Poor turnout to save Tigers club in Balmain
Only 20 people showed up to advocate for a new Tigers Club in Rozelle, but Wests Ashfield say “they don’t want to lose Balmain’s identity through the West Tigers”.
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Only about 20 people turned up to a public meeting to try and stop the Balmain Leagues Club from becoming a tunelling site but Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne isn’t about to give up the fight.
Despite the poor attendance on Monday night, Cr Byrne plans to lobby West Tigers fans at their next home game at Leichhardt Oval on Thursday August 1.
Cr Byrne said the history of the “long-running saga” kept people away.
“Balmain Leagues Club burnt up a lot of their goodwill in the community through the various oversized sites (proposed),” he said.
“A lot of people ... didn’t appreciate their strong fondness for the Tigers being manipulated into supporting ridiculous development proposals.”
The West Tigers fans in attendence said they had “lost hope”.
Life-long Tigers fan Frank Dunne said: “(Without the Balmain Leagues club) that sense of community is lacking. It was a big social hub for people ... it’s all lost.”
The club first closed in 2009 for the intended construction of the Sydney Metro project. A number of development applications were then rejected by the Land and Environment Court.
The latest $135 million proposal by Heworth was accepted by Inner West Council last month. A state government panel must now approve the 173-apartment development, including a new Tigers club.
The state government has also flagged the site as a potential excavation point for the Western Harbour Tunnel.
At the public meeting, Cr Byrne said he spoke with Justin Pascoe, the CEO of Wests Tigers, last week.
“(He) indicated ... they will be advocating in one way or another for what we are saying; that the government needs to press pause and think about other options rather than snatching this site,” Cr Byrne said.
Cr Byrne previously called on Tigers Chairman Barry O’Farrell to be a “champion” for the Leagues club.
Mr Pascoe and Mr O’Farrell declined to comment.
Wests Ashfield CEO Simon Cook was unable to address the meeting as organised due to travel delays.
Instead, Wests Ashfield deputy chairman and West Tigers board member, Tony Andreacchio was present.
When the Balmain Leagues Club went into voluntary administration last year, West’s Ashfield took on their outstanding loans from the NRL.
“We’re obviously supporting a West Tigers club coming back to Rozelle. With the amalgamation hopefully ... Balmain will retain their seat on the board,” he said.
Mr Andreacchio said the amalgamation of Wests Ashfield and Balmain Leagues is “well on its way”.
“Wests Ashfield owns 75 per cent of Wests Ashfield ... Everybody is right behind the fact that we don’t want to loose a junior league and we don’t want to lose Balmain’s identity through West Tigers.”
Cr Byrne told fans: “If we don’t have a resolution by (the next home game), I’m going to launch a large scale effort to make sure we have a big presence at the ground on the night.”
“Every Tigers fan that enters the ground (will have) some information in their possession about how they can respectfully but effectively lobby Mr O’Farrell but more importantly, the government,” he said.
Heworth Development director Brian Hood said: “The state government indicated they wanted to make an offer (for the site), but no offer has been made.”
An agreement between Wests Ashfield, Balmain Leagues and the developer Heworth stated Wests Ashfield would take over the running of the club and fund Balmain’s junior rugby league club for five years.
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