Call to arms for Wests Tigers fans after another season slips by

Fed up by years of dysfunction and disappointment, disgruntled Wests Tigers fans are set to push for the reinstatement of an independent board and a greater say in the direction of the under-performing club.

The Tigers have missed the finals for the past 15 seasons – by far the longest dry spell of any team in the competition – and have only qualified for the play-offs three times since Balmain and Western Suburbs merged in 1999.

With another underwhelming campaign now over, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has issued a call to arms for supporters to mobilise as part of a new independent group called Wests Tigers Unite to be formed in the off-season.

“At the start of this season, Wests Tigers supporters deliberately held off establishing a permanent supporters’ organisation,” Byrne said. “Like every Tigers fan, we hoped the club had finally turned a corner and wanted to get behind the team.

“Regrettably, this season has shown the underlying problems remain unresolved.

“After 15 years without finals football, Wests Tigers supporters have shown extraordinary loyalty. Yet they still have no meaningful say in the future of the club they love.”

After a bright start to the year, the Tigers’ finals chances evaporated with eight losses in a row.

Benji Marshall’s team was also at the centre of two of the biggest soap operas of the season: the signing of Jarome Luai by the PNG Chiefs and Adam Doueihi’s refusal to play against Canberra in July.

Off the field, questions continue to be asked about Tigers majority owners, the Holman Barnes Group, whose decades-old governance model places power over the $100 million licensed club operation in the hands of 20 so-called debenture holders.

The only one of its kind remaining in the state, the debenture system has been the subject of an investigation by Liquor and Gaming NSW after multiple complaints were made about it.

HBG took over the Tigers board after it removed chairman Barry O’Farrell and three other independent directors in December in an intervention that prompted chief executive Shane Richardson to quit.

The sacked directors were reinstated amid supporter protests and pressure from the NRL, but the owners restructured the board to give them effective control, scrapping the independent-led board after less than 12 months.

“When it all blew up in December, the undertaking was that Barry O’Farrell would be reinstated as chair and our understanding was an independent board would be reinstated, and that’s yet to occur,” said Gary Barnier, one of the architects of a 2023 governance review that led O’Farrell and other independents to briefly have the balance of power on the Tigers board.

“The sooner it happens, the better we’ll all be.

“Professional sporting organisations that are successful have professional governance and professional structures. Wests Tigers will benefit from putting those things in place.”

After finishing 15th this season, down two spots from 2025, the new Tigers fan group aims to build on the movement that arose last year when the independent directors were unseated and seasoned operator Richardson left.

Byrne said the administration and ownership of the Tigers remained unaccountable to fans and members “who have stuck by the club through thick and thin”.

“It’s no coincidence that the only time that the performance of the organisation has improved was in the period that an independent board was in place,” Byrne said. “Re-establishing that is a necessity for turning the club around.

“Our goal is simple: to organise supporters, represent their views and advocate for governance arrangements that make the club more accountable to its members.

“This is not about division. It’s about giving one of rugby league’s biggest and most passionate supporter bases the seat at the table it deserves.”

It is yet to be determined what that looks like in practice, but there are myriad examples of supporters being able to exercise their will in Australian and world sport.

In the NRL, members don’t have a say on club boards at most clubs any more, although they can still nominate and vote for directors of select teams, such as Canterbury and Penrith.

In European soccer, supporters also have greater agency at member-owned clubs, such as Barcelona and Real Madrid, and in Germany’s Bundesliga, which mandates that members of a club hold at least 50 per cent of voting rights plus one vote.

HBG has branched out into soccer recently, buying a stake in National Premier Leagues NSW team APIA Leichhardt and taking over the Central Coast Mariners in the A-League Women competition.

Supporters will be able to register their interest in Wests Tigers Unite at the One Last Roar concert at Leichhardt Oval on September 19, which is being held before the venue is renovated.

The iconic inner-west ground will be unavailable for games in 2027 while a $40 million upgrade takes place. The Tigers announced last week that they would play six home games at Campbelltown Stadium, as well as four at CommBank Stadium.

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Chris Barrett is a senior sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former South-East Asia correspondent for the Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement