Parramatta Eels fans rejoice as NRL games return
The match has been a long time coming, and when the Eels battle the Broncos to restart the NRL competition on Thursday night they’ll have some very special fans cheering them on.
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When 15-year-old Claudia Kendall started treatment for cancer at Westmead Hospital, nearly 300km away from her Canberra home, the sound of the crowd cheering at nearby Bankwest Stadium gave the young NRL fan comfort.
It was the opening clash between the Eels and the Bulldogs — just a week after the teenager was diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma.
“I love everything to do with sport and usually I watch the NRL games with my three brothers back home,” Claudia said yesterday.
“But when I started staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Westmead, I could hear the game being played and it brought back familiarity.”
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As the Eels prepare to battle the Broncos to restart the NRL competition on Thursday night, Claudia will be watching her “new’’ team play from her room.
“I haven’t been back home since February and my mum and dad have been alternating (staying with me) every three weeks,’’ she said.
“I can’t wait for the game this week as I watch it with my mum in my room.’’
The Year 10 student and competitive rower, whose training was abruptly halted after a lump was detected on her neck, said her focus will be on getting back into her love of participating in sport as well as watching it.
“I’m taking this whole situation in my stride and just focusing on getting back to competing for nationals at my school and just remaining hopeful,” Claudia said.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys, who has a bold plan for NRL supporters to return to the stands in July, said the fans were the “lifeblood of the sport”.
“If you don’t have fans, you don’t have anything. They are our customers and we need to satisfy our customers, look after them and give them what they desire,” he said.
“I, realistically, represent the fans because, at the end of the day, that’s what I am. So I want to make sure they have a free-flowing, entertaining game and that they are rewarded for their loyalty.”
That includes fans like the Kayes family who, for half a century, have bled blue and gold in support for their much loved Eels.
Their passion for Parramatta started back in the late 1960s when Glenn Kayes began attending games with his father Craig.
“I grew up going to the training sessions and all the home games in the 1980s,’’ Mr Kayes said.
“Once the grandkids came along, my dad made sure they would be Eels fans.
“Now we live pretty close to Parramatta so they are still our local team.”
With his wife Lisa also right behind him, the couple has proved it is never too early to enlist their children as members of the Blue and Gold Army, with William, 6, Freddie, 3, and 9-month-old Charlie, all loyal Eels fans.
“The kids are definitely supporters. William, our eldest has been to quite a few games and just loves it.
“We’ll see what the youngest decides but so far the oldest two seem pretty keen to follow in the family’s footsteps,” Mrs Kayes said.
“Before the coronavirus William, Glenn, and his dad would go with some of our other family to games or watch it at home if we couldn’t make the games.”
Mrs Kayes said on Thursday the family would be dressed in their jerseys and glued to their screens for the big reopening match.
“Since William heard an ad saying that NRL was coming back he is been asking almost every day when Thursday night is,” she said.
“He will have his little flags ready to go and is so excited, even to watch it on the television.”
Project Apollo boss Wayne Pearce has been driving the mission to get the game back for the fans.
“There aren’t any more passionate sporting fans around the world than those who follow and love their rugby league. For NRL supporters, the game consumes our winter every year,” Pearce said.
“This has been a season like no other but the fans have stayed solid and loyal and are now going to be rewarded by having the greatest game of all back on their TVs.
“I know they can’t wait. I can’t wait either.
“Thursday night can’t come quick enough.”
Former NSW and Test captain and Blues legend Laurie Daley said fans were the “heart and soul” of the code and without them “we don’t have a game”.
“They have grown up on footy, generation after generation. NRL supporters and members have been tolerant and patient through all this but I know they are now ready and busting to watch some footy,” Daley said.
“Everywhere I go I hear people saying how much they miss their rugby league and want it back. That’s now a reality. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights — along with Sunday afternoons — can now return to normal. It’s footy time again. Bring it on.”