Parramatta Stadium is being demolished to make way for the new $300 million ground
VIDEO: Parramatta Stadium has stood for more than 30 years but the wreckers have come in and it’s a complete demolition job. But the memories of Sterlo, Jarryd Hayne and the Queen will remain.
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IT WAS the field of dreams, a stadium built for the people, a showcase of memorable sporting and musical performances, and it was even loved by the Queen.
But on Tuesday the wrecking teams moved in and no longer did Parramatta Stadium quiver to the roar of tens of thousands of spectators, it began to crumble under the onslaught of wrecking balls.
Out of the dust a new $300 million stadium will emerge and while the Pirtek Stadium will soon be no more, 30 years of memories will always live on.
Home to Western Sydney Wanderers, Parramatta Eels, and Greater Sydney Rams, the current stadium has borne witness to truly great moments and on many occasions provided spectacles of pure ecstasy for the clubs’ fans.
The stadium also hosted numerous sporting and cultural events since its opening in 1986. Michael Jackson performed during his Bad World Tour in November 1987, and Sir Paul McCartney of Beatles fame ended the Australian leg of The New World Tour with two shows in March 1993.
Wanderers’ manager Tony Popovic has many fond memories of Pirtek Stadium since the team’s first home game against Central Coast Mariners in 2012.
It was dubbed “Wanderland” and it has been for the club, as great results at the venue paved the way for a Premiers Plate, A-League grand final appearances and winning the 2014 Asian Champions League.
“I have mixed feelings about leaving Pirtek,” said Popovic before the last match at Parramatta.
One of the main things Popovic loved about coaching the Wanderers at Pirtek Stadium was the passionate atmosphere the fans generated at games.
“It’s difficult as a coach to soak it up. You do realise before the game when the fans are there in huge numbers and they’re singing and dancing. I could hear it and it certainly had an effect with the players,” he said.
It’s also the turf trodden on by the likes of Eels’ greats Peter Sterling and Jarryd Hayne, with the NRL team playing their last match in August against St George Illawarra in front of a crowd of 13,553 and winning 30-18.
Stadium director Luke Coleman said the stadium had been an icon in the landscape of Parramatta.
“The Parramatta Eels have played on this site at the bend of the river, since 1947, and at this stadium since it opened in March 1986,” he said.
But the history goes even deeper, reading like a roll-call of Australian and international sporting greats.
Cumberland Oval, as the stadium was originally known, was the main sporting venue for the Parramatta district from the mid-19th century until 1982 when it made way for the original Parramatta Stadium.
It was home to horseracing, cricket and athletics, rugby union from 1879 and rugby league from 1909.
Motor cycle racing on a dirt track started in 1930, followed by midget speedcar racing in 1936.
Among the famous names to grace the hallowed ground included English cricket great W.G. Grace, and Australia’s triple Formula One World Champion Jack Brabham who raced in midget cars at the Cumberland Speedway in the 1940s.
On March 5, 1986, the site even got the royal seal of approval when Queen Elizabeth II opened the gleaming new Parramatta Stadium.
Kangaroos’ player Peter Wynn met Her Majesty on the day.
“We were standing in line,” Wynn remembers. “I said to her, ‘you’re opening up our stadium on Friday’.
“She asked, ‘do you play for the Parramatta Eels’?
“And then asked, ‘was it a new stadium or had it been played on before’?
“When I told her it was new she said she was ‘excited because a lot of times I open things they are already in use’.”
Ironically, Eels’ played St George Illawarra on that day long ago and thumped them 36-6. History repeated itself in that last Eel’s match when they sent the Saints packing for 30-18.
So, Parramatta Stadium may be dead but long live new Western Sydney Stadium as it rises from the ashes, bigger and better, its beating heart witness to new sporting achievements, great crowds and a spirit which is truly Parramatta’s own.
GREAT NAMES — GREAT MOMENTS
Parramatta Eels:
■ 30 years
■ 343 games
■ 189 wins
■ 2630 tries
■ 15,332 points
■ 1 premiership
■ 5 million fans
JARRYD HAYNE
Eels’ fullback Jarryd Hayne played 176 games.
Hayne started his highlights reel from virtually his first match in the NRL, helping catapult the team into the 2009 Grand Final and collecting his first Dally M award.
PETER STERLING
Peter ‘Sterlo’ Sterling played 227 games for the Eels
Reckoned by many to be the best game manager of his generation, Sterlo’s list of awards and honours include the inaugural Clive Churchill Medal in the 1986 Grand Final and is surely one of his proudest achievements.
ERIC GROTHE SNR
Eel’s winger Eric Grothe Snr played 152 games.
Grothe decimated defences with a combination of strength and speed. His trademark was the ability to maintain balance at pace while leaning forward to bump off defenders.
LUKE BURT
Luke Burt played 264 games for the Eels.
The youngest ever Eel at 17, Burt made his debut in front of over 100,000 people at Stadium Australia in the 1999 season opener but he belongs to Parramatta with the second highest points score in the team’s history with 1793 points.
TIMING
■ Demolition — to mid 2017
■ Piling and ground work — mid 2017 to late 2017
■ Stage 2 stadium design and construction planning application and approval (includes public exhibition) — early 2017 to mid 2017
■ Stadium construction — late 2017 to 2019
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