NRL grand final 2022: Showdown between Penrith and Parramatta decades in the making
Rugby League is the game of the masses in Western Sydney. The Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels will meet for the first time in a grand final in front of more than 80,000 frenzied fans.
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The countdown has begun for the Grand Final of the West with footy fans swinging into a week of preparations ahead of a showdown that has been decades in the making.
The Penrith Panthers and Parramatta Eels will go head to head for the first time in a grand final in front of more than 80,000 frenzied fans at a sold out Accor Stadium on Sunday night.
“Rugby league is the culture of the masses of Western Sydney, it is our religion,” Christopher Brown, chairman of the Western Sydney Leadership Dialogue, said.
“This is about our community. What a great outcome for rugby league, the heartland strikes back.”
Tickets for club members go on sale at 10am today, with a release of remaining tickets to the general public tomorrow.
An Accor Stadium spokesman said: “We understand there has been a mad scramble for tickets already and are expecting a sell out crowd of more than 80,000. There are 1100 additional seats we can put in on level one and over the four tunnels and we will be putting those on as well.”
Despite that, one certain guarantee is that not everyone who wants a ticket will get one, with pubs and clubs across the west also gearing up for a bumper week of grand final celebrations.
Business Western Sydney executive director David Borger said: “The West is back.”.
“Accor Stadium will be a sell out and there will be a lot of fans who cannot get a ticket who will be going to pubs and clubs to watch.
“Either High St, Penrith or Church St, Parramatta will be going off on Sunday night.
“People get really excited when their team is in a grand final and that means this week people will be going out for lunches and dinners as they fire up for their team.”
Sport Minister Alister Henskens said it was “a NRL grand final for the ages” that was already a great result for NSW.
“Western Sydney will be the winner this weekend at Accor Stadium. The game will kick off in the thick of an epic 10 days of sport, cementing NSW as the premier destination for sports fans, adding millions to our State economy.”
Much of that fiesta of sport will be in Western Sydney with two huge games playing on Saturday night.
The Women’s Basketball World Cup final will be held in front of 18,000 fans at Qudos Bank Arena next door to Accor Stadium while the Australia Cup Football Final will kick off with up to 20,000 fans expected at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta. But for the majority of Western Sydney there is only one game in town.
Western Sydney Minister David Elliott, who is tipping the Eels to win by 12, said: “Rugby League is coming home this weekend for a bona fide ‘West Fest’. The local Panthers versus Eels derby will be providing the perfect ingredients for locals to celebrate everything good about western Sydney’s love affair with the great game.”
Former Western Sydney Minister and Penrith MP and tragic Stuart Ayres said: “The Panthers are a great example of a confident and positive Penrith community that keeps raising the bar and keeps striving for success.
“Penrith will be a sea of Panthers colours this week in a wonderful display of Panther Pride.”
Parramatta will also be a sea of blue and gold judging by the queues outside the store of Eels legend Peter Wynn in Church St on Sunday.
“Everyone wants their blue and gold, especially their grand final T-shirts, that’s our biggest seller,’’ Wynn said.
“It’s been awesome.”
He enlisted former teammate Stan Jurd to help control the growing queue of ecstatic Eels fans on Sunday.
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Originally published as NRL grand final 2022: Showdown between Penrith and Parramatta decades in the making
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