It started before that.
As a late teen I was regular at the leagues club especially as a go to spot to chill after all the hotels in Balmain closed at pumpkin time.
Around the time of the pokies tax and following that the smoking ban in internal buildings a lot of recreational clubs started to suffer a loss.
They began renovating the bistro area and upstairs function rooms to try and get more interest from just the regulars but they were dying a slow death with only the bistro as their main income source.
They weren’t the only club to close.
In Drummoyne the bowling / sports club, RSL all closed up either before or after the leagues club closing. Many other bowling clubs from the surrounding suburbs closed up. The only clubs that survived were the ones with multiple restaurants and more function options then just the pokies. Hopefully the new club if it ever gets built doesn’t fall back on the nostalgia of an old fashioned leagues club as the attraction and provides a broader entertainment venue.
The club could have stayed afloat with pokie revenues - many clubs still do. But yes the revenues were down.
The killer blow however was the NSW Metro, which several people have mentioned. It's nothing like the "expenditures and lack of demographics" that Cobar mentioned.
Tigers wanted to revamp the club, as they did realise pokie revenues were down since the Govt tax, and the place was getting a bit old anyway. At that time many pubs and clubs were diversifying their revenue streams and renovating to encourage new patronage - the big clubs in town are as new and shiny as a CBD bank HQ.
The NSW Labor Govt decided they would build the new metro "CBD Metro" including Rozelle and made an agreement with the Tigers to move out for 5 years whilst the development occurred. In return Tigers would have a metro station on-site and have planning approval to redevelop the site to include mixed retail and residential.
NSW Labor ended up canning the metro (BTW they spent something like $500M on the project with zero outcome) so Tigers had to submit modified plans that no longer included a metro station, which was a big deal because that was a guaranteed source of local business / attendance at the site.
Tigers then got stuck in developmental limbo, trying to get approvals for a property of sufficient increase to be worthwhile and profitable (pretty sure the Leagues Club is officially not for profit, i.e. profits go back into the club for member facilities, plus community patronage like the rugby league).
All the while the club is empty and Tigers have two little satellites at Five Dock and Paddy's Markets, so the club is bleeding costs and lost revenues, year on year, waiting for the Govt to get its act together, and then trying to develop a new property.
It's probably true that the Tigers tried to get approvals to build too much, but also that area is diabolical for NIMBYism, because nobody wanted more residentials (despite building several thousand apartments down the road at Balmain Shores 10 years prior). Complaints were about Victoria Rd traffic (probably true) and even things as stupid as flying heights for aeroplanes coming by.
The matter went back and forward, mostly blocked by Leichhardt Council (held by Labor and Greens), then eventually it was moved to the NSW Planning Commission (or whatever their name was) to try and bypass the local council block and obtain a resolution. Darcy Byrne is neck deep in all of these deliberations.
At that time circa 2010 I knew a town planner in Leichhardt Council, so for about 6 months I had second-hand knowledge of the Tigers efforts to obtain a DA.
THEN they ended up running out of time and money. You can't be a Leagues Club with your primary club premises closed for 10 years.
You can read all about it from news pieces at the time, particularly the 2010 club vacation of premises and then the canned metro.
IT HAS come too late for some. Last week the Premier, Kristina Keneally, announced that the Government had decided to pause in its acquisition of property in Rozelle to make way for the controversial $5.3 billion CBD Metro.
www.smh.com.au
THE cancellation of the CBD Metro has left the Tigers leagues club and its partners at least $26 million out of pocket, newly released government documents on the axed transport project reveal.
www.smh.com.au
en.wikipedia.org
PM covers stories across Australia and the world, explaining and analysing the most important events and issues of the day.
www.abc.net.au
It's been revealed the Govt was prepared to pay the Balmain Tigers club to build the axed rail line.
www.abc.net.au
$200m Tigers scheme...
www.afr.com
