Talking Footy

Newly appointed Parramatta Eels chief executive Ken Edwards has grand plans for the NRL club
By Joe Barton
AAP
October 22, 20123:48PM

New chief executive Ken Edwards has set himself the imposing task of turning NRL wooden spooners Parramatta into Australia's biggest sporting club.

It seems an onerous expectation to put on an Eels side which has struggled for success since the glory days of the 1980s, but on his first day on the job - Edwards made it clear he wouldn't tolerate mediocrity.

"The long-term goal of the board of directors and the club is to eventually become the biggest sporting club in the country," Edwards said on Monday.

"That's the end point. It's my job to develop a plan over the next few months to start that journey.

"But the only way is up. It's a new era."

Edwards admits Parramatta have underperformed in recent times, but with a new chief executive and a new coach in former New South Wales Origin mentor Ricky Stuart - the winds of change are sweeping through the club.

Edwards' predecessor Bob Bentley will remain as Eels Group CEO and will oversee the Leagues Club's financial sustainability, leaving Edwards to craft his sporting powerhouse.

And that means chasing down the likes of AFL giants Collingwood, and even rivals closer to home like Canterbury-Bankstown and South Sydney, for the title as the country's most dominant club.

"There are powerhouses and there are powerhouses," he said.

"Have a look at the great job that both the Bulldogs and the Rabbitohs have done in particular, growing their membership.

"They're both approaching or over 20,000 members. Collingwood has 70,000 members. And we have 11 or 12,000. And we're in the heart of the region.

"That's one of the things that attracted me to working with the Eels and getting back into rugby league. There's a lot of upside.

"Parramatta is a huge district, both by way of population and commercial metrics.

"It is the third largest economic region in the country behind the Sydney CBD and the Melbourne CBD.

"It's a huge population of over two million in the catchment area out here.

"The club's had some well publicised off-the-field issues that it's concentrated on.

"After discussing it with the board I'm convinced and satisfied that they've got things on a level playing field."

Edwards said he wouldn't interfere with new coach Stuart's approach to winning on the field and said his only task in that area was to ensure the NRL premiership-winning coach and player had sufficient support to ensure success.

"Ricky will run his show," he said.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/league/nrl- ... z2A1N9yxMs

Drac wrote:

The CEO was the one that mentioned Collingwood. It was a direct quote.

Raiderdave wrote:

well

it would seem this parramatta ceo is on to something

we all know parramatta were watched by more people on tv then collinsford in 2009
this being despite less FTA coverage & really only being shown in 2 markets .. & collinsthongs .. in 5

but heres some interesting reading
Collinswart ... self proclaimed biggest club side in any code in australian sport .. being a top 4 side all year in 2012
, have been for the last 3 & played in 2 Gf's ,, they won the 2010 GF
attracted 14 million TV veiwers in 2012 .... they appeared on FTA on 13 occasions in 2012
that 14 Mill is the highest of any VFL side

Parramatta ...
haven't won a GF since 1986... have been bottom 4 the last 3 years .... running dead last almost all of 2012
appeared on FTA on only 8 occasions in 2012...
attracted ... 12 Million veiwers

wow .... thats a pretty impressive result.


the highest team .. of any code , by far ... is the Brisbane Broncos with a staggering 19 Million plus veiwers
but they appeared on FTA on 21 occasions in 2012
with a stronger showing in the latter stages of the year ( broncos only won 3 of their last 13 games in 2012) they'd of cracked 20 Million on their ear
.. probably up to 21 or 22 Million

in a horses for courses comparison of these 3
if you brought them all up to Collinthorns on field performance
& up to the Broncos number of FTA appearances

I've got the Broncos as our nations numb 1 side still
just edging out the eels

& ol Collinsfart .... 3rd

he was looking at the wrong team .. its their fellow NRL side Brisbane .. they need to topple to be the biggest
not Collinstwat

cos789 wrote:

Shouldn't Parramatta concentrate on beating the local soccer club first.

Raiderdave wrote:

well

it would seem this parramatta ceo is on to something

we all know parramatta were watched by more people on tv then collinsford in 2009
this being despite less FTA coverage & really only being shown in 2 markets .. & collinsthongs .. in 5

but heres some interesting reading
Collinswart ... self proclaimed biggest club side in any code in australian sport .. being a top 4 side all year in 2012
, have been for the last 3 & played in 2 Gf's ,, they won the 2010 GF
attracted 14 million TV veiwers in 2012 .... they appeared on FTA on 13 occasions in 2012
that 14 Mill is the highest of any VFL side

Parramatta ...
haven't won a GF since 1986... have been bottom 4 the last 3 years .... running dead last almost all of 2012
appeared on FTA on only 8 occasions in 2012...
attracted ... 12 Million veiwers

wow .... thats a pretty impressive result.


the highest team .. of any code , by far ... is the Brisbane Broncos with a staggering 19 Million plus veiwers
but they appeared on FTA on 21 occasions in 2012
with a stronger showing in the latter stages of the year ( broncos only won 3 of their last 13 games in 2012) they'd of cracked 20 Million on their ear
.. probably up to 21 or 22 Million

in a horses for courses comparison of these 3
if you brought them all up to Collinthorns on field performance
& up to the Broncos number of FTA appearances

I've got the Broncos as our nations numb 1 side still
just edging out the eels

& ol Collinsfart .... 3rd

he was looking at the wrong team .. its their fellow NRL side Brisbane .. they need to topple to be the biggest
not Collinstwat

piesman2011 wrote:

I just looked at your numbers Dave and by not including fox you take away a lot of the AFL numbers because every game is on Fox. I would say that if we added up all of the games comparing the Broncos with their 21 FTA appearences and fox apperences they get a total of about :

21 million (25 appearances I think) Broncos

Collingwood with a lot more foxtel appearances have a rough total of about:

23 million viewers (25 appearances) for Collingwood.

By ignoring the Foxtel ratings you are taking away a lot of the Collingwood numbers. I wont even compare the Eels, which would be unfair because they finished last.