Balmain Leagues Club Receivership

W

wtfl1981

New member
SMH article 18/3/14

May have flow on affect to WT. Not sure where that now leaves Balmain FC.

By LOUISE HALL

The Balmain Tigers Leagues Club could be placed into receivership by Tuesday night, with serious consequences for the Wests Tigers NRL club.

The leagues club has taken urgent action in the NSW Supreme Court against Rozelle Village, a property developer attempting to develop the Tigers' Victoria Road headquarters.

Rozelle Village alleges the leagues club defaulted on a series of loans, including one for $4.5 million made in 2009.

Advertisement
\
\
Counsel for the leagues club, Robert Newlinds, SC, said if Rozelle Village succeeds in having the leagues club placed into receivership, it could "potentially bring to an end an 108-year-old football club".

Mr Newlinds said the action "would destroy the leagues club" and "that would have knock on effects to the football club, the Wests Tigers, and the people who play in the NRL competition".

"It is highly unlikely the receiver will continue to make grants to the football club," Mr Newlinds said.

The court heard the site, on the corner of Darling Street and Victoria Road in Rozelle, has been empty for three years.

The developer bought it off the leagues club and exercised its right to evict when the state government announced plans to build a metro that would run right through the intersection.

The leagues club moved to two new premises - Five Dock Bowling Club and another venue at Flemington. Rozelle Village loaned the club millions of dollars to fit out these venues.

The leagues club was to move back into the Rozelle site once the multimillion-dollar redevelopment was complete, but progress has stalled. The metro was scrapped and the site has fallen into disrepair.

Mr Newlinds said the loans were granted "to allow us to survive during the period of the redevelopment".

But he said there is no indication that the project will ever get development approval.

Justice Paul Brereton was told Rozelle Village alleges six "trigger" events have occurred that have led to it threatening to put the leagues club into receivership.

This includes $700,000 in interest payments owed to it.

The developer also alleges the leagues club sold off poker machine licences.

Mr Newlinds said the leagues club admitted selling off surplus poker machines but said Rozelle Village was aware and consented.

In any event, the sales occurred in the ordinary course of business, Mr Newlinds said.

He said the money was used to make grants to the football club.

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
 
DT article 18/3/14

THE Balmain Tigers Leagues Club is fighting an application to have it placed into receivership as early as tonight, which could have “knock on effects” for the Wests Tigers.

Lawyers for the club fronted the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday morning seeking a last minute injunction against an application by development company Rozelle Villiage to have receivers appointed to the club claiming it made a series of contractual breaches and failed to repay loans.

Rozelle called in the loan on Friday, giving Balmain 48 hours to re-pay.

One of the alleged breaches included Rozelle Village’s claim that the leagues club had defaulted on a number of loans, including one worth $4.5 million from May 2009.

Rozelle Village claims the Tigers made six contractual breaches.

The other five include allegedly not filing ASIC reports on time, making alleged unapproved payments to football clubs, allegedly selling poker machine licenses without consent, allegedly back-dating the signatures on documents and allegedly making mistakes in accounts.
\
\
Rozelle Villages also claims the Tigers have defaulted on $700,000 worth of interest relating to the loans, the court heard.

The club’s barrister Robert Newlinds SC told the court the Tigers rejected some of the allegations and that others could be refuted or had been fixed.

He told the court the “appointment of a receiver would effectively destroy the business

The leagues club now works out of Five Dock Bowling Club and Flemmington market while the original site of the club on Darling St and Victoria Rd, Rozelle, remains closed and waiting to hear from the state government as to whether a multi-storey redevelopment will be approved.

Mr Newlinds told the court receivers could shut the Five Dock and Flemmington sites and sell all of their assets.

He said there could be a “knock on effect to the football club to the NRL joint venture (the Wests Tigers) and have a significant impact on people’s jobs and people who play in the NRL competition”.

Mr Newlinds told the court the club denied being “insolvent” but said it “certainly accepts that we are experiencing financial difficulty”.

The Tigers sold the site in 2009 with Rozelle Village agreeing to take over its debts from Bankwest, the court heard.

But the state government is yet to make any decision on the development.

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
 
Isn't Barry O'Farell a WT fan!….hurry up and sort this mess out BAZ...

This could jeopardize us signing Teddy!
 
Congratulations Leichhardt Council and the NIMBYs of Rozelle

The blood will be on their hands and their hands alone
 
@Kul said:
Congratulations Leichhardt Council and the NIMBYs of Rozelle

The blood will be on their hands and their hands alone
Click to expand...

And they will be the first to complain when the Tigers start cutting their ties to Leichardt and playing more games elsewhere
 
I hope this doesn't have the same effect on us that ASADA is having on Cronulla. Uncertainty drives players away. Hope this is sorted out super quick, there are too many contracts up in the air at the moment.
 
How does this ultimately affect us (besides lack of funding)
: will we retain WT identity
: juniors from Balmain district

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
 
@tiga4eva said:
How does this ultimately affect us (besides lack of funding)
: will we retain WT identity
: juniors from Balmain district

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
Click to expand...

Potentially split up and merged into other districts - ie Strathfield, Burwood etc may move to Canterbury; Dundas, North Ryde to Manly, or could all be taken up by Western Suburbs… Who knows, all purely speculative and hope it doesn't have to come anywhere near that.
 
@tiga4eva said:
How does this ultimately affect us (besides lack of funding)
: will we retain WT identity
: juniors from Balmain district

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
Click to expand...

No money to fund balmain junior league
No money generated to fund balmain sg ball and h matts sides
Harder to pay back ARLC loan
Reliance on mostly Ashfield to bankroll WT
No capital contributions to WT (harder for WT to invest and meet operating costs)
Lack of say in WT regards to a long term presence at LO and other legacy matters of Balmain FC.

WT is here to stay but another support beam has been officially removed from the building.

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
 
Thanks Alex and WT4L 1981\. You'd hope that the Juniors would be consumed by Wests. Grant Mayer has downplayed it's affect on WT on twitter. Time will tell

_Posted using RoarFEED 2013_
 
Balmain Football Club members need to know the actual financial position of the Club. The AGM has not happened yet this year. The Board needs to call a meeting of club members as soon as possible to explain the situation. We need information. Then we can decide if and how we launch a campaign to Save Balmain Tigers. We did it before with Stop the Rot. But in all this we also need the NRL to guarantee the Tigers name stays as part of Wests Tigers and games continue to be played at Leichhcardt.
 
Could we not crowdfund additional funds for the club? As in set up a pozible or kickstarter campaign and hand the club money that way?
 
@Ric Sissons said:
Balmain Football Club members need to know the actual financial position of the Club. The AGM has not happened yet this year. The Board needs to call a meeting of club members as soon as possible to explain the situation. We need information. Then we can decide if and how we launch a campaign to Save Balmain Tigers. We did it before with Stop the Rot. But in all this we also need the NRL to guarantee the Tigers name stays as part of Wests Tigers and games continue to be played at Leichhcardt.
Click to expand...

well said ric
 
@Ric Sissons said:
Balmain Football Club members need to know the actual financial position of the Club. The AGM has not happened yet this year. The Board needs to call a meeting of club members as soon as possible to explain the situation. We need information. **Then we can decide if and how we launch a campaign to Save Balmain Tigers**. We did it before with Stop the Rot. But in all this we also need the NRL to guarantee the Tigers name stays as part of Wests Tigers and games continue to be played at Leichhcardt.
Click to expand...

Haven't there already been about 5? Too little too late i think
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Staff online

Members online

Total: 348 (members: 43, guests: 305)
Back
Top