Bernie Gurr to leave Parramatta as Eels search for new CEO
He helped lead Parramatta out of the darkest period in their history, now departing Eels boss Bernie Gurr wants to stay in rugby league despite leaving the “sleeping giant” of rugby league.
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PARRAMATTA will go into the market place to find a commercially savvy new chief executive as outgoing boss Bernie Gurr aims to stay involved in the game.
The Daily Telegraph revealed yesterday Gurr would step aside after three years in charge of the Eels on October 31.
Parramatta chairman Sean McElduff praised Gurr for bringing stability to a club which was on its knees when the CEO was appointed in 2016.
“When he came into the role the club was in poor health on any metric you want to measure it by,” McElduff said.
“If you think about the type of person we needed at that point in time he was perfect for the role. Calm in a crisis, understood footy clubs and he is measured so he was perfect.
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“If you measure the club by the same metric there has been a significant improvement.”
The Eels have already had internal discussions about what they want in Gurr’s replacement and will advertise for the position next Friday. That person does not need to have a strong degree of football nous, according to McElduff.
“We should be trying to get to the same success of the Broncos or the Rabbitohs in the front office side of things,” McElduff said. “On the commercial side of things, someone that has skill sets there will be attractive to us.
“Before it was someone who could stabilise a footy department, build trust and make sure we had the right governance. We’ve got those things in place. It feels like we are on the right track with our football department program now we want to get on the right path with our front office.
“We have been doing those things but we want to take it to another level.”
Gurr joined the Eels shortly after the fallout of the salary cap cheating scandal ravaged the club.
There had been a revolving doors of club bosses who had left the Eels in controversial circumstances but Gurr helped galvanise the club.
Operational losses reduced from more than $12 million in 2016 to $10 million in 2017 and then down to about $4 million in 2018. In May, Gurr announced the Eels would move away from their North Parramatta training base to a new $40 million high-performance rugby league facility in Kellyville in Sydney’s north west.
Gurr said he “reflects on my time well”.
“I view leading Parramatta as a privilege,” Gurr said. “When I came here everyone knew Parramatta was a — and potentially still is — a sleeping giant.
“We had a rebuild to do. That was my mandate and put a bit of direction and stability back in the place and generate trust in our members, community and make people care about our club again.
“The quality of people in this club is important and it all goes all well for the future.”
Gurr spent almost a decade as chief executive of the Roosters between 1994 and 2003. Either side of that appointment, he held high-profile roles in the US including a nine-year stint as chief financial officer at Crown Worldwide Group.
He said he hopes to remain involved in the game.
“I’ll take a break,” Gurr said. “I would certainly look at opportunities to stay involved in the game. I lived overseas for a long while and there is no game as good as rugby league.”
Originally published as Bernie Gurr to leave Parramatta as Eels search for new CEO
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