That is the reality of a lot of Leagues Clubs. To counter this you have to have a majority on your side at board level. Leagues Clubs have grown because they have appealed to people beyond RL. It was always a problem for RL that this growth, whilst being good for football club coffers, could threaten their power base.
Unfortunately, RL people became compalcent and assue dthe Leagues Clubs would always be there for them because "that's why they were founded". It's all a bit too romantic for real life and in many cases, the power has shifted. This complacency spread to other parts of the game and I believe it is why RL crowds are not as big as thry could be. Club administrators of the past didn't need crowds as much because they had a Leagues Club to bankroll any shortfalls. This culture of depdendence and complacency is starting to show holes in the game as clubs realise their grip on pokie revenue isn't as strong as they once thought.
The successful clubs that see off these challenges and are still controlled by senior football interests have been successful because they invested a lot of money into the club and they didn't give the appearance that football was th only priority. They have enshrined their power with constitutional provisions and been able to gather enough resistance when change is needed.
It must be noted that once change is established, it is easy to preserve it. It takes a 75% majority to amend a club constitution at an EGM and only a 26% minority to resist any changes once you are in constitutional control.
