Chairman’s Message | February 2024
Dear Members,
On behalf of the Football Club, (the “Club”), I want to extend a warm welcome to you and your families, provide a brief update as we enter the 2024 season, and remind you that the annual Parramatta Leagues Club (PLC) member election will be held during the month of February 2024. It is important that eligible Club Members actively participate in these elections and lodge their vote before 5pm AEST 23 February 2024.
Financial Performance
Our parent, the Parramatta Leagues Club (PLC), recently released its Annual Report, which provides an overview of the 2023 financial year for both the Leagues Club and the Club. You can access a copy of the PLC
Financially, we remain strong, recording another profitable year for the period ending 31 October 2023. Increased revenue from our key business areas is allowing us to enhance funding in football, community programs, and game-day experiences.
Our Kellyville Park development remains on track to be completed in 2025 with construction progressing well. This is a generational project for our Club; a world-class facility which current and future generations of Eels will call home and be a key part of our football program going forward.
Importantly while the Eels NRL, NRLW and Elite pathway programs will have a world class, centre of excellence, our shared vision with Hills Shire Council is to develop one of the largest community sports precincts in Western Sydney. Once the project is completed, Kellyville Park will have over 700 players and staff (elite and community) using the facility weekly with over 65 per cent of the regular users being community and grassroots participants.
Kellyville Park will cater to the growing needs of our community and increase sports participation from grassroots all the way up to NRL and NRLW.
Governance and Stability
A strong partnership with our parent PLC is crucial for the ongoing success of both organisations. Stability at the board level has been instrumental in the progress of the Club since the appointment of the Administrator in 2016.
A critical element of the Administrators reform was to separate responsibility for the running of both organisations by installing separate governance structures including separate boards to oversee the management of each organisation. Previously the PLC Board had responsibility for the running of both. If you would like some background on why this reform was important, you can read the message I sent to Members before the successful vote in 2019 which you can find here
