Re: Review
Reply #590 –
From the HS
AFL 2021: Blues life member accuses ‘power drunk’ Carlton board of deceptively changing constitution
Constitutional changes at Carlton have been described by a life member as sneaky and deceptive. And he says the club is systematically being taken away from fans.
Michael Warner
4 min read
July 30, 2021 - 9:10AM
One of Carlton’s top coterie figures says the club has been “hijacked” by a “power drunk board that has gotten completely out of control”.
Vince Loccisano, a Blues life member and long-time president of the powerful “Carltonians” coterie group, has accused the club of “cleverly and deceptively” introducing a series of constitutional changes that makes it harder for members to call an extraordinary general meeting.
Plans to increase the number of signatures needed to force a spill of the board from 100 to five per cent of eligible voting members are “hidden away” in a new constitution put to members this week that rightly recognises women and First Nations people, Loccisano says.
The changes — to be put to a vote at a special general meeting on August 17 — will also:
ALLOW incoming president Luke Sayers to serve longer in the top job,
WAIVE a requirement for a Blues director to have been a club member for at least two years before joining the board and,
REDUCE the annual rotation of club directors seeking re-election from three down to two.
“It’s arrogance and audacity on steroids,” Loccisano said.
“Members only have three weeks to digest, discuss, debate and ultimately vote on whether to pass a new constitution – and that’s grossly inadequate and inappropriate for such dramatic changes.
“While the vast majority of Carlton members have their attention firmly on the external review and David Teague’s future, in my view, this is a sneaky and shifty way of slipping these changes through.
“And the board is attempting this latest power grab at a time when the club has yet again grossly underperformed on the field.”
Loccisano is calling on the Carlton board to postpone the August 17 meeting or face the threat of an EGM.
“If the board fails to immediately postpone the meeting, I cannot rule out that a petition won’t be created to cause an EGM with a vote of no confidence in the board and spill of all board positions – and if this happens the board will only have itself to blame,” he said.
“And if the board forces me to go down the EGM route, I would encourage all Carlton members who feel they have the time, the skills, the passion and the motivation to be part of an alternative board to approach me directly.
“The Carlton board of directors in its entirety has overseen the worst on-field performance in our club’s history.
“It continues its trend of seeking one scapegoat after another for its failed strategies and poorly chosen appointments.
“It never applies the same standards or level of scrutiny or accountability to itself as it does on others that it employs beneath them.
“Until now, like all members, I have watched on and supported this board and previously supported them in their quest for success. I have listened to the empty promises and continual spin of its media department, with its carefully written emails and media releases. “But after yet again being promised the world and delivered an atlas, the Carlton members deserve to be treated with respect, not to be hoodwinked by a board that’s perfected the art of using smoke and mirrors to deceive the very people who it should be answerable to.”
Loccisano, 52, said Carlton members needed to “wake-up” before it was too late.
“This board talks a lot about putting members first, but their actions say otherwise,” he said.
“You may be a member, but in reality you are merely a customer. They just want your money, and that is pretty much it. That’s why I feel Carlton members should recognise that we have hit a fork in the road. We are at a crossroad that is so crucial to the future direction of our club and how it is governed.
“I say to the Carlton members, ‘your club is being systematically, and very cleverly, taken away from you’. And only when you want to do something about it in the future will you realise the implications of these changes.
“My conscience will not allow me to sit idly by and watch them make this almighty grab for power without doing something about it. I won’t sleep at night. I love my club too much.”
Carlton’s constitutional changes will also allow adult AFL members with a full club support package to vote in an election for the first time.
But Loccisano said it meant a bid to obtain five per cent of members’ signatures for an EGM had been made “exponentially harder”.
“If frivolous EGM’s were taking place every couple of years you could understand it, but the Carlton members have proven that they are above that,” he said.
“Every change that the board has brought in, including the establishment of an independent nominations committee a few years ago, is designed to enhance the protection racket.”
Outgoing Blues president Mark LoGiudice this week said he would be “flabbergasted” if the Carlton members did not support the proposed changes.
An external review into the club’s football operations involving ex-Collingwood football boss Geoff Walsh is close to completion.
Sayers and chief executive Cain Liddle are overseeing the review process.
Topic: Football Department Review (Read 74472 times)
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