Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has issued a stark warning to the beleaguered executives of the Wests Tigers, cautioning that ongoing internal conflicts at the board level could threaten the very existence of the NRL franchise.

The club has been mired in controversy following the abrupt resignation of Shane Richardson, their chief executive, on Monday. His departure, just a year and a half into a four-year contract, comes in the wake of dramatic upheaval. Last week, the club’s majority owner, the Holman Barnes Group (HBG), unexpectedly dismissed four independent directors.

The HBG, a prominent leagues-club organization that also owns the Western Suburbs Magpies, controls a 90 percent stake in the Tigers.

Reports suggest that Richardson stepped down because he found it untenable to continue working with HBG after the significant boardroom shake-up. Adding to the turmoil, the NRL’s Integrity Unit has initiated an investigation following allegations concerning Richardson’s conduct.

The rationale behind HBG’s decision to remove directors Annabelle Williams, Charlie Viola, Michelle McDowell, and former NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell centers around claims that the majority stakeholders were sidelined from crucial club decisions. This includes recent strategic announcements about a 15-year stadium plan, ensuring that the Tigers’ NRL and NRLW teams will remain at Leichhardt Oval and Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne has delivered a damning warning to the embattled executives at the West Tigers, claiming that if the internal board level feud does not come to a swift end, the NRL franchise could ‘cease to exist’

The club has been thrust into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons this week after Shane Richardson (pictured) resigned as the club’s chief executive on Monday

Meanwhile, former The Masters Apprentices singer and current HBG chairman Dennis Burgess (pictured) is facing mounting pressure to keep his job after it emerged that he had been following numerous Instagram accounts publishing sexually explicit content

The internal crisis has infuriated some Tigers fans, who are set to protest the club’s decision to sack their directors this weekend. Mayor Byrne has subsequently called upon Tigers fans to join a rally, which will march from Pratten Park to the Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, on Saturday.

As part of the rally, Byrne has called for the club’s fans to demand HBG to ‘resign’. 

‘If this level of chaos and dysfunction is allowed to continue, and we don’t draw a line in the sand, then there is a very real risk that Wests Tigers will simply cease to exist as an NRL franchise,’ Byrne said to The Daily Telegraph.

‘If we don’t take a stand now and send a message that we want the Wests Tigers to survive, we don’t need to look very far in the inner-west to see what could happen. Ask a Newtown fan or North Sydney Bears fan how they felt when their team was no longer in the competition. We want to save our club.’

Mr Byrne has also called on the NRL and Liquor and Gaming NSW to step in and ‘provide an intervention’.

Liquor and Gaming NSW said that they were ‘monitoring’ the developments, per The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘It’s as clear as day that allowing the Holman Barnes Group to eliminate independent directors from the Wests Tigers board could mean the death of our famous rugby league club,’ Byrne said in a media release.

‘The fact that the same people who oversaw fifteen years of failure and three wooden spoons, have now launched a coup to take back total control over Wests Tigers makes clear how dire the situation is.

Last week four of the club’s directors, including former New South Wales Premier Barry O’Farrell (pictured) were sacked by the Holman Barnes Group (HBG)

The sackings came after the Wests Tigers majority owners, HBG, believed that board members at the club had omitted them from multiple key decisions

‘At this rally, fans and members will call on Peter V’landys and the NRL, as well as Liquor and Gaming NSW, to intervene and fix the shambolic governance of Wests Tigers once and for all.

‘It’s time for Wests Tigers fans and Wests Ashfield Leagues Club members to stand up and save our football team before it’s too late.’

HBG CEO Daniel Paton explained that the organisation would be announcing a new leadership in the future.

‘His [Richardson’s] resignation paves the way for a new path forward for the football club,’ Paton said.

‘There are no further decisions or changes that have been made about the Wests Tigers board at the moment,’ a HBG spokesperson said to The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘The next board meeting is scheduled for December 15.’

Departing Manly boss Tony Mestrov has emerged as the frontrunner to become the club’s next chief executive.

The news comes as HBG chairman Burgess, the former singer and bassist of the Aussie rock band The Masters Apprentices, has been thrust into the spotlight, after social media users noted that his Instagram account was allegedly following numerous adult profiles that had links to sexually explicit content.

The chairman (pictured with wife Clare) has come under fire after three members of the Tigers board were dismissed

Burgess’s Instagram account follows hundreds of accounts that include links to adult material (pictured)

Burgess’ Instagram account, @wildmandenny, had been following 4,500 accounts and had been inactive since 2017.

One social media user, @timhoran1980, stated: ‘Wow, the Chairman of Holman Barnes Group Dennis Burgess sure follows a lot of 20-something girls with OnlyFans accounts on his Instagram,’ the account posted.

‘It’s a wonder he has time to lead boardroom coups. I stopped counting at 100 accounts with OF [OnlyFans] links.

‘To be clear I’m not suggesting there’s anything wrong with his Instagram activity. Just a bit weird.’

Daily Mail has contacted Burgess for comment.

It also comes as Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys has met with the club’s four sacked directors on Tuesday.

On Saturday, V’landys said: ‘We want to make sure [the internal power battle] doesn’t affect the running of the football club.

‘We want to make sure that [coach] Benji Marshall and the players are quarantined from all of this drama. It’s important because they need to prepare for next season without these worries, so we need to make sure that they will be quarantined from any drama.

‘In the interim, we will speak to all parties to see what has caused this instability.’