Canterbury’s off-field war has spilled over to the Leagues club’s board election, with football club chair Lynne Anderson seeking legal advice against leagues club counterpart Dr George Peponis.
Just over a month after Anderson seized control of the NRL club from Ray Dib, she and Peponis each released opposing statements on Saturday midway through the weekend’s leagues club election.
Anderson is furious at changes made to the leagues club’s board structure at a meeting on Thursday night, under which the number of directors increased from seven to nine.
But despite the increase, the number of directors appointed to the leagues club board by the football club would remain at four.
In turn, the balance of power could be taken away from Anderson and the football club, which relies on the leagues club for around $5 million annually in funding.
In the statement, Anderson labelled the move as a “great betrayal of the football club” and raised concerns about the long-term financial future of the NRL club, claims rebutted by Peponis.
“We believe the appointment of the two additional directors, without a constitutional amendment with members approval, is illegal but we are seeking legal advice on the matter,” Anderson said.
Traditionally, the league’s club board is made up of four football directors and three independents appointed by club members.
However at Thursday night’s meeting the leagues club board – including Peponis and Dib – enacted a ruling under NSW law to appoint two extra independent directors to a licensed club.
The new directors are ex-NSW premier Morris Iemma and investment banker George Kannan.
It means if the Peponis-led ticket of himself, Dib and Arthur Coorey win the election, they could keep the chair of the leagues club from the football club-appointed directors Paul Dunn, John Ballesty, James Maroon and Peter Callaghan.
However Peponis said on Saturday afternoon the changes were not in response to the Bulldogs’ football club change in power, and that they had instead been in the works for six months.
“Clubs NSW undertook a governance review in 2017 and one of the recommendations coming out of that review was that boards should focus on encouraging diversity amongst directors,” Peponis said.
“Clubs NSW went on to recommend the appointment of two independent directors as a means of achieving such diversity … both government and Clubs NSW have recommended this practice.”
Peponis said he’d received advice that the changes were legal, and insisted football club grants were ensured until the next election and would never be under threat.
Results of the weekend election will be counted Monday, ahead of what is expected to be a fiery annual general meeting on Wednesday night.
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.