The owner of Wests Tigers is facing a fresh investigation into a decades-old system that gives 20 people effective control of a $100 million leagues club operation and the NRL joint venture.
The Holman Barnes Group has a 90 per cent stake in the Tigers and holds the balance of power on the NRL team’s board, as well as running the Wests Ashfield club.
Plagued by internal strife during the past 18 months, with four directors axed and banned for a combined 23 years at the poker machine empire.
HBG was cleared by Liquor and Gaming NSW in July after an initial probe into a complaint of board misconduct and governance failures at the organisation, which was formerly known as Western Suburbs Leagues Club.
However, the state’s clubs regulator said it was investigating again.
“Liquor and Gaming NSW is looking into complaints between December 2025 and January 2026 about the Western Suburbs Leagues Club,” a spokesperson said.
“These complaints relate to the operation of a debenture system and the club’s compliance with the Registered Clubs Act 1976.
“As these inquiries are ongoing, no further comment can be made at this stage.”
A HBG spokesperson said it had “complied with all requests from Liquor and Gaming NSW dating back to late 2024, providing detailed responses and supporting information to their satisfaction”.
“We were informed last year that there was no further action to be taken at the time,” the spokesperson said.
“Any subsequent complaints appear to be an extension of the scope of the original complaints, and we will be treating those in full co-operation with the regulator. We take all such matters with utmost professional compliance and will act in accordance with all regulatory requirements.”
HBG is believed to be the only registered club in NSW to continue to operate such a system, in which five of seven board positions must be filled by 20 so-called debenture holders and the club’s 28,500 members can only vote on the remaining two spots.
The system originated in 1955 with founding members issued with debentures in return for providing $100 each to get the club off the ground.
The debentures are non-transferrable. HBG said they could not be assigned, sold or passed on, including to a relative after a holder’s death, and vacancies were filled by a process in which candidates were considered by a selection committee and the board had final approval. The selection committee is appointed by the board.
Liquor and Gaming NSW last year found the debenture system “to be lawful and not to confer any unlawful or undue advantage to members”.
But it is under the microscope again following a year of upheaval in 2025 in which HBG chair Julie Romero was ousted in a boardroom coup and long-time chief executive Simon Cook also departed.
In December, HBG then axed Tigers chairman Barry O’Farrell and three other Tigers independent directors, who had been installed after a governance review and had held the majority on the board.
HBG cited nadequate communication as their reason for intervening before reinstating the independent directors at the request of the NRL.
But HBG’s representation on the board was increased, ensuring it has the numbers to call the shots despite former NSW premier O’Farrell being chairman.
According to corporate records only two of the independents – O’Farrell and Michelle McDowell – still sit on what is now an eight-member Tigers board.
Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson, who had delivered the club’s first profit in a decade, quit in response to the board shake-up, walking away with a seven-figure payout after just 18 months of a four-year contract.
HBG also settled late last year with former director Rick Wayde after he brought Supreme Court action against it.
Asked about the cost of legal fees and payouts during the past year, the HBG spokesperson said it “does not publicly disclose commercially sensitive information, including legal costs or employment-related payments, unless required to do so under applicable law or regulatory obligations, which in this case it is not required to do so”.
SMH
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