Collingwood president Mark Korda to meet with key Magpies member to ward off coup
Under increasing external pressure, Collingwood’s new president has reached out to a key Magpies member, but the passionate fan says he won’t back away.
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Embattled Collingwood president Mark Korda has called a meeting on Friday with a passionate, long-time Magpies member planning to collect signatures at Sunday’s MCG clash with Port Adelaide to force an extraordinary general meeting at the club.
Korda reached out to David Hatley via chief executive Mark Anderson after the Collingwood member of 40 years went public with his plans to push for club election.
The pair will meet at the club on Friday, but Hatley told the Herald Sun he won’t back away from his plans to chase the signatures required to call an EGM after a groundswell of support in recent days.
Only five per cent of the club’s eligible voting members are required to force an EGM.
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“I’d like to see Mark Korda and the board spill all positions ... to allow the voting rights members the opportunity to vote on the current incumbents and any other potential candidates,” Hatley said.
“We have 80,000 members, but not all get a vote. Only a small fraction, perhaps less than 10,000 who are social club members.
“This is one more undemocratic thing that should have been changed, but hasn’t. Only five per cent of 10,000 is 500 signatures, but we are aiming for 1,000 (signatures) by the end of next week.”
Hatley said he had garnered a lot of support for his plan to force an EGM, saying he and many others wanted to see more accountability and democracy at Collingwood.
“Social club members from all over Australia have reached out to support me … (we will) soon organise for them to sign electronically,” he added.
It’s the latest twist in the ongoing Collingwood board saga, which saw Korda insist he has no intention of stepping down while dismissing an expected challenge from would-be president Jeff Browne and a potential new ticket as not being in the club’s best interests.
Vice-president Alex Waislitz resigned from the board on Tuesday night, with Collingwood admitting its newest board member, Bridie O’Donnell, is ineligible to vote until early next year because she had not been a paid-up member for the mandatory 24 months.
Collingwood admitted on Wednesday night that its newest board member, former professional cyclist Dr Bridie O’Donnell, would not be able to make any decisions relating to the club until early next year because she had not been a paid-up Magpies member for the mandatory 24 months.
However, the club said it had secured legal advice confirming that O’Donnell would be able to “serve the Collingwood board in an ex-officio capacity until her appointment is ratified at the club’s 2021 annual general meeting”.
But Francis Galbally, a former Collingwood solicitor and key backer of would-be club president Jeff Browne, sought separate legal advice on Thursday from top corporate lawyer James Macdonald, a partner at Piper Alderman, which contradicted the Magpies’ position.
“The club’s claim that Dr O’Donnell can serve as a director in an ‘ex-officio’ capacity is incorrect,” Macdonald said.
“Ex-officio literally means ‘from the office’ and there is nothing in the club’s constitution that provides that someone in Dr O’Donnell’s position has some sort of office or official position which justifies her serving on the board.
“An ex-officio role describes something like the chair being entitled to serve on each board committee by reference to the fact of that office, or typically in denominational schools the church may have ex-officio membership of a certain number of seats on the school’s board etc.”
EDDIE WEIGHS IN ON INVALID DIRECTOR
Collingwood has admitted that its newest board member will not be able to make any decisions relating to the club until early next year as former president Eddie McGuire defended the appointment.
The crisis-stricken Magpies came clean on Bridie O’Donnell’s ineligibility to vote on board matters after it emerged the freshly minted club director had not been a paid-up member for the mandatory twenty-four months.
McGuire stood by the board’s decision to appoint O’Donnell.
“We’ve put people on at Collingwood in my time who hadn’t qualified for the two years because they were the right person at the time … you go to the AGM and it gets ratified,” McGuire said.
“The Bridie O’Donnell thing, the club came out today and said she won’t vote, well in my 23 years as president we didn’t have a vote, so that’s not going to be an issue.
“But more to the point on that, don’t be frightened of it, I think everyone is on eggshells at the moment.
“She is a highly credentialed person. People say ‘Oh, why is she on there?’. Well, we run women’s netball, women’s football, it’s a major part of our club and she is a well-credentialed person.
“I don’t know Bridie, but I know that she was even looked at for a position at the club at one stage, so she is a highly-credentialed person and I think we just need to calm (down). “
O’Donnell, 47, who recently posted pictures on social media wearing a Western Bulldogs jumper, admitted on Wednesday morning that she had only signed up with the Pies in February 2020.
“I’m a fan, I’m a member and I’m loving Collingwood,” O’Donnell told 3AW.
The former professional cyclist was rushed onto the Magpies board after the resignation of long-time director Alex Waislitz on Tuesday night.
When asked about O’Donnell being an invalid board member, a Magpies spokesperson told the Herald Sun: “As a matter of due diligence, Collingwood took legal advice to confirm the eligibility of recently appointed director and member Dr Bridie O’Donnell.
“For the avoidance of any doubt, Dr O’Donnell will serve the Collingwood board in an ex-officio capacity until her appointment is ratified at the club’s 2021 annual general meeting.”
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But Francis Galbally, a former club solicitor and key backer of would-be Collingwood president Jeff Browne, said legal advice obtained from top corporate lawyer James McDonald, a partner at Piper Alderman, found O’Donnell’s appointment “appears to be invalid”.
Galbally said the O’Donnell fiasco was the latest governance calamity to strike down the famous club.
“There has been no proper corporate governance at the Collingwood Football Club and this just illustrates it,” Galbally said.
“Where is the governance where you appoint a director without doing proper due diligence on whether the director is qualified to be the director and then you say we will make that director qualified later? You can’t do it.
“It’s very embarrassing for those who have made the decision.
“They will have to either undo the decision or call a general meeting of members of the club to approve this decision - and if they do that then there needs to be a spill of directors and an election of directors.
“But the question now is who else hasn’t been properly appointed?”
Collingwood insists VRC chairman Neil Wilson, who filled the board position vacated by McGuire last month, was a long-time paid-up member.
The Magpies also say that they sought legal advice regarding O’Donnell prior to her joining the board and therefore believe it is incorrect to say her appointment was invalid.
Asked if she had previously been a supporter of the Western Bulldogs, O’Donnell told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell: “I’ve been a fan of all of the AFLW clubs from when I moved down here. I was absolutely intent on making sure I could support women’s sport - I was working as the inaugural director of the office of women’s sport and recreation - but make no mistake, like I’m not divided in my loyalty.”
The Magpies constitution clearly states that “no member shall be qualified for election as a member of the board unless he (or she) shall have been a member of the club for at least twenty four month immediately prior to his (or her) nomination”.
Collingwood bosses have also quizzed O’Donnell about a series of social media posts she has made appearing to poke fun at the club, including one responding to a picture of coach Nathan Buckley’s ex-wife wearing a G-string to the Brownlow Medal.
She has since locked her social media accounts.
O’Donnell told 3AW: “I’ve been a Collingwood member since 2020. I have been appointed to the board and like anyone, I will go through a process when there is an AGM next year, but I have also been brought to the board because of what I can bring to the board ...
“This is a powerful club with an amazing investment in women’s sport, it’s really important to me …
“I’m really proud to be on that board ...
“For people who are really rusted on, I totally get why they don’t see that that’s something that aligns with how they think about it.
“But this is about working through with a really amazing group of people on the board, how we’re going to support the club, the members, the employees, implement all the recommendations from the Do Better report ...
“The people who are concerned I’m not enough of a fan, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to change their mind, but I’m going to do my best for this club.”
Despite rumblings of a potential challenge from footy powerbroker Jeff Browne, McGuire said the current Magpies’ board “had his full support”.
“I’m going to say just once for the record, I love the club ... I was 23 years the president. If I wanted to be the president, I would have stayed on as the president,” McGuire said on Footy Classified on Wednesday night.
“I’m out now, I’m done. And don’t for a second think that Jeff Browne needs me to hold his bag.
“If Jeff Browne is going to do something, Jeff is a very very powerful, successful man.
“The board that’s there at the moment has got my full support. These things just get out of control.”
PIES’ NEWEST BOARD MEMBER’S AWKWARD CONFESSION
Freshly minted Collingwood board member Bridie O’Donnell says she has been a member of the club since February 2020.
Photographs of O’Donnell, who replaced billionaire Alex Waislitz on the Magpies board on Tuesday night, are circulating on social media showing the former professional cyclist wearing a Western Bulldogs jumper.
Asked if she has previously been a supporter of the Bulldogs, O’Donnell told 3AW: “I’ve been a fan of all of the AFLW clubs from when I moved down here. I was absolutely intent on making sure I could support women’s sport — I was working as the inaugural director of the office of women’s sport and recreation — but make no mistake, like I’m not divided in my loyalty.
“I’m a fan, I’m a member and I’m loving Collingwood.”
But O’Donnell’s admission that her Collingwood membership is only 12 months old raises questions about the club’s rules for new board members.
The Magpies constitution states that “no member shall be qualified for election as a member of the board unless he shall have been a member of the club for at least 24 months immediately prior to his nomination”.
However, another clause of the constitution says that “the club in general meeting may pass an ordinary resolution waiving compliance ... in respect of a particular member, and if such a resolution is passed, the member shall be qualified for election as a member of the board.”
Collingwood has been contacted for a clarification.
Pressed on how long she has been a paid-up Pies member, O’Donnell said: “I’ve been a Collingwood member since 2020. I have been appointed to the board and like anyone, I will go through a process when there is an AGM next year, but I have also been brought to the board because of what I can bring to the board.
“This is a powerful club with an amazing investment in women’s sport, it’s really important to me … I’m really proud to be on that board.
“For people who are really rusted on, I totally get why they don’t see that that’s something that aligns with how they think about it.
“But this is about working through with a really amazing group of people on the board, how we’re going to support the club, the members, the employees, implement all the recommendations from the Do Better report.
“The people who are concerned I’m not enough of a fan, I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to change their mind, but I’m going to do my best for this club.”
Collingwood’s billionaire vice president Alex Waislitz quit the board on Tuesday night.
He is the second director to leave the club in three months after Eddie McGuire resigned as president in February.
Waislitz will be replaced, effective immediately, by former professional road cyclist Dr Bridie O’Donnell.
The move comes as pressure mounts on sitting president Mark Korda, who officially took over from McGuire on April 21.
Waislitz, 63, the founder and CEO of Thorney Investment Group, served alongside McGuire for the duration of his 22-year term.
He was elected to the Collingwood board in 1998 when McGuire became president and has donated millions of his own money to the club.
VRC chairman Neil Wilson was appointed to the Collingwood board last month to fill McGuire’s seat.
O’Donnell is a medical practitioner and rode for Australia in the 2008-09-10 UCI road world championships.
Paul Licuria and Jodie Sizer, were appointed vice presidents.
“Collingwood is now in a period of renewal and it’s appropriate that I make way for that process to continue. I wish Mark and the team continued success and I am happy to assist in any way I can,” Waislitz said.
Collingwood president Mark Korda welcomed O’Donnell’s appointment.
“My strong view is that in the 21st century the Collingwood board ought to reflect a greater gender balance, cultural diversity and a younger profile as well as the critical skills required to run a large and prominent sporting business,” Korda said.
‘RIDICULOUS’: PIES CHAMP TAKES AIM AT BUCKLEY CIRCUS
Collingwood legend Tony Shaw has implored the club to resolve the Mark Korda-Jeff Browne board dispute before making a call on coach Nathan Buckley.
Buckley, out of contract at the end of season, faces an uncertain future amid a fight for control of the club.
One option for the current Collingwood board would be to extend Buckley’s contract and place a revamped team of assistant coaches around him for 2022 and beyond.
Another possibility is the sounding out of a big-name replacement such as Ross Lyon or Alastair Clarkson.
But Shaw, the club’s 1990 premiership skipper, says the stoush over which group takes charge at the Holden Centre must be settled first.
Shaw is calling on Browne – the AFL’s long-time legal adviser – to immediately step forward and declare his intentions.
“I mean what if there’s a board challenge and they (the Korda board) get put out and the new board aren’t backing Buckley, what do you do then? It’s a horrible position,” Shaw said.
“We are talking about someone’s career as a coach and still Jeff hasn’t come out and said, ‘I want the job’. So we need Jeff and whoever else he’s got behind the scenes to come out right now — not two or three weeks down the track — and then get together with Korda, because the coach decision is a massive decision.
“You can’t just have a board come in and say, ‘No, we didn’t want Nathan Buckley’. What are you going to do, pay a bloke two years of contract and say, ‘We didn’t want you?’ It’s just ridiculous, so the board decision has to be settled before they make a decision on Nathan.”
Despite Shaw’s pleas, Browne has no plans to go public until the make-up of his rival ticket is finalised.
Fox Sports executive director Steve Crawley – the boss of AFL broadcast channel Fox Footy – is the most recent high-profile figure to endorse the would-be Magpies president.
“I know nothing about the politics of the AFL or Collingwood, but I do know Jeffrey Browne,” Crawley told the Herald Sun.
“He was my boss in another life at Channel 9. I loved working with him and he is one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.”
Buckley’s manager, the powerful player agent Craig Kelly, and club great Peter Moore, father of star defender Darcy Moore, have also publicly endorsed Browne, 66.
Former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is a close friend of Browne’s but has said he does not support the staging of an extraordinary general meeting.
Browne backer Francis Galbally, the former club solicitor who has likened the plight of the Magpies to the spectacular downfall of Crown Resorts, said it would be inappropriate for Collingwood to make “an important decision” on Buckley while the board impasse is unresolved.
“The current board should respect what the members are asking for and hold off,” Galbally said.
“They should be in caretaker mode. There are some very strong people who would like to participate in assisting the club in joining the board and within a few weeks we will see a situation where this is all resolved.”
Asked if Clarkson, the Hawthorn master coach, would be an option to replace Buckley under a Browne-led board, Galbally said: “There are many highly-qualified people, including Alastair Clarkson, that Collingwood should be looking at, but right now the focus is solely on the board”.
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