Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson gives ‘spiritual home’ a huge clip
Just under a year since securing funding for Leichhardt Oval, the Wests Tigers have made fresh threats over their playing future.
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Wests Tigers chief executive Shane Richardon has a blunt message for another of its “spiritual homes”, namely if you don’t fix it, they won’t play there.
The stadium in question this time around is Campbelltown Sports Stadium, with Richardson dropping a deadline and a minimum spend required to upgrade the old ground or the joint-venture club will take its home games elsewhere.
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You can be forgiven for thinking this all sounds familiar from the Tigers boss, who made very similar threats 12 months ago about the club’s other battling stadium, Leichhardt Oval.
Those threats proved successful, with a joint $40 million investment into the ground announced in June last year.
That deal features $20 million of federal government funding, plus $10 million from each of the NSW government and the Inner West Council.
Three months before that announcement, NSW premier Chris Minns had hosed down the likelihood of government help for Leichhardt, stating: “My real fear is that we put money into Leichhardt and the week afterwards they say ‘well, now we need the money for Campbelltown’.”
That’s exactly what’s unfolded, with the Tigers releasing a statement about their demands and Richardson taking to the club’s Behind the Roar podcast to reveal the ultimatum.
Among the requirements are $50 million short-term and $100 million long-term investments in the stadium and an increase to 24,000 seats, plus a further 1500 corporate guests.
Making a very Donald Trump-esque declaration, Richardson said this is “what we need to do to become a great club again”.
“The challenge we’ve got is the stadium,” Richardson said.
Watch some of Shane Richardon’s plea in the video player above
“We’ve had lengthy discussions with the NRL, with Campbelltown, because unless it improves, it’s a very simple thing and I don’t do ‘Trumpian’ threats, we won’t play there.
“It’s as simple as that because at the moment, it’s not at a standard required to be an NRL ground.
“More importantly, we can’t grow our membership, we can’t grow our fanbase, we can’t grow without the stadium being upgraded.”
The old ground in Leumeah in Sydney’s south west was built way back in 1955 and has been the traditional home of the Tigers’ partners, Western Suburbs Magpies, since 1987.
The joint-venture club then committed to the ground as one of its home grounds, along with Leichhardt Oval, after the two teams merged ahead of the 2000 NRL season.
Currently holding an official capacity of 17,500, the Tigers have four matches at the ground in 2025, including the round one and round four defeats to the Knights and Warriors respectively.
That follows five matches at the venue in 2024, three in both 2023 and 2022 and just two in 2021.
The club’s statement declared: “By June 30th this year, Wests Tigers will need to lock in a long-term plan for our future growth and commercial support from our stadium partners.
“If that commitment cannot be given, we must reconsider our commitment to the stadium.”
The statement added that Campbelltown “is not a fit-for-purpose, modern venue that meets the standards for professional rugby league”.
Richardson said the club will have a “Plan B” if an agreement can’t be reached, with some speculating that could be a deal with the 30,000-seat CommBank Stadium, the home of the Eels.
Former NSW and Australia prop Aaron Woods, who started his career at the Tigers, had a suggestion for the club moving forward.
“Shane Richardson’s just out there to get some cash,” Woods said on NRL 360.
“They did it with Leichhardt Oval last year. They got an upgrade from the government.
“My thing with the Tigers is, how many home grounds have they got? Three, four?
“Their training base (Concord Oval) isn’t even at one of those grounds. Your huge catchment area is Campbelltown and the stadium probably does need an upgrade.
“Base the whole team out there and you’ll be able to get more funding because they’re going to be out there every day of the year.”
The Tigers are coming off three straight wooden spoons.
Those performances can only be reversed, according to Richardson, with significant investment in the club’s facilities and an even playing field with the rest of the competition.
“The importance of a stadium can never be underestimated when you’re talking about growing the club,” he said.
“It’s not just because of the revenues, it’s about growing your members, your fans, your supporters et cetera.
“Whether we like it or not, fans are attracted to quality stadiums and the clubs that have those quality stadiums, such as Penrith are going to have, such as Parramatta have, such as the Roosters have and North Queensland have, they are four and five million dollars a year ahead of what we can possibly do if we maximise every piece of our sales.
“Unless you’ve got that money and that opportunity, you can’t grow the team.
“You can’t get the best players, you can’t have the best facilities … we want to be the leader of the game in Sydney, not where we’ve been in the past.
“So it’s crucial what our stadium policy is.”
The club’s statement detailed some of the improvements required for that level of investment, including upgrades to dressing rooms, big screens and “general fan comfort”.
If these demands are met, the club says it will happily commit to a minimum of seven to nine NRL and NRLW home games at the ground over the next decade.
Originally published as Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson gives ‘spiritual home’ a huge clip
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