Constitution reform broke through its final barrier to give the Parramatta Leagues Club and its football operation, the chance to re-birth as the kind of modern organisation that it needs to be, moving into the future.
With members finally given the opportunity to express their opinions via electronic and postal voting, administrator and chairman Max Donnelly announced that almost 92 per cent of voting members supported the reforms.
With over 1,600 votes, less than 140 voted against the reforms.
The overwhelming nature of the vote was in itself justification for the reforms. WIth low participation (there are currently more than 25,000 members eligible to vote), general meetings and elections have been exploited by large numbers of “family and friends” votes. While the same hundred-odd votes were recorded against the reforms, these were no longer anywhere near what was needed when the greater membership was given greater opportunity to vote.
Max Donnelly will now open up nominations for his initial board of directors. Donnelly will now carry his role through to the next Annual General Meeting in February, after which he intends to have a merit-based board in place immediately after.
I’m obviously delighted. It was eight years ago, that Matt Hollier and I met with Denis Fitzgerald in the Epping Club to try and understand a constitution, that was so very obviously outdated and in desperate need of change. I’ve been through three horrible elections, had my membership taken away from me and copped plenty of crap along the way to get to this point, and it’s basically a bucket list item I can check off now.
However, more importantly, there are so many people who I’ve worked with, or have provided their support and encouragement along the way, including most of the 1Eyed Eel community. Personally, that has meant a lot to me, and I thank you. Matt is a legend and has been there the entire journey, including doing the whole election fiasco, and also special thanks to Elliott - who has always kept the info on here ticking over when I got stupidly busy as I have been of late. This issue eventually became something that the entire Eels community got behind and it's been great to work very closely with the likes of Chris Losco, Craig and Mitch at TCT and particularly Matt Carroll over on LU.
But a lot of you took on this ambition as well, and I hope everyone who cast a vote, or helped spread the word, take some pride from the result. It was really was something that was driven from the grassroots of the clubs.
There are some great outcomes from this process - there is the structural separation between the Leagues Club and Football Boards that will benefit both organisations; there are protections from mass upheaval which will provide ongoing stability; there will be two merit-based boards in the short-term with well-credentialled directors, and all members now have far more ability to vote and have a say in the clubs they love and are passionate about. If you're not a Leagues Club member, you should become one. The more people with a passionate interest in the football team have voting rights, the greater our chance of keeping the joint in the right hands. Not being able to get to Parramatta to vote is no longer an excuse.
None of which to to say there won’t be near-term and long-term challenges - the Clubs industry is hurting at the moment, with an across-the-board downturn in gaming revenue; the Club has new competition and its regeneration work has probably really only just begun. However, we have a footy team that offers a huge amount of hope, some tremendous club initiatives, not the least of which is the Kellyville Centre of Excellence and the opportunity is there now, for Parramatta Leagues and the Eels to grow into something we can all be proud of.
Replies
Great news and Good result all around
It its great to know that we have such passionate and dedicated fans to represent the most passionate supporters in the country
And there you have it! A true I indication of what the wider membership wants for the club's future and now we have a club that is no longer held to ransom by such a small self interested minority.
Suck shit to the factions
The White Ants have been exterminated!
It was a fantastic result all round and kudos all round to you movers and shakers !
This result will be the pivotal plank in waking the mega giant.
You little ripper
Sensational news
Great result for the club and all Eels fans. Once electronic voting opened, vested groups lost their last fingernails of stranglehold.
Phil, on a personal level what's happening with your membership and how are you feeling now ?
There are some highly intelligent members on here and former members who also contributed behind the scenes. I am happy for them, too. Ecstatic.
I might even start voting, after all these decades of cycnicism re election processes & factional BS.
The reforms won't eliminate mistakes being made, nor dark moments, but let's hope we move from strength to strength - never returning to our darkest days.
This should be the death of the spagnolo and his factions who were within an inch of destroying this great club for good. Hallelujah. Very smart move introducing electronic voting and hopefully that continues throughout each voting process
Don't let all the other factions off the hook. Fitzy had a very loyal team of spoilers as well.
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