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Eels dump Ray Price
Eels legend Ray Price is seething over his treatment by the Parramatta Stadium Trust. By Nick Walshaw December 07, 2007 12:00am THEY called him Mr Perpetual Motion - but Parramatta hero Ray Price has finally been floored by the ultimate insult. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Price has slammed the Eels for stripping his name from the main lounge bar at Parramatta Stadium. In a letter received from the Stadium Trust last week, the Eels legend was told his room had been renamed the Cumberland Lounge for "business strategy" reasons. The snubbing means there is now not one public facility - grandstand, terrace, lounge or bar - named after the only man to play in all seven Parramatta grand finals. "Mate, the whole thing is pathetic, sickens me," Price fired yesterday. "I mean, why give me something if you're only going to take it away again? "And then to come up with some excuse about it being for a business strategy or something. Is my name really that f...... bad?" Despite being arguably the greatest Parramatta player ever, Price has never received the same honours as fellow champions Ken Thornett, Michael Cronin, Peter Sterling or Brett Kenny. And the Budgewoi carpenter fears this latest insult is the result of his ongoing feud with Eels boss Denis Fitzgerald - himself one of seven Trust board members. "There's definitely a stench to it," Price conceded. "I mean, first they took down the (Ray Price Lounge) sign for a couple of years. I know that because I went in there and the bloody thing was gone. "Even when I received life membership they gave me grandstand tickets on halfway, but do you know where they are now? They're down behind the dead ball line. "So what can you say? Do they really want me gone that bad?" Defending the board's decision, Fitzgerald last night said the lounge was hired out "100 times a year" for weddings, seminars and corporate functions. "So it's not just a football room," he said. Eels chairman Alan Overton agreed the renamed room would be "easier to hire out" while venue manager Luke Coleman described the decision as "unanimous". As a trade-off, Price's name will now be attached to a smaller suite in the corporate bleachers - a decision already angering club supporters. "Because Pricey is a hero to the battlers, not the suits," Joe Saad, a fan for 30 years, spat. "But they'll probably take that too . . . eventually just name a chair after him." Asked if he feared his footprint being removed from the club completely, Price added: "That's probably their aim, yeah. "But to be honest, I don't give a s... about the officials. The only people I care about these days are the fans. "And I still have my achievements. That and all the great memories . . . mate, they can't take that away from me." http://www.news.com.au/dailyteleg.../0,22049,22883358-5006066,00.html |
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Parramatta fans want a bronze statue of Eels legend Ray Price erected outside their ground after he was snubbed by the club. Bronze statue call for Price By Nick Walshaw December 08, 2007 12:00am ANGRY Eels fans have thrown their support behind embattled hero Ray Price - demanding the club erect a statue of the legend outside Parramatta Stadium. In a staggering show of unity, The Daily Telegraph was yesterday inundated with phone calls and emails after exclusively revealing a decision to rename the Ray Price Lounge at Parramatta Stadium. More than 1500 readers also responded to our website poll, with 93% labelling the decision by Parramatta Stadium Trust "the ultimate insult". As a result, furious supporters are now demanding the club erect a monument similar to the one of Wally Lewis outside Suncorp Stadium. "Because Ray Price epitomises this club," cult supporter John Ryan, aka Parramatta Jesus, said last night. "Sure, people will argue about our greatest player. But I think everyone agrees Pricey represents what this club has always been about. "I mean, that's why people are so upset. "I was on your website at four o'clock (yesterday morning) and people were already blowing up. "A statue of Pricey outside Parramatta Stadium is the perfect way to show him exactly what he has and always will mean here." Canberra have already erected a bronzed likeness of champion playmaker Laurie Daley outside their stadium while British club St Helens is preparing to do the same for Keiron Cunningham. And yesterday Eels supporters were threatening to boycott games, hand in memberships, even form a petition to oust chief executive Denis Fitzgerald unless demands were met. In response, Eels officials sent out a release distancing themselves from the decision, while also stating Fitzgerald was not at the meeting which ratified the changes. Venue manager Luke Coleman had, however, previously described the decision of the seven-man board as "unanimous". http://www.news.com.au/dailyteleg.../0,22049,22887024-5006066,00.html |
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Fitzgerald pulling for Price Lounge
December 12, 2007 PARRAMATTA boss Denis Fitzgerald has put a personal feud with a club legend aside and asked the Parramatta Stadium Trust to overturn its decision to rename the Ray Price Lounge. Price, who won four grand finals with the Eels, and Parramatta's army of fans were outraged when the trust announced the amenity, at Parramatta Stadium, would be renamed the Cumberland Lounge. "On Monday morning I sent a letter to the Parramatta Stadium Trust on behalf of the board of the Parramatta Eels requesting the Parramatta Stadium Trust overturn their decision to rename the Ray Price Lounge," Fitzgerald said. "That letter is going to be tabled at the meeting of the Parramatta Stadium Trust Thursday morning for consideration. "So I'm hopeful and confident that the trust will change their minds and keep the Ray Price Lounge where it has been since the stadium opened in 1986." Fitzgerald, who is a stadium trustee, admitted to an earlier falling out with with the former Parramatta warhorse, but denied he'd had anything to do with the name change, which was reportedly made for "business strategy" reasons. "It's well documented that I don't necessarily see eye-to-eye with Ray Price and haven't for a long time," Fitzgerald said. "But it was never my intention to do anything with changing the name of that lounge because it's recognition of the great service and the legendary status that Ray Price has well earned here at Parramatta Stadium. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22912638-23214,00.html |