Lynne Anderson leads Bulldogs Reform Ticket to victory as Ray Dib pushed out
THE daughter of the club’s late Godfather Peter “Bullfrog” Moore has led an overhaul that will see six members of the Reform Ticket join the seven-person board.
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LYNNE Anderson has sensationally led the Bulldogs Reform Ticket to victory on a dramatic day for the club that saw chairman Ray Dib pushed out.
The daughter of the club’s late Godfather Peter “Bullfrog” Moore led the overhaul that will see six members of the Reform Ticket join the seven-person board.
Steve Mortimer is the only survivor of the old board while Anderson’s husband Chris, John Ballesty, Paul Dunn, John Khoury and Steve Price all won election.
Lynne Anderson was later voted in as chairwoman.
A total of only 913 members were allowed to take part in the election of which roughly 700 took part.
Both sides had worked tirelessly in recent weeks knowing it was always expected to be a close result.
Members started arriving at the Canterbury Leagues Club early with voting starting at 8.30am and finishing just after 10am.
The club then held its Annual General Meeting before a nervous wait ensured as the votes were tallied.
The voting took several hours to complete.
Link Market Services were brought in independently to tally the votes, that included a massive amount of proxies, thought to be about 450 in all.
This will also have massive implications on the Leagues Club board with four football directors given control of the club’s powerful money pot.
The Leagues Club tips in about $4 to $5 million to the football club annually.
There was also a sprinkling of players at today’s meeting with all the new recruits including Aaron Woods and Kieran Foran brought in to meet the members.
Many current players had stated during the election build up that they didn’t want change.
The Reform Ticket also had some strong support from some past greats including the likes of David Gillespie, Steve Folkes, Brett Kimmorley, Geoff Robinson and Craig Polla-Mounter.
The election was one of the most bitter internal battles in the club’s history. With all that was said from supporters of both sides, the challenge now will be for them to come together in the club’s best interest.
The other factor still hanging over the club’s head is the court battle involving sacked coach Des Hasler that could ultimately result in a $2 million plus payout.
The good news for the Bulldogs on the field is that new coach Dean Pay has complete support from both sides.
Regardless of today’s decision Pay has no reason to fear for his future.
In saying that the Bulldogs playing roster has had a massive overhaul and there will be plenty of pressure on them to fight their way back into the top eight this season.
Canterbury play their first trial this Saturday against Canberra on the Sunshine Coast.
Another factor to consider is what this will mean for new chief executive Andrew Hill, who only recently took over from Raelene Castle.
Significantly, Dib will most likely also lose his place on the NSW Rugby League board with an election coming up for that this week.
BULLDOGS BOARD VOTING RESULTS
Lynne Anderson (R) 471
John Ballesty (R) 448
Steve Price (R) 415
Chris Anderson (R) 397
Paul Dunn (R) 395
Steve Mortimer 392
John Khoury (R) 382
_______________
Arthur Coorey 364
Nicholas Dimas 360
Peter McMahon 357
Ray Dib 346
Anter Isaac 343
Joanne Farr 310
Anne Sinclair 304
Anthony Elias 96
Luke Brailey 38
Adrian Turner 36
Andrew Gifford 30
* (R) = reform ticket
* First seven members are voted on to the board