Just catching up on this thread and I have to say the quality of the discussion on such a sensitive topic is refreshing. It’s great to read that the posters are looking at this with the view of what is best for the club moving forward.
Blue Wiggle Anthony Field wants to buy into Wests Tigers and return Balmain to the NRL
The founder of the Wiggles said he could fund his ‘fairytale’ of bringing Balmain back to the NRL if he sells the iconic children’s entertainment group for a ‘ridiculous’ amount of money.
World famous Blue Wiggle and Wests Tigers tragic, Anthony Field, has revealed his dream of one day buying into the Wests Tigers and returning Balmain to the NRL as a single-entity team.
The Wiggles founder said he could fund his “fairytale” purchase if the iconic children’s entertainment group was ever sold for a “ridiculous” amount of money.
“All my money now is invested in the Wiggles, and it would be a fairytale, but one day the Wiggles may sell somewhere. If I had that sort of money, yeah, I’d do it, absolutely.
“If the Wiggles were sold one day for a ridiculous amount of money, I would definitely do it. I feel like I’m opening up a can of worms here but you can’t sweep tradition under the carpet.”
Field would join the likes of South Sydney’s Russell Crowe, James Packer and Mike Cannon-Brookes, as well as the Manly Sea Eagles’ Scott Penn, as private owners of NRL clubs.
Wests Magpies currently hold 90 per cent of the Wests Tigers licence, with Balmain Tigers accounting for the remaining 10 per cent.
“I tell you what, I would do it in a very respectful way with Wests by trying to convince them that Western Australia would be good for the Wests Magpies — and Campbelltown — and the ‘Tiges’ would come back to Leichhardt,” Field said
Rugby league is a tribal sport and the world would be a better place if Balmain came back.
“Look, I buy into Wests Tigers because that’s all we’ve got, but I’ll be honest with you, if they announced tomorrow that Wests had their own team and Balmain had their own team, I don’t think I’d be sad – I’d be really happy, so happy.
“In the meantime, every week I’m buying tickets in the Italian lottery. If you win, that’s $250m, and with that sort of money I would go to Wests Ashfield and respectfully ask them if they’d like to row their own boat again.
“I hope they would still welcome me at Wests Leagues Club if I go down this path. Balmain is up against it because Wests hold all the cards at the moment, and that’s fine.”
Insiders suggest Wests Tigers would be worth around $20 million, although the Balmain portion would be significantly less.
The Wiggles are believed to be valued at at least $50 million. Field is the majority owner of the children’s supergroup with his personal wealth estimated to be around $20 million.
“I have told Anthony that I would back him 100 per cent if he bought Balmain back,” said Balmain legend, Ben Elias.
And in another throwback, Field would want to strip sponsorship logos from jerseys so clubs could play in a “pure’ football jumper.
“I’d love to get sponsorship off the jumpers so it would be a pure Balmain jumper. It’s absolutely beautiful. In America, they respect the jumper. You could still have sponsors and look after them,” he said.
“And bring the Leagues Club back so we could go somewhere after the games. I live in the past, mate.
“I’m all for the Wests Tigers but, seriously, the community at Leichhardt is all Balmain and if you go to Campbelltown, all the hard-core people are in Wests jumpers and that’s great.
“Leichhardt is still the greatest ground. Part of the charm is it’s run down and it’s exactly like it was (in the past). When I go there, you could be back in the 1990s when ‘Junior’ (Wayne Pearce) was running around. Leichhardt actually means something, like Lidcombe Oval.”
Field explained how and why he became such a passionate Tigers supporter.
“My grandfather (Donald Ritchie) used to walk from his home in Glebe in the late 1960s and early 1970s – and the great year of 1969 when I was six years old – to Leichhardt Oval and I was privileged enough to go to a few of those games with him,” he said.
“My dad (John) and family, when we lived at Lalor Park, were all Parramatta fans so I was kind of forced to wear the Eels jersey for a while – we had no choice. But, as soon as I was old enough to make up my own mind and had free choice I went straight to Balmain
Balmain was always everyone’s second team but they became my first team.
“I moved into the area many years ago, living in Drummoyne, and I’m now at Gladesville.
“Actually, when the Wiggles first tasted success there was a house for sale in Mary Street (next to Leichhardt Oval) but I just missed out.
“I would never have upgraded if I got that house, I would have stayed there happy.
“And I remember I took my now-wife (Michaela Patisteas) to a game, she was from Victoria and had no idea about league, one time at Leichhardt Oval. We were watching the Tigers getting absolutely demolished and she had a few drinks and fell backwards off one of the bench seats and I thought: ‘This is the girl I’m going to marry’.”
Field never misses a game.
“If I’m in Sydney and can get to a game, I’m there, mate. And I’ve got all the apps (when overseas), I can’t miss a game,” he said.
Over the next 10 years I think these franchises are going to sky rocket in value. They are literally “money can’t buy” assets. There is so much wealth floating around that people are going to buy these entities even if they make no money. The franchise themselves will be the investment
There’s no way that’s the last game at Leichhardt. The club and NRL would get crucified if they stopped playing there without any warning. Besides that Pascoe has been talking up going back to a LO/CSS split. That bloke has no idea
looking like trying to get private equity and council to fund LO
Wish they would actually go back to what they originally said about Magic Round and rotate home and away games each year. I know it means more money, but so sick of us losing a home game to that every single year. Tamworth is fine as it is taking the game to the bush, but to lose another home game purely so that the club can bring in a tiny bit more money at the expense of the members and fans is just frustrating.
Mr Byrne also ruled out any reported move by the Tigers to seek private funding to upgrade the venue, saying it was “not council’s focus”.
“This is a publicly-owned facility,” he said.
“There's not a single suburban ground in Australia that has ever been successfully renovated without a contribution from state and federal governments.”
“If the ground doesn’t receive funding soon it will close to professional sport for good,” Mr Byrne said.
“It won’t be safe for professional sport and crowds, and we saw last year the collapse of infrastructure – it was lucky no one was injured,” Mr Byrne said.
“We’ll be submitting it to the state and federal governments, asking them to partner with us in funding the ground’s future,” the mayor said.
“It will explore and propose different options: what could be done with $10m, $20m, $30m and so on,” the mayor said.
