Wests Tigers may have to deliver on their promise to vacate Leichhardt Oval at the end of the year after the NSW government refused their request to fund an upgrade.
The Tigers will play five of their 12 home games this season at Leichhardt Oval but have long held concerns for the condition and facilities at the hallowed inner west ground.
On Monday, Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson and Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne bandied together to request Leichhardt Oval receive 10 per cent of funding allocated to Penrith’s stadium upgrade by the NSW government.
The Panthers’ BlueBet Stadium will receive a $309 million face-lift in 2025 that expands the ground’s capacity to 25,000 with an all-new western grandstand and refurbished eastern grandstand.
The Tigers, who have also hosted home games at CommBank Stadium, Campbelltown Stadium and Accor Stadium in recent years, have yet to commit to any home ground beyond 2024.
Richardson threatened to move the Tigers out of Leichhardt altogether if the request went unfulfilled, having relocated South Sydney’s home games from Moore Park to Homebush during his time in charge of that club.
But on Tuesday, NSW Premier Chris Minns pointed to the state’s financial situation as grounds for blocking the Tigers’ audacious request.
“I appreciate that (the Tigers) have got to make a decision about their club and where they play their home games,” Minns said.
“But we, as everybody knows, have got $180 billion worth of debt in NSW.
“We’ve got massive pressure on the hospital system, education system, (and) in addition to that we’re rolling out the biggest public transport projects in the state’s history.”
Leichhardt Oval’s status as a part-time NRL venue also influenced Minns’ decision.
This season, the Tigers are playing five of 12 home games at Campbelltown Sports Stadium, one at Scully Park in Tamworth and one at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium as part of Magic Round.
“I don’t have spare dollars at the moment to pump into Leichhardt Oval, particularly as the Tigers’ games are split between those two home grounds (Campbelltown and Leichhardt),” Minns said.
“My real fear is that we put money into Leichhardt and the week afterwards they say now we need the money for Campbelltown.
“These things have got to be finely balanced and I’d love to have the spare revenue to pump into a suburban stadium at the moment, but I don’t have it.”
Asked about Richardson’s pleas to the Minns government, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary defended the allocation of funding to Penrith’s stadium.
“Everyone is scrambling for political money,” he said.
“We’ve had to work long and hard for ours and we’re happy to have it (an upgraded stadium), and our community deserve it.
“I’m not saying their (community) doesn’t either. What I do know is I got the feeling at Leichhardt that everyone there loves it the way it is. Maybe they should keep it that way.”
Sydney FC’s A-League Women side is the only other professional sports team that regularly plays home games at Leichhardt Oval.
AAP understands Sydney FC does not have a formal agreement to continue playing at Leichhardt beyond this year, but privately is hopeful of staying put in the 2024-25 season and would be in favour of any upgrades to the ground.
The Under 19s State of Origin games are also slated to be played at Leichhardt this winter, as well various other semi-professional soccer and rugby league fixtures.
But upgrades are less pressing for those tenants; the only non-NRL fixture Inner West Council expects to attract more than 7,000 people to Leichhardt this winter is a GPS rugby match between St Joseph’s College and St Ignatius College.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Oh, if it's free then pick it up. Der. But that's not what you said. Buying it and being gifted it are completely different.
criag
Roar Rookie
V’landys did say they’d take a look at it if they ‘offer it to us’…maybe they’d take it if it was free? But I guess ‘taking a look’ is non-committal.
mushi
Roar Guru
There's a reason you don't see a bunch of listed property trusts specialising in Stadiums. On a purely commercial basis they're a terrible use of land and development risk
mushi
Roar Guru
Would be a sudden spike in interest to rent in heritage listed areas!
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Or perhaps no pollie is a dumb enough Tigers supporter. Leichhardt isn’t their main ground. They are based and play most of their games elsewhere. Hard to justify throwing tax payer dollars at the Tigers’ holiday home.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Obviously no pollie is a Tiger's supporter. They find the money they need for their pet projects, doesn't matter if it's there or not or how much debt they create. Easy to find billions for a useless desalination plant, a questionable referendum, a foray into an international event, or incentive for some billionaire to ruin the landscape with metal jungles. The money is always there, the incentive or reasons aren't.
E-Meter
Roar Rookie
Lidcombe Oval is still available. There’s a centre of excellence next door - Auburn Pool.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Oh, a terrible, terrible idea Criag. Respectfully. Do you know how expensive the land in that part of Sydney is? If they bought it, the first thing they would have to do is jack up the rent for the ground. The council owns the land outright so can keep the rent below market rate. The NRL would be taking a loan...those interest payments aren't cheap. The sports you mentioned would NEVER in million years bring in the type of crowds that could service the rental fee. No, if the NRL was to buy that, the only sensible decision would be to level the ground and put a few apartment towers on it. Being able to flog apartments with city views on one side, and views of Iron Cove on the other would making a killing.
Tufanooo
Roar Rookie
Becuase the government was building a huge tunnel underneath it, that's why.
Hondo
Roar Rookie
The NRL really shouldn't be getting involved in this. The Wests Tigers can easily play at both their actual home ground at Campbelltown, where their leagues club is based or for big crowds at CommBank Stadium who they already have a contractual agreement with to play some games there. They don't need Leichardt. They seem to forget they are now the Wests Tigers and are no longer the Balmain Tigers. They also lose money by playing at Leichardt.
Abbot
Roar Rookie
They knocked it all down to ground and started again.
criag
Roar Rookie
I’m no economist, but I can see the benefits of the NRL buying Leichhardt, fixing the problems and leasing it for all types of sporting events. A glance at the upcoming events there shows it’s a pretty busy place, with A-League Women, NPL Soccer, Balmain jnrs, rugby league jnr rep games, schoolboy rugby, etc. I’ve been there a number of times over the years for NSW Cup games and finals, as well as A-League games, and it’s a great venue for those. They could use it for 1 or 2 NRL games against the odd interstate team that would only have a small away contingent. (I’ll sit on the hill at Henson Park, but standing on a tightly-packed hill, stretching to see around people has never been my favourite way to watch a game).
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
I'm a pretty progressive person. I've never heard somebody claim that if a landlord won't modernise a house for a tenant they should give the house to the tenant...
mushi
Roar Guru
Not really Billo, if they can keep it at a level where it’s generally useable and safe. A landlord doesn’t have to ensure you’ve got water views MTV cribs house (affordable housing anyone?) Just because it isn’t suitable for NRL doesn’t mean it’s unsuitable as a sports field. There was an article Monday talking about how many other sports, without the NRL’s budget use it.
criag
Roar Rookie
It's been a while since I've been to Concord and haven't seen the redeveloped product yet. The eastern stand wasn't a great design (if it's still there?), and terrible if there was a full crowd (when they used to have rugby internationals). The grade was too low, and whenever the play got anywhere near the vicinity of one of the near corners, people in the lower tier seats in front of the main stand had to stand, creating a domino effect right up to the top. You couldn't see a thing! All you could do is wait to see if there were cheers or not.
Hondo
Roar Rookie
The NRL can’t spend 30 million dollars to refurbish Leichardt as it makes no economic sense and if they did, they would then no justification not to do the same for Belmore Brookvale Shark Park and Kogarah which are not much better than Leichardt. The “Wests” Tigers should have been pressing the State Government to improve Campbelltown to a decent NRL ground for an area as important to the state and the NRL as the Macarthur.
Tony
Roar Guru
Nailed it Hondo. By the way, I love watching the Oaks Tigers. :happy:
Abbot
Roar Rookie
I’ve often wondered why Concord Oval wasn’t redeveloped to have both a centre of excellence and a 20,000 seat stadium combined. Benefits of the ground include location for transport (buses and trains) is a trillion times better than Leichhardt, minimal residential neighbours and centrally positioned to Balmain and Ashfield (traditional homes of both clubs)
Hondo
Roar Rookie
This also highlights why the West Tigers have no real home anyway as they have never fully committed to the Macarthur region and have never been accepted there as a result. Instead of asking for more money for Leichardt they should have asked for more money to be spent on their actual home ground at Campbelltown Stadium. The Macarthur is the largest most quickly growing region in greater Sydney which has been basically ignored by the NRL and State Government. The Macarthur has no modern sports grounds. Rugy League is massive in the Macarthur and the region is rapidly growing but the only sport that has recognized that is Football who have admitted the Macarthur Rams to Football Australia league to give the region its only truly representative sporting team. If you lived in the Macarthur, you would find not many people support the West Tigers instead supporting teams like Parramatta and Penrith who “spiritual” home is closer. There are also more Souths supporters here as well. My team are The Oaks Tigers who are a part of the Group 6 CRL competition whose teams are mostly based in the Macarthur region. Until such time as the West Tigers finally commit to the Macarthur and the NRL and State Government give their support to decent sporting facilities in the Macarthur i won’t be supporting the “Balmain” Tigers.
Hondo
Roar Rookie
The NSW government doesn’t own Leichardt its owned by the local council. So, the NRL can’t hand it over to the Tigers for their “spiritual” home ground. Also, the NRL couldn’t afford to buy it as the land it is on is worth a fortune, so the council cannot just give to give it the NRL.