What’s really wrong at TigerlandMartin Hiscock
Herald Sun
October 7, 2016IT is unprecedented that two independent groups have challenged the Richmond board simultaneously.
But there is good reason for it.
The Tigers board has lost its gloss. The club can expect an operating loss this year, it’s failed to get a female football team up or secure naming rights for Punt Rd.
Richmond is languishing in the lower quartile of sponsorship dollars and had a horror year on the field to top it off.
Next year will likely see reduced membership and attendances and the AFL has savagely cut Richmond’s prime-time Friday night games in expectation of this.
The club now holds the record for the longest Grand Final appearance drought and the Bulldogs rapid ascension has put Richmond’s dire situation into even greater perspective.
The board must focus on a more equitable Director renewal process.
Members should make the distinction between club and board. They should put the interests of the club and its members and fans ahead of the board. Too often voters do it the other way around.
Propped up by CEO Brendon Gale, who should be accountable to the board rather than a member of it, Peggy O’Neal is growing more and more out of touch with the members.
She recently referred to the Tigers as “my club”.
This resonated poorly with members far and wide, and is revealing. The comment is not consistent with a modern membership-driven organisation.
The CEO and longest standing board members set the culture of this club and right now it is contrived.
Only an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) election that removes the entire board, will achieve desperately needed cultural change at Tigerland.
Supporters are keen for a number of fresh faces on the board and a clear vision for 2017. The board flatly rejected Focus On Footy’s proposal to do just that.
Best practice for a member-based sporting club should be to call for nominations when a director retires but the Richmond board nominates its own candidates and gives them their imprimatur shortly before the AGM.
This promotes lack of competition that leads to self-satisfaction and complacency, the hallmarks of this board.
Only one current director has actually been initially elected; the rest have been nominated by friends on the board.
So when the President says you can run for election if you wish to be on the board, she knows and we know that’s very unlikely to work.
I agree with Jeff Kennett that board tenure should be limited. It’s not all right just because other clubs have long-standing directors and Presidents.
Richmond should take a lead here and make its conveniently loose constitution more robust. That’s good governance. As Kennett put it, if you can’t get it right after a decade, it’s time to go.
Yet Peggy O’Neal has just excused herself from election at the upcoming December AGM and negotiated nomination for another three years, which would take her to 14 years on the board.
That’s akin to a Prime Minister avoiding a general election and remaining in power for another three-year term.
Self-preservation is a priority at Punt Rd, not premierships.
In terms of football management, the board has been asleep at the wheel for over a decade.
The hardly independent and undisclosed Ernst & Young review into the numerous short-comings in the football department has been lengthy and expensive but achieved little.
Almost everyone has been retained with the underlings promoted.
It’s merely shifting the deck chairs and not addressing the greatest weakness - a lack of mentally tough and quality players.
How can Balme be empowered when the coaching changes were made before he even arrived? Was he really in their plans?
How does protecting Dan Richardson relate to real change and a ruthlessness to win? What is being done to address the blatant lack of development and savvy recruiting? Why isn’t there a Stephen Wells-type figure at the club? And what about the cap? How is this all affordable?
The board has failed to apply due diligence in a number of appointments and decisions.
Damien Hardwick’s unanimous two year contract extension was foolhardy.
To pay out his contract now would cost the club almost $2 million.
The board and its challengers have little alternative other than to support him. For this alone the board should resign.
With the coach pointing the finger at his coaches and players for the disastrous 2016 season and with five assistant coaches being sacked, there is instability and change.
Instability and change apparently equal chaos, we’re told. So, there was chaos before Focus On Footy challenged.
The club is at the crossroads.
The board needed to redefine success as premierships long ago.
There has been little accountability and now it risks being deposed if the most important KPI of all isn’t satisfactorily met in 2017.
Stay tuned Tiger fans...
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/richmond/richmond-board-is-more-focused-on-selfpreservation-than-winning-premierships/news-story/d27c8531909ac4f6ec356f96eea0256a
