Balmain AGM report - for those who dont use WT website!

[Bald Tiger]

Posted the following on the WT JV website but I know some people here dont go there ...

The Balmain Tigers Rugby League Football Club held its AGM at 10am on Sunday 29 February. About 200 or so members attended. The Annual Report was passed unopposed.
Six Board members were re-elected unoppposed - Benny Elias, Dr Leslie Glen, Steve Lavers, Paul Sironen, Danny Stapleton and David Trodden.
Two new life members were elected unopposed - Peter Camroux and John Chalk. Reports on the football club and its players were presented.

On the issues that have been of interest of fans on this forum the following comments were made by Board representatives:
1) Homebush: The aim had been to have it up and running by the end of 2003. It is still waiting for approval for its Social Impact Statement. It remains on the agenda but few years away.
My reading of this: Dont hold your breath. The Government is nervous about a major new club with hundreds of pokie machines.

2) Promotion of Premier League games: The Board are aware of this. They cited promotion of games in The Weekly Times as something positive.
My reading of this: Inadequate and more needs to be done. Send them your suggestions!

3) Mary St and the future of the Oval: It was reported that its 25 years since the ground was improved and it needs to be done. Whether the Mary St stands get pulled down is still before Council. The Council are very supportive in their plan of managment of the Tigers and Wests Tigers remaining as major tenant.
My reading of this: Nothing new here. We know the Council want to pull down the Mary St stands - it did not make it on the agenda of the last Council meeting. The question is will it all happen before the Eagles game. Our campaign to Save Leichhardt Oval - Stop the Rot is still on the agenda. Stay tuned

 

[yappy]

Did they mention that Wests Campbelltown bailed them out by buying the tigers share in the NSWRL Golf Resort at Narellan? Got about $3mil for it I hear so that should keep you guys solvent for another year or two.

 

[Bald Tiger]

Yappy - never heard about that - tell us more - sounds very interesting - because Tigers are always saying that cash flow and profits are tight.

 

[yappy]

Just what I said. It's a pretty open story out our way. There is a golf course (resort) that all the NSWRL clubs bought years and years ago. Balmain sold their share to Wests Leagues Campbo and the figure that everyone is quoting is 3mil. That's a good cash injection for the Tigers, but it would mean little to their balance sheet as the value would (should) already have been included in their non-current assets. The deal would only have been done after the accounting date so it wouldn't show on your 2003 financial report.

That said what were the numbers? Don't the leagues and football club at Balmain provide a single financial report? Did you have red ink again or have you stemmed the leagues club's losses? If the dough from Narellan was being used to invest in something like Homebush well that would be good for the Tigers, but if it's only going to give you the cash to pay your share of the JV costs whilst Balmain Leagues continues to drown in red ink then that's a massive problem.

 

[Mighty Tiger]

I think the Homebush situation already is covered by investors, sure they could do with more money in this regards but I don't really think that $3mil would do a hell of alot in the grand scheme of things for that project.

My concern is the selling of assets at this present point of time especially with all the talk about issues with the new poxies taxes and staying afloat past 2yrs at most!!!!!

Well I guess this $3mil could help them past the 2yr mark but what happens next - I just hope that the gov finally makes a decision (in favour of course) for the tigerdome to be built in homebush.

 

[Bald Tiger]

Yappy: thanks for that information.
In the accounts presented to the club memebrs there is just a consolidated figure of $17 million under non-current assets. Its not broken down into great detail - largest category is property, plant and equipment at $16.8 million.
As you say these are the 2002-03 accounts.
But more detailed accounts are available on request and I will ask for them.

 

[yappy]

what was your profit/loss mate?

 

[brook]

Yappy I don't remember the exact figures (got them at home) but it wasn't good

looked worse than last year , if they don't find another revenue stream SOON I get the feeling there will be a new apartment complex on victoria road within the next few years

 

[yappy]

worse than last year? :shock:

Wasn't last year about (1.9 mil) for the consolidated account?

 

[brook]

hmm maybe I was remembering the figures better than they actually were...

Either way things didn't look good at all - and revenue seemed to be down across the board

 

[Bald Tiger]

Loss in 2003 was $1.027 million. Loss in 2002 was $1.535 million.
Brook: the apartment complex idea will run foul of the Council and residents. The height restrictions that will be imposed will not make that viable. I dont have a problem with it but the reality of the area is that the locals will kill it off. I reckon 4-5 storeys in total if we are lucky.

 

[brook]

Loss in 2003 was $1.027 million. Loss in 2002 was $1.535 million.
Brook: the apartment complex idea will run foul of the Council and residents. The height restrictions that will be imposed will not make that viable. I dont have a problem with it but the reality of the area is that the locals will kill it off. I reckon 4-5 storeys in total if we are lucky.

Nah what I meant is an apartment complex where the club used to be - ie we'll lose the club full stop.

 

[King Tigerman]

got the leagues club report today apparantely the loss was only something like $100000 also yappy whats the story about the league owning a golf course , which 1

 

[yappy]

100K? What figure is that? Sure you haven't misplaced a 0

 

[B_Tiger]

it seems a bit like Balmain are out of ideas. Munks' rant about the pokie taxes shows how uncreatively Balmain leagues and Balmain football club have been run in the past ten years or so. Pokies are the sole reason we remain alive today (in some form), and that's pretty poor. I'm sure it is that way for a lot of clubs, but running a club well involves coming up with new sources of income and Balmain has come up with absolutely nothing for a very long time. The changing demographic in Balmain and the casino's opening are legitimate excuse for profit loss but surely the club should have done more then small renovations that don't attract the new population in the inner west. Those renovations seem largely wasted with only small increases in food sales. So was that a major f**k up by Munkey? I think it showed a complete lack of any creative vision by the club.

I think football club members enjoy the fact that Balmain leagues has kept the same culture it always has had, but the club needed to set itself apart from the many pubs in the area and it simply just hasn't been able to do that. Getting less live bands into the club was also a poor decision. Balmain leagues now offers little to music fans and the bands themselves when semi-popular bands play there. The place just isn't set up for anything but food and pokies, which just shows a terrible flaw in the management when the majority of the population surrounding the club doesn't want to go to a club like that.

 

[tigger]

After getting the financials this year, i didn't bother going to the AGM. The club is farked with the current management, but no one can be bothered sacrificing themselves to try and plug the massive leaks that years of mismanagement have created. What is sadder, is no one cares anymore. Once Munk told me that he would be continuing to put money into Wests even if it meant that Balmain RLFC did not exist anymore, i realised that the monkeys have taken over the zoo (they are contractually bound to do so, however, they should be addressing their liabilities with a little more care than just signing on the dotted line). I would prefer to pay a good private CEO $500,000 a year to try and turn the ship around, rather than watch the current blokes piss 96 years down the storm water drain. The biggest problem is that even if Wests have a good season this year, it will not have any positive financial effect on Balmain. I wish that i had the time to even contemplate getting involved, because what used to be a oil tanker is now a run about that will be a bath tub in the not too distant future.

 

[TontTiger]

After getting the financials this year, i didn't bother going to the AGM. The club is farked with the current management, but no one can be bothered sacrificing themselves to try and plug the massive leaks that years of mismanagement have created. What is sadder, is no one cares anymore. I would prefer to pay a good private CEO $500,000 a year to try and turn the ship around, rather than watch the current blokes piss 96 years down the storm water drain. The biggest problem is that even if Wests have a good season this year, it will not have any positive financial effect on Balmain. I wish that i had the time to even contemplate getting involved, because what used to be a oil tanker is now a run about that will be a bath tub in the not too distant future.

Yeah I heard the other day that the Newcastle knights made a profit last year of $12,000 .. Up from a loss of $300,000 the year before. They have a pretty new CEO there who I think doesnt quite get $500,000 so it worked for them. And from what I hear the guy hasnt played football and has the personality of a brick but must be doing something rihgt? Or reporting the wrong figures? LOL