Original source (on modern site)
One of the major stakeholders of the Wests Tigers, Holman Barnes Group, have pulled their support of a fan podcast over criticism of referee Kasey Badger. In the wake of the side's 22-14 loss to Canterbury on Saturday afternoon, one of the hosts of the show took to social media to slam Badger, who was at the centre of a number of controversial decisions during the round nine match. Badger was accused of being 'biased' and was urged to 'go back to the kitchen', earning plenty of backlash on X from fans from other clubs, as well as 2GB's Mark Levy. READ MORE: Burgess fumes after heated spat with UK rival READ MORE: Storm star reveals extent of ankle injury in latest blow READ MORE: Ricciardo goes from hero to zero in horror F1 collapse "It doesn't matter how passionate you are about your NRL team, there is simply no excuse for this sort of behaviour on social media," he said. "Apparently this bloke runs a Wests Tigers fan page. Absolutely disgraceful!! Referees are human. We need more of them, this just makes them quit." As one of the two fan-led podcasts supporting the Tigers, they had received support and backing from Holman Barnes Group over the years. But according to Levy, that support has now been pulled following the social media tirade from one of the hosts. Benji Marshall's side slumped to a fifth-straight defeat at the hands of the Bulldogs and now sit in 15th spot on the ladder. Aidan Sezer escaped a sin-bin for a hip-drop tackle during the match, but Alex Seyfarth was sat down for 10 minutes late in the game after a headbutt on Reed Mahoney. The visitors took a 14-0 lead at Accor Stadium, but were ran down by the Dogs in the second half.