At a board meeting at Wests Tigers’ Concord headquarters in September, club director Tony Andreacchio moved a motion to extend Lee Hagipantelis’ tenure at the club.
It was a recommendation from the nominations committee that was endorsed by both the Balmain and Wests Magpies factions of the joint-venture club. Hagipantelis was informed there was unanimous support at the September 18 meeting for him to continue as a director and as chairman of the joint venture.
Two days later, Hagipantelis was questioned about whether or not he believed the independent review that had just been requested by the Holman Barnes Group (the 60% majority owner of the Tigers), would put him and his CEO in danger during lunch with chief executive Justin Pascoe and four News Corp rugby league journalists at Totti’s in Rozelle.
In a demonstration of faith that has come to be regarded as rugby league’s equivalent of the kiss of death, Hagipantelis informed reporters that he had just had the board’s complete support. Reporters would later write an article reflecting the conversation.
Like former Tigers head coach Tim Sheens had found out only months earlier, Hagipantelis would soon learn the full support of the board counted for little.
Sources with knowledge of the situation talking under the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality agreements told this masthead that Gary Barnier, one of the two men entrusted to undertake the independent review, voiced his frustration to the Holman Barnes Group.
It’s unclear whether his angst was toward Hagipantelis’ revelation to the media that he had been reappointed, or in fact the reappointment itself.
There was a view that it compromised the review. The next morning, just hours before Hagipantelis was due to speak to the review, his interview was cancelled and later postponed a fortnight. Barnier declined to comment on that specific incident when contacted by this masthead.
Since then interviews have been conducted with dozens of stakeholders, including fans, social media podcasters, politicians, media representatives, player agents and staff. The chairman and CEO, who on Saturday will return from a family holiday in Vietnam, were two of the last scheduled to be interviewed.
Hagipantelis’ revelation to reporters that he had been reappointed was also deemed inappropriate by the Holman Barnes Group, which expressed its displeasure in an email to all directors.
Two days later, Hagipantelis received a call from Andreacchio, speaking on behalf of the Holman Barnes Group, asking him to resign as chairman. The invitation was declined by Hagipantelis. He also neglected to respond when this masthead approached him on Friday.
Hagipantelis was reminded by Andreacchio that the resolution he had proposed at the board meeting at the beginning of that week was to prolong his term as a director, not his chairmanship.
The chairman vehemently denied Andreacchio’s claim and went back to the board minutes to confirm the motion that had been passed, according to people who spoke with Hagipantelis but declined to give their names out of respect for him.
Hagipantelis later spoke with other directors at the board meeting, who confirmed the reappointment of Hagipantelis as chairman and that this was recorded in the minutes of the board meeting.