As most of you would know, I’m deeply, deeply passionate about the need for constitutional reform at the Parramatta Eels. It’s what prompted me to get involved in Parramatta politics, and I will continue to do so, until I see the club underpinned by a constitutional and structural foundation that doesn't hold the club back from moving forward.
I’ve kept pretty quiet on this front for a long time, because we had our campaign on this during the football club election and lost. In doing so, I lost a bit of faith in my belief that the football club members should have control of the football club, because if they weren’t prepared to vote for that right, then who was I to keep harping they should have it.
However, the constant upheaval that has been wrought on this club for now half a decade, is directly linked to this flawed foundation that we operate on and it will continue to be the cancer that rots our club from the inside until it is fixed.
I get that a lot of supporters don’t care about the politics, and just want to watch their club play football. However, don’t then go whinging when your club is underperforming because of the same issues you couldn’t be bothered to care about.
So I’m going to take this opportunity to raise this issue again when a lot of you might have heightened sensitivity on the issue, and because a lot of the issues people are complaining about, highlight why constitutional reform is desperately needed.
Background
Our constitution was born out of the era of semi-professional football, when Rugby League clubs had no money, no assets and player contracts needed to be secured against an organisation that could back them. It was instituted under Denis Fitzgerald’s reign, and no doubt helped him to stay in control for so many years. It is a constitution that heavily favours incumbents boards with complicated cross-director rules that as we’ve seen can be too easily manipulated to achieve outcomes at odds with what members have voted for. As we saw under 3P who campaigned against the constitution and then changed their mind once they were in power, there is little incentive for any board to change it, because it protects their interests.
Lack of focus, wrong skills
The fundamental problem with the structure is the same people who run the Leagues Club are expected to run the NRL team. To expect to get seven directors that give you enough expertise across the two very different businesses of running a Leagues club and running an NRL franchise is ludicrous. We actually have a decent balance of skills as that was the way ParraFirst was put together, but its still a far cry from what you would have if you were spreading expert directors across two boards.
What needs to be done: The NRL boards need to be split off from the Leagues Club board under a new structure that ensures you get the right people in place with the right experience. I would also argue for a framework that ensures the board has finance, legal, marketing/comms, football experience - with the ability to appoint external directors if there are no suitable candidates.
Never-ending campaigning
I know someone who saw one of Roy Spagnolo’s mates consoling him, after the Leagues Club election, who said something along the lines of “Pick yourself back up, and we’ll get you back there in two years”. The longest period of time that Parramatta goes without an election is 18 months. If you want to run a serious campaign you really need to be planning it more than 12 months out. What that means is that, when you have people who really want to run the club, we will simply go from election to election, with one party or the other immediately shifting their attention to undermining who is on control at any point in time. We have reached an all-time-low in terms of ridiculousness with placards from factional supporters being waved at games less than three months after an election.
What needs to be done: Elections should be run every three-years and the football club and Leagues club elections should be run on the same day.
Tickets are bad for everyone
Football clubs shouldn’t be about “tickets”. Yet, it is impossible to campaign for the board as an independent, as the last set of election results showed. Every director on our boards should be there because of their individual abilities and skills, not because they are aligned with whoever is popular at a time. If we continue to allow our club to be run this way, we will forever have a divided clubs.
What needs to be done: ‘Tickets should be banned’. Any evidence of candidates touting other candidates or organised electioneering should result in instant disqualification. Communications about members candidature should be standardised and organised by the club, so that every member is on an equal footing and elections aren’t decided on who puts the most money into their campaign. This is done at a number of AFL clubs, so its not unusual.
Everybody football club member should be able to vote
Right now, our elections are decided by the 500 or so people who can get to the Leagues Club to vote. Every football club member should get to vote and they should have a direct say in at least some of the directors who run their club. Leagues Club elections should be held over three to four days, so all patrons get the opportunity to vote.
What needs to be done: Online voting for the football club and multi-day election for the Leagues Club. The NRL board should be a partnership between the two clubs, as it was originally meant to be, allowing football club members a say on who represents them in running their football side.
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Honestly, I look at this last couple of months, and I’m gob-smacked. How we can have a board who less than three months into their term, can have a petition and protests raised against them, even before they have had the opportunity to complete a full review is beyond me. It shows just what lengths some are willing to go to, to maintain a hold over this club. And what worries me, is that this won’t go away. It seems pretty apparent to me that the campaign for our next election, literally kicked off on the same eve that this one was decided. How can we expect the kind of stability needed to succeed under those circumstances. If we ever expect to be a major club again, we have to start at the very core of this club and re-build our organisational and boardroom structures, our membership rules, constitution and voting processes so that they’re not at the mercy of well-heeled cowboys or noisy mobs.
And I say to everyone once again, if all this political stuff annoys the crap out of you, don’t turn your back on it. If you love the club and you want it to be successful again, ensure you are a member of both clubs and ensure you’re able to vote because I’ll say the same thing I have been saying incessantly for the last five years - until we get that core structure right, it will ruin everything else associated with the club. And I’m so sick to death of that proving to be the case.
Replies
Top write up Phil, and it hits the nail on the head, big reforms are needed, the stone age system we have is not working and its going to take a board with the balls and foresight to implicate change.
The types of change your talking about would be a personal risk to any board that impliments them, a step into the unknown you might say, internet voting and proxy can be a risk to staying in power as Spagnolo would know all too well as he was dead against it because he knows its putting power back into the members hands, instead of the very small group that votes.
Reform is needed, and Phil your the only bloke i ever hear talking about it, its this sort of vision that the club needs.
The only chance we have to unite this club is to de-politicise the entire process. And the only chance we have to make that happen is for ParraFirst to control both Boards and hopefully, maybe they will listen to Phil and I on this issue and make those constitutional changes necessary. We'd then need 75% of members to vote in favour of those changes. I have faith that the PF guys will do what is in the club's best interest. If 3P control both Boards I feel there is probably zero chance of it happening. Why would they risk it and why the hell would they listen to us?
As Phil said most AFL clubs already ban political parties in elections. Members must nominate for candidacy, the club then controls all correspondence to members with no mentions of allegiances. All candidates are independent members. Then members vote for their top 7. Yes it can be that simple.
Balder dash
You cannot put the cart before the horse
We are a footy club - the number 1 asset is our player talent pool - and that is completely dysfunctional - we cannot find / spot / keep the good ones - why ?
So, for me - The number 1 priority
Fix our talent evaluators - who are the Parra scouts - what are their success and failure rates ? As far as I can tell - Parra has awful scouts and poor talent evaluators and our "youth system" is non-existent
without the players, you got no footy club - all the constitutions in the world wont fix that
All the rest can come later - and it should be there - as constitutions and all that other stuff like board members etc are totally required for the sustained success of a club
But you gotta be successful first - and you need players for today and tomorrow and the day after that and the year after that etc
Without a stream of talent that is consistent and of an acceptable quality - what do you have
Parramatta 2008-2013 and beyond - that is what you have - nothing but a mess
Noel Cleal's absence is the subject NOBODY talks about - at least he could find the country kids and bring them here
Parra's problem is not one of a constitutional crisis - far from it RIGHT NOW
We need talent evaluators and a youth system that works
all other stuff is hog wash and pointless until Parra fixes that
After that
Sure....constitution away, knock your self out
Forget all the boardroom crap for now - it's a footy club and WE need footy guys - role models and leaders of young men to create a "culture" of winning
We need footy guys that can find and nurture young talent
we need FOOTY GUYS
we need FOOTY GUYS
we need FOOTY GUYS
at our FOOTY CLUB
this boardroom crap is just getting Parra more and more into dysfunction
keep it simple
we need FOOTY GUYS right now, more than ever
We can't attract players. One of the main reasons is we are seen as a basket case of a club off the field. If your son was good enough to play NRL would you want him to sign with Parra or say Melbourne, Broncos, Bulldogs etc? A club where they are in the headlines for constantly changing CEOs, coaches etc or a club that is solid and stable?
So yes we need to be better at identifying and signing talent but we've got to fix ourselves up a bit first. You know, a bit of lippy, maybe some pearls etc
Tele, i agree with plenty of your points, but myself and others have bought up crusher leaving 1000 times on here, no body has forgotten that, we fekked up, he wanted to stay but we wouldnt offer him an increased salary, ive heard him say himself he never wanted to leave, but its old news now, unless we can get him back theres no point in crying over spilt milk.
And talent scouts is a totally different topic to this one, your totally correct, imo Peter Nolans a joke, we need guys that know what they are doing and can seal a deal and have a very good eye for talent, not to mention a great repor with the young blokes.
But i will say without a well functioning structure and board its hard for the rest to fall into place, you need to look at the big picture mate, your right in what your saying but to neglect our constitution is not giving a balanced view
LOL - well said muttamn Yes, but we have been putting on so much lippy and pearls lately in the boardroom that we look like a Kings X tranny
What I am saying is maybe it's time to go for the girl next door an get back to basics - whilst we have a board - they will do what boardrooms do - all that big picture stuff that we have got so wrong lately, and needless to say they will TRY to improve and get better results in the "big picture" of things
I do agree (a bit) to to chicken and the egg analogy
but while we have "Bruce" the kings X tranny with all that horrible make up and foul smelling perfume trying to attract players to the club - maybe it's time to overhall or fix our talent evaluators
You know, just move it up the priority list ahead of such things as constitutions for example
sigh. Tele, it doesn't have to be the cart before the horse, the chicken or the egg. Improvements can be made in parallel. But you don't put off fixing your core issues, because there are other problems in the organisation.
Let's say the current admin bring in the world's best talent recruiter and he bring in all of these people - we win a premiership. At the next election, a group of people are able to pull together 400 friends of friends, and they out the current board (that's literally how easy it is). Those people then go about and sack everyone related to the old board, including your world's best talent recruiter.
I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or vomit when Sid Kelly invoked Jack Gibson's front/back office quote in The Australian today. It gets used so often, it's now simply a propoganda tool used for those who want to change the front/back office. Unfotunately, though, it's true and if you want to be a professional sporting organisation - and I'm not even going to dream of stretching to say world's best - let's just start with being professional then you have to get the foundations of your organisation right.
While I agree that a functioning front office is essential - it seems Parra has spent nothing but ALL of it's energy there for the past few years - as RECRUITMENT personnel and strategies have had little or none
All I am saying right now is that I EXPECT the board / front office to continue to TRY and improve this area from dysfunction - but for goodness sakes - can we PLEASE start sorting out our "back office" of scouts, talent evaluators, juniors etc - can we please start NOW !!!!!
It is so far out of balance with all this boardroom fiasco that Parra has completely left our "back room" unattended
Can't you also see the urgency here - that is so plain as day to me
The unbalanced nature here is killing us
Maybe having talent available that can spark a revival - can actually help the front office by "buying" time for then to get constitutions etc in order
I am not or never have dismissed the importance of a functional front office
But an ovehaul or at least a complete assessment of the EFFECTIVENESS of our scouting staff,talent evaluators and recruitment personnel as well as our junior football programs / feeder club strategies / youth academy's etc simply cannot wait any longer EITHER !!!!!!!!!!
Sure we don;t have the resouces of Barcelona or Man United - but we could at least START to TRY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Masia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_United_F.C._Reserves_and_Ac...
see my reply to Muttman above Snake - thx for the comments btw
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