{"id":324043,"date":"2025-12-03T02:27:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324043\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T02:27:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T02:27:16","slug":"rally-called-as-fans-demand-nrl-intervention-on-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/324043\/","title":{"rendered":"Rally called as fans demand NRL intervention on Tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inner West council mayor Darcy Byrne has called a rally to “save Wests Tigers”, as the club’s former players joined several fan groups in demanding immediate NRL intervention.<\/p>\n

The NRL were on Wednesday continuing to monitor the latest boardroom dramas at the joint-venture club, after majority owners the Holman-Barnes Group axed four independent directors.<\/p>\n

Tigers CEO Shane Richardson is also weighing up his future, having been a strong proponent of independents on the board and ousted chairman Barry O’Farrell.<\/p>\n

\"Richardson\"<\/p>\n

Shane Richardson (l) is considering his future following the axing of chairman Barry O’Farrell (r). (Steven Markham\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The issues have come at the worst possible time for the club, who turned a profit last season and were able to secure funding to make Leichhardt and Campbelltown their full-time home grounds.<\/p>\n

There are also serious concerns over what it could mean for Jarome Luai and Jahream Bula’s future, with both free to negotiate with rivals for 2027 and beyond.<\/p>\n

Richardson revealed to AAP last week the Tigers were confident of keeping Bula on a long-term deal, and Luai was expected to stay at the club.<\/p>\n

But that situation is now clouded with Bula off contract and Luai holding an option in his favour to test the open market.<\/p>\n

\"Luia<\/p>\n

The futures of Jarome Luai (2-l) and Jahream Bula (2-r) are now at stake at Wests Tigers. (Dave Hunt\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Byrne on Wednesday encouraged fans to march from Pratten Park to Wests Ashfield on December 13, demanding the Holman Barnes Group board resigns.<\/p>\n

“This is clearly an act of self-sabotage, leading into Christmas,” Byrne, whose council takes in both Leichhardt and Ashfield, said.<\/p>\n

“Just when we were starting to lift our performance on the field and financial performance as well, this is an act of self harm, and it is impossible to justify.<\/p>\n

“We have this tiny group of people who have overseen 15 years of failure, three wooden spoons, an NRL club that was unprofitable.<\/p>\n

“Their determination to go back to the future and turn the club back to that failure, I don’t think Wests Tigers fans are going to take that lying down.”<\/p>\n

Byrne’s rally comes as seven separate Tigers’ fan groups launched a united plea to the NRL this week, calling for an administrator to “immediately assume governance of the club”.<\/p>\n

The fans claimed they would “desert the club and game en masse if immediate change is not forthcoming.”<\/p>\n

Byrne also said he wanted the NRL and Liquor and Gaming NSW to intervene, after the Holman Barnes Group’s own recent boardroom issues.<\/p>\n

The group own Wests Leagues Club at Ashfield and 66 per cent of Wests Magpies. They and the Magpies have a 90 per cent stake in Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

An external report prompted them to implement a Tigers board made up of four independents in January, alongside a Balmain representative, Western Suburbs representative and one of their own.<\/p>\n

But the group sacked the four independents on Monday night, claiming they had been “left in the dark” on key commercial decisions.<\/p>\n

A predominantly orange jersey for 2026 is believed to be one of the grievances.<\/p>\n

High-profile former Tigers Beau Ryan and Aaron Woods backed calls for NRL intervention on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

\"V'Landys\"<\/p>\n

Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys has been asked to intervene. (Mick Tsikas\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“The NRL can’t let it go on like this,” Ryan said on Triple M, with Woods in agreement.<\/p>\n

“V’landys (ARLC chairman Peter V’Landys) has said he will always protect the fans. The fans need protecting right now.<\/p>\n

“If the NRL can jump in and help out, it will save a lot of things. They won’t lose Luai or Bula. Because if they lose those players we are back at square one.<\/p>\n

“They have to get this sorted before the Holman Barnes Group make it a lot worse.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inner West council mayor Darcy Byrne has called a rally to “save Wests Tigers”, as the club’s former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,182251,182252,132007,4582,761,762,158,9420,85,4515],"class_list":["post-324043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-barry-o39farrell","tag-darcy-byrne","tag-jahream-bula","tag-jarome-luai","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-shane-richardson","tag-sports","tag-wests-tigers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}