EELS SEEKING LEGAL ADVICE RE CHANNEL 7

Just received this email from LC CEO Bevan Paul;

Dear Members

On Friday evening Channel Seven aired a number of defamatory and false statements in relation to the Parramatta Leagues Club group and the Electoral process. It was a highly disappointing piece of journalism as no effort was made to test the claims made and as such the Club has asked our representatives to pursue the matter with Channel 7’s legal advisers to seek a retraction and apology.

THE FACTS

Ray Price and Ben Smith are ineligible to stand for the 2015 Parramatta Leagues Club elections and rather than pursue their concerns through legal channels have chosen instead to use the media to air their grievances. As Ray and Ben have chosen to take this approach the Club is now obliged to respond accordingly however the response will be to our Members first, and with the facts.

RAY PRICE

Ray Price is not a financial Member of Parramatta Leagues Club and is therefore ineligible to stand at the 2015 Parramatta Leagues Club election as per the NSW Registered Clubs Act and Parramatta Leagues Club constitution.

Records show he was issued a free Membership on February 16, 2011 at 10.14am and the Board then voted to add Mr Price, a week later, to the Membership database. In itself this is problematic as free Honorary Membership can only be issued by the Board. For a Member to have rights to vote and stand for election they must be financial.

Persons may have noticed that there was no photograph on the Membership card Mr Price displayed in his interview. This is because Mr Price did not attend the club to purchase his Membership so no photo was taken as per the clubs normal procedures.

EXTRACT FROM LEAGUES CLUB MEMBERSHIP DATABASE – RAY PRICE 73150

BEN SMITH

Ben Smith has been ruled ineligible to stand for the Parramatta Leagues Club election as he was performing paid work at Eels' home games at the time of his nomination. This creates a conflict of interest which is why he is ineligible to stand under both the Club's constitution and the Registered Clubs Act.

Regards

Bevan Paul
Chief Executive Officer
Parramatta Leagues Club

"Some players need to get sacked from a club and risk losing it all before they really knuckle down and put in the work. Why did he get sacked, was it lack of discipline for footy and training or off field issues?"

"I love Twidle, you can just tell he is not a robotic NRL player, he plays with instincts. Not saying he is Munster, but Munster plays the same. Apa gets the ball, looks to see what is infront of him and says "Let's try this". That can be dangerous…"

Replies

Muttman May 3, 2015 at 11:43am

Boom!!!
- Carloeel > Muttman May 3, 2015 at 11:45am
  
  Surely worth sending to media watch if it's still on .... Great example of thorough reporting not
macybrown May 3, 2015 at 11:52am

After watching this the other night, (and obviously being disappointed in the past players comments)

thought the same thing about the quality of journalism in reporting this.

What was the point if it was not to discredit the current admin?

Without any investigation into facts, it was nothing more than biased sensationalism that is mainstream t.v in all things political.

It's about time these journo's put their money where their mouth is.

Good on the Club!
- FME > macybrown May 3, 2015 at 7:09pm
  
  Spot on Macy. As I said to Fong yesterday the media are an outlet to push agendas. They never report on the facts and this is a prime example. Hope the club start legal proceedings against price and channel 7.
macybrown May 3, 2015 at 11:54am

haha and they reckon the abc sucks!
Jimmy May 3, 2015 at 7:25pm

As I understand it even if they publish an apology we can still pursue them for damages.

By the way who was the reporter?
- Adam > Jimmy May 3, 2015 at 7:52pm
  
  Matt Carmichael, based on this link
  https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/27507761/price-lashes-out-at-...
Clive May 3, 2015 at 8:00pm

Can someone clarify something for me? Was Ben Smith running against a board that had given him a job?
- Jimmy > Clive May 3, 2015 at 8:06pm
  
  Thanks Adam....I thought it might have been Massoud who works for them now. Clive I don't know the details but I assume the offer of work came from Scott Seward the CEO of the club.
- Nutcracker > Clive May 4, 2015 at 1:03am
  
  Clive, in essence, yes. Smith had to declare his employment before he nominated, and the club wouldn't have known he was nominated until after Smith informed the Returning Officer (who is independeny), So if your asking why the Club didnt give Smith a heads up or think there maybe something dodgy, there wouldn't have been. The Club wouldn't have found out Smith was running until AFTER his chance to declare his employment had passed. Hope that makes sense mate.