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Wests Tigers players engage in postcode skirmish
April 10, 2014 - 6:05PM
Daniel Lane
Sports reporter & Video journalist
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Wests Tigers cult hero Aaron Woods sparked a new "war" in the merged club that has long been divided by petty jealousies with his constant reference to "2040" - the postcode for Balmain's spiritual home of Leichhardt and the suburb where he grew up.
Woods referred to the postcode in the build-up to last Sunday's inspirational win over Manly to help draw 16.000 Wests Tigers fans to Leichhardt Oval in terrible conditions. The club's Campbelltown clan - Chris Lawrence, David Nofoaluma, Pat Richards and James Tedesco - responded by taking to social media to urge all "2560s" to fill Campbelltown Stadium for Saturday's match against North Queensland.
Wests Tigers centre Chris Lawrence evades Manly prop Jason King to score.
Wests Tigers centre Chris Lawrence evades Manly prop Jason King to score. Photo: Getty Images
"2560, Campbelltown" said Lawrence when asked for his postcode. "I'm a Campbelltown boy. Young Nofoaluma, 'Nofoalzilla', he's led the charge to get everyone from Campbelltown [to the game] so we can crown him the new king of Campbelltown."
Wests Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer, conscious of the emotion that underpinned the two entities that formed his club, admitted he took Woods aside to suggest he toned down the 2040 call. However, he was pleasantly surprised the prop's rallying cry built a bridge between the two sets of fans.
"I grabbed him in the dressing room and said just jokingly 'listen, no more 2040s' but it's been his [Twitter] hash-tag for ages," said Mayer. "But [on Tuesday night] one of our fans said let's go with 2560 and there was a massive amount of banter on Twitter, finally fun banter, between the two regions. It showed we have fans who want to see this club succeed."
Mayer admitted the Wests Tigers were conscious of making their Campbelltown-based supporters realise they were part of the club. They've even offered an incentive to anyone who arrived to the stadium before 4pm on Saturday a $10 deal to watch five games - SG Ball, Harold Matthews, Massey Cup, NYC and first grade.
"I have no doubt there's a perception that the area has played second fiddle to our other venues," Mayer said. "And that may've been the case before I started in this role nine months ago but I'm trying to build one club. People keep talking about Balmain and Wests but I say 'I'm the CEO of the Wests Tigers'. Campbelltown is important to us and in two areas: it's important from four games [per season] as we have to ensure we fill [the ground] but, more importantly, we have to embrace the region from a development and juniors point of view.
"We do more in the south-west of Sydney than we do anywhere else in our region because we know we have to work harder and smarter to get the crowds to come to our game. There's been a long belief the residents there are mad, one-eyed Wests Tigers fans, the reality is it's a transient market. We have first-home buyers coming to the area who have a pre-existing relationship with a team - and it may not be us. Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, on the kids. We need to make sure we do more in the schools, more in the playgrounds, more during holiday periods to attract the youngest kids we can to our club. It's a generational thing and that's the long-term plan.
"We've looked at pricing and $10 for five games of football is great value. There are no excuses. Our team, their team, the team - the Wests Tigers - is playing attractive football. I'd be disappointed if we didn't get 15,000 people."
Mayer dismissed the notion that in an era of footy being a business questions would be raised about the value in allocating games to Campbelltown if Saturday night's crowd was a fizzer.
April 10, 2014 - 6:05PM
Daniel Lane
Sports reporter & Video journalist
\
\
Wests Tigers cult hero Aaron Woods sparked a new "war" in the merged club that has long been divided by petty jealousies with his constant reference to "2040" - the postcode for Balmain's spiritual home of Leichhardt and the suburb where he grew up.
Woods referred to the postcode in the build-up to last Sunday's inspirational win over Manly to help draw 16.000 Wests Tigers fans to Leichhardt Oval in terrible conditions. The club's Campbelltown clan - Chris Lawrence, David Nofoaluma, Pat Richards and James Tedesco - responded by taking to social media to urge all "2560s" to fill Campbelltown Stadium for Saturday's match against North Queensland.
Wests Tigers centre Chris Lawrence evades Manly prop Jason King to score.
Wests Tigers centre Chris Lawrence evades Manly prop Jason King to score. Photo: Getty Images
"2560, Campbelltown" said Lawrence when asked for his postcode. "I'm a Campbelltown boy. Young Nofoaluma, 'Nofoalzilla', he's led the charge to get everyone from Campbelltown [to the game] so we can crown him the new king of Campbelltown."
Wests Tigers chief executive Grant Mayer, conscious of the emotion that underpinned the two entities that formed his club, admitted he took Woods aside to suggest he toned down the 2040 call. However, he was pleasantly surprised the prop's rallying cry built a bridge between the two sets of fans.
"I grabbed him in the dressing room and said just jokingly 'listen, no more 2040s' but it's been his [Twitter] hash-tag for ages," said Mayer. "But [on Tuesday night] one of our fans said let's go with 2560 and there was a massive amount of banter on Twitter, finally fun banter, between the two regions. It showed we have fans who want to see this club succeed."
Mayer admitted the Wests Tigers were conscious of making their Campbelltown-based supporters realise they were part of the club. They've even offered an incentive to anyone who arrived to the stadium before 4pm on Saturday a $10 deal to watch five games - SG Ball, Harold Matthews, Massey Cup, NYC and first grade.
"I have no doubt there's a perception that the area has played second fiddle to our other venues," Mayer said. "And that may've been the case before I started in this role nine months ago but I'm trying to build one club. People keep talking about Balmain and Wests but I say 'I'm the CEO of the Wests Tigers'. Campbelltown is important to us and in two areas: it's important from four games [per season] as we have to ensure we fill [the ground] but, more importantly, we have to embrace the region from a development and juniors point of view.
"We do more in the south-west of Sydney than we do anywhere else in our region because we know we have to work harder and smarter to get the crowds to come to our game. There's been a long belief the residents there are mad, one-eyed Wests Tigers fans, the reality is it's a transient market. We have first-home buyers coming to the area who have a pre-existing relationship with a team - and it may not be us. Our focus has always been, and will continue to be, on the kids. We need to make sure we do more in the schools, more in the playgrounds, more during holiday periods to attract the youngest kids we can to our club. It's a generational thing and that's the long-term plan.
"We've looked at pricing and $10 for five games of football is great value. There are no excuses. Our team, their team, the team - the Wests Tigers - is playing attractive football. I'd be disappointed if we didn't get 15,000 people."
Mayer dismissed the notion that in an era of footy being a business questions would be raised about the value in allocating games to Campbelltown if Saturday night's crowd was a fizzer.
