Hundreds of Wests Tigers fans met at Pratten Park Bowling Club to rally against the Holman Barnes Group (HBG) after weeks of turmoil.
On December 1, four independent directors on the Wests Tigers board were sacked by majority owners HBG, setting off a chaotic chain of events.
In the aftermath, chief executive officer Shane Richardson quit the club before three of those four directors were returned to their roles through NRL intervention.
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HBG chairman and Tigers director, Dennis Burgess, also quit the board before coach Benji Marshall was given a five-year extension.
Fans had been threatening a protest since the removal of the four independent directors, and it still went ahead despite the reversal.
A Tigers fan holds up a flyer calling for the Holman Barnes Group to be held accountable. Seven
Originally, the plan was to march from Pratten Park to Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, which is run by HBG. However, that idea was abandoned.
Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne passionately addressed the crowd at Pratten Park and announced the formation of a new fans group, Wests Tigers Unite.
“Today I announce that we will form Wests Tigers Unite, a new grassroots organisation to give fans a real say at Wests Tigers,” he said on Saturday.
“We will draw from the successful examples around the world of fans’ associations at different sports that have been set up when this sort of situation occurs.”
Wests Tigers fans. Nine
Flyers with QR codes for the fan group were sent around at the event.
Police were present at Pratten Park, but no incidents were recorded.
Wests Tigers has had to battle constant off-field problems ever since the merger between Balmain and Western Suburbs in 1999.
A premiership in 2005 quelled concerns for a short period but the club’s last finals appearance was in 2011.