Potts Point is known for many things these days: its fine dining, vibrant nightlife, cosmopolitan streetscape and strong sense of local community. But an underlying factor at play is that it is also one of a number of much-loved neighbourhoods that make up Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, with a distinct identity that has its own spirit and soul.

And a key part of the greater Eastern Suburbs, for many, is the Sydney Roosters Rugby League team, formerly the “Eastern Suburbs Roosters” and, since 1908, an integral part of the area’s psyche. Based at Moore Park and followed by many, but of course not all, locals, the team holds an important place in the local landscape, with the Eastern Suburbs remaining its traditional heartland and the red, white and blue deeply woven into the identity of the area.

Having qualified for their first Grand Final since 2019 this year, to be played on Sunday night (October 4), it is a fitting time to note that enduring local connection. Sydney has evolved massively of course since 1908, with AFL and the Sydney Swans now widely loved as well, while neighbours and arch-rivals the South Sydney Rabbitohs also command strong support throughout the local area.

But scratch the surface of many local residents and businesses and you’ll often find they bleed red, white and blue.

On a mid-week visit to the Roosters’ HQ at Allianz Stadium, Out and About was fortunate to bump into two members of this week’s Grand Final squad, iconic winger Daniel Tupou and young hooker Benaiah Ioelu. Happily posing for a quick photo, the pair said they were well aware of the local support for the team and were hoping to do their bit to bring the Provan-Summons Trophy back to the East.

The Roosters’ connection to the Eastern Suburbs stretches right back to the beginnings of rugby league in Australia. Founded as the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club at Paddington Town Hall in January 1908, the club has remained deeply embedded in the area ever since. Indeed, it is the only club to have competed in every season of Australia’s top-flight rugby league competition since that inaugural year.

Moore Park has always been at the heart of that connection. The club played its earliest games at the old Royal Agricultural Showground before making its home over the years at the SCG, Sydney Sports Ground and Sydney Football Stadium, all within the same compact precinct. Today the magnificent Allianz Stadium remains the Roosters’ home, with the club’s headquarters and Centre of Excellence incorporated into the stadium itself.

But the Roosters’ identity has always extended beyond Moore Park. For more than a century, the Eastern Suburbs has remained the club’s heartland, from the densely packed neighbourhoods of the inner East through to the harbour and coastal suburbs and the beaches beyond. The club, and indeed the area, may have changed over the years, but that connection has endured and, to generations of supporters, the team remains simply “Easts”.

And on Sunday night, when the Roosters run onto Accor Stadium to take on the Newcastle Knights, plenty of eyes across the Eastern Suburbs will be fixed firmly on them. From Potts Point to Paddo, Moore Park to Bondi, the red, white and blue flags will be flying once again.

Sydney Roosters info

https://www.roosters.com.au/

By Adam Gibson

Photo by Adam Gibson