Will you be attending the Save the Wests Tigers March?

Will you be attending the Save the Wests Tigers rally?

  • Yes, I care about the future of Wests Tigers

    Votes: 21 50.0%
  • No, it's just not possible for me to get there but I would if I could

    Votes: 21 50.0%
  • No, I support Wests Magpies not Wests Tigers

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    42

balmain boy

Well-known member
With the future of the club at the crossroads we face a do or die moment next weekend with the march to Wests Ashfield.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Balmain Tigers.
This is about securing the future of Wests Tigers.
If Wests Ashfield continue to run the club then I have no doubt the club won't exist in a few years time. If they push Richo out then the whole club will crumble. Benji, Luai and Bula will all leave, others will join them. We'll be a laughing stock the likes we've never seen before.
Our only chance of survival is for Dennis Burgess to be banned from the NRL forever, and for the NRL to take back the license gifted to Wests Ashfield and sell it to a worthy owner who will respect the club, it's past and future.
The joint venture has not and will not work. So long as Wests Ashfield are calling the shots then unqualified, unprofessional Muppets like Denny will anchor us to chaos.
 
With the future of the club at the crossroads we face a do or die moment next weekend with the march to Wests Ashfield.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Balmain Tigers.
This is about securing the future of Wests Tigers.
If Wests Ashfield continue to run the club then I have no doubt the club won't exist in a few years time. If they push Richo out then the whole club will crumble. Benji, Luai and Bula will all leave, others will join them. We'll be a laughing stock the likes we've never seen before.
Our only chance of survival is for Dennis Burgess to be banned from the NRL forever, and for the NRL to take back the license gifted to Wests Ashfield and sell it to a worthy owner who will respect the club, it's past and future.
The joint venture has not and will not work. So long as Wests Ashfield are calling the shots then unqualified, unprofessional Muppets like Denny will anchor us to chaos.
Hopefully there’s lots of young ones in their Wests Tigers gear out there, representing the future of our club and with no links to the parts of us that hold us back.
 
What other options apart from Wests Ashfield do we have?

It’s the corporate governance that needs changing. How it operates?
 

THE RETURN OF THE RABBITOHS — A STORY OF DEFIANCE AND UNITY

For fifteen long years before their expulsion from the NRL in 1999, the South Sydney Rabbitohs lived in a wilderness of disappointment. Once giants of the code, the proud red-and-green club spent much of the 1980s and 1990s battling poor on-field results, financial hardship, and administrative instability.

After their last premiership in 1971, the club saw only flashes of success. By the mid-80s they experienced a short revival—including a minor premiership in 1989—but the seasons that followed were brutal. From 1990 to 1999, South Sydney often found themselves in the lower rungs of the ladder, finishing last twice and rarely threatening the finals. The super league war brought further turmoil, and by century’s end, the Rabbitohs—one of the foundation clubs—were cast out of the competition entirely.

THE MARCHES THAT SHOOK A CITY

But South Sydney’s story was never going to end quietly.
What followed remains one of the most powerful fan-led movements in Australian sporting history.

In July 2000, approximately 40,000 supporters poured into the streets of Sydney for the famous March of the Red and Green. Later that year, another massive rally—widely reported at more than 80,000 people—surrounded the city in red and green as fans, families, celebrities, politicians, and former players stood together demanding reinstatement.

They marched not just for a football club, but for identity, community, and history.

And incredibly—the NRL listened.
South Sydney were readmitted for the 2002 season.

A NEW ERA AND THE RISE UNDER SHANE RICHARDSON

With their return came a new chapter, led by CEO Shane Richardson, who helped rebuild the club from a struggling battler into a premiership powerhouse. His leadership, long-term planning, and strategic recruitment laid the foundation for a decade of growth.

That work culminated in South Sydney’s historic 2014 Premiership, ending a 43-year drought and completing one of the greatest resurrection stories in rugby league.


AND NOW, A PARALLEL — THE WESTS TIGERS FAITHFUL

Fast-forward to this month, where Wests Tigers supporters have begun gathering for a rally of their own. The club’s fans, worn down by 15 years of hardship, know this feeling all too well:

  • Wooden spoons and multiple bottom-four finishes
  • Coaching instability—a revolving door of head coaches and structures
  • Boardroom tensions and public disputes
  • Star players walking away or being released early
  • False dawns that never materialised
  • And the constant sting of watching rivals succeed while the club drifts further from finals contention
Yet through all of this, the Tigers fanbase has endured. They’ve stuck by the team, the colours, the dream of better days—just as the Rabbitohs community did through the 80s, the 90s, the battles in court, and the marches in the streets.


A FINAL PLEA — UNITED, EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

South Sydney showed the nation what a united supporter base can achieve.
They brought back a club from extinction.
They fought until they won.
And then, they won a premiership.

Wests Tigers fans now stand at a crossroads. Your club needs you—not divided, not broken, but united.

March together.
Speak together.
Believe together.

As the Rabbitohs proved, a club with united supporters is never truly beaten.
 
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