senior did exactly the same thing in the '84 Grand Final in the same corner so lets call it Parra's corner not Neville's corner. Neville is a very worthy winger in our Team of the Century. I remember that year against Easts at the Sports Ground he broke through Ron Coote's covering tackles twice to score after long runs. No one ever beat Coote. Neville also scored a try the first time he touched a ball playing for Australia. If ever someone deserved to score a winning grand final try in the last minute it was Ray Higgs. What a warrior. Would love to meet him.If he had scored that try the fans would have carried him on their backs down Parramatta Road back to the club. Bloody Cook the ref again with his BS second row penalties. Hartley and Cook crushed Parramatta during the 70's. I had my cassette tape deck on my lap at the game so I could press play and record when Frank Hyde started calling the game and listen to it later at home. When Porter scored I stood up and the cassette player went flying across the Sheridan. What an exciting moment. SB will attest that when Porter scored it was just sublime. The whole thing makes me very nostalgic. It was an incredible time and what a pack of forwards we had. Take a look at them and a tougher man never lived than John Baker. I think he played well into his 40's? Lets do a street parade again just like the AFL do every year as everyone deserves to feel what it was like
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    1Eyed Eel > Parramatta Tragic February 19, 2015 at 11:38pm

    I love these nostalgia blogs!
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    The Flying Wedge > Parramatta Tragic February 25, 2015 at 10:15am

    I am thinking that the Peard/Porter combination to score tries from bombs was our most potent attacking weapon in 1976 and was much talked about.

    Am I right in remembering that Johnny Peard practically invented the modern "Bomb". Up until then it was called an "Up and Under", but Peard's unique style of kicking and his accuracy turned it something new. So much so that they have had to change the rules over the years. 

    As kids we always tried to imitate the kicking style of a "Johnny Peard Bomb"  - with little success.
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  Trapped in the 1970's February 19, 2015 at 9:36pm

  Nice read Tragic. I always thought that John Moran was a chance to score and didn't need make that pass to Glover. Moran was a big centre for those times and was so close to the line but it was a tragedy that Glover would be remembered most for that when he had an otherwise stellar career. Glover didn't cost them the game, those scrum penalties did.