Thursday, October 4, 2012

Then & Now..... how things have changed

Highlighting a few things to show how much has changed since the joint venture started in 2000.Its seems wests identity within the wests tigers brand is slowly diminishing almost deliberate in some cases, to the point the wests tigers dont want to co-exist with the magpie "brand" simply forge ahead under the "tigers" brand. The magpies are now looking at having its senior team culled for good in favour for a wests tigers branded team in nsw cup.How long will it be before the magpie jnr reps become a victim of " branding" ???  Many wests supporters have embraced the joint venture since its inception but  always had some comfort knowing they still had their team to support even if it was at nsw cup level . The wests tigers board now believe its time to  "move forward" and embrace the joint venture , but many believe wests tigers are simply an extension of Balmain , evident in that they arent fighting for recognition within the joint venture nor are they concerned that their club will be culled at nsw level also.Is it any wonder wests supporters have had enough.

Then: A predominately black or a predominately orange jumper reflecting both wests & balmains colours & identity
 

Now: The white belly jumper and the eye of the tiger jumpers have no true reflection on wests heritage
 

Then: Two senior feeder teams with double the depth and fringe players sent to Balmain & wests:

Now: Balmain now merged with ryde eastwood who are a 0% joint venture partner receive all of wests tigers fringe senior players , wests magpies receive none. This year we have seen a Balmain side laced with Magpie players make the nsw cup grand final, whilst the Magpies took a hiding to get the wooden spoon.The Magpies were given no financial, logistic or coaching support by the Wests Tigers and Balmain was , yet the magpies were referred to as the "other" feeder team for the wests tigers in a recent report by stephen humphreys ???

Then: Had an increased presence in the area & trained often in the macarthur area

Now: Since 2004 relocated operations to concord.A permanent move back to campbelltown doesnt seem feasible due to the money already invested at the concord facility and Developement Applications already in council to further improve their training base. The geographical divide wasnt an issue previously because the wests tigers had two feeder teams, now culling it to one and having football operations in the one place has caused real headaches for "pathways". So an increased presence in this area is not going to happen unless the wests tigers cut their losses at concord and build the "proposed" centre of excellence at campbelltown,(their words not ours) somehow i cant see that happening.

Then: Wests had a jersey flegg team.

Now: Due to competition restructure in 2008 lost another representative team from the area to be based at concord.

Then: Magpie was on the shoulder of the players sleeve and legible
 

Now: Smaller magpie on the cuff of the players sleeve and barely legible
 

 

Then: 6 games at Campbelltown stadium

Now: Campbelltown Stadium had its NRL games reduced from six games to three in 2005 when Wests Tigers claimed that the corporate facilities were inadequate and that it cost too much to hire extra lighting and a big screen television.
The ground has since then had over $8 million spent on it from Government grants to meet Wests Tigers requirements.

In 2012 Wests Tigers played just four NRL home games at Campbelltown Stadium whilst it played eight games in the inner city at Leichhardt Oval , and the Sydney Football Stadium.
 
 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was interested to hear during the Scup grand final coverage that the commentators were at pains to call the tigers team by its full name, balmain ryde eastwood, or at least balamin ryde for the entire coverage. They were obviously pressed by some "stakeholders" at club level to do this as they even corrected themselves on many occasions when they forgot to mention the ryde eastwood partner during the call. Could this have something to do with another joint venture club being sick of their lack of exposure in their balmain partnership?
It begs the question, why isn’t there any pressure being placed on the same media types to include Wests in the club title when commentating or reporting on the team? Same could be said when asking former players for comment too.

Shaun

Anonymous said...

Then : just a joint venture at nrl level
Now: a takeover at all levels of wests magpies by wests tigers.

Anonymous said...

Good stuff NEWTOWN jets for beating balmain ryde eastwood thats some revenge for the way wests tigers management Treat the western suburbs magpies and they are not even Balmain they mergered with Ryde Eastwood all those reserve grade players should have been playing for the western suburbs magpies not balmain ryde eastwood when did ryde eastwood become part of the joint venture the whole thing is a farce, if western suburbs magpies are forced out of the NSWcup i wont be renewing my wests tigers membership along with a lot of other people i know, Balmain ryde eastwood should be the club relegated,

Anonymous said...

I am not a wests tigers member but I will be cancelling my Ashfield Leagues Club membership if they decide not to support the club that founded theirs.
I encourage others to withdraw their support for the wests tigers over this betrayal and wests Ashfield if they do not support us too