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Revealed: Former Eels boss helping bid to oust Parramatta directors
Former Parramatta Eels supremo Roy Spagnolo has been revealed as helping a bid to oust more than half the board of Parramatta Leagues Club, attempting to rally support from well-known friends and associates and figures from the club’s past.
Parramatta Leagues Club’s 65,000 members have been notified of an extraordinary general meeting that’s been set for November 19 after a challenge was mounted to the hierarchy of the $150 million gaming, entertainment and food venue.
A group called Make Parra Matter Again is aiming to depose four of the club’s seven directors after assembling the 200 signatures required to trigger an EGM.
Its frontman has been former pizza cafe owner Michael Barillaro, but an email seen by this masthead shows that Spagnolo, the property developer who controlled the club between 2009 and 2013, has been involved in the background.
Spagnolo, who was declared by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority in 2015 not to be a fit and proper person to govern a registered club, appealed for support for the proposal in a note to more than 80 allies this month.
In the October 1 correspondence, Spagnolo asks them to sign a statement supporting the resolution to remove the four directors “as a matter of urgency”.
Among the recipients was Eddie Obeid jnr, the son of the jailed former Labor powerbroker from whom Eels players allegedly received off-the-books payments before the club was stripped of 12 competition points and fined $750,000 in 2016 for salary cap cheating.
Also emailed were former Eels clothing supplier Leba Zibara, who the NRL found was connected to undisclosed player payments, as well as corrupt ex-NSW minister Joe Tripodi.
Others on Spagnolo’s send list included Eels winger Eric Grothe snr and Mario Libertini, who served on Spagnolo’s Parramatta board and were also found unfit to be directors by ILGA, as well as former Soccer Australia president Tony Labbozzetta and former Club Marconi and Cronulla Sharks CEO Tony Zappia (who have not been previously involved at the club).
Spagnolo said on Monday he hadn’t initiated the move to topple directors at Parramatta but had put his weight behind it.
I’m just helping. I just emailed my friends – they’re members of Parramatta, that’s all.”
“It’s not personal against anyone. I believe in change and I believe we need a voice for the members.”
The power play comes after Spagnolo unsuccessfully ran for a return to the Parramatta Leagues Club board in February, having successfully taken to the Supreme Court to fend off attempts by the club to disqualify him.
Spagnolo was free to contest the election despite ILGA having concluded nine years ago that he had not demonstrated the skills and knowledge expected of a director, finding he had not followed the correct process in claiming expenses for parties at his house and that he had authorised an unlawful bonus to the club’s chief executive.
ILGA, however, had determined after an investigation that there was insufficient evidence to tie him to an alleged membership tampering scheme in 2013 in which the records of family and friends of his were backdated three years to make them eligible to vote.
It found that his honesty should not be questioned and recommended no further action, leaving Spagnolo to bemoan that being declared not fit and proper for what he called technical breaches was akin to a driver losing their licence for “doing 60 in a 62 zone”.
The Spagnolo-backed group would need to secure 50 per cent of the vote plus one at the EGM to achieve its desire to spill more than half the board. A total of 2749 members voted at this year’s election.
He said he was undecided if he would contest one of the vacant seats himself in that scenario. But if he and others were then able to win those positions themselves, seizing control of Parramatta Leagues Club, they would not automatically obtain the keys to the NRL club as well due to governance changes introduced after the Eels’ salary cap affair.
Unlike in the past, when there was one all-powerful board, the Parramatta NRL club board is a separate body, featuring only two directors from Parramatta Leagues Club and five independents.
Spagnolo would like to see the club constitution reformed so that Parramatta Leagues Club provides a majority of four directors to the football club board.
Eels chairman Sean McElduff warned of the risk of in-fighting at the club.
“Most of you know our troubled history, but for those who don’t here is a brief snapshot: in 2016 an administrator was appointed by the NSW government to oversee the club after six dark years of scandal and factionalism that almost brought the Eels to its knees,” he said in a message to members last week.
“Since then, the management teams and boards of [Parramatta Leagues Club] and [Parramatta NRL club] have worked incredibly hard to move the clubs forward and ensure we don’t return to those damaging days.
“Unfortunately, this EGM proposal, driven by many associated with the factionalism of the past, threatens to do just that.”
Spagnolo said the group wanted to be inclusive, not divisive, and offered a reminder that the Eels had in 2009 reached the grand final, where they were beaten by a team, Melbourne Storm, that was later stripped of the title for breaking salary cap rules.
“[McElduff] wants to talk about the dark ages. We finished [third] last this year. What’s any different?” he said.
“What is factionalism? Factionalism is two different parties, with two different views, having a crack at elections. Anyone that dares put their hand up is a faction.
“I don’t see myself as a faction. I see myself as passionate for the club and wanting good for the club. I had nothing to do with the salary cap [scandal]. That happened after me. I don’t see that I did a bad job.”
Chris Barrett
October 15, 2024
www.smh.com.au
Former Parramatta Eels supremo Roy Spagnolo has been revealed as helping a bid to oust more than half the board of Parramatta Leagues Club, attempting to rally support from well-known friends and associates and figures from the club’s past.
Parramatta Leagues Club’s 65,000 members have been notified of an extraordinary general meeting that’s been set for November 19 after a challenge was mounted to the hierarchy of the $150 million gaming, entertainment and food venue.
A group called Make Parra Matter Again is aiming to depose four of the club’s seven directors after assembling the 200 signatures required to trigger an EGM.
Its frontman has been former pizza cafe owner Michael Barillaro, but an email seen by this masthead shows that Spagnolo, the property developer who controlled the club between 2009 and 2013, has been involved in the background.
Spagnolo, who was declared by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority in 2015 not to be a fit and proper person to govern a registered club, appealed for support for the proposal in a note to more than 80 allies this month.
In the October 1 correspondence, Spagnolo asks them to sign a statement supporting the resolution to remove the four directors “as a matter of urgency”.
Among the recipients was Eddie Obeid jnr, the son of the jailed former Labor powerbroker from whom Eels players allegedly received off-the-books payments before the club was stripped of 12 competition points and fined $750,000 in 2016 for salary cap cheating.
Also emailed were former Eels clothing supplier Leba Zibara, who the NRL found was connected to undisclosed player payments, as well as corrupt ex-NSW minister Joe Tripodi.
Others on Spagnolo’s send list included Eels winger Eric Grothe snr and Mario Libertini, who served on Spagnolo’s Parramatta board and were also found unfit to be directors by ILGA, as well as former Soccer Australia president Tony Labbozzetta and former Club Marconi and Cronulla Sharks CEO Tony Zappia (who have not been previously involved at the club).
Spagnolo said on Monday he hadn’t initiated the move to topple directors at Parramatta but had put his weight behind it.
I’m just helping. I just emailed my friends – they’re members of Parramatta, that’s all.”
“It’s not personal against anyone. I believe in change and I believe we need a voice for the members.”
The power play comes after Spagnolo unsuccessfully ran for a return to the Parramatta Leagues Club board in February, having successfully taken to the Supreme Court to fend off attempts by the club to disqualify him.
Spagnolo was free to contest the election despite ILGA having concluded nine years ago that he had not demonstrated the skills and knowledge expected of a director, finding he had not followed the correct process in claiming expenses for parties at his house and that he had authorised an unlawful bonus to the club’s chief executive.
ILGA, however, had determined after an investigation that there was insufficient evidence to tie him to an alleged membership tampering scheme in 2013 in which the records of family and friends of his were backdated three years to make them eligible to vote.
It found that his honesty should not be questioned and recommended no further action, leaving Spagnolo to bemoan that being declared not fit and proper for what he called technical breaches was akin to a driver losing their licence for “doing 60 in a 62 zone”.
The Spagnolo-backed group would need to secure 50 per cent of the vote plus one at the EGM to achieve its desire to spill more than half the board. A total of 2749 members voted at this year’s election.
He said he was undecided if he would contest one of the vacant seats himself in that scenario. But if he and others were then able to win those positions themselves, seizing control of Parramatta Leagues Club, they would not automatically obtain the keys to the NRL club as well due to governance changes introduced after the Eels’ salary cap affair.
Unlike in the past, when there was one all-powerful board, the Parramatta NRL club board is a separate body, featuring only two directors from Parramatta Leagues Club and five independents.
Spagnolo would like to see the club constitution reformed so that Parramatta Leagues Club provides a majority of four directors to the football club board.
Eels chairman Sean McElduff warned of the risk of in-fighting at the club.
“Most of you know our troubled history, but for those who don’t here is a brief snapshot: in 2016 an administrator was appointed by the NSW government to oversee the club after six dark years of scandal and factionalism that almost brought the Eels to its knees,” he said in a message to members last week.
“Since then, the management teams and boards of [Parramatta Leagues Club] and [Parramatta NRL club] have worked incredibly hard to move the clubs forward and ensure we don’t return to those damaging days.
“Unfortunately, this EGM proposal, driven by many associated with the factionalism of the past, threatens to do just that.”
Spagnolo said the group wanted to be inclusive, not divisive, and offered a reminder that the Eels had in 2009 reached the grand final, where they were beaten by a team, Melbourne Storm, that was later stripped of the title for breaking salary cap rules.
“[McElduff] wants to talk about the dark ages. We finished [third] last this year. What’s any different?” he said.
“What is factionalism? Factionalism is two different parties, with two different views, having a crack at elections. Anyone that dares put their hand up is a faction.
“I don’t see myself as a faction. I see myself as passionate for the club and wanting good for the club. I had nothing to do with the salary cap [scandal]. That happened after me. I don’t see that I did a bad job.”
Chris Barrett
October 15, 2024
Revealed: Former Eels boss helping bid to oust Parramatta directors
A former Parramatta supremo has attempted to rally support from friends and associates as well as figures from the club’s past.
