The dark days of the Super League conflict, when Rupert Murdoch marched on the game, almost twenty years ago, seeming like a lifetime ago, was when the seeds of the terrible scenario facing the Wests Tigers were planted.
It was the traditional Sydney clubs that had the most to lose. Those who sided with the rebel league – Canterbury, Penrith, Cronulla – rolled the dice and won. Eastern Suburbs, all money and power, thrived. Dennis Fitzgerald’s incomparable politicking put Parramatta in a prime position. Souths were cast out but on passion and persistence returned. The Saints bowed to the obvious and joined with Illawarra in what was more a takeover than merger. Manly got the good end of a joint venture deal with the luckless Bears and then tanked until they returned as a sole entity.
For both Western Suburbs and Balmain, two foundation clubs, a joint venture was the only option. Both were struggling on the field and off it. Merger or death. Both let pragmatism prevail. Rugby league types have always had a sixth sense for survival. It was the genuine parity of the joint venture – neither team had the chips to force a takeover – that created the power vacuum that has left the club in the depths of despair, the Tigers on their knees and at their lowest point following weeks of embarrassing in-fighting, culminating in Saturday’s shameful 64-6 defeat to North Queensland. The dynamic of the Wests Tigers, at board level, is as unique as it is constricting. The Balmain faction have typically held the power, at least until the costly debacle that has been the stalled redevelopment of the Balmain Leagues Club, now an eyesore on Victoria Road and a political poison pill in the halls of power. The Wests side – hardly united themselves with the Ashfield and Campbelltown factions bitter enemi
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