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Investigator quizzes banned directors of Wests Tigers owners
Story by Michael Chammas, Michael McGowan
• 2h • 5 min read
Liquor and Gaming NSW has opened an investigation into the running of the Holman Barnes Group, conducting interviews with the three directors who have been banned for a combined 15 years.
As reported by this masthead last month, the
Independent Liqour and Gaming Authority was recently made aware of the disharmony on the HBG board, the majority shareholder of the Wests Tigers and the owners of the rich and powerful Wests Ashfield club.
That disharmony on Wednesday led to the
banning of three HBG directors – Tony Andreacchio, Rick Wayde and David Gilbert – for alleged misdemeanours dating back up to five years.
Before the disciplinary actions of the HBG, ILGA forwarded concerns to L&GNSW, the agency responsible for overseeing the legislation that governs registered clubs in NSW. The regulator has since opened its own investigation to determine the severity of the situation and whether ILGA needs to concern itself with the running of the HBG.
The regulator did not respond to detailed questions about the nature of its probe, but in a statement a spokesman confirmed it was “aware of allegations recently raised concerning the Holman Barnes Group”.
“As those allegations are currently under assessment, no further comment can be made at this stage,” the L&GNSW spokesman said.
‘That’s what the fans want, and that is what’s needed for Wests Tigers to survive and thrive.’
Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne
Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality told this masthead L&GNSW had conducted interviews with banished trio Andreacchio (six-year ban), Wayde (eight-year ban) and Gilbert (six-month ban).
The interviews began before Christmas and concluded in the days before the trio being banned for a combined 15 years.
This masthead has obtained a copy of the letter that was sent to ILGA by a concerned and unnamed HBG member, urging the ILGA to appoint an administrator to look into the workings of the HBG and raising concerns over the debenture system that provides just 18 club members with key voting rights over five of the seven directors.
Section 41A of the Registered Clubs Act 1976 states: “Where the governing body of a registered club has, in the opinion of the Authority, ceased to be effective as a governing body, the Authority may appoint a person to administer the affairs of the club.”
The news of Wayde, Andreacchio and Gilbert’s exile prompted Inner West Council mayor Darcy Byrne to call on the NSW government to intervene in the boardroom stoush at the HBG.
“That’s what the fans want, and that is what’s needed for Wests Tigers to survive and thrive,” Byrne said.
“We’ve finally got things moving in the right direction on the football field. Tigers fans can’t afford for backroom brawling to undermine our team’s long-awaited recovery in 2025.”
Board members at the HBG have been at loggerheads since an external review of Wests Tigers operations was conducted in late 2023 after the side’s second successive last-placed finish.
Andreacchio, Wayde and Gilbert were chief instigators of the review, which was conducted by businessman Gary Barnier and former NRL chief financial officer Tony Crawford.
Their banishment throws into doubt whether the recommendations of the Barnier-Crawford report will be implemented in their entirety.
On Wednesday, Wayde and Andreacchio both expressed dismay at their predicament.
“The tragedy is the club is in great shape through the work of the CEO and the executive team,” Wayde said.
“In the short term, [Wests Tigers CEO] Shane Richardson and [Wests Tigers chairman] Barry O’Farrell are doing remarkably despite the interruptions. If the gang of four get away with this movement, they’ll be intruding even more. That’s the major concern for the Tigers.
“I fear that already they will be interfering with the appointment of the independent directors.”
Andreacchio said: “This is clearly a star chamber decision. How can 18 people in a 30,000 membership have this much power? Rick Wayde and I are the only two elected by the membership and we’ve been discarded by the star chamber.”
While a number of allegations against Wayde were unsubstantiated, the disciplinary committee found that:
- He engaged in unreasonable conduct towards a fellow director at a board meeting, including personal attacks against the person resulting in requests by other attendees for him to “back off”;
- He engaged in intimidatory, threatening and/or otherwise unreasonable conduct towards other board members, both alone and acting in concert with Andreacchio and Gilbert, in an attempt to coerce the board members into supporting Andreacchio to continue as chair;
- He made comments to a fellow director to suggest he was personally responsible for Andreacchio’s defeat in the board election. Wayde is alleged to have said: “You’ve got to be joking. You don’t know how bad your name is at Wests Tigers” after learning of a fellow HBG director’s appointment onto the Wests Tigers board.
Allegations against Andreacchio, who has also been asked to undertake an anger management course, include:
- That he yelled at a fellow HBG director, calling him a “f---ing suck” approximately 10 times in front of other board members in an aggressive manner. Andreacchio repeated the comments later on despite being told words to the effect, “You can’t do this”, “Enough’s enough, we’re one team. Calm down”;
- That he allegedly became red in the face and made abusive comments to a fellow director in a threatening tone;
- That while waiting for a taxi after a function for the West Tigers launch of the 2024 NRL season he approached a fellow director and stood close to him and made a comment to the effect: “You f----- softie”;
- That at an HBG board meeting last September he engaged in aggressive behaviour towards a fellow director, calling him a “parrot” in a raised voice.
The allegation against Gilbert was in relation to comments and actions made to a fellow director concerning his allegiances on the board.
The banned trio fell out of favour after current HBG chair Julie Romero led a coup in March which overthrew Andreacchio at the helm of the HBG board. Documents recently obtained by this masthead show that Romero had previously expressed “grave concerns” about the review.
The documents and emails also showed that Romero threatened legal action against Tigers chairman O’Farrell should he hold a Tigers board meeting without her blessing.
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