There’s been more board room bloodshed at the Wests Tigers ownership group Holman Barnes with chair Julie Romero ousted in a heated meeting on Tuesday night.
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Fox Sports understands an upset Romero was over-thrown as chair of the Holman Barnes Group at the meeting with Dennis Burgess now appointed the new chairman of the dysfunctional Wests Tigers ownership group.
The latest board room bunfight for the Holman Barnes Group comes off the back of three previous directors being over-thrown on New Years Eve last year and hit with combined bans of up to almost 15 years.
The Holman Barnes Group are the majority owners of the Wests Tigers NRL club with the fresh board room shake-up coming while Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson is overseas in the US on a fortnight’s annual leave to attend a family wedding.
The Holman Barnes Group are no strangers to board room in-fighting with long-serving directors Tony Andreacchio, Rick Wayde and Dave Gilbert all sensationally banned from serving on the board on New Years Eve of last year.
Andreacchio was banned for six years, Wayde was banned for eight years and Gilbert was banned for six months – all for historical misdemeanours.
Wayde is currently challenging the Holman Barnes Group in the Supreme Court to overturn the decision.
Board room politics makes the majority of NRL fans glaze over but in this instance it’s significant because Burgess is a dyed-in-the-wool Wests Magpies man who also sits on the Wests Tigers NRL club board.
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While the move will have little if any influence on the Wests Tigers playing group it’s the latest unnecessary off-field distraction for a club who have been engulfed in turmoil off the back of the Lachlan Galvin contract standoff.
Wests Tigers CEO Richardson reports to the board of the Wests Tigers NRL club which is separate from the Holman Barnes Group board.
Significantly though – both Burgess and Holman Barnes director Stephen Montgomery also have seats on the seven-member Wests Tigers board.
The Holman Barnes Group sits above the powerful Wests Ashfield Leagues club which is essentially the most powerful financial arm of the Wests Tigers.
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