Penrith Panthers

 The Penrith Panthers were formed in 1912 and are a rugby league football team. They are based in the suburb of Penrith which is located on the western side of Sydney. Between 1912 and 1966 they played for the Western District League which was under the control of the Western Suburbs RLFC. They played rugby in the Parramatta competition once the competition became part of the NSWRL in 1947. In 1962 they began playing for the second-tier Sydney competition after it was started by the NSWRL. They were the single top level rugby team in Sydney and became known as the Penrith Panthers at this time. Their emblem for their team was chosen after a competition was won by Deidre Copeland, from Emu Plains, who was a graphic designer.

In 1967 the Penrith Panthers won their place in the Sydney premiership against Cronulla-Sutherland, and the Wentworthville Magpies. Penrith and the Magpies were left to fight over the second premiership place because Cronulla-Sutherland was already garaunteed a place in the Sydney premiership. Since Penrith won the 1996 Second Division title and were in a good location they received the position.

Following their acceptance into the competition they found themselves in the second last position on the board. In 1968 the obtained a new coach, Bob Boland, which raised everybody’s hopes that they would have a better season and they won the pre-season competition. Penrith knew they needed experienced players to stay near the top of the boards but they were having a difficult time attracting them to their team. Not receiving the experienced players they needed they instead built up the skills of the juniors they had on their team and it took 20 years for them to finally reaching their first finals series in 1985. Their first Grand Final game was in 1990 but were beaten out by the Canberra Raiders.

They finally won their first Grand Final game in 1991 after having to play against the Canberra Raiders again in the Grand Final Game. The Britain champions beat them out that same year when they moved on to the World Club Challenge. In 1992 tragedy struck and they lost some of their best players and their coach but not letting this deter them they got Royce Simmons as a coach and continued on.(National rugby legue – NRL News) Even though they made the finals twice since 1992 they were last on the boards again in 2001. Royce Simmons would be replaced by John Lang during this time.

Over the next several years the Penrith Panthers would continue to struggle but would eventually pick themselves back up and would reach the Grand Final rounds several more times. Aside from the terrible losses being endured the team would congratulate Michael Gordon on his personal achievement of holding the club record for having the most points in a game and having the most points in a season. Throughout the team’s successes and failures they would go through 15 coaches and one caretaker coach. They have also worn a variety of Jerseys and colors over the years which still seem to change quite frequently.