Parramatta board members refuse to back Geoff Gerard as interim Eels chairman
Date
May 15, 2016 - 8:57PM
Chris Barrett
Sports Writer
There is a split at the Eels over who should take over as chairman from Steve Sharp in the wake of the salary cap scandal, with one element at the club plumping for the NRL's favoured option, Geoff Gerard, but the rest of the board members placing their support behind fellow director and Parramatta Lord Mayor Paul Garrard.
They are very close to being namesakes but the two men who have emerged as the contenders for the top seat at the football club board table have voiced contrasting takes on how Parramatta should proceed in responding to the allegations of systematic cheating of the cap brought by the NRL.
Garrard attacked the NRL in the days after damning breach notices were handed to the club and five officials, including Sharp, earlier this month, claiming head office had relied on "subjective allegations" that "read like a movie script" and pointing the finger at ex-Parramatta chief executive Scott Seward as a rogue operator.
In recent days, it has been Parramatta hall-of-famer Gerard who has become the public mouthpiece for the embattled organisation. His tone has been far more conciliatory in regards to the NRL, conceding the club is "in a mess".
Also on the NSWRL board of directors, Gerard has the support of the NRL to be the Eels' interim chairman, with senior figures at League Central liking what they have heard from the former international about the need for constitutional reform and independent directors at Parramatta as well as his status as a factional cleanskin.
However, while there is a push for Gerard at the Eels as well, it is understood he does not have the support of the other three remaining members of the board – Garrard, Tanya Gadiel and Andrew Cordwell – to take over as chairman when the NRL's sanctions are finalised in mid-June.
Sources say the other remaining directors have been bemused at Gerard's series of media interviews since last week as a de facto spokesperson for the now four-member board.
They want to install a newer face in Garrard as Sharp's successor rather than Gerard, who has been a director in multiple Parramatta administrations.
When asked at the weekend whether he was keen to be an interim chairman, Gerard said it was "too early to worry about that at the moment" with Sharp remaining in the role notionally while he and fellow suspended directors Tom Issa and Peter Serrao, CEO John Boulous and football manager Daniel Anderson respond to individual breach notices. They and the club have until June 3 to do so.
Gerard implored the club to work with the NRL and select three independent directors to fill the void of Sharp, Issa and Serrao and distanced himself from the factionalism rife in recent years, saying he had not been a member of any of the warring camps.
"I'm Geoff Gerard. People know me," he told Triple M. "I've been in this game 55 years as a player, as a coach, as a selector and now a board member."
