The Wests Tigers have issued a strongly worded statement refuting claims overnight that the club may be relocated due to financial issues facing the Balmaim Tigers side of the join venture. The statement reads:
Following an article today’s Daily Telegraph, Wests Tigers CEO Grant Mayer would like to refute the anonymous spokesman’s claim that the club will be relocated to Perth.
Mayer said; “The Wests Tigers will not be relocating to Perth, or anywhere else for that matter. Our club is working with the NRL and club shareholders to ensure that our members, corporate partners and broader fan base have a strong and vibrant club for years to come.
“Talk of a relocation is irresponsible and downright wrong,” he said. “Over the last seven months the club has worked exceptionally hard to address many issues. We continue to attract great interest from corporate Australia, our television ratings remain strong and our membership program is growing on the back of greater focus and attention from my staff.
“Negative talk like this just clouds all the hard work we have done,” said Mayer. “This club needs our supporters more than ever and membership is the one sure way to support the club.”
It’s all well and good for the Wests Tigers to issue a statement like this but the fact remains the Balmain Tigers need to come up with a lot of money in a relatively short space of time if the joint venture club is to secure it’s future.
While relocation is something that would happen only if a lot of other circumstances changed, it is still one possible outcome of the Balmain Tigers financial issues.
Quite honestly a club CEO and board should be making sure they should prepare for every possible outcome, including relocation.
To attack the media for reporting about the possible outcomes of a clubs financial issues seems like a public relations smother job to me.
