National Rugby League side Parramatta has launched an "extraordinary attack on the NRL," claiming it has been "constantly neglected by the game's governing body," according to Dean Ritchie of the Sydney DAILY TELEGRAPH. Parramatta Chair Steve Sharp said that his club "felt stranded" as Parramatta fights Australian Football League club Greater Western Sydney and the A-League's Wanderers in Sydney's west. The NRL hit back on Thursday, declaring it had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars "promoting Parramatta games and supporting western Sydney, as well as helped grow the Eels' membership base." Sharp: "It's my belief that the 16 clubs are the NRL and each club needs a little more personal attention. There
is unhappiness from the clubs, particularly the ones out west and in
Sydney, about a lack of support from the NRL in some areas." As Sharp and the Eels prepare for next week's board elections, Sharp said that rebuilding Parramatta Stadium "should be a priority for the NRL." Sharp: "I understand there are 16 teams in the competition and they all have
competing needs but, in our area, we'd like to see the NRL support us
and lobby a lot harder to try and get Parramatta Stadium rebuilt to a
30,000 to 35,000 seat stadium. We haven't seen too much of that at the
moment." The Eels now need "some help from the cashed-up NRL, claiming the AFL and FFA help their sports." Sharp said, "It's important the NRL consolidate the existing clubs in greater western Sydney. Soccer
has got in, the AFL has got in. Five years ago if you drive around
Parramatta you wouldn't see AFL posts in a school. Now we have 40 or 50
schools in our area that have AFL posts" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5/1).
