Wests Tigers’ new stadium proposal slammed as ‘ridiculous’
Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne has criticised the Wests Tigers’ proposal to build a 20,000-seat stadium in Liverpool, in Sydney’s southwest.
The plan is still in its early stages, but Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun told 2GB that it had been a long time coming.
It would be with the intention of making Liverpool the Tigers’ permanent home, in a facility at the intersection of the Hume Highway and Remembrance Avenue in the city’s southwest.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the idea is predicated on 3000 additional flats being built on the site, a combination of private, public, and build-to-rent homes, the revenue from which would be used to offset the cost of the stadium.
The suggestion, on the other hand, was condemned as “ridiculous” by Inner West Council Mayor Darcy Byrne, whose Council is in charge of the Tigers’ spiritual home, the aging Leichhardt Oval.
Both Leichhardt and the club’s second home stadium in Campbelltown are set to be refurbished, pending state government funds.
“Any attempt to relocate Wests Tigers’ home ground to Liverpool will be met with strong opposition from supporters,” Mayor Byrne, a Tigers tragic, said in a statement.
“It’s not what the fans want, and there is no mandate to propose it.”
Byrne referenced to the Tigers’ recent return to their historic home grounds for 2024, rejecting larger and more contemporary facilities at Accor Stadium and CommBank Stadium, and urged the club to concentrate its resources on the field.
“After a decade of campaigning, we’ve convinced the Club to return to our spiritual home grounds of Leichhardt and Campbelltown in 2024,” he told the crowd.
“The Wests Tigers Board’s adopted position is to advocate for long-overdue funding to upgrade Leichhardt and Campbelltown.”
“The absurd idea of moving all home games to a new stadium in Liverpool funded by property developers is absurd and inconsistent with the Club’s commitment to fans and members.”
“Wests Tigers is a well-known sporting franchise, not a property development firm.”
“The Club has no business advocating for housing policies in Liverpool, it’s time to focus on winning football games and finally making the top eight.”
When reached by the Herald, team chairman Lee Hagipantelis and A-League team Macarthur Bulls, who share the Tigers’ tenancy at Campbelltown, declined to comment.
It comes amid claims that the club’s largest shareholder, Holman Barnes (owners of Wests Ashfield Leagues Club), had invited the controversial Hagipantelis to step down as chair, but he refused.
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