{"id":283749,"date":"2023-04-06T08:24:11","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T08:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=283749"},"modified":"2023-04-06T14:59:34","modified_gmt":"2023-04-06T14:59:34","slug":"bristling-tigers-boss-hits-back-at-lie-accusation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=283749","title":{"rendered":"Bristling Tigers boss hits back at 'lie' accusation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wests Tigers<\/a> chief executive Justin Pascoe<\/a> has hit back at the sensational accusation that the club lied about collaborating with the Australian Defence Force regarding its commemorative jersey, declaring the suggestion was "disrespectful" and admitting "it hurts".<\/p>\n

Pascoe, who's copping blows yet again over the club's controversial jersey design for Anzac Round<\/a>, lashed out at critics in an interview with Nine's Emma Lawrence at Wests Tigers' Concord headquarters on Thursday\ufeff.<\/p>\n

"The fact that people have come out last night and suggested that we lied is really disrespectful to this club, and we're bitterly disappointed," Pascoe said.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Wests Tigers star hits out over damning claim<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Norman fumes at 'petty' Augusta National snub<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Peng Shuai mystery clouds ITF's big China call<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"We would never lie in regards to this topic and we certainly would never lie to our members or our fans.<\/p>\n

\"Wests<\/p>\n

"We've never come out and said we got approval on the design from the Australian Defence Force. What we did say in a media release on Tuesday night was that we've been working in collaboration with Holsworthy Army Barracks\ufeff, which is a local army barracks here in our catchment area about the approval of marketing collateral."<\/p>\n

Pascoe said Wests Tigers had "\ufeffa trail of communication emails" with Holsworthy Army Barracks in which the club was approved to use "not just video, but content for social and also pictures".<\/p>\n

"It hurts to be accused of lying to our fans and members," Pascoe added.<\/p>\n

"It's a clear shot at the integrity of the club.<\/p>\n

Stream the NRL premiership 2023 live and free on<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"As we clearly articulated in a release on Tuesday \u2014 we're not being cute with words\ufeff \u2014 we were working with Holsworthy Army Barracks in regards to the production of collateral.<\/p>\n

"They saw the design, the NRL saw the design … The ownership is on us. We were the ones who initiated the design. It was our concept, our notion and the fault lies with us.<\/p>\n

\"Wests<\/p>\n

"Our team here designed this jersey with the notion to pay homage to modern-day war in a desert environment. We were the ones who used the stock image and that's the fact."<\/p>\n

Pascoe made it clear the club had made "an honest mistake".<\/p>\n

\ufeff"We would never, ever demean or disrespect \ufeffthe Anzacs or the Anzac spirit and what it represents," he added.<\/p>\n

"I'm the chief executive officer here, so anything that happens, good and bad, sits with me, and I take full responsibility."<\/p>\n

What initially sparked the controversy was the fact Wests Tigers had used a stock image of American soldiers.<\/p>\n

The club was widely slammed for resorting to a stock image and not using Australian soldiers, despite the commemorative jersey being released for Anzac Round.<\/p>\n

The club binned the original design and released a new one on Thursday.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/WestsTigers\/status\/1643806564263002112<\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffAnother polarising decision amid the fiasco saw the club send John Bateman, an Englishman, to the photo shoot for the original jersey.<\/p>\n

Bateman and NRLW player Ruby-Jean Kennard were called upon to model the jumper.<\/p>\n

"In hindsight I see their view, but the reality is John Bateman is a Wests Tigers player and is for at least the next four years," Pascoe said.<\/p>\n

"John Bateman will be running out with our new commemorative jersey during Anzac Round, and will be representing and honouring the Anzacs\ufeff, as we all will on that day."<\/p>\n

The jersey drama comes amid a wretched period in Wests Tigers history stretching beyond a decade.<\/p>\n

The club has not played finals footy since 2011, received last year's wooden spoon and is 0-5 to start this season.<\/p>\n

\"Gus'<\/p>\n

Pascoe also\ufeff attracted criticism for his game-day demeanour<\/a> as Wests Tigers were belted 46-12 by the Broncos last Saturday.<\/p>\n

The nightmare has prompted calls for Pascoe to resign, but he said in the interview with Nine that he would "absolutely not" step down.<\/p>\n

"I've got the support of the board," Pascoe said.<\/p>\n

"I'm still working as diligently (and) passionately as what I was (on) day one.<\/p>\n

"We are all bitterly disappointed that we are 0-5. No one wants to be 0-5 and I get the frustration from our fans. But the reality is we're working to a five-year plan, we're five weeks into it and we all need to be patient.<\/p>\n

"But we're all working really diligently towards making sure that we can turn this season around. The season is not over.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wests Tigers chief executive Justin Pascoe has hit back at the sensational accusation that the club lied about collaborating with the Australian Defence Force regarding […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283749"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=283749"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":283751,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283749\/revisions\/283751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=283749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=283749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=283749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}