Members make for a quiet night all round
IT was touted as one of the most anticipated annual general meetings in the Newcastle Knights' history.
But when the dust settled after last night's turnout in the Crusader Lounge at EnergyAustralia Stadium, the only notable feature was its uneventfulness.
There were two moments of brief drama but both fell into the category of comic relief.
The first involved an inadvertent omission by Knights chief executive Steve Burraston as he unveiled the new-look board of directors, who will steer the club for the next two years.
When announcing the seven successful candidates, Burraston read out the names of Tony Butterfield, Paul Harragon, Leigh Maughan, Robert Tew, Peter Corcoran and Allan McKeown.
There was a small problem: the count was one shy and a name was missing.
A prominent name, as it turned out.
Had Mark Fitzgibbon, a power player on the board for several years and chief executive of NIB, one of the Knights' most generous sponsors, been sent packing?
But quick-thinking members did the maths and pointed out the anomaly, at which point Burraston apologised and confirmed that Fitzgibbon had indeed retained his seat.
Soon after the announcement of the board, Burraston took questions from the floor.
As usual, some big issues were on the agenda.
Among the hot topics raised and discussed were the acoustics or lack thereof in the Andrew Johns stand, a request to compose a theme song for fans, a complaint about the white numbers on the back of Newcastle's silver alternate jerseys, and a query about the quality of the Knights' website.
Not a solitary question was directed at McKeown after he delivered his 2007 financial statement, which noted the club was in a "precarious" situation, as evidenced by $2.3 million in accumulated losses, including a $1.3 million operating loss last year.
One member asked Burraston to outline the state of play in negotiations with the Wests Group, and the CEO adeptly reassured the 160-odd punters in attendance about two per cent of the club's 8500 membership that talks were progressing positively.
Around 1360 or less than half of the club's 3500 voting members entered the ballot, including one who ticked boxes next to all nine candidates.
Just when it appeared the meeting would officially be declared a non-event, an elderly gent grabbed the microphone and voiced his concerns about the prospect of the newly elected board being hindered by factionalism.
If they were going to "keep fighting", he suggested, then "sack them and put a new board in".
Given that they hadn't held so much as a single meeting, it seemed a slightly hasty suggestion.
Burraston replied tongue-in-cheek that he would do his best to help maintain the peace.
The new board will meet tomorrow to elect a chairman and deputy chairman.
Knights members, at least those who can be bothered, will have to wait two years to pass judgement on the men in whom they have entrusted their club's future.
