Parramatta didn’t just fail in its desire to get Bill Moss on its board, it failed a simple maturity test that bears testament to a club still being torn apart by personal agendas and in-fighting.
It was an AGM that, for most of its duration, resembled a rowdy soccer match with constant heckling directed from a section of the collective towards the chairman and the Parramatta Leagues executives and consultants who fronted the meeting. Never has either Roy Spagnolo or Denis Fitzgerald had to contend with such disrespect and lack of etiquette from the floor.
All of the motions put forward tonight were defeated. Let’s leave aside the more controversial ammendments - those related to director’s remuneration, the extension of a board’s term in office and the independent director, which were all soundly defeated. At this AGM , the club put forward an amendment to the constitution which would “provide for an obligation on all Directors of the Board to comply the Board approved Code of Conduct”. This was a basic recommendation that came out of the comprehensive Russell review that currently sees out Leagues Club being part of an ongoing investigation by the Official of Liquor, Gaming and Racing.
Unlike all of the other amendments, not a single person spoke against this motion. Yet it was voted down so overwhelmingly that there was not even a requirement to take a vote. Apparently the majority of Parramatta members don’t believe that Directors should be forced to adhere to a code of conduct. Which I guess could be good for some of our elected officials, considering the number of leaks we see come out of the boardroom.
Nor do the majority of members think it is a good idea for this club to have the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) or similar organisation manage the voting of future club elections. That amendment never got a look in either.
This was an AGM that was blatant factional warfare. At the end of the meeting Denis Fitzgerald and Roy Spagnolo, both looking positively gleeful, shook hands as they presumably congratulated each other on achieving their respective desired outcomes.
Sharp looked drained and almost distressed towards the end of the meeting. In no way, did he deserve the heckling and derision that was dished out to him tonight.
That said, this was not a well-convened AGM. Fitzgerald, former Club lawyer Brian Belling and others picked enough holes in the amendments that they may not have succeeded even without the obvious vote stacking. The board and the club utterly failed to sell the amendments, either in literature or communication prior to the AGM or during the meeting. Constitutional amendments should not be taken lightly and in this case they were given too short shrift.
I met Bill Moss tonight briefly. He struck me as an extraordinarily humble and genuinely nice man in our brief chat and he gave our site a wrap too. I sat behind him and watched him turn his wheelchair around to see how the votes were panning out. My heart broke a little bit at that moment. He clearly has enormous passion for Parramatta, and I don’t think this will deter him from taking a greater involvement in our club. As an organisation, we need to now step back and properly convene a forum to get constitutional reform right. Independent directors are a good thing - it’s why the NRL is so keen to see clubs travel down that route. Trying to inject more stability into our election process is a good thing and we must revisit this issues - but next time we’ve got to get it right and the club needs to do its part by the members and fully involve them in the process of the remaking of our constitution.
Because, if we don’t, the situation that unfolded tonight, where a sensible and much-needed amendment such as that which requires directors to adhere to a code of conduct will continue to be used as political pawns in the ongoing power struggle that plagues the club and we’ll continue to be stuck in the quagmire of personality conflicts and vendettas that continue to drag us into the wrong sort of headlines and continually tarnishes the reputation of what should be a much mightier club.
Replies
Spagnolo, Fitzy and all your stooges and supporters, hang your heads in shame YOU ARE WHATS WRONG WITH THIS ONCE GREAT CLUB, fekking disgrace the lot of you.
So disappointing for the club.
BILL MOSS if your reading this, please dont give up mate, rise above this crap, we need blokes like you to save our club, run for the board at the next elections, i have a good feeling you will get on, im sure you understand the factions at play here mate, rise above it, dont let it wound your determination as im sure it wont, the overwhelming majority on here are right behind you, i want to see your name on a ticket at the next election.
And Bill, please join up to 1EE and have a chance to talk to the faithful online, you will be received with open arms i can guarantee you that.
Well said Snake. 100% concur.
I'm out of answers. When factional divisions cannot see past their own self interests, even for something as obvious as Bill Moss then we are screwed.
Spagnolo supporters clearly like collecting wooden spoons. You people are morons.
Fitzgerald supporters clearly believe in the tooth fairy if they think Denis will ever wield power at the Eels again.
We are fucked!!
Mutt the real moment i realised we have the most imbosolic members of any club is when EGJ got the most votes to get on the board, a bloke that only had immaturity to offer to the board, it really hit home we are fucked as a club, the same fools would have voted against the motion to get Bill on the board tonight, these 3p supporters is whats wrong with our club, they should be ashamed of themselves, what is wrong with these people.
Great post, Phil, well done.
Your father was a good man. I suspect it is hereditary but latent in your case, FF.
I've read the other post and much of the disappointment that has followed but can I say as a supporter-base that WE let this happen time and again. The vote on the renumeration issue was 118 to 101, and I think that was the most controversial of the amendments. So about ONE HUNDRED people blocked this from happening. ONE HUNDRED people stopped something from happening, that judging by the sentiment on this site at least TENS OF THOUSANDS of eels supporters would have liked the club to have pushed through. This is a club that has HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of supports and ONE HUNDRED people can roll in, not give a damn about what was being voted on, and make these decisions on behalf of all of us. I know I have begged people to get their memberships in order, and to try and get involved at this level because until we succeed in getting through some of the reforms that allow for more representational voting, this is the situation we are stuck with and it will continue to screw us over again and again. Get your memberships and twice a year make the effort to get to the Leagues Club to ensure your opinion is properly represented. There will be more people who read this post in about 15 minutes when you guys start logging back on, than voted down those amendments tonight.
Phil does the constitution allow proxy votes? If it did maybe the amendments would get thru as most of those members (non attending & regional) would be hard to control by the factions. Also next time maybe a blog on the amendments for the AGM should be put on here for 1EE members to comment on as there would be many club members here.
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