The Wests Tigers have announced that at the conclusion of the 2024 season, Brydens Lawyers will terminate their one-million dollar partnership with the team.
After joining the club for the first time in 2015, the law firm upgraded to a principal shirtfront partnership in 2016. The partnership will be ending, according to a formal statement posted on the Tigers website today.
Shane Richardson, CEO of Wests Tigers, thanked the Sydney-based company for its years of support. “Throughout this time, this club has faced many obstacles both on and off the pitch, but the one constant has been the unwavering support from Brydens Lawyers,” the speaker stated.
The news arrives at a time when the struggling club is going through turmoil. Following an internal review that was commissioned by significant shareholder Holman Barnes, former Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis—who also happens to be the principal of Brydens Lawyers—was abruptly fired from the team in December of last year.
After the controversy, there was a lot of discussion about the firm’s relationship with the team after their current contract expired.
The news was officially broken by NRL journalist Phil Rothfield, who wrote in a column for The Daily Telegraph that he had seen a two-page, scathing letter written by Hagipantelis addressed to Nathan Russell, the Tigers’ head of corporate partnerships, who was not involved in Hagipantelis’ departure. The letter announced the breakup between the law firm and the club.
News Corp allegedly advised Rothfield to take the letter out of the article in order to prevent defamatory consequences. On Sky Sports Radio’s Big Sports Breakfast, Rothfield said, “You should see the unedited version of the letter.”
He did publish significant portions of the last letter, in which Hagipantelis labelled important club stakeholders “cowards” and described the review as a “sham.”
“Given the disrespectful way the representatives of the Club’s stakeholders treated me as Chairman of Wests Tigers, the disgraceful events of December 12th last year impacted significantly and adversely on the relationship of Brydens Lawyers and Wests Tigers,” Hagipantelis allegedly wrote in the letter.
“I chose to stick to the current contractual arrangements instead of terminating them, as another prominent sponsor chose to do, despite such reprehensible behaviour.”
“Even though honour does not seem to permeate the upper echelons of the Wests Tigers ownership, I felt that it was the honourable thing to do to fulfil my current obligations.”
Hagipantelis allegedly alleges in the letter that Richardson failed to make himself available to talk about the partnership’s future. He wrote, “Recent events have compounded the concerns which I have held with respect to Brydens Lawyers and Wests Tigers’ continued relationship.” “First of all, it is quite concerning that your CEO has not participated at all in our conversations regarding the extension of our sponsorship.”
“In my vast experience, when negotiating a sponsorship agreement, the CEO of any club or community organisation would become inextricably involved in the talks with the Major Sponsor.” The majority of CEOs would consider this involvement to be significant. Yours obviously does not.
Prior to publication, B&T contacted Brydens Lawyers for comment regarding the dissolution of the partnership, but they did not receive a response.
With their relationship coming to an end, the Tigers will need to find a new primary front-of-short sponsor before the 2025 season begins.
