Former Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis calls for immediate resignation of "deceitful and dishonest" Balmain chair

Former Wests Tigers chair Lee Hagipantelis has launched a stunning critique at Balmain Tigers chair Danny Stapleton and called on the current board member of the Wests Tigers to resign from his position.

Balmain director and former player Garry Leo spoke with The Sydney Morning Herald last Thursday in which he said his fellow board members had “lost faith” in the Wests Tigers majority owner, the Holman Barnes Group.

Following this bombshell statement, Stapleton and the Tigers released a statement and denied any agitation and were unified in their desire to remain at the joint venture.

Hagipantelis, who served as Wests Tigers chair from 2019-2023, found several discrepancies in the statement and has accused Stapleton of deliberately misleading the public.

“I’m a lifetime Balmain member so I am speaking as a supporter of the club,” Hagipantelis said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.

“There was a statement issued by the Balmain club to disavow any statements made by Garry Leo.

“I’ve got a lot of respect and a lot of time for Garry so you can imagine how frustrated he must have been to actually go on the record and air the grievances behind the scenes.

“It said that all was hunky dory between the Balmain directors and the Holman Barnes Group.

“The statement was not signed by the chair or CEO which is unusual. Within a few hours of that statement being put out, there was a leak of emails that circulated between the directors of Balmain which showed that every word of that statement was completely untrue.

“As fans, we were being gaslighted by the club as to what was occurring.

“The contents of the statement were not correct. A generous or neutral term would say they were erroneous.

“A more aggressive term would call them misleading.

“Ultimately, the chair of Balmain Danny Stapleton should take responsibility for that.

“I have known Danny Stapleton for quite some time and served on the board of the Wests Tigers with him.

“In my own personal dealings with him, he proved to be a very deceitful and dishonest person.

“He was lying to me for many, many months prior to the events of December last year.

“In my assessment, I don’t think Danny Stapleton is worthy of being the chair of Balmain and I don’t think he’s worthy of sitting on the board of directors at the Wests Tigers.

“If you put out a statement that is misleading and erroneous as it was, you should resign.

“He should resign immediately.”

Listen to more from Hagipantelis below: