The western suburbs side and the NRL are trying to be as diplomatic as possible in the hope they dont lose the Balmain fan base when everything goes pear shaped. Its been widely documented that Balmain has no chance of paying off the debt before next September. The NRL knows the JV will fall apart within 12 months if they are relying on the western suburbs fans and a few of the remaining Balmain fans turning up to games. There are already a large bunch of fans who are turning away in light of the news that the Balmain side is going to be dissolved. As we get closer to the deadline there will be a lot more i dare say. Either way the NRL wins. If the wests tigers can manage to attract a fan base then all good and well, but if not then its the perfect excuse to move the team out of an area that has demolished league with soccer and AFL. After all the rubbish that fans have put up with this year you can understand a lot of people losing patience. Ive been a season ticket holder for 25 years as a WT and Balmain supporter. I take my family to most games every winter, but **im a wests tigers fan**, not a western suburbs fan. If the Balmain identity is removed i will not be supporting yet another hybrid of my team. The NRL can stick it where the sun dont shine.
You sure about that? Because you sound like a Balmain fan.
I am a Balmain fan. Whats wrong with that? Its convinient for guys like you and Happy to bag out foundation club fans but there are a lot of us. When both teams were forced to merge, the main reason most of us continued supporting the team was we still had an identity. If western suburbs had been eaten up by Balmain and they just used the logo or the name to tap into juniors or expand the fan base whilst losing their identity there would be half the fans the JV has now. Its ok for you guys to bag us out but you guys obviously dont know the history involved with foundation fans. As for being happy about losing us, im sure thats all good and well now, but when the board realises that the problems in this club are deeper than on the surface, it will only take another year like this and another coach and the fans you have left will be walking away in droves. There are a lot of emotional tigers and magpies fans who built the fanbase of this JV and didnt join from the inception of the new identity. So its fine to bag us and say we are not real fans, but when you have gone through what a lot of us have, its a deflating feeling watch the remnsnts of your team disintegrate. So go on your rants all you want but our opinions and emotions about our respective teams are valid. Its not an us vs them thing either because not once have I bagged western suburbs. We both needed each other at the inception but now its obvious there are either wests fans or wests tigers fans. Apparantly you arent allowed to be a foundation fan despite the NRL and the JV use this as a selling point for jerseys, games, and apparel. Flame on all you want but just because your a fan of the JV after the inception dont bag the fans who made it possible in the first place.
