Parramatta Eels ink new four-year deal with former sponsor Hardie
It’s out with the old and in with the … old. After almost 30 years apart, Parramatta has rekindled the club’s golden years with its premiership-era sponsor James Hardie.
NSW
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They might be searching for a new head coach, but the Parramatta Eels have already secured an old partner for 2025 and beyond — rekindling one of the most iconic sponsorships in rugby league history.
James Hardie, the building material giant synonymous with the club’s golden era of the 1980s, will once again be emblazoned across the team’s jersey as part of a multimillion-dollar, four-year deal, described by Parramatta CEO Jim Sarantinos as a ‘‘back to the future’’ moment.
“Obviously the Hardies partnership holds a lot of great memories for Parramatta fans,’’ Sarantinos said, announcing the deal to The Daily Telegraph.
“It ties back to the most successful era of the club and it was just really interesting to think about what that might look like if we could start a new chapter of that.’’
James Hardie began its sponsorship of the Eels in 1981, coinciding with the club’s first premiership. More titles followed in 1982, 1983 and 1986, with “Hardie’s’’ literally front and centre of it all.
Much has happened, or not happened in the case of the Eels, in the 29 years since the last sponsorship ended in 1995.
Parramatta is in the longest premiership drought of any club — 37 years and counting — while for James Hardie, the decades following the Eels’ golden years have been spent dealing with the consequences of its prolonged asbestos compensation saga.
To this day, it continues to compensate its former workers and other sufferers by way of a multi-billion dollar fund that guarantees current and future payments to those battling mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses, caused by the company’s building products which it stopped producing in the early 1980s.
But Sarantinos wants to assure Parramatta fans the renewed sponsorship deal will be a fresh start for both parties.
“This is an opportunity to write a new chapter in the history of the partnership,’’ he said.
“It’s obviously important for us all to acknowledge the past, but I think we’ve gotten ourselves very comfortable that Hardies is a very different company now to what it was then. It’s a hugely successful company, both in Australia and abroad. It prides itself on the safety of its products, whilst also still continuing to take care of the people that were affected by the issues of the past.”
“But we’re very comfortable with the management team and leadership team here and how they go about managing the company and we feel it’s the right path for our club. Obviously we’re going through a bit of a tricky period at the moment but … we’re hopeful that this does coincide with a period of success for the club.’’
The current crop of players and club legends, who wore the famous jersey during their premiership era, are on-board with the new deal.
Eels co-captain Clint Gutherson was just 12 months old when the last Hardie’s sponsorship deal ended in 1995.
“It’s exciting to have them back as a sponsor, obviously there was a lot of success over that period,’’ Gutherson said.
“You hear about it all the time and it’s such a proud history at the club. Just watching all those old games and seeing the photos of the old boys winning (the premierships) and carrying that trophy around, you always saw the Hardie’s on the front and it’s pretty special to have them back on-board.’’
Club legends Peter Wynn and Steve Edge are also excited by the renewed partnership.
“I think it’s amazing, it’s a great signing,’’ Wynn said.
“It’s going to create a lot of interest. I’m very excited.’’
Edge, a three-time premiership-winning captain for the Eels, said the sponsorship brought back good memories of his time in the famous blue and gold jersey.
“It’s fantastic,’’ he said.
“We were a James Hardie family in the old days and it was just terrific.
“You’d win a comp and the James Hardie truck would be at the leagues club and then they’d (the fans) burn your stadium down … it just meant so much to the community.’’
James Hardie’s American CEO Aaron Erter flew to Sydney to announce the sponsorship deal this week, saying: “We do this in the US, we do it with the Cubs, we do it with the Yankees … so there’s not a better way to do it in western Sydney than with the Eels and what we had in the early 80s.’’
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