alien
Referee
- Messages
- 20,279
Wests' family feud not all black and white
Roy Masters
January 24, 2012
"I know I speak for a great many others in saying I believe the club belongs to the members; the Ashfield leagues board clearly hold a very different view" ... incumbent Magpies chairman Paul Dillon. Photo: Phil Carrick
The feuding families in the West(s) Side Story will hold rival meetings tonight, with incumbent Magpies chairman Paul Dillon asking ASIC to intervene in a move by the Western Suburbs League Club at Ashfield to appoint four directors to the football club at Campbelltown.
Former Wests player Mick Liubinskas is expected to be elected chairman of the new board at a meeting at Ashfield, while Dillon has called a meeting at Parramatta. Dillon believes the move by Ashfield - the traditional funders of the Magpies - is unconstitutional, and has asked the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or the NSW Rugby League, to rule on whether he can be replaced.
It is understood the remainder of the Magpies board will attend the Ashfield meeting and appoint Liubinskas, who has the backing of former Wests players.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The restoration of funding by Ashfield, and a softening of some of its demands, are expected to resolve the feud.
The licensed club cut off monetary support when it believed Dillon was not acting in the interests of Wests Tigers, the NRL club in which the Wests family has a half-stake with Balmain.
The most emotive issue was a plan to merge the two NSW Cup teams run by Wests and Balmain into a single side, to be known as Wests Tigers, and wear the strips of the two foundation clubs on alternate weeks.
Wests supporters argued a single NSW Cup team would create a bottleneck, leaving Campbelltown-based players unwanted by the NRL club with nowhere to play.
The Magpies discovered they had a unexpected ally in their protest, with Balmain stalwarts also opposed to the move.
Balmain diehards, somewhat presumptuously, believed the single team would be called Balmain and wear black and gold exclusively, a perception Wests supporters already have of the Wests Tigers.
The new Magpies board is expected to commit to the wide range of views from supporters in its old and new areas, particularly Campbelltown fans who have called a protest rally. A Save Our Clubs march will start at Campbelltown City Council chambers at 10am on February 5 and proceed down Queen Street to Western Suburbs League Club Campbelltown, where a petition will be presented to the club and the Wests junior league.
Protesters point out the region still has the same number of teams and players as 25 years ago, despite the population trebling.
They argue this neglect is manifested in the region receiving only four Wests Tigers games a year and their junior representative players being forced to train at Concord, the inner-west base of Wests Tigers.
It is expected Liubinskas's board will position itself to respond to these challenges, particularly considering the incoming independent commission might introduce a new structure to provide additional competition opportunities for the Magpies district club in this huge growth corridor in Sydney's south-west.
It is also expected the new board will provide cost-effective, state-of-the-art football and administrative support in the name of the Magpies, rather than Wests Tigers, all the way down to the junior levels, to block the drain of, arguably, the best talent in Australia, to other NRL clubs.
Dillon confirmed in an email that he would be holding a rival meeting, saying: ''As with the referral to ASIC, this is all part of duty of care and other responsibilities of being a director of a company.
''At stake in all of this is the ownership of the WSDRLFC - The Magpies. I know I speak for a great many others in saying I believe the club belongs to the members; the Ashfield leagues board clearly hold a very different view. The AGM is due in a few weeks and the issue(s) rightfully should be put to the members for a vote at such a meeting.''
Whatever the outcome, there is a growing confidence that Wests will continue to survive the carve-ups, the relocations, the joint venture and the protests.
''There's life in the old bird yet,'' one stalwart said.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...k-and-white-20120123-1qdz7.html#ixzz1kIGcM8iv
Roy Masters
January 24, 2012
"I know I speak for a great many others in saying I believe the club belongs to the members; the Ashfield leagues board clearly hold a very different view" ... incumbent Magpies chairman Paul Dillon. Photo: Phil Carrick
The feuding families in the West(s) Side Story will hold rival meetings tonight, with incumbent Magpies chairman Paul Dillon asking ASIC to intervene in a move by the Western Suburbs League Club at Ashfield to appoint four directors to the football club at Campbelltown.
Former Wests player Mick Liubinskas is expected to be elected chairman of the new board at a meeting at Ashfield, while Dillon has called a meeting at Parramatta. Dillon believes the move by Ashfield - the traditional funders of the Magpies - is unconstitutional, and has asked the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or the NSW Rugby League, to rule on whether he can be replaced.
It is understood the remainder of the Magpies board will attend the Ashfield meeting and appoint Liubinskas, who has the backing of former Wests players.
Advertisement: Story continues below
The restoration of funding by Ashfield, and a softening of some of its demands, are expected to resolve the feud.
The licensed club cut off monetary support when it believed Dillon was not acting in the interests of Wests Tigers, the NRL club in which the Wests family has a half-stake with Balmain.
The most emotive issue was a plan to merge the two NSW Cup teams run by Wests and Balmain into a single side, to be known as Wests Tigers, and wear the strips of the two foundation clubs on alternate weeks.
Wests supporters argued a single NSW Cup team would create a bottleneck, leaving Campbelltown-based players unwanted by the NRL club with nowhere to play.
The Magpies discovered they had a unexpected ally in their protest, with Balmain stalwarts also opposed to the move.
Balmain diehards, somewhat presumptuously, believed the single team would be called Balmain and wear black and gold exclusively, a perception Wests supporters already have of the Wests Tigers.
The new Magpies board is expected to commit to the wide range of views from supporters in its old and new areas, particularly Campbelltown fans who have called a protest rally. A Save Our Clubs march will start at Campbelltown City Council chambers at 10am on February 5 and proceed down Queen Street to Western Suburbs League Club Campbelltown, where a petition will be presented to the club and the Wests junior league.
Protesters point out the region still has the same number of teams and players as 25 years ago, despite the population trebling.
They argue this neglect is manifested in the region receiving only four Wests Tigers games a year and their junior representative players being forced to train at Concord, the inner-west base of Wests Tigers.
It is expected Liubinskas's board will position itself to respond to these challenges, particularly considering the incoming independent commission might introduce a new structure to provide additional competition opportunities for the Magpies district club in this huge growth corridor in Sydney's south-west.
It is also expected the new board will provide cost-effective, state-of-the-art football and administrative support in the name of the Magpies, rather than Wests Tigers, all the way down to the junior levels, to block the drain of, arguably, the best talent in Australia, to other NRL clubs.
Dillon confirmed in an email that he would be holding a rival meeting, saying: ''As with the referral to ASIC, this is all part of duty of care and other responsibilities of being a director of a company.
''At stake in all of this is the ownership of the WSDRLFC - The Magpies. I know I speak for a great many others in saying I believe the club belongs to the members; the Ashfield leagues board clearly hold a very different view. The AGM is due in a few weeks and the issue(s) rightfully should be put to the members for a vote at such a meeting.''
Whatever the outcome, there is a growing confidence that Wests will continue to survive the carve-ups, the relocations, the joint venture and the protests.
''There's life in the old bird yet,'' one stalwart said.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/...k-and-white-20120123-1qdz7.html#ixzz1kIGcM8iv
