AFL 2021: Key Carlton figure launches petition for extraordinary general meeting, spill of board

A top Carlton coterie figure has launched a petition to fight back for the fans after labelling the board’s latest move as ‘arrogance and audacity on steroids’.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JULY 10: Blues head coach David Teague talks to his players during the round 17 AFL match between Carlton Blues and Geelong Cats at Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 10, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

A top Carlton coterie figure has launched a petition for the staging of an extraordinary general meeting and a spill of the board.

Vince Loccisano, a Blues life member and long-time president of the powerful “Carltonians” coterie group, said the club had ignored his pleas to postpone a contentious August 17 meeting.

Loccisano, 52, has accused the “power drunk” Carlton board of “cleverly and deceptively” introducing a series of constitutional changes that were set to be put to a vote of members at the meeting.

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The changes include an increase in the number of signatures needed to force an EGM from 100 eligible voting members to 5 per cent of the total pool, the waiving of a requirement for a Blues director to have been a club member for at least two years before joining the board, and a reduction in the annual rotation of club directors seeking re-election from three down to two.

Loccisano said it was “arrogance and audacity on steroids” that Carlton members had been given just three weeks to consider the changes “hidden away” in a new constitution presented to members last week that also recognises women and First Nations people.

In a statement on Monday night, Loccisano said: “My reasonable requests were made with the clear intent to provide members with an adequate lead time to consider, question and debate the changes and then vote on each change independently.

“In the absence of a response from president Mark LoGiudice, I am assuming that the Carlton board will not agree to my requests. On that basis I will proceed to lodge a petition to call for an extraordinary general meeting to consider a motion to replace the current Carlton board.

“I am personally committing that a new board would respect that Carlton is member owned and will represent members’ interests as first priority. The new board will operate transparently with a football-first mentality and will equally honour the past and build for the future.

Outgoing Carlton president Mark Logiudice with coach David Teague and CEO Caid Liddle. Picture: Michael Klein

“The self-interested corporate takeover of Carlton must be stopped in its tracks.

“While the proposed constitutional changes have prompted the urgency of the timing of my motion to replace the board, I make it clear that this motion is fundamentally driven by a widespread lack of faith in the directors by our members.

“This current board has presided over the worst 10-years of on-field performance in the club’s history and at the same time has driven deep divisions within the club. This failed board is attempting to entrench their powers and erode the rights of Carlton members by ramming through ill-conceived constitutional changes. It frankly beggars belief.

“I am urging all Carlton members to firstly vote ‘no’ to the proposed constitutional changes on August 17 and secondly to support me in my motion to install a new board – I implore Carlton members to take back control of our club.”

LoGiudice last week said he would be “flabbergasted” if the Carlton members did not support the proposed constitutional changes.

It comes as the club prepares for the tabling of the findings of an external review into the club’s football operations led by ex-Collingwood football boss Geoff Walsh.

OVERPAID BLUES FEEL HEAT IN BRUTAL REVIEW

— Jon Anderson

For those desperate to know which way the Carlton review will go, buckle your seat belts and get ready for change.

Some of the findings are said to include a lack of player development, player “cliques” (with large, and in some cases, unjustified salaries an issue), culture deficiencies, poor behaviours, consistently long injury list and meddling from outside departments into football matters.

The three-person review panel of Graham Lowe, Matthew Pavlich and Geoff Walsh, will shortly table its report. Could it also include regrets from some parents that their sons were actually drafted by the club?

And do players have total faith in selection integrity? A term that was first introduced during the Brendon Bolton years.

The other issue for Carlton over the next two seasons is an extremely tight salary cap that is going to have to find room for emerging superstar’s Sam Walsh new deal as he comes out of contract at the end of 2022.

Patrick Cripps, Adam Saad, Zac Williams, Harry McKay, Mitch McGovern and Jack Martin are all in the $750,000 and over bracket which could see someone like Jack Silvagni offered far less than his 2021 form deserves.

It might even mean Walsh is paid under market value.

‘ARROGANCE ON STEROIDS’: IS BLUES BOARD DECEIVING FANS?

- Michael Warner

One of Carlton’s top coterie figures says the club has been “hijacked” by a “power drunk board that has gotten completely out of control”.

Vince Loccisano, a Blues life member and long-time president of the powerful “Carltonians” coterie group, has accused the club of “cleverly and deceptively” introducing a series of constitutional changes that makes it harder for members to call an extraordinary general meeting.

Plans to increase the number of signatures needed to force a spill of the board from 100 to five per cent of eligible voting members are “hidden away” in a new constitution put to members this week that rightly recognises women and First Nations people, Loccisano says.

Blues coach David Teague is under pressure after his side has slipped out of finals race.

The changes — to be put to a vote at a special general meeting on August 17 — will also:

ALLOW incoming president Luke Sayers to serve longer in the top job,

WAIVE a requirement for a Blues director to have been a club member for at least two years before joining the board and,

REDUCE the annual rotation of club directors seeking re-election from three down to two.

“It’s arrogance and audacity on steroids,” Loccisano said.

“Members only have three weeks to digest, discuss, debate and ultimately vote on whether to pass a new constitution – and that’s grossly inadequate and inappropriate for such dramatic changes.

“While the vast majority of Carlton members have their attention firmly on the external review and David Teague’s future, in my view, this is a sneaky and shifty way of slipping these changes through.

“And the board is attempting this latest power grab at a time when the club has yet again grossly underperformed on the field.”

Loccisano is calling on the Carlton board to postpone the August 17 meeting or face the threat of an EGM.

“If the board fails to immediately postpone the meeting, I cannot rule out that a petition won’t be created to cause an EGM with a vote of no confidence in the board and spill of all board positions – and if this happens the board will only have itself to blame,” he said.

“And if the board forces me to go down the EGM route, I would encourage all Carlton members who feel they have the time, the skills, the passion and the motivation to be part of an alternative board to approach me directly.

“The Carlton board of directors in its entirety has overseen the worst on-field performance in our club’s history.

“It continues its trend of seeking one scapegoat after another for its failed strategies and poorly chosen appointments.

“It never applies the same standards or level of scrutiny or accountability to itself as it does on others that it employs beneath them.

“Until now, like all members, I have watched on and supported this board and previously supported them in their quest for success. I have listened to the empty promises and continual spin of its media department, with its carefully written emails and media releases. “But after yet again being promised the world and delivered an atlas, the Carlton members deserve to be treated with respect, not to be hoodwinked by a board that’s perfected the art of using smoke and mirrors to deceive the very people who it should be answerable to.”

Carlton life member Vince Loccisano is critical of the current Blues board.

Loccisano, 52, said Carlton members needed to “wake-up” before it was too late.

“This board talks a lot about putting members first, but their actions say otherwise,” he said.

“You may be a member, but in reality you are merely a customer. They just want your money, and that is pretty much it. That’s why I feel Carlton members should recognise that we have hit a fork in the road. We are at a crossroad that is so crucial to the future direction of our club and how it is governed.

“I say to the Carlton members, ‘your club is being systematically, and very cleverly, taken away from you’. And only when you want to do something about it in the future will you realise the implications of these changes.

“My conscience will not allow me to sit idly by and watch them make this almighty grab for power without doing something about it. I won’t sleep at night. I love my club too much.”

Carlton’s constitutional changes will also allow adult AFL members with a full club support package to vote in an election for the first time.

But Loccisano said it meant a bid to obtain five per cent of members’ signatures for an EGM had been made “exponentially harder”.

“If frivolous EGM’s were taking place every couple of years you could understand it, but the Carlton members have proven that they are above that,” he said.

“Every change that the board has brought in, including the establishment of an independent nominations committee a few years ago, is designed to enhance the protection racket.”

Outgoing Blues president Mark LoGiudice this week said he would be “flabbergasted” if the Carlton members did not support the proposed changes.

An external review into the club’s football operations involving ex-Collingwood football boss Geoff Walsh is close to completion.

Sayers and chief executive Cain Liddle are overseeing the review process.

Originally published as AFL 2021: Key Carlton figure launches petition for extraordinary general meeting, spill of board