For any Parramatta fan the real take-out from this week, is not that Eric Grothe has left or that Chris Hicks is likely coming. It’s another reminder that the Parramatta Football Club is a hollow entity that has little real power, and as such the running of our great club remains in the hands of the pokie hordes.
Most of you will have noted that this week’s election became a non-event when four of the directors pulled out. Two of those, in Nathan Cayless and Mario Libertini withdrew with no explanation. In all likelihood it is political maneuvering from the 3P ticket to give itself the best shot at controlling the Leagues Club board, which is the body which oversees Parramatta’s NRL and NYC sides.
Given that 3P was never in danger of losing majority control over the Football club it appears to have kept is powder try by holding back Cayless and Libertini from this round of electioneering. The fact that the ticket was happy to let John Kolc and Steve Sharp onto the Football club board without a contest, shows just how important the Football club is in the scheme of the running of Parramatta.
Indeed, 3P recognised this when they campaigned at the last election on handing over the NRL operations to the Football club.
It’s a diabolical situation, that former CEO Denis Fitzgerald was roundly criticised for, in terms of trying to both both the boss of a football operation and the boss of a hospitality and gambling business. Not only do they require different skillsets but there is a conflict of interest. By giving the Leagues club power over the football club, it means if the Leagues club goes bankrupt or decides it cannot afford to run the NRL side, then the Eels die. If there was an offer from a Russel Crowe-style benefactor to invest in the club, again, it all comes back to the Leagues club making those decisions.
The majority of people who are eligible to vote for the Leagues club are the people who go to gamble and get a feed. They don’t necessarily support Parramatta. They don’t necessarily put their hard-earned into buying tickets and merchandise. Yet it’s these people who vote in the board who runs our football side. Nobody can tell me that makes any sense.
Yet, we have had no action on this front. I have asked the likes of Roy Spagnolo and Paul Osborne about the situation and I’ve been told that “it’s not the right time”. Well, when the Leagues club elections come around I want this issue to be front and central. I want to know when the power is going to shift to the football club and I want a guarantee that it’s going to happen. Because given the lack of action that we’ve seen in this regard so far, it seems this will not happen while it favours the incumbent board to centalise power in the Leagues club.
Well, that’s not good enough. I don’t want a board looking after its own back. I want a board that does the right thing for Parramatta and if anyone wants to try and justify why the Leagues club continues to have control of the NRL side, then fire away in the comments. The fact that 3P didn’t bother to fight for places on the Football club board suggests to me, it’s not something that is going to happen anytime soon.
Come the next round of elections, the Football club membership will look very different. It won’t be a few hundred old-timers, given that the Football club membership is now bundled with Blue and Gold Army/Season Ticket Holder membership. So come the next election there will likely by 10,000+ loyal Parramatta supporters who will be eligible to vote for the Football club. I roundly applaud the current administration for making that change and it has the potential to transform democracy within our club. So those next elections will be the perfect time to formally make the transition. If you have the right to vote in the Leagues Club election, you should demand that guarantee of any candidate.
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I think it is a good idea but does the football club have enough money to run the NRL side and toyota cup side? I heard forget from where that it cost about 15 million a year to run an NRL side. i.e players facilities travel coaching staff etc
N1ck, I'm not saying that the Football club has to support itself - although that should be the aim and while the power lies with the Leagues club there is little incentive to make the Football club self-supporting. The Leagues club obviously retains more power over the footballing sides of things, the more the Football operations are dependent on the money.
The Leagues club has to continue putting money into the football operations or they lose their license. But right now they decide how much they want to put in, etc.
So let me give you an example. This year the Leagues club dramatically cut the money that they gave to the Football operations. The Football club had no option but to wear that, and you subsequently had a whole bunch of redundancies and cutbacks. That has impacted the club a lot this year - for example the decision to make redundant our very experienced and well-respected media manager Ross Smart I would argue had a big impact on a lot of the leaks and negative coverage we got during the year.
However, if the Football club is stand-alone, it can fight and argue for more money. They can say, well if your not going to give me $7 million or whatever it is, then we'll align ourselves with another club or look for independent investors. How can we expect to be a professional club, when our funding has more to do with the turnover in Sterlos bar rather than the fortunes of the football team.
i agree give back the control of nrl to the football club
The NRL owns trademarks, and as such distribute the money back through the club - which in this instance means through the Leagues club.
Which means for the sake of argument, if the Football operations ever became profitable that your merchandise sales could subsidise your cheat eats at the club. Now the football side of things is a long way of profitable, but it illustrates my point. It's time for the footballing operations to grow up and operate as a proper professional organisation - not a dependent of what is for the most part a gambling business.
The football club technically has nothing to do with the Parramatta Eels. The Football club has responsibility for the Parramatta District Rugby League. The Parramatta Eels operation is the responsibility of the Leagues Club. See my point?
But the calibre of directors is such because the Football club has no power. If the Football club ran the NRL side, then that is where you would see your best credentialed candidates run. And then you could have a Leagues club board made of people from the hospitality and gambling industries. So you'd get better people, who know what their talking about running the football club and conversely people who know about the Leagues club running that board. The Leagues club should make more money, and the Football club should be better run.
Instead, we get a campaign for the Leagues club that runs along the lines of: "I promise to prioritise our junior footballers and build this footballing club from the roots up... and I want to put a Pizza and Pasta bar in Sterlos".
Mmm, so I like the juniors direction, but I'm more a steak and ribs man so no vote for me.
It's ridiculous.
That's what I want spelled up BEFORE the next Leagues Club election. I want to know if they intend to transfer power and I want a timeframe.
I then want the next term to be used to make the transition for the proceeding election. At that point, we get a fair dinkum election with 10,000 eligible Parramatta fans who can vote, a whole bunch more candidates because more people will be eligble to run and we can start operating like a professional sporting organisation.
I would like to think whoever is running the club after the next Leagues club election, feels that they can leave behind a legacy because outside of delivering a premiership that's the one great change that our club needs.
I hope everyone takes note of this stuff. Because there is no point whining and whinging about the way the club is run, if your happy to stay powerless in your ability to do anything about it. And while real Eels fans are outnumbered by Pokie players in terms of voting ability to decide who runs the club, Parramatta supporters remain without power to be heard which is why we've been treated like shit for so many years.
treated like shit???
bit harsh
My argument is that if the supporters are the ones able to vote on who is running the club, we would see a very different mindset from the club's management and administrators.
P.S. My 'mock' campaign strategy was based on an actual conversation with a director.
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