Greats finalise match plan
By Josh Massoud | December 03, 2008 12:00am
Have your say!Add your comments or
read what others are saying
/ The Daily Telegraph
THE clock is creeping towards 7pm as sleek, black convertibles and 4WDs purr into an undercover car park. Each vehicle contains a lone male driver, all of whom wear business attire and determined faces.
They stride across to a small lift that travels upward four floors to a plain boardroom.
It overlooks the home straight of Rosehill racecourse, which is fitting given the whips have started to crack in the mad rush for control of the Parramatta Eels Football Club.
Less than a fortnight remains until election day and the rebels seeking to oust CEO Denis Fitzgerald are ready to make their final dash.
There are already more than a dozen dissidents in the sun-drenched boardroom when
The Daily Telegraph arrives for an exclusive insight into their preparations.
Sitting in a row on the far side of the table are the three Eels legends who hope to revolutionise their club after 30 years under Fitzgerald's rule.
Previously pictured in Blundstones and work shirts, Ray Price and Eric Grothe have changed into buttoned-up and windsor-knotted clobber. Brett Kenny, who won four premierships alongside the pair, is dressed in similar fashion.
The adjacent four figures are the men selected to join them on the official seven-man rebel ticket. To Kenny's right is Bob Gare, a former police sergeant who recently retired after 27 years of service to the force. Next is John Chidiac and Robert Sassen, two prominent local property developers.
Last of all is Ken Lawless, who works in the financial sector. But there are many more names working for the rebel cause than the seven that will appear on the December 14 ballot paper.
Most were there on Monday night - 1986 Grand Final hero Terry Leabeater, long-time Eels sponsor and restaurateur Mario Libertini, Dr Graham Malouf, solicitor Daniel Essey, printer Joe Saad and businessman Colin Green.
Leabeater wanted to run on the ticket, but a dispute over his membership means the former prop is now settling for an advisory role.
"We only get one chance at this,'' Leabeater tells the meeting. "We've got to get on the front foot and tell people what we stand for. There's no more time to die wondering.''
The next two hours are a frenzy of ideas and debate as the all-important documents to be mailed to members this week are finalised. The platforms are transparency, unity and, after 22 long years, another premiership.
On transparency, Price says: "We are one of the biggest, most popular clubs in Australia and we have just over 600 members. That's pathetic. More should be done to attract members and give them more information about the club.
"As it stands, they pay their subscription, get an annual report every December and hear nothing else.''
At present, the football club only controls the Eels' Harold Matthews, SG Ball and junior teams. But should they win, the rebels will look closely at reclaiming the NRL side from the leagues club, which took it over after an extraordinary vote in 2001.
The one thing everyone understands is the enormity of their task. The incumbent board has not maintained power for so long without strength of numbers.
Of the 669 members who are entitled to vote, the rebels conservatively concede that 150 are already in Fitzgerald's keeping.
"That means the only people that matter are the other 500,'' Kenny says. "We have to convince as many as possible to get there and vote (because there are no proxies).''
The rebels decide to ask the football club for members to present personal ID with their badges on the day to ensure there are no identity disputes. They also want a guarantee that current NRL players who can vote will be free to attend.
There's no shortage of conspiracy theories about the veracity of previous elections, particularly the 1992 vote when 20 ballots were mysteriously lost. Fitzgerald last night declined an opportunity to argue the imcumbents' case for re-election.
