What Penrith Panthers were almost rebranded to

BY JAMES SMITH

As far as explosive news articles are concerned, this one has to be right up there in terms of issues covered, news announced and the effects thereof.

This is the front page of the Penrith Press – Tuesday, May 16, 1995.

Penrith had just officially jumped across to “the Super League” and the proverbial had hit the fan. I remember as a kid being told by lots of adults to be very angry with the Panthers’ disgraceful decision, but sinking away into a corner later on, I’d be thinking – why, because our club would now be safe forever?

I forgot, as this article screams, that the Super League jump would likely mean the club would likely now be called the Western Sydney Panthers going forward. Maybe I’d forgotten this was a thing because deep down at the time, I knew it wouldn’t ever really be a chance of happening. Which in the end, thankfully, it didn’t, and still hasn’t.

The front page of the Penrith Press - Tuesday, May 16, 1995. 


The new Super Stadium thing has always been there in the background for Panthers fans. The latest chase for an upgraded home isn’t just some new Gladys/Dom super promise of recent times. As this article says, the club was kinda hoping to get things going for a sparkling new venue by the time the Olympics rolled around.

And not the Tokyo Olympics, either. The Sydney 2000 Olympics … Oh well.

Then-Panthers assistant CEO Mark Levy said the club hoped, seeing as though Penrith was marked down to host the rowing at the 2000 Olympiad, that the AOC might see itself to forking out some coin to help pay for a new stadium for the Panthers as well. And of course, the council, too.

“The stadium could be utilised as a training facility for one of the sports – soccer might be a good one in particular,” Levy told the article’s author, Brad Earl.

We missed out back then on a stadium and who knows, we might miss out this time as well. As long as we get a new stadium before the next time Sydney hosts the Olympic Games, I’ll be happy.

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