A famous Sydney club finds itself with no home ground.

Western Sydney NRL team, the Parramatta Eels have reportedly rejected the idea of playing their home games at the brand new 30,000 seat stadium that is due to replace the recently demolished Parramatta stadium.

Bernie Gurr, the Eels chief executive has publicly stated that the proposed deal was unacceptable. It is reported that the clubs management believe that the new deal would jeopardise their ability to invest in football. It has also been reported they are concerned about the impact the deal would have on food, drink and ticket prices.

The club has been in negotiations with the state government for more than six months. The NSW treasure, Dominic Perrottet remains confident that the government and the club will eventually be able to reach a deal that suits both parties.

The premier has argued that there is no reason a club like Parramatta should not want to play at what will be one of the country’s most state of the art sporting facilities.

At the present however, the club finds itself with no home ground. Gurr has stated that the 2019 draw will be marked with a TBC under location details. The details on where the games will be held will be released upon finalisation.

This is a historically significant change in the clubs story. The Eels have been playing on the site of what was the Parramatta stadium since 1947. The Parramatta stadium was demolished in 2017 after it was decided that a new state of the art sports facility would be built in its place.

The upcoming season in 2019 will thus be the first one since then that their home ground may be elsewhere. Whether or not this will affect the team’s performance or morale is yet to be known. However, such an administrative conflict will only frustrate fans and distract players.