After last season I was once again proud to say I am an Eels supporter. There’s no better compliment than opposing fans saying they’re worried about playing Parramatta.
We had a tough reputation and proved it by finishing fourth and then almost providing the upset of the season in the first week of the finals against Melbourne.
Ironically at the start of this season I bumped into a friend of mine who’s a Panthers fan who said he rated Parramatta’s chances this year but was concerned his own team would struggle to make the finals.
By half-time of that match the tables had turned and three months later we’re once again the laughing stock of the competition.
That hurts, not least because it’s given my brother-in-law (Bulldogs fan) plenty of ammunition after I spent 2017 laughing at him.
Repeated losses and form slumps hurt the team and club’s brand and as a fan it makes it difficult to turn up every week with low expectations.
Make no mistake, I’m not happy with where the team is at. I am however of the belief that Brad Arthur deserves a chance to right the ship. 2019 is the final year of his contract and it will be his last chance to prove 2017 wasn’t a fluke.
I’ve been labelled a unicorn for backing Arthur by the supposed realists but I do take a more realistic view of the what he’s done than what others do. I don’t base my opinion on emotion.
Arthur took over the team in 2014. The previous season virtually the same side finished last. It was the second consecutive year the club had collected the wooden spoon.
In 2014 the Eels finished 10th - one win from the top 8. Of the 31 players he used that season, only eight remain at the club.
In 2015 the side finished 12th. The same season Jarryd Hayne, the 2014 joint-Dally M winner, left the club for the NFL and mid-season Chris Sandow went walkabout before heading to England.
2016 was where Brad Arthur actually proved himself as a coach. He recruited a star in Kieran Foran. The club secured Foran in March 2015, the playmaker approached Arthur regarding mental health issues in December that year with him then seeking treatment in Brisbane.
The side won enough games that year to make the play-offs had they not been hit with a 12 point deduction due to the salary cap scandal and forced to shed Nathan Peats and Junior Paulo to play for points.
Foran was then granted a release later that same year to seek further mental health treatment.
It was a turbulent year for the club but Arthur fronted up for the players. He did everything in his power to make it easier on them.
In 2017 they surprised everyone by finishing fourth and making the finals. The first Eels side to do it since 2009 and their highest finish since 2005.
The 2018 season is over, regardless of how many rounds there are left it would require a miracle to make the eight from here.
As an Eels fan I’m sick of hearing about next year. But that’s the reality. So now it’s time to start rebuilding the reputation amongst its fans.
I know Phil has touched on this previously, but we really do lack a compelling narrative to be an Eels fan. Many of us are fans because we were born in the area or had relatives who also support the team.
But there’s nothing compelling new fans, regardless of our membership growth. There’s nothing placing importance on wearing the jersey, nothing truly pointing to what it means to play for Parramatta.
It seems each season we have a new shade of blue and gold with no narrative, no warcry. Our 70th year was last season and it went by with a mild wimper.
Here’s what I would do to rebuild some of that off-field reputation:
- Jerseys will now carry the Indigenous spear fisherman on the shoulders to symbolise the area they come from.
- The logo needs to be updated. We had that logo from the 80s through to the end of the 90s and we’ve had it again since 2011.
- Colours need to be mandated so each season we have the same shades of Blue and Gold. You don’t see Souths or the Roosters changing their shades.
- Players who represent the club for 50, 100, 150 games etc. get individual insignia on their jerseys like the Kangaroos do, to highlight that it’s a privilege, not a right to play for Parramatta.
- Develop a narrative or story. Sponsors and fans really don’t care about the numbers or financials. They care about an emotional connection. They’re not being sold a product, they’re being sold a feeling.
See below what I mean by being sold a feeling. This is Liverpool FC’s 2018/19 storyline which was published ahead of their kit launch earlier this year.
Replies
One thing I agree on is how much untapped emotion there is in our club fanbase. Let's face it, the vitriol that fills this site during bad seasons shows how much this club means to us - like an abusive relationship we refuse to leave, we keep coming back for more no matter how bad it gets.
So much passion.
And the club has existed for over 70 years. So much history.
So we have history, we have passion, and we have a highly emotionally engaged fanbase. And yet despite our undying and unexplainable love for the club, what's our narrative? We have none. Or if we do it's not being pushed and unified by the club.
Hats with logos and flogging jerseys isn't enough. We need a narrative, we need a vision, we need to be able to hang our passion and history on and by a common thread, and it needs to be bigger than the performance of the footy side. I mean, sure, that's a big piece...but there's got to be something more.
If we could harness the history and passion we have as a club and channel it we would be an unstoppable force. Unchannelled we're just disorganised whingers. The only thing that unifies us is our ability to complain. Even the whole "unicorns" vs "realists" is a result of the lacking culture. Fans are defining themselves by their disillusionment of the club they love.
I'm hoping that as a club we can realise that a culture drive is needed not only in the football team, but in the fans too. We need to harness the passion and history of the club and start to build it into Blue and Gold Pride. Winning footy will help, but it's at times like this when the cultural deficiency becomes really clear to see.
Really keen on your suggestions Super. We need our own Baggy Green. That cap isn't headwear - it's a symbol, it's a privilege, it's a cultural icon bestowed upon those who dream of it and work harder than the rest to achieve it. Multiple teams in multiple sports have developed that culture, we need to start walking that same path.
Interesting analogy you draw there with the Baggy Green. And the Baggy Green as a symbol only started under Steve Waugh who began wearing the same one for each tour, so it's not too late. And building on that, I have no issue with jerseys that pay tribute to our former sides. Liverpool's 2017/18 jersey was a modern interpretation of their 1980s strips but with a modern twist that blended the club's history, especially given it was the club's 125th year. But that's the key. Designing a strip that remains modern whilst giving a nod to history.
Perhaps a good start is for the club to finally have some standards that will trickle down to the fans , 71 years of making excuses and only ever solving the secondary problems at the club is one of the main reasons the club has been a faliure for much of it's history .
When you hear people say that Brad Arthur deserves to see out his contract that is when you know we have massive problems as club , BA deserves fuck all as whatever good he did he was paid for and got a handsome payrise for it .
BA has no excuses for the piss poor efforts this year , yes he has had less recourses to work with but it is not a big enough excuse for a team going from 4th the the wooden spoon.
Follow the lead of successful clubs who don't tolerate failure but demand a certain level of success , much better coaches than BA who achieved a lot more than BA could ever dream of were sacked when they fucked up but the eels like to keep shit around the club until its bleeding obvious that things need a change .
So much talk about the jersey, it was only a week ago you stated numerous times that the jersey has no bearing on anything, now 3 of your 5 points to rebuild our rep are jersey points......ok
I'm not blaming the jersey for poor performances, as some have on here, nor have I called for the CEOs resignation over the jersey design, which is what I opposed in those comments.
The jersey debarkle was the first sign we had an imbecile as a CEO, and im being proven right every time the dope opens his mouth to make excuses or contradict himself.
Nobody was blaming the jersey, they claimed we look like dog shit and it cant be helping anything, certainly not sales for the club.
The simple fact remains weve won 1 game in it, stating that isnt blaming the jersey, its stating a simple fact.
IMO our CEO is a complete disgrace and so is our lying bumbling coach, both should be ashamed of themselves, the climate of zero accountability especially Brads created is nothing short of diabolical, the worst in the clubs history, let that sink in, and you want to continue with this disgrace an make a few jersey changes.
That will do me.
Great blog, Sir SuperEel. Very factual with regard to BA and what he’s had to deal with. I’ve no doubt that certain persons on here will say ‘yeah,yeah, excuses, excuses. But it’s the fact. I agree with you that BA should see out his contract and face judgement at the end of it.
With regard to rebuilding: my 8 year old son was very despondent after the loss to the Knights, the next morning he said ‘Pa, I think I’ll go for the Rabbitohs now as they are winning. I know you love Parra, but I want to be on a winning team, I’m fed up of losing.
I was lucky enough to go through the 70s and 80s when we had our golden run, so my heart will always be with Parra because they instilled a winning culture.
How many generations of fans will we lose (and also the money that goes with it) if we don’t bring a strong winning culture back to the club?
My son supports Parra because I’ve taken him to games since he was a baby. He is now old enough to make his own choices and he wants to feel that excitement when his wins and the high fives that go with it from your mates around you.
Let’s get Parra back to that culture before we lose too many generations.....
If Brad Arthur and his diabolical coaching staff remains at this club we will continue to be also rans, mark my words.
All of those years Brad had Peter Gentle helping him, hes got NFI without him
How can you guys divert from the fact Arthur has purchased one decent forward signing in five years (brown)- is one decent forward recruit what Parramatta need to be a consistent top 4 club - NO.
It's common knowledge that other team's target Parramatta's smaller pack, and if Arthur hasn't understood this concept, he has definitely no place in the NRL. It's as simple as that.
You talk about 2016 is where ba proved his worth as a coach. That's absolute bs. Parramatta were heavily over the cap in that year and the year previous, and we still missed the top 4. You guys are delusional honestly.
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