The writing was on the wall for Campbelltown Stadium long before the Wests Tigers took the field against the North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday night.
A disappointing crowd of just 6456 turned up for the match, guaranteeing one of rugby league’s great anomalies would continue to grab headlines. A week earlier a tick over 16,000 supporters braved the treacherous Sydney weather to see the Tigers upset the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at the prehistoric Leichhardt Oval.
Leading into the Round 6 showdown with North Queensland, the Tigers’ social media team promoted the match with the #2560 hashtag, Campbelltown’s postcode, and urged fans in the Macarthur region to try and topple the Leichhardt crowd from Round 5.
The 2560 promotion was replaced with the fans’ very own four digit boycott. That’s 6456 fans at an NRL match in Sydney’s rugby league heartland against a team that boasts Johnathan Thurston, James Tamou, Matt Scott and Brent Tate.
“Crowds are always going to vary no matter where you are,” Paul Lake, Deputy Mayor of Campbelltown, said to The Roar. “Last season they got 7000 to a game at Leichhardt against the Cowboys and a few weeks later they only got 5000 when they played Melbourne.
“The interstate sides are never going to attract a lot of away fans, so it’s probably a little childish from them to make statements like they’re going to take games away from Campbelltown if the fans don’t show up. I guess you can take what they said as a threat.
“Perhaps the promotion of the game was an issue and something senior management has to look at. I didn’t see much promotion of the match apart from a sign outside the ground on Pembroke Road.”
Instead of officials blaming the fans, they should be having a good hard look at the factors leading to a crowd figure akin to those of the Western Suburbs Magpies of the late 1990s.
This may sound odd, but crowds at Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown shouldn’t be compared. You can hear the Balmain faction arguing the point all the way from Norton Street – that crowds speak for themselves, and Leichhardt Oval is always packed rain, hail or shine.
The truth is those Leichhardt crowds are made up of a completely different set of fans that didn’t show up at Campbelltown on Saturday night. A handful of games annually at the old venue will always pull a crowd. Leichhardt Oval sells itself, the Tigers know it, and they most definitely know they don’t have to promote games played there.
It’s a perfect fit in the current climate, but the club couldn’t sustain itself at Leichhardt in the long-term. Take away the nostalgia of the ground and all you have is an eroding suburban dinosaur slowly being consumed by its surroundings.
Then there is Campbelltown Stadium, which is apparently the heartbeat of the Wests Tigers in Sydney’s expanding south-west. It’s a large rugby league nursery that will continue to thrive and grow in the coming decade, yet here we are scratching our heads as to why only 6456 witnessed the Tigers live on the weekend.
“Most teams have a home base to work from but not the Tigers, they’re all over the place,” Deputy Mayor Lake said. “They should have sat down and worked out a realistic business plan back in 2000. Now after fifteen years they still don’t have a permanent base.
“The team should be out here but I suppose I’m a little biased. The fact is though Campbelltown, Camden and Wollondilly are the real growth areas in population. There will be half a million people living here in the next 10 years, and a million people 50 years from now.
“The arrangement with the Tigers is different every year. They proposed what they wanted and got exactly what they wanted on their terms. If they came to us and said they wanted to set up at Campbelltown Stadium as their home base we would more than happy to talk about that. But nobody has ever come to us and said they were coming.”
Rookie sensations James Tedesco and David Nofoaluma are the future of the club, and both are local juniors straight out of the area. You can add Jarryd Hayne, Israel Folau and Ryan Hoffman, who have all gone on to become superstars of the game.
Junior talent alone will ensure the Tigers don’t turn their back on Macarthur, and if they ever did they’d be committing one of the great sporting suicides. They surely couldn’t expect to keep the production line pumping if they decided to take those four games away from Campbelltown Stadium.
But the Tigers can’t have their cake and eat it too.
When you think Parramatta you think the Eels and you immediately link Penrith with the Panthers. But try and explain to a rugby league novice what the relationship between Macarthur and the Tigers is without having to take a breath.
Wests first moved home games away from Campbelltown in 2005, triggering the ailing relationship between the club and the most important cog of their supporter base. Any good work they had done in their first years as a joint venture was stopped in its tracks.
Taking the guaranteed money and playing at quarter-full stadiums was and still is a short-term fix, and now we are seeing the results. Macarthur fans are now voting with their feet and refusing to budge.
It must be an odd feeling for passionate fans in the south-west who follow a side based in Concord, that play home games in Sydney’s inner west and have players publicly spruiking their love for Leichhardt Oval.
AFL and rugby aren’t a threat to the Tigers or the NRL in Macarthur. The Wests Tigers are all alone in one of the most vibrant sporting areas in the country, yet they won’t use it accordingly.
Officials from the club will tell you they have always cared about the Macarthur. But part-time work isn’t the same as full-time work.
The 6456 figure isn’t a blight on the fans – it’s a blight on the club.
The Hoff
Guest
Oh you poor Fibro ! My heart bleeds to think of the migrant west supporting overseas clubs . WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT ?
Disenfrancised
Guest
Macarthur is a migrant region, populated by people from a range of former nrl identified regions, and as the region has no identified NRL association,they have carried their allegiance with them. Those of us who supported the Wests Magpies continued to support them when they relocated to Macarthur ( Campbelltown ). Macarthur 30 years ago to the Macarthur of today is a very different place. The population is far more affluent, discerning in its choices in entertainment and very aware of it being continually ignored by both Government and in this case the NRL and the joint venture of the Wests Tigers. Or as they are continually promoted THE TIGERS. It is pointless to rehash the mistakes made when the self interested parties that established the NRL protected the inner city clubs and forced geographically incomprehensible club mergers and merged names. The reality sport is tribal and I brought my sons up in Macarthur to support the Wests Magpies, as they were based in Campbelltown. When Wests where forced into a merger with Balmain, a club we disliked, we accepted and moved on as we felt that they were still well profiled in Macarthur. However as the years passed and they literally pay only feigned respect to the region we are/have losing interest in not only the NRL but losing allegiance to Wests Tigers. One day some of you insulated seasiders or Sydney City slickers should (but you wont) visit the Macarthur region with an open mind and you might realise that is not just Campbelltown. Just sit in a cafe in Macarthur Square and watch the people pass and you might realise that Soccer( football and the Wanderers) and AFL ( GWS ) is a bigger threat than you believe. As for Rugby we have two very well set Rugby teams in the Campbelltown and Camden attracting support. Who do my sons support now? Liverpool in England and GWS in Sydney for one son and Man U in England and GWS in Sydney. What do they play Soccer and American Football. And after a lifetime of nurturing by me to support the Wests Magpies and then Wests Tigers they have abandoned them and the NRL. Why? because they feel they have been betrayed.
Tigered
Guest
As a diehard leichardt tiger I must agree with the Campbeltown mayor. With the best start ever in Weststigers history now is the time for management to act and act fast. They need to move from concord soon, so move to Campbeltown like they should have over 10 years ago. Problem solved and the southwest population growth with home base loyalty will ensure success. It's time for management to act otherwise another 15 years of mismanagement.
Ads
Guest
So in your opinion AFL and Rugby are not a threat. Let's see how that comment plays out in the next 10-15 years. I've been to a fair few GWS games in the last 2 years and the number of kids with Giants gear has grown and when they start winning more games which won't be long now, the crowds and support will grow. If you put the blinkers on you might be shocked to see that the real football - Soccer and AFL will make massive inroads in the south west, especially with inept league mis-managing Wests. I'm an old Magpies fan of Wests and don't watch league anymore. It's run by amateurs. Compare Wests Tigers to Collingwood who have 80,000 members. The magpie brand is #1 in Australia, the collingwood variety.
Curtis Woodward
Expert
Did you read the story, sir?
Barfly
Guest
No your right pete, we have gone of subject, my argument at the start and at the finish is campbelltown both geographic and juniors is far superior to balmain. And glen I no manly and roosters both survive without juniors but if u ignore Sydney's west and continue to give them a side that plays four i repeat four games per year there whilst raping there leagues club and juniors and then give them a lousy four games not only will the area and people desert u but AFL or rugby union will take over this area they will dominate and then not only will this push thousands of young locals to both other codes the game itself will suffer including roosters manly Canterbury . Campbelltown must have it's own identity and its own rugby league side merged sides will not work and the sooner all concerned come to this conclusion the better and then and only then will MacArthur embrace and support ..
Glenn Innes
Guest
Melbourne and Easts seem to go ok with no juniors whatsoever so I really don't think that is much of an issue.A very high percentage of the NRL players are kids plucked from country areas in QLD and NSW and are really nobodies juniors.Other than maybe Brisbane there is not a single team in the comp that could field a competetive side buit on purely local juniors. I would be very interested to know what percentage of the population living in the outer South West actually support the Tigers.The areas connection with them is not that strong.Wests moved out there in the early eighties but never drew great crowds and my guess would be The Bulldogs would be the biggest team as far as supporters go in that part of the world. Parra probably have a good following out there as well and South Sydney and even Snt George probably have a fair bit of support as well.When people move to the outer suburbs they don't just drop the football teams their families have supported even if they are one or two generations removed from a direct geographical link to those clubs. Just because you base a club at Campbeltown doesn't mean the locals are going to give up supporting the teams they do and follow the locals my guess is most will not.I have a cousin that lives at Minto and grew up in Greenacre he follows the dogs and so do his kids... they have no interest in the the Tigers at all and I am sure there a plenty like them in that part of the world. In a perfect world the best answer for the game in South West Sydney would probably be the Dogs playing out of a 30k stadium at Liverpool but it will never happen.
Pete75
Guest
If Macarthur is such a mad rugby league area then you should be able to answer the following simple questions: 1) Why aren't they turning up to games? 2) Why didn't they turn up to games when they had their own team? For the record, I don't live in Balmain, nor do I feel the need to cast silly aspersions on the people of Macarthur just to "win" an internet debate. I don't know, perhaps that makes me a "yuppie". You tell me, being as you're the one who seems to be an expert on demographics. I have said on many occasions, I am happy for Campbeltown to get more games on the proviso that more people turn up to games. STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR NOT TURNING UP! If more people turn up to games at Campbelltown then I'll be happy to have all games played at Campbelltown, with three or four a season at Leichhardt. Ultimately, I want the club to be successful, and if that means more games at Campbelltown then I'm fine with that. But you need more than 6500. Those number will bring the club down, and sure as hell don't make a good case for more games in Macarthur. If you want to de-merge, we'll see how you go without Woods, Farah, Brooks, Sironen, Moses, Halatau, Brown and others of whom came up through the Balmain junior league. You can go back to being the Western Suburbs Magpies, and watching them get flogged year in, year out with about 35 other people at Campbelltown. Just like the good old days!
fishes
Guest
You didn't give any logical reasons for relocation- noone wants to buy Souths excep for James Packer, who realistically coul take the team to Perth. Cronulla has a development in the Shire- there is no factual or logical reason to suggest they should or may relocate.
Barfly
Guest
Listen champ, I don't go for either balmain, or west, I come from campbelltown. Which doesn't need ur balmain or west, it is a thriving area in both talant and rugby league schools in both st gregs, sir Redfern high and thousands of juniors. Mate it's u that needs us not vice a versa. So go back to balmain with ur yuppies and huge talant pool and lets see how long ur leagues club,and ur complete side last without campbelltown.who again I tell u west holds the majority of votes it's not if ur balmain survives but when u fold altogether .
Pete75
Guest
Pull your head in. It was Balmain that made the cut for inclusion into the NRL and Wests that didn't. This was largely down to the fact that when Campbelltown had it's own team, the Western Suburbs Magpies, people didn't show up then either. So I fail to see any evidence that people will show up to games just because they play in a black jersey with a Magpie. You're kidding yourself! You owe your club's current existence in the NRL to Balmain. We follow a merged club. We need to stop this childish in-fighting and support ALL parties to the merger, it is them that gives us a team to follow. If you don't like it follow another team or code.
Pete75
Guest
Curtis, How can you "forget Magpies v Balmain" and then propose to alienate what appears to be the bulk of the supporters by moving games out of their reach? As you say, it's the "Wests Tigers", not the Western Suburbs Magpies, why should all of the people of the Inner West and other parts of Western Sydney be penalised for showing up to games? The logic is ridiculous! It goes like this - Wests Tigers represent two areas (like it or not Curtis), fans from one of those areas turn up to games. Fans from the other area don't. So lets take the games to the area that doesn't turn up. The fact is that fans ARE showing up. They're showing up at Leichhardt and they're showing up at ANZ. Why should those fans be penalised, regardless of whether they're "Balmain" or "Magpies" fans? Why should the the Macarthur region get a team to themselves when they aren't showing up to games and didn't show up to games when they had their own team? The logic that is used goes like this: Macarthur regions doesn't have a full time team. People therefore aren't interested. Well guess what? People of the Inner West don't have a full time team either, yet they're showing up to games, so that logic doesn't wash! And please don't start on scheduling. Since 2012 both Leichhardt and Campbelltown have hosted twelve games each. Both havse hosted out of town teams on five occasions, and both have had an equal amount of Saturday night games. Leichhardt has also hosted Penrith and Cronulla, both of which traditionally don't draw big crowds away from home. The bleating has got to stop. We follow a merged club. Get used to it! If you want more games at Campbelltown, show up to games. The club will make more money and there will be a compelling casre to play more games there. At the moment it is Macarthur supporters who are letting the JV down. I see no reason why they should be rewarded for it.
Millsy from Perth
Guest
I like your thinking MikeTV a great thinker of our game and not a re-action but pro-action. I hope the Tige's see your comment. As for Wests v Tigers in the argument, at least you have a team to be able to support, they cut us off here in Perth dead set cold and the game suffered very badly as the result. After how many years since we have only got back to some reasonable strength to be able once again have a team bases here after some hard work by many volunteers. Personally I do not want to see any more teams or areas culled or transferred, lets build up our areas and I firmly believe if we get relocation right will be the answer.
KiwiBear
Guest
Well Planko as I said its water under the bridge but the Pain still runs deep. If perhaps there was a genuine partnership in that forced merger there would ve been a willingness for the Norths Leagues to put in the cash but as you say there is a whole lot of articles to be written on that front. But I stand by my point that mergers should be a partnership and each side should be clear as to what is expected. Yes as you say some will play a lesser role but the biggest machine will come to a halt if every part isn't working in unison. In the case of Wests Tigers I don't think they know and they keep fighting over it as a result the potential of the merger has been wasted.
Barfly
Guest
Plz it's campbelltown city leagues club that is supporting ur floundering balmain leagues club. Balmain is dead west is dead. Time to give campbelltown wat it deserves and that's a recognised entity with campbelltown put first on it name and jerseys. Then and only then will that come and support and e week will be a sellout, dream come true in merchandising and advertisement for both the nrl and the code itself.
planko
Guest
Mate the problems with the Northern Eagles were to numerous to mention even in an article but a lot of them came back to money. The bears did not come in on an even footing and Norths Leagues's did not want to put in huge cash injections into JV of which they were considered a lessor partner. I agree with you every player that played for the Mighty Bears over almost 100 years is not remembered the way they should be. Forced mergers only work if one partner accepts that they are the lessor. eg St George Illawarra not West Tigers they both think they are more important than the other. Kiwi I miss the bears and I used to be there at least 3 times a year as a kid. North Sydney Oval was a nice place (except when the Northern Spirit played there) and has good memories for me..
KiwiBear
Guest
Planko. Your statement there sums up the problem with the old merger entity of the Northern eagles. It was the (Sea) Eagles by another name and you "almost lost a club legend Beaver." How many North Sydney legends and players were lost and went to other teams because the merged side was dominated by MW players. I know it s old history but old wounds run deep! And that is true whether your talking divisions along these two teams, Bears and Sea Eagles, lines or Magpies and Tigers. Case in point why after 15 years Wests Tigers are still consumed by in fighting.
byrner
Guest
Considering the number of them that grew up in the area, that is a BS statement. Also there are affluent suburbs out that way in which they could live.
Curtis Woodward
Expert
Forget Magpies v Balmain. The WESTS TIGERS should be in the south west. It's very easy to say "just turn up to the games" but there are serious reasons why fans aren't. Don't look at them as Magpies fans because this new generation are WESTS TIGERS fans and they're still not showing up.
Gus Paella
Guest
You can't grow the game by pandering to old bitter dudes living in the glory days. The NRL needs to move on.