Mayor Darcy Byrne Calls For Investigation Into Wests Ashfield League Club

After an extraordinary mass suspension of Club Directors, Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has called for the state government to launch an investigation into how Wests Ashfield League Club is being governed.

On New Year’s Eve, three of the seven board members received the news that they’d be suspended from the roles as Club Directors, for periods of up to a whopping eight years.

Mayor Darcy Byrne called the current governance of the leagues club “unstable”, and in a statement on 2 January, said that Wests fans had become sick and tired of the club’s messy governance undermining the Wests Tigers franchise.

“Quite obviously the current governance of Wests Ashfield has become unstable and possibly untenable, and the NSW Government has a responsibility to investigate this,” Byrne said.

“Loyal and long-suffering Wests Tigers fans deserve better than this mess. Our team is competing in the most professional rugby league competition on earth, but the governance of our Club seems at the moment like the amateur committee for a park footy team.”

Wests board appointed via debenture, not a democratic vote

The remaining four Board members are not elected by club’s wider membership – they’re appointed through a ‘debenture’ system, meaning a handful of club members select the majority of the board’s members.

The board members that were notified of their suspension were directly elected by the club’s membership.

“When half of the Board of Club decides to suspend the other half of the Board from their duties, there is a clearly a problem and a need for the regulator to examine what is going on,” said Byrne. “The fact that the Board members removed are those that were directly elected by the broader membership is also very concerning. A system in which the 27,000 members of Wests Ashfield have no real democratic say at all is unjustifiable.”

“The Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority has statutory responsibility to investigate a Club when its governance falls apart, which seems to be what is happening here,” the Mayor continued.

“I’m calling for the NSW Government to intervene to ensure there is proper democratic governance of the Holman Barnes Group.

“That’s what the fans want, and that is what is needed for Wests Tigers to survive and thrive.”

Wests Ashfield (the Holman Barnes Group) are the majority owner of Wests Tigers.