Footy fans are overjoyed with their team's new sponsorship - but for many Aussies the side's strip brings back nightmarish memories of one of the country's biggest acts of corporate bastardry

EXCLUSIVE 

Legions of Parramatta Eels fans might nostalgically recall James Hardie as the NRL club's major sponsor during its most successful football era in the 1980s.

But for many thousands of Australians, the name of the company that for 70 years manufactured lethal asbestos products represents 'corporate bastardry'.

Parramatta announced last Thursday that James Hardie would return to the front of its team jerseys as major sponsor next season for the first time in three decades.

The club's previous association with the building materials producer ran from 1981 to 1995 and included first grade premierships in 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1986.

The new four-year partnership between the Eels and James Hardie is meant to rekindle memories of Ray Price, Mick Cronin and Peter Sterling during the club's glory days. 

Other old Parramatta greats were hauled out to hail the deal as a major boon for the people of greater western Sydney.

'It's fantastic,' said Steve Edge, who captained the Eels to three consecutive grand final victories. 

'We were a James Hardie family in the old days and it was just terrific. 

'You'd win a comp and the James Hardie truck would be at the leagues club... It just meant so much to the community.'

For Barry Robson, president of the Asbestos Diseases Foundation of Australia, seeing Parramatta join forces once more with James Hardie is devastating.

'It's bloody disgraceful,' Mr Robson told Daily Mail Australia. 

'People are just shaking their heads. They're just up in arms about it.

'The strangest thing is that Parramatta club members have been victims of Hardie's products - that's the bloody irony of it. 

'They've killed some of their bloody supporters.' 

Since last week's announcement, Mr Robson has been inundated with calls and social media messages from victims of James Hardie products and their families. 

'There's 4,000 Australians die each year from asbestos-related disease,' he said.

'Seeing it coming back, seeing James Hardie on the footballers' jumpers again, it's just a trigger that brings back bad memories.

'I fought these bastards for ten years, ten long bloody years. This company, it's the worst example of corporate bastardry.' 

The decision to welcome James Hardie back to Parramatta has been met with mixed reactions by supporters on social media.

'Now I will have a real reason to buy a new jersey!' one user wrote on the club's X account, with others saying 'Loving the nostalgia!' and 'Lets hope it lifts the curse off Parra and restore the 80s glory'.

Those comments were countered by posts such as, 'Was there not a company that kills puppies you could find to sponsor us?', 'Didn't 1000s die of asbestosis because of them?' and 'A breath fresh air. Asbest as it gets'.

From the 1950s, James Hardie was Australia's largest manufacturer and distributor of building products, insulation, pipes and brake linings containing asbestos.

For decades it was known exposure to asbestos fibres could cause mesothelioma and lung cancer as well as asbestosis and other lung diseases.  

James Hardie ceased all production of asbestos products in 1987 but continued to resist recognising it was responsible for compensating victims.

The company finally acknowledged its liability for asbestos-related disease among its workers in 2001 by establishing a compensation fund with a one-off contribution of $293million.

When that fund ran out in 2003, the company - which had moved offshore - refused to provide more money to victims.

A public campaign against James Hardie resulted in then NSW premier Bob Carr ordering a judicial inquiry which in 2004 began assessing how much compensation would be needed.

That inquiry heard James Hardie had set up a holding company in The Netherlands and severed ties with Australian subsidiaries which had asbestos liabilities.

Momentum shifted after father-of-five Bernie Banton, who was diagnosed with asbestosis in 1999, became the public face of the fight against the company.

Mr Banton had been a lathe operator working with asbestos from 1968 to 1974 in a James Hardie plant near Parramatta at Camelia. 

He became known for his television appearances with an oxygen tank by his side and tubes running into his nose as he spoke passionately in front of the cameras.

The inquiry found James Hardie had grossly underestimated its future liabilities to asbestos victims which could total $2.2billion.

An agreement was reached in 2007 which required James Hardie to make annual contributions to the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund, subject to a cap of 35 per cent of its cashflow.

That arrangement, which was estimated to result in total payments of $4.5billion over 40 years, continues.

Mr Robson said the country's second-largest producer of asbestos products, CSR, had acted honourably and stuck to handshake deal on compensation payments made the same year. 

'Hardies are going back to the 1980s all right,' he said. 'They pulled the same PR stunt back then when they knew that all these claims were coming.

'They're at it again and we're still having problems with Hardies paying victims.'

James Hardie Industries now has its headquarters in Dublin and is listed on both the Australian and New York stock exchanges with its management team in Chicago.

Earlier this month it announced record annual sales of $5.85billion and a record adjusted net income of about $1billion.

Parramatta CEO Jim Sarantinos told Daily Mail Australia that the club had done its due diligence before entering into the deal with James Hardie.

'We gave careful consideration to the legacy health issues associated with certain James Hardie building products historically,' Mr Sarantinos said. 

'This included extensive discussions with the current James Hardie executive team to understand the company's acknowledgement of those historical issues and their commitment to doing the right thing.'

That commitment extended to funding all compensation claims as well as asbestos education and medical research, and 'making a positive impact on the Parramatta and broader Western Sydney community into the future'.

Adele Gordon, James Hardie's local head of marketing, said the company needed to remain a 'healthy and thriving business' to continue funding compensation claims.

'We recognise and acknowledge our history, part of which includes the use of asbestos in the building materials products manufactured by James Hardie's former subsidiaries until the mid-1980s,' Ms Gordon said. 

'The use of asbestos in the manufacture of James Hardie products ceased in the mid-1980s and James Hardie products continue to be asbestos-free.

'We are committed to do the right thing and have paid approximately $2.2billion to fund compensation payments and asbestos education and medical research. 

'To the best of our understanding, no proven compensation claim against James Hardie (or its former subsidiaries) has gone unpaid.' 

Australians including home renovators continue to be diagnosed with lung diseases after relatively recent exposure to James Hardie products which contained asbestos.

Five years ago, an Adelaide father-of-three with terminal cancer was awarded $3,077,187 - the largest compensation payment to an asbestos victim in Australia.

Matthew Werfel received the record amount after James Hardie was found to have failed to warn the public about ongoing risks posed by their former products.

Mr Werfel had first been exposed to asbestos dust while working for a fencing contractor as a teenager and then later while renovating his home in the mid 2000s.

He was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2017 and sued James Hardie subsidiary Amaca in the South Australian Supreme Court.

Judge Leonie Farrell found 'there can be no doubt' that by the time Mr Werfel was exposed to asbestos Amaca knew the risks presented to renovators by its building products.

'Amaca breached its duty of care to a large class of Australians, of which Mr Werfel was a member,' Judge Farrell said a scathing August 2019 judgement.

'The magnitude of the risk of members of this class contracting mesothelioma was vast. The consequences of the risk were the deaths of many Australians. The probability of the risk occurring was certain.'

James Hardie appealed against that decision and had Mr Werfel's compensation reduced to $2.23million. It then unsuccessfully sought leave to appeal again to the High Court.

Bernie Banton was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his services as an advocate for asbestos victims in 2005.

He was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma in August 2007 and died aged 61 two months later, a year after he had been given the keys to Parramatta City.