Putting this up here as both retiring directors mention aspects of the club that have been front and centre lately, namely our Centre of Excellence, the Junior League and our Pathways programs.
Official statement: https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2024/05/02/board-update-may-2024/
The Parramatta Eels announced today that Col Robertshaw and Mark Jenkins are retiring from the Parramatta Eels Board.
Col Robertshaw joined the Parramatta Eels Board of Directors in February 2017 and Mark Jenkins joined the Board as the nominated director from Parramatta Leagues Club in 2020.
Parramatta Eels Chairman, Sean McElduff, thanked both Col and Mark for their significant contribution to the Eels.
“Col and Mark are highly accomplished business leaders who brought a range of skills and experience to our organisation. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank them for their tremendous contribution to the Eels and we wish them all the best in the future,” said Sean.
During his tenure on the Eels Board, Col was a major driver of the Club’s Centre of Excellence project and provided invaluable input that will help deliver a lasting legacy for the Club. Mark Jenkins was instrumental in providing a strong connection between our Leagues Club and the Football Club while also playing a major role in the review of our Junior League undertaken in 2021.
Col Robertshaw said, “It has been an honour to serve on the Parramatta Eels Board and I’m proud to have played a role in helping bring to life a generational project with the Centre of Excellence. I’d like to personally thank the Board, all the staff, players, coaches and our loyal Members for what has been a great relationship and I wish them well both on and off the field for the future.”
Mark Jenkins said, "I’ve really enjoyed my time on the Board and I’m pleased that we’ve been able to progress some of the key initiatives such as our reform of Junior League and increased investment in Elite Pathways. I’d like to thank my fellow Directors and wish everyone involved with the Club enormous success.”
Two new Directors have been elected through the nomination committee, and the Club is pleased to announce that John Forrest, and PLC nominated Director Sue Coleman will be joining the Eels Board in 2024.
Replies
Interesting Cappy, you may remember me writing a blog on communication..... from the board amongst others.
This update piece on what they achieved and what they were involved is a clasic illustration of nobody knowing at our end that such responsibilites and function's were held by anyone. How hard would it have been to get regular updates and send the message that your "board" is working for you!
If you cannot get that part of your strategic thinking of doing that, then the problem comes from the head and not the body!
Who's John Forrest? What does he bring to the table? Why was he selected? Who is on the committee that selected him?
Why was Sue Coleman chosen over the other PLC Directors especially Phil Sim who at least has a background in junior football. What skills does Sue bring that was needed on the Football Board.
I'll just shut up and buy merchandise.
Good call and I will ask from my ignorance who is "Sue Coleman" and what does she bring.....I have no problems but when any new appointments are made there should be a short note about their history and what they bring.....now that is standard on any corporate board. Sounds like the tail wagging the dog from the Leagues Club but when a new board member is placed by PLC, it is probably more the job of the Football Chairman to do the spruiking.
Do the two boards ever come together? and if not why not, they may be independant of each other, but the fact that the PLC places a representative director would imply that they are the senior party. Funding does come from them and I accept that but would still love to know what the charter of the Leagues Club is to understand how their support comes into place/play.
i.e the football board decide they want Bennett, they may or may not have the liquidity to do that, ie they ran at a loss for some time, if they have to go cap in hand to PLC how does that work? how did the losses occur from a perspective of PLC oversight? ......I understand the football is trading at a profit, but are there ceilings enforced on their cash flow and does the PLC rep on the board take such choices back with them.
One final comment I have always been against privatisation, because the capital is not required. The Leagues Club obviously are funding the "centre of excellence" and numerous overheads and that is the great advantage but a privatised group would only have a primary objective of the NRL Team and nothing to with development unless that was built into the charter.
I am not wishing us to be privatised but maybe the current structure is what is holding us back somewhat.....I am happy to be corrected on those assumptions. Going back to Cappy's original blog on this, its fine to be conservative when we look at the reasons behind the mess, but not only the football club but PLC need to understand this as well.
Completely agree. These moves have been made in the background with little thought or consideration for the members.
The board has been successful off the field, but on the field is a different matter. They can't continue to operate like this or they'll lose the trust of the members.
Sue Coleman - PLC Director, Parra City Council, 20 years in community services, Parra Library Services, Advisory Board of the Parra Community Justice Clinic, Board of WESTIR (non profit research company)... now add Eels Board to the collection of Boards. Oh... nominated 10y ago Women of the West Award, supported by the boss of the Fairfield Migrant Resource Centre.
Screams footy to me... just what we need given our current state of affairs. Go Parra.
Results on the field have become a long-distant second to this boys (and girls) club now built on circling the wagons of mediocrity and protection of collective self-interest... the Board, the Coach and even some Players. Scratch my back, I'll scratch yours... say I'm great, I'll say you are, are we all blaming MM being out - yep, check. We need a bit of scorched earth policy... the head of the fish is rotten and the body is in decay as a result.
As a member I'd like to know why this appointment was made. Based on that resume it's not a skillset that is needed at the Football club so what is the reason?
To me the board looks set up to maximise business in terms of paying customers (fans and members), which attracts sponsorship. Add to that some avenues to grow in untapped areas (women and migrants), and the Parra brand looks set to grow and self perpetuate. To the board, that seems to be what they deem success. It's mostly financial with some fluffy community engagement thrown in to add to the appeal. Success on the football field is not a precursor to these, since the strength of the Parra brand is not reliant on the Eels winning. We all know that Parra fans turn up to games and spend money on membership and merchandise regardless of success. This is not something all clubs have, and the likes of Penrith and Melbourne rely heavily on on-field success to maximise fan engagement.
If that's all true, the board will need to rethink their strategy as the fans are finally starting to wake up to it, which could bring the whole thing crashing down fast.
I suspect the Board agree with you.
The big question is who would we want on our Board with NRL experience?
Sterlo springs to mind but he's said many times he doesn't want to be directly involved beyond just an opinion here and there. Other than him, who from our former players would we want? Who is our Greg Alexander, our Chief Harrigan? I honestly can't think of anyone quickly. Perhaps we need to research this more. Who from our club played at the hgihest level and went on to career success? Alternatively, which administrators with an undeniable track record could we attract to sit on our Board. Our own Quayle and Arthurson?
The only ex-Eels player I can think of who would fit that mould is Peter Wynn. He might be a bit of a clown at times, but his business has been successful for decades. He must know something about making money and engaging fans, and of course is a massive Eels fan with first hand knowledge of the game, albeit some decades ago. I would love to see him on the board - he would definitely shake some feathers.
Muttman, there are two NRL men of ours who qualify with those skill sets. Both Peter Wynn and Michael Cronin played at the highest level and have run successful businesses post football. Both played under Jack Gibson so know what it takes to make a football team successful. Either of those would be great choices. What I would like explained is why Phil Simm wasn't appopinted as surely that was his reason for him getting involved in the first place and why he was appointed by Max. If you were going to appoint someone from within then Simm is the obvious choice but if you are apppointing externally I'd be happy with either Wynn or Cronin. (I don't know Simm so have no conflict of interest)
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