Paul Kent revealed the Wests Tigers have been caught out in a lie that they collaborated with the Defence Force over their botched ANZAC jersey in the latest fiasco to engulf the club.
The Tigers were forced to withdraw a commemorative jersey that was on sale intended for ANZAC Round, which was modelled by Englishman John Bateman after it contained a stock image of American soldiers found online.
Kent revealed the Tigers lied about collaborating with the Defence Force in a desperate attempt to cover up the embarrassing blunder.
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Tigers defend ‘stock photo’ Anzac jersey | 01:45
“A lot has happened since then, it sparked a lot of outrage online yesterday,” Kent said on NRL 360.
“A lot of old Diggers immediately realised that the soldiers weren’t wearing Australian uniforms and weren’t carrying Australian weaponry. The machine guns they were carrying were actually with the US Marines at the moment.
“So the Tigers gave us a statement and the important bits to pick out of it are, that they claim they collaborated with Holsworthy Army Barracks, who sighted and approved all collateral relating to the release of this jersey.
“They were very generic around their talking around that. The soldiers on the jersey simply depict the modern-day soldier serving in a desert environment.
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“They backed well away from the ANZAC reference. In previous years it has always been called the ANZAC jersey. This year even before this was discovered it was called the commemorative jersey.
“That indicated to me yesterday when we started to chase this that they had already become aware that it wasn’t a genuine ANZAC image and they couldn’t call it an ANZAC jersey.”
Kent chased the Defence Force for a statement and they revealed no one from Holsworthy Barracks had spoken to the Tigers.
“So we put a few calls into the Australian Defence Force yesterday as we also did with the Tigers and the Tigers came back with their statement and we didn’t get a follow-up from the Defence Force in time for the show,” Kent said.
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“What has happened today is the Tigers have withdrawn the jersey from sale following the outrage and the disrespect they have shown to the ANZAC tradition.
“They put out a statement saying they regret any offence it may have caused and they also said they have a new jersey coming in, which will properly symbolise the ANZAC tradition.
“Now in the meantime I have spoken to the Defence Force, who have said to us that they were not consulted by the Tigers, as opposed to what the Tigers said yesterday. That they did not supply any images to the Tigers. They do have images available if they are sought after, but they were not.
“The Tigers simply went and got a stock image off the internet, designed the jersey themselves and sent it off to Steeden who printed the jersey up.
“There is also a suggestion in the statement yesterday that it was purchased under the license of the official apparel partner. That’s not true. It was sent to Steeden by the Tigers.
“So the Tigers are a little bit slippery with their version of events today.”
Dan Ginnane led the disbelief and outrage that the Tigers could lie about such a sensitive and delicate area of society.
“We originally thought it was incompetence, but you do not lie when it comes to this part of society,” Ginnane said.
Sheens and CEO in Tigers firing line | 07:31
“When you are dealing with the Army and Diggers and people that have served. This is very dangerous territory where this is going.”
Kent believes the latest blunder from the Tigers is symptomatic of an incompetent front office, who continue to get things wrong and drag the joint venture and their fans through the mud.
“It is dangerous and I think it is symbolic of a lot of things that are happening at the club as far as their attention to detail and what they believe people should know,” Kent said.
“Their version of events, I think they initially got caught out where they realised they had the wrong image on the jersey. They have tried to move away from that and not link it to ANZAC day.
“The Diggers are in outrage because it is an ANZAC jersey. It is not Remembrance Day. It is not remembrance of all soldiers. It is the ANZAC legend. It is the Australian and New Zealand Army Corp.
Wests Tigers Press Conference | 08:56
“The image they found was online and put together by somebody in Iran of all places.
“The Tigers are still not being forthcoming with what happened. I think they have tried to massage and minimise the damage around this and unfortunately for them because of the delay in getting things confirmed it has come back to bite them.
“The Defence Force has shot down what was basically their last straw of hope that they had collaborated with Holsworthy Army Barracks, which the Defence Force said they clearly did not.”
James Hooper believes the jersey fiasco is insulting to the ANZAC tradition and the Defence Force and labelled the club as bad off the field as they are on it.
“No matter which way they try to massage it or spin it, it is an ANZAC insult,” Hooper said.
“To me what it underlines is the fact that the Tigers are as bad off the field and in the front office as they are on the field which is a very sad state of affairs.”
