Fitzgerald hoped to give Eels the slip in favour of Rams
FORMER long-term chief executive Denis Fitzgerald has broken a 30-year silence to reveal his one-time controversial plan to scrap the Eels’ nickname and rename his club the Parramatta Rams.
Just days before his club’s knockout final against Penrith, Fitzgerald declared that he’d discussed the possible name change during the early 1990s with directors and senior club management.
In charge of Parramatta for a record 30 years, Fitzgerald had openly disparaged the Eels logo and had begun searching for a more positive brand name and emblem.
A big fan of US sport, Fitzgerald had long admired the Rams – an NFL franchise run out of St Louis and Los Angeles during the 1990s. Describing the response from directors as “lukewarm”, Fitzgerald elected against taking the proposal to the board for final approval.
“The Rams’ nickname was monosyllabic and more aggressive. I was looking for a mascot that was easy to recognise for people,” Fitzgerald said.
“I was keen on the Rams even though I was generally looking for names that started with a ‘P’ because that was the first letter in Parramatta. I spoke to club directors and managers at the time about a possible name change.
“There was always a difficulty in doing anything in terms of marketing with the Eels. People associate Eels as being slippery, slimy marine fish.
“The Aboriginal word for Parramatta is ‘where the Eels lie down’. That in itself is passive. No one wants a team that lies down.
“The Rams were also a huge brand in US sport. There was certainly some support internally yet others disapproved of any name change. It was lukewarm. These talks came after the late 1970s and 1980s when Parramatta enjoyed our golden era.”
And the Rams became more appealing to Fitzgerald through a link to Parramatta.
“There was a link with Parramatta and Rams – the Australian Sheep industry was founded at Parramatta by John Macarthur, he was a wool pioneer (in the late 1790s),” Fitzgerald said.