Richard Fale, the head of a US consortium who attempted to buy the Warriors, holds grave fears for the NRL franchise after learning that a deal for Auckland Rugby League to buy the club was to be finalised this week.
The Carlaw Park Heritage Trust, a Trust associated with Auckland Rugby League, have agreed to a sale and purchase agreement for the Warriors with current owner Eric Watson.
ARL chairman Cameron McGregor said he was “hoping to make an announcement later this week”.
Speaking to 1NEWS, Fale said he was shocked to learn of the ARL deal saying he was waiting for his consortium’s deal to buy the Warriors to be agreed to and finalised.
“We thought we were just ironing out details before we reached a deal, that it was just timing on when the transaction was actually going to be completed,” Fale said.
“To wake up this morning was definitely was definitely a shocker so we're not sure exactly what to make of everything.”
Fale said the future of the Warriors under ARL leadership was bleak and felt it was inevitable the club would be up for sale again.
“Auckland Rugby League has a terrible record of growing the game within the city of Auckland, what exactly do they expect to accomplish?
“The team's going to be on the market in the next few years again, you can already predict what the future is going to be, look at the way the ARL runs the ARL, what are they going to do differently in running the Warriors?”
Fale said he was wary of being dragged into a legal dispute and had asked for reassurances from Watson that that would not be the case.
“What we wanted was certain clarity and confirmation that the team wasn't tied up in all the legal issues surrounding Watson and we weren't going to get sucked into some kind of legal dispute after all of this had gone down,” Fale said.
Fale felt that he may have been punished for being so vocal in the media, but felt that it was the South Auckland community who would be hurt the most.
“Quite possibly (we were punished for talking too much), we had to make sure people knew who we were,” Fale said.
“What we really feel people are going to lose out, primarily South Auckland. We know we could have done a lot of good for the community out there, we could have introduced something very different.”
However, former Kiwis coach Graham Lowe says having the ARL in charge of the NRL side will boost the game in the country.
"There will be a genuine pathway from grass roots of the game here in Auckland right through to the professional level of the Warriors," said Lowe.
"Pathways are important, the Warriors will argue that it has always been there but they will be highly visible now.
"I think it's the best thing that could happen in the game."
SHARE ME