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In June of last year I wrote a piece outlining the many issues the Wests Tigers had sustaining their presence in Sydney’s south-west.
After reading the story, then-Wests Tigers Chief Executive Stephen Humphreys invited me to Concord to discuss various issues surrounding the stunted growth of the Tigers brand in the Macarthur region.
It is remarkable to think that one of rugby league’s biggest hotbeds of young talent had been alienated to a certain extent for such a time.
I made that point to Humphreys and he agreed that there had been plenty of roadblocks in streamlining administration in the area.
In a perfect world the Tigers would have planted themselves in Campbelltown years ago and would certainly be reaping the rewards today. Instead, fans are rationed four games a year while other matches are played at Leichhardt Oval and Allianz Stadium.
Talk about a self-inflicted identity crisis.
“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the management of our game in south-west Sydney needs to be the top priority – from grassroots through to the elite level,” Humphreys told me at the time.
“In a strategic sense, the area is just too important to receive anything other than top billing.
“At the moment, there are a number of separate bodies involved in managing the interests of the game and its participants across south west Sydney and despite all of their best endeavours, the efforts are uncoordinated and rather dysfunctional.”
When Humphreys spoke I could tell he was a beleaguered man.
With so much infighting at the top you could certainly understand how the Macarthur region had been somewhat forgotten.
For years board members from rival groups have bickered and politicked and all the while Western Suburbs District Rugby League has been left to run its own race.
Wests Juniors are bleeding players on a yearly basis to other competitions and rival codes. Everyone simply accepts that rugby league in and around Campbelltown is as strong as ever.
Not the case.
For the uneducated, the junior league has no ties to anyone. They have an ABN and they do as they please. The bickering at ground zero is just as bad as the bickering in the boardrooms of the Wests Tigers.
Ten years ago, Macarthur had a strong A-Grade competition.
In recent times Wests Juniors were forced into a joint competition with Country Rugby League and Group 6. Fast forward and Group 6 voted to leave Wests and their clubs behind.
Campbelltown City and Campbelltown Eagles quickly joined Group 6 leaving other local clubs no choice but to join the Sydney Combined Competition and travel halfway across Sydney on most weekends for a game of football.
Now Humphreys is gone and it seems we are back to square one.
The Tigers are in crisis, Macarthur supporters are left short-changed and unwanted, the kids are leaving for other competitions and the bickering continues at every level of every organisation.
Looking into the crystal ball and working out where this will all end for the Tigers is impossible. It is a murky and unsure future.
The Tigers can not sustain themselves in their current form.
Everything has to change.
With iconic playmaker Benji Marshall and others leaving the club, the Tigers can no longer rely on star power to drag people through the gates and sugar coat the systematic problems for the franchise and any other organisations below them.
Dark times ahead for the Tigers.
Let’s just hope the Macarthur region and their kids aren’t forgotten altogether.
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