The Wests Tigers’ ownership dramas have escalated after the three directors at the centre of an ugly boardroom stoush warned they were lawyered up and ready to launch legal action to protect their reputations.
Rick Wayde, Tony Andreacchio and David Gilbert have been banned from any premises under the control of the Holman Barnes Group - the majority owner of the Tigers - pending an investigation into their conduct.
The trio plan to defend themselves against the allegations, which Wayde described as trivial.
“They may as well have said they didn’t like our deodorant,” Wayde told this masthead.
It is understood that among the allegations - some of which are more than a year old - are claims that:
Andreacchio referred to the wife of a fellow director as “darl”, which it is understood he vehemently denies;
Gilbert and Wayde put pressure on a fellow director to back Andreacchio, which again they deny; and
Wayde informed a fellow director he was in the wrong corporate box and failed to sit with his fellow directors at a number of events.
Wayde described the allegations as ridiculous, insisting he wasn’t even at one of the events where he was alleged to have snubbed his fellow directors.
He also refuted claims he and Gilbert had put pressure on a fellow director and revealed the trio were ready to take legal action over the allegations unless the investigation was dropped by Monday.
“I like to think my reputation was spotless in rugby league over the years,” Wayde said.
“So I don’t appreciate my reputation being impugned. So when we get through this … we will be seeking some kind of reparation for the damage that this is causing.
“As I said, they have impugned our reputation and I am not going to cop that. I am very proud of our record and I will stand by my record any day of the week.
“We don’t need this distraction but we’re mentioning it because the public need to know how trivial it is to try to keep us out of the game.”
As for the allegations of putting pressure on fellow director Vince Tropiano, Wayde said: “We asked him the question of whether he was still voting for Tony as chair, which seemed like a reasonable question.
“Then he has accused us of taking him into a back room and pressuring him.
“I don’t know where the back room was. It was at Walsh Bay, a very open cocktail party, one room event in full view of everybody.
“Is it unreasonable to ask whether he was still voting for Tony?
“I am accused at one of the games in Campbelltown of telling (a director) they were in the wrong box when they started (eating) the food that was available there.
“I knew that because I was in the wrong box … but I had been invited to say hello to some of the Wests Tigers people by Danny Stapleton.”
Wayde was flabbergasted at claims he had failed to sit with fellow directors.
“There are seven events - I am not sure what the list is for the other two guys - where we are accused of not sitting with the guys and wives at various events,” Wayde said.
“Out of my list of events, there were two (events) I was running … where I didn’t sit with anybody. There is another one I didn’t even attend.
“So I don’t know how I couldn’t sit with them if I wasn’t there.”
The drama at the Holman Barnes Group comes as they prepare for new board elections early in the new year.
The Group is the majority owner of the Tigers and has ultimate say over how the club is run, although they no longer dominate the football club’s board as they did previously.
The club underwent governance review late last year that led to former NSW premier Barry O’Farrell being appointed as an independent chair.
However, the changes remain at the mercy of the Holman Barnes Group. This masthead has reached out to Holman Barnes Group chair Julie Romero for comment.
In a statement on their website, released earlier this week, the Holman Barnes Group said the investigation was in the hands of an independent party and would not impact the football club.
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