1981 1982 1983 1986 
Post by Electric Eel on Aug 2, 2020 21:24:20 GMT 10
16th April 1972
Eastern Suburbs 50 (Peter Flanders 2, Bill Mullins, Greg Bandiera, Jim Morgan, John Ballesty, John Quayle, Johnny Mayes, Laurie Freier, Peter Moscatt tries, Allan McKean 10 goals) defeated Parramatta 12 (Gary Pethybridge, John Wilson tries, Bland Liles 3 goals).
Venue: Sydney Sports Ground. Crowd: 10,649. Referee: Keith Page.
By Ian Walsh
April 22, 1972
You are a gutless bunch, Parramatta. I am ashamed to be associated with you. One more performance like Sunday's and you can do it without me.
Never in my association with Rugby League have I seen a display to rival Parramatta's on Sunday-it was gutless.
If I had my way I would withhold all losing match payments to the players.
I would also fine at least eight members of the team for disgracing the good name of the club.
Parramatta, you may be used to football such as Sunday's, but believe me, I'm not.
Life is too short to put up with this sort of misery and I don't intend to be around if I see a repeat of that performance.
At the start of the season I made a pact with officials and players that I wouldn't upset anybody in my articles in Rugby League Week.
That pact is over.
I also stated I would give a player a week's notice before dropping him so he had the chance of redeeming himself.
That agreement is over.
I don't intend to put up with players who want to "bludge" money from the club.
Players who have no pride, no respect, no code of decency, can play third grade or get out of the club.
There used to be a time when it was a proud moment to play first grade, represent your state and then your country. But apparently times today are different. Or perhaps Keith Campbell and Denis Fitzgerald are different.
No player should drag his club to the depths of disgrace, yet on Sunday at least eight of them did it.
On behalf of my club I would like to apologise to Parramatta fans, to Rugby League, for this shameful performance.
I promise you that as long as I am with Parramatta it will not happen again.
When I was playing football I would have crawled over broken glass from here to Perth to play first grade.
But today all Parramatta players want to do is to see how much money they can bleed from the club for as little effort as possible.
I will now pick players who are striving to earn contracts and who want to play Rugby League for Parramatta.
I believe there are 13 players in the club who will fill this bill.
Names won't mean a thing and if you have any doubts as to my feelings take a look at this week's team.
Players who want to put their hands on their hips and hang their heads after three minutes can do it in third grade.
No guts in the front row, no guts in the second row and no guts in the backline.
It took the three smallest men in the side to try to pull something out of the fire.
Phil Jelley, Johnny Wilson and Graham Lye never stopped trying and perhaps Gary Pethybridge and John McMartin can be spared from criticism.
We made Easts look good.
They had nothing to fear. We let them stand over us. We even let Dick Thornett rub his hands across our faces and did nothing about it.
No wonder two Parramatta officials had a smug look across their faces after the game.
The two officials were strongly opposed to letting Thornett go to another club.
We won't finish with the wooden spoon.
I know that somewhere within the club there are 13 players prepared to give me and the club an 80 minute effort.
Players, you won't have liked reading this but just remember I had to sit through 80 minutes of it on Sunday.
I won't be doing it again.
Eastern Suburbs 50 (Peter Flanders 2, Bill Mullins, Greg Bandiera, Jim Morgan, John Ballesty, John Quayle, Johnny Mayes, Laurie Freier, Peter Moscatt tries, Allan McKean 10 goals) defeated Parramatta 12 (Gary Pethybridge, John Wilson tries, Bland Liles 3 goals).
Venue: Sydney Sports Ground. Crowd: 10,649. Referee: Keith Page.
By Ian Walsh
April 22, 1972
You are a gutless bunch, Parramatta. I am ashamed to be associated with you. One more performance like Sunday's and you can do it without me.
Never in my association with Rugby League have I seen a display to rival Parramatta's on Sunday-it was gutless.
If I had my way I would withhold all losing match payments to the players.
I would also fine at least eight members of the team for disgracing the good name of the club.
Parramatta, you may be used to football such as Sunday's, but believe me, I'm not.
Life is too short to put up with this sort of misery and I don't intend to be around if I see a repeat of that performance.
At the start of the season I made a pact with officials and players that I wouldn't upset anybody in my articles in Rugby League Week.
That pact is over.
I also stated I would give a player a week's notice before dropping him so he had the chance of redeeming himself.
That agreement is over.
I don't intend to put up with players who want to "bludge" money from the club.
Players who have no pride, no respect, no code of decency, can play third grade or get out of the club.
There used to be a time when it was a proud moment to play first grade, represent your state and then your country. But apparently times today are different. Or perhaps Keith Campbell and Denis Fitzgerald are different.
No player should drag his club to the depths of disgrace, yet on Sunday at least eight of them did it.
On behalf of my club I would like to apologise to Parramatta fans, to Rugby League, for this shameful performance.
I promise you that as long as I am with Parramatta it will not happen again.
When I was playing football I would have crawled over broken glass from here to Perth to play first grade.
But today all Parramatta players want to do is to see how much money they can bleed from the club for as little effort as possible.
I will now pick players who are striving to earn contracts and who want to play Rugby League for Parramatta.
I believe there are 13 players in the club who will fill this bill.
Names won't mean a thing and if you have any doubts as to my feelings take a look at this week's team.
Players who want to put their hands on their hips and hang their heads after three minutes can do it in third grade.
No guts in the front row, no guts in the second row and no guts in the backline.
It took the three smallest men in the side to try to pull something out of the fire.
Phil Jelley, Johnny Wilson and Graham Lye never stopped trying and perhaps Gary Pethybridge and John McMartin can be spared from criticism.
We made Easts look good.
They had nothing to fear. We let them stand over us. We even let Dick Thornett rub his hands across our faces and did nothing about it.
No wonder two Parramatta officials had a smug look across their faces after the game.
The two officials were strongly opposed to letting Thornett go to another club.
We won't finish with the wooden spoon.
I know that somewhere within the club there are 13 players prepared to give me and the club an 80 minute effort.
Players, you won't have liked reading this but just remember I had to sit through 80 minutes of it on Sunday.
I won't be doing it again.
