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Legend who played in three grand finals for Parramatta reveals his homeless hell as he survived on $1 McDonald’s hash browns and stolen tea bags while begging on the street
- Paul Taylor, 63, won four premierships in the 1980s with Parramatta Eels
- Stylish full-back then went bankrupt, was divorced and homeless in Brisbane
- Glory premiership laps replaced by $1 hash browns and beg for change
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Parramatta Eels legend Paul Taylor has revealed how he went through hell when he was left homeless after retirement and forced to live on McDonald’s hash browns while begging for money.
The former fullback, 63 – who was a favorite of legendary Eels coach Jack Gibson and surrounded by superstars like Peter Sterling, Brett Kenny, Mick Cronin and Ray Price – won four premierships with the team in the 1980s.
But ten years later the glory days were really over – Taylor was broke and living rough on the streets.
‘I once had two houses. I had a four acre estate in Matcham [on the NSW Central Coast] and another place in Umina,” Taylor said.
‘L [also] divorced, but it wasn’t her fault. It was just the way it went.’
Parramatta legend Paul Taylor (pictured left, with Eels teammate Peter Wynn) has revealed his homeless hell where he lived on McDonald’s hash browns and begged for money on the streets of Brisbane
Taylor (pictured right of the JJ Giltinan Shield trophy after the Eels won their last premiership) was the fullback when Parramatta won titles in 1982, 1983 and 1986
When he moved to Queensland in an effort to be closer to his son Jamie, Taylor’s life began to unravel.
Victory rounds at the SCG with his Eels teammates were a distant memory when he was forced to live on a diet of $1 McDonald’s hash browns and stolen tea bags.
Taylor also slept in parks around Brisbane’s CBD, from the Botanic Gardens to the Story Bridge, begging for money and wearing the same clothes, sometimes for a week.
The brutal existence lasted about 18 months and was about 15 years ago – but Taylor is unsure of the exact dates of his life’s low point.
“One day you’re playing in front of 50,000 people and the next minute you’re in a park with two homeless people,” he told the newspaper. Daily telegram.
“It makes you stronger. It was all about existence.’
Ultimately, Taylor changed his life by finding work near Uluru in the Northern Territory.
When Taylor struggled, victory laps at the SCG with his Eels teammates were replaced by $1 McDonald’s hash browns (pictured) and stolen tea bags
He worked three jobs and made $3,000 a week on the books of Longitude 131, a luxury resort near the famous rock.
Today he runs a landscaping business on the Gold Coast and lives on the water off Main Beach.
He also had a message for Parramatta ahead of their big final showdown with Penrith this Sunday: fight for everything.
‘You [might] only get one shot at it,’ he said. “If what you’re doing isn’t working, change it.
“If I didn’t fight, I’d still be in the park.”